January Training Update

Marc & I have been logging our miles, our minutes spent on the bike trainer, & our laps in the pool.

Day by day we are actually starting to get ready for this upcoming season. My runs are starting to get longer and I am ever so thankful for the tv in front of the treadmill. I got in a five and a half mile run while watching Harry Potter 5. We definitely have charts on the wall where we are logging our biking minutes, our yardage in the pool, & our miles ran.

Running:

• This is probably currently my best effort, I have been getting in a ton of runs which is awesome
• RIDICULOUSLY thankful to have a treadmill in our basement
• Being registered for a half marathon in the end of April has me a little nervous and has me focused
• I suppose this is why I actually signed up for a half - to force me to commit and get on the darn treadmill

Swimming:

• Uggg I really don't want to discuss this one much, probably the one element I have not done a ton with - I was getting in one super long swim every week until the pool schedule changed and lap swim isn't available when I was swimming - so now I only get in a half hour swim before teaching swim lessons
• I am ready for the pool to empty out again once swim season ends here in town - I love that the kids are swimming however it feels like all the great times to lap swim are occupied by the kids swim teams
• Although probably my strongest element of the three

Biking:

• I have been doing pretty good about getting on the bike trainer, my problem is I get bored fast on the bike even while watching a movie - I WISH I had a way to track how far I have gone so that I could set distance goals like I do on the treadmill (yeah I know there are back tire distance and pace thingys but I don't want to buy one because I already have one on my front tire that can't be moved)
• I am making progress here though - I can definitely bike longer w/ what I feel like is greater speed
• I am getting in quite a bit of time on the bike trainer, just not nearly as much as I would like

Misc. Thoughts on Training:

• I wish with all of my soul that I thought it was a good idea to get up at five am to workout - I just can't talk myself into it - with a six month old at home who is still getting up three or four times some nights sleep is priceless
• Small victory: I haven't drank a single soda in all of 2015 (hahaha okay so it is only 20 days in but still a victory for me)
• I have gotten 10,000 plus steps every day in 2015 (yeah yeah yeah I know it's only 20 days but I am still thrilled by this)
• I have drank over 80 ounces of water every day in 2015 (yep, I am milking this one for all it's worth) - really the only thing other than water I have drank this year is some milk

I would still like to find an August or September race that appeals to me - date wise it has been ridiculously hard. There was one last year in St. Cloud that would work date wise if they pick the same weekend, I am still waiting for them to announce when the race will be.

Are you training for anything?

I am most excited for the Wine & Dine Half Marathon and have every intent of registering the first day it opens - I have an alert set on my phone to remind me to register Marc & me (Thanks mom and dad for coming to WDW with us so we could both run the Wine and Dine Half Marathon).

Weekend Recap

Ahhh I can't believe how quickly I am already forced to write this - I would like to request extra days for the weekend (wait wouldn't we all?!) - as well as extra days that I plan absolutely nothing. I want days that we aren't allowed to schedule anything. Is that possible?

Friday night we had a dinner with a group of friends from church - can't go wrong with friends, taco bar, and ice cream bar :) - let me not forget to mention that Lucy was loved on the entire time and she soaked up all the love. Which go figure I didn't manage to get a single picture of - apparently I actually was into whatever we were going on an didn't even bother to take out my phone to grab a picture.



Saturday was wonderful: laundry, snuggling on the couch, a good run for me, a walk with Dakota (it is pretty cold and a bit slippery here, so no running outside for me), some packing for middle school gathering, and Marc began the great cookie baking process for the day after Thanksgiving frosting party at his Grandparents house.
Saturday night I spent out at a local resort with 597 of my favorite middle schoolers (28 from my own church) and we had a marvelous little retreat. Lucy spent her first night alone with dad. Word on the street was there was much snuggling at home and Marc realized he can't bake cookies and entertain Lucy - so they snuggled the night away. Lucy slept in our room in her rock and play because Marc was a little worried about not hearing Lucy when she woke up in the middle of the night - but they both did fine and I heard Dakota got promoted to sleeping on my spot on our bed. It is rough to be the beloved golden retriever at our house. 

Sunday Lucy came out to the Middle School Gathering so that Marc could continue baking cookies as soon as he got home from church. Lucy was in heaven - EVERYONE wanted to hold her and snuggle her. The kids were fascinated by her and she had a great time. Thankfully I brought our Beco babycarrier along so that she could curl up and get in a good nap without being ridiculously over stimulated. So in the midst of LOUD worship she slept peacefully (thankful for the baby carrier and for a baby who can and will sleep just about anywhere without even blinking an eye). Welcome to the world of two working parents Lucy, you get to come on all sorts of retreats, lock-ins, meetings, and who knows where else you will be toted around due to my crazy work. She loved it so that helps. She really is a great baby as long as she is being held.




After the kids all left, a few of my good friends, who also are local went swimming at the resort before we left. (The Packer vs Viking game on was on as well in the pool area - that game was a BIT too close for comfort - we drove home during half time so we could finish watching the game at home) It was great to have the pool to ourselves and to enjoy a little swimming after everyone left. Lucy LOVES the pool and loves kicking around and splashing. She thought it was great. The only major tears of the pool came when it was time to get out of the pool and go home. We get the same response when we take her out of the tub too, so I am not surprised.

When we got home, we finished watching the Packer game while helping Marc finish the cutout cookies - note the HUGE box full of cookies (I put Lucy in the picture for size comparison) as well as the printer paper box mostly full of cookies. UGGGG sooooo many cookies. Now to keep them from breaking while we drive to Wisconsin on Thursday morning. Here's hoping and praying we can get them padded well enough and they survive the journey. I wish it was our job to bring the frosting so that I wouldn't have to worry about this.

After the Packers game and cookies were done I had a wild hair idea to call up on of my high school kids to see if she'd watch Lucy so Marc and I could go see Mockingjay. Thankfully she said her homework was done and she'd love to. Tarin was officially Lucy's first babysitter.
Mockingjay was good, but I do love the book more than the movie. They took quite a few artistic liberties and some were not for the better. I had hoped since they broke Mockingjay into two parts they would be able to keep some of the details, but alas they weren't able to keep many that I had hoped for. Still worth watching though.


How was your weekend?
Have you seen Mocking jay?
How do you feel about cutout cookies?

September Photo Dump

I don't know how we are to the end of September. As you may have guessed by the lack of blog posts, LIFE HAS BEEN CRAZY! However, I am managing to get my September photo dump up. I am hoping to be back in the swing now. We'll see. Hopefully I can get some things up and going here soon. It was indeed a great month!

Swimming Suits

No this isn't some random post about getting ready for swim suit weather. Blah Blah blah, bikinis blah blah blah. I wear a swim suit year round, just the reality. On top of my full time call I also work part time at the local YMCA as a lifeguard and teaching swimming lessons, and in the winter I love to swim laps. Swimming laps seems much less like death than always running on the treadmill.

I am frustrated with swimming suits. I feel like I have tried twelve thousand different brands, speedo, nike, TYR, name it and I have probably tried it. I follow all the proper instructions about how to care for suits and how to preserve them but I feel like my suits get eaten by the chlorine SOOOO quickly. It's frustrating. I hate earning minimum wage and having the suit get eaten so quickly and having to replace it.

I buy grab bag suits because I really don't care what the design is, and I try to buy nice suits not just the ridiculously cheap ones (which get eaten even quicker), and even then it is hardly worth it. It is nuts!

Anyone have anywhere where I can buy reasonably nice suits for cheapish? Does anyone else have this problem? Anyone have any suggestions?

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Another Session in the Books

I have successfully made it through yet another session of swimming lessons. Confession: I love teaching swimming lessons 90% of the time. I am always a little sad when the end of a session comes, it seems like I have just begun to earn the trust of the parents and kids. The kids are finally willing to try something new and different and probably even scary.  This session was a little weird because our aquatics center had to close last week for major improvements and re-tiling and re-painting and all that good jazz. However that means that every class had to be taught in the lap pool, read "really deep and scary pool" to three, four, and five year olds.

I have been prepping the kids for the lap pool day for weeks, and we did it. We survived, there was some weeping and even some gnashing of teeth by the parents, but the kids all made it through and dare I say even had some fun while we were at it. The unfortunate part is that then the kids didn't get to play under the mushroom on the last day like usual. I don't like the end of a session because it means I get all new kids in two weeks when we start again. I don't like the end of a session because it means learning a whole new set of kids and parents, some have graduated past my level of classes (I enjoy the super little kids - I teach a couple classes with older kids but mostly I have the super little kids). I like the end of a session because it does mean I get all new kids when we start again in two weeks. I like the end of a session because it means I get to meet a whole new set of parents and kids. It is a catch 22, I want to hold on to some kids and I want to let others progress. It is always the challenge of teaching, much like normal teaching.

It has been a great session of bubble blowing, jumping in, getting our whole faces wet, and kicking our legs, and much talk of believing in one another. It happens every session and I love watching the transformation of the kids from week one to week eight. Thanks parents for the joy and honor of being able to play a role in teaching your children how to swim. Thanks parents for trusting me with your most prized possession, your child, it is an honor and in light of recent events, I know everyone is holding their kids a little tighter. Thanks for the chance to work with you and your kids. I look forward to another session in January.

Letter

Dear Swimming Lessons Parent,
   Thank you for trusting me to teach your child to swim, he is a great kid for sure and I am enjoying my time with him. I know he is your oldest child and you haven't had kids in swimming lessons before, you are a great mom for putting him in swimming lessons. I truly believe all kids should learn to swim as it is a life saving skill. I know he one of your most priceless treasures and you are allowing me to take him into what has the potential of being a dangerous situation, but trust me, I've done this before, with the same honor you give me hundreds (after 13 years of teaching swimming lessons I may even be to the thousands by now) of other parents have trusted me with their most precious gift. I know you are nervous and so is your son, he feeds off of your nerves. I know he is very important to you, I recognize that, I also know that he is a beginning swimmer so I keep my eyes on him all of the time.
    Please remember that you did enroll him in swimming lessons, so his swimming skills can advance, please don't hold him back, it isn't help for you to need to wipe his eyes every time I challenge him to blow bubbles in the water, or check if he needs to use the bathroom every other minute, he's old enough to tell you when he needs to go (and let's be honest, he wouldn't be the first or the last kid to pee in the pool). Yes, I know he won't be Michael Phelps when we are done with this eight week session however after three weeks I am already seeing his skills advance, trust me, pushing him a little to do things like: get his face wet, put his head underwater, blow bubbles, and float (with my assistance) won't ruin him for the rest of his life. Watch the way he smiles when he accomplishes a task, when he successfully puts his head all the way underwater he comes up in excitement with a smile going from ear to ear and says "did it, I did it, watch me again!" He is having fun, I am not pushing him too hard, he isn't crying, he'll be just fine if he gets water in his eyes and mouth, and while I think it's gross when kids pee in the pool, if he does it'll be just fine.
   Please sit back and move away from the edge of the pool during swimming lessons, enjoy the benches that are there for you to sit on. Remember the conversations that we have had, remember we have talked about this several times already. Please snuggle your baby for a few moments knowing that your oldest won't be interrupting you. Or if you don't want to take the baby out of the car seat, enjoy a good book, relax, play in your iPhone, space out, dream, pray, hope, and while you enjoy a half hour without a four year old needing your undivided attention, trust me. If I need anything or he needs anything you are there, and I am thankful that you care enough to cheer on your kid, to enroll him in swimming lessons, to come and watch him, but please let me do my job.
Peace-
  your son's swimming lessons instructor

Nikon D60

I love my Nikon D60 and I have not gotten to use it nearly enough. I have realized that my go to camera is my point and shoot for sure, I don't know if it is because I don't want to carry the weight of the bigger camera or what, but I want to commit to using that camera more often. I want to take fun photos and be able to edit them and use them for stuff.
I should see if I can find a photo challenge type a deal online that suggests something to photograph each day to add to the challenge and fun. Sometimes I am stumped on what to take photos of, my puppy gets lots of photos taken of her (which I am not totally against, but I feel like I should have more than just pictures of my sweet puppy). I know there is a photo challenge of the day on instagram so maybe I will just borrow the topic from there and use my D60 to take photos rather than my phone.
Must use fun camera more often.
Unrelated side note: It is August 3 and I haven't drank any soda yet. Seriously, I know it is only three days but it is about two days longer than I thought I would make it. YAY for small victories (yes I celebrate small victories frequently)
Unrelated side note #2: I wish I had a group of people to run with in the morning before work. I enjoy running by myself but from time to time I would love to run with folks. I may sign up for the early morning swim group this fall through our community education just so that I get my butt out of bed still in the fall and swim with a group of people, I think I would push myself harder if I did. We'll see, community ed calendar hasn't come out yet for the fall.
Unrelated side note #3: I got a new pair of shoes the other day that I am over the top jazzed about, they are giraffe print Toms. Yes, some folks probably think they are ugly for sure, but I LOVE THEM! (I am fascinated by giraffes, and so in turn love that giraffe print has become trendy. I have loved giraffes since I was a little girl and am not certain what exactly made me fall in love with them.)

New shoes that I love
Generally I am a barefoot or flip flop type a girl
but these make me excited to wear shoes