Standing at the Trailhead of Winter

Tuesday evening I went swimming. I swam a mile in 45 minutes. I was so proud of myself. Too proud perhaps. When I pushed off the bottom of the pool to sit on the side, my left calf cramped to the degree of me leaning over in agony, wanting to howl but not wanting to scare the few others who were enjoying the pool. Hubby tried to massage the pain away, but the muscle had turned to rock. For what seemed like a very long time, though I know it was most likely less than two minutes, I endured what was the most painful experience of my life. And that's saying something after having given birth naturally to a 10 pound 9 ounce baby. Today, the calf still hurts to the degree that running is definitely out; walking alone is an ordeal. Swimming is out since every time I flex my calf in the way I would while swimming, it wants to cramp up all over again. I'm  not sure about cycling--I think I could do that though there would be pain with each revolution. In general, it appears I'm out...

Now that Lent is over, along with my giving up spending so much time online and wasting vast amounts of breathing on watching mindless TV, I need to assess how I actually did with my "sacrifices." In the end, the result is mixed. The internet wasn't difficult to limit. I allowed myself to write twice a week on the blog, visit MyFitnessPal to record my meals and exercise (which has been invaluable for helping me finally break the plateau of 148 pounds), and record my daily mileage on DailyMile. I checked in with Facebook here and there, posting after my sprint tri's and liking some of my friends' posts, but I found I wasn't really missing Facebook at all, so I'm thinking I might keep that particular site to a minimum all the way around. If I need to get in touch with any friends, I can call them or text them from my cell. Other than that, the internet wasn't a huge part of my life during Lent. I do admit I missed blogging. For me, blogging is more abo...

With yesterday being a warm, dry day, and today being a warm, dry day, I took advantage of the opportunity to work in the garden. The last two weeks have been rainy and cool, so putting out seeds didn't seem like a great idea. A lot of hard work most likely would have ended up water-logged. Though it's a bit later than I like for starting with seeds, I'm glad I waited. After a short time sitting on the deck this morning, I pulled all the materials together and started in. Around 11, my lovely daughter called me in for Easter brunch. She loves to work in the kitchen, and between her and her boyfriend whipping up brunch, we all enjoyed veggie omelets, waffles with blueberry syrup and whipped topping, bacon, sausage gravy and biscuits, and coffee. What a feast! Talk turned to past vacations we've taken over the years, and for a little while, we sat and laughed, remembering little moments we all now cherish. The dirt JK made! As my daughter began cleaning up the kitc...

The weather has been a downer most of the week. Rain, lightning, more rain. Not a whole lot of cycling happening right now, which is definitely a bummer. And the thunder rumbles as the letters appear on the screen. Despite the gloomy days, it's been a truly beautiful morning for wrapping myself in the warmth of the the covers, burrowing into the down pillow, which is what I did for two hours beyond my usual time for getting up. Delicious. With the end of the semester just in front of me, I'm turning my attention to the summer. I've decided not to teach summer classes, and while this may turn out to be a bad financial decision, and while I might have to find a summer job of some kind come the middle of June, I'm going to try and enjoy the time away from the office, the classroom, the students. Two projects already in the works will be the focus of my summer. The hope is that by August 1st I have tangibles to show for both of these projects. For me, having a clear ...

Warming Up Beautiful weather plus beautiful countryside helped me finish under my goal of 1:25. Though my run was the usual "somebody please explain to me why I do this" run, the swim went well, and the bike proved challenging yet faster than I've ever cycled before. I crossed the finish line at 1:22.11. Definitely a sprint tri I'll do again--maybe. The swim was in a 25 yard pool with six lanes, which meant we had to swim one way in each lane then turn and swim back in that lane, going under the lane ropes to get into the next lane. Trying to breathe when water is lapping up into your mouth because of swimmers passing from the other direction makes for a tough swim. I submitted a time of 5:30, hoping not to get stuck behind a slower swimmer. Didn't work. I got stuck behind a slower swimmer. I managed to get around her and continue on, but soon came up on another slower swimmer. I just backed off this time and settled in as much as I could. My swim time ended ...

When I met the man I now call Hubby, I weighed 135 pounds, which was the lightest I've ever weighed since junior high. All through high school, I hovered right at 150. After high school, college, grad school and three kids, I've hovered right at 150. Let's just say I've never been dainty. And more often than not, I'm alright with that. But I worked really, really hard to get to 135, and I truly enjoyed being able to go into a fitting room and try on clothes of all sorts, and come out feeling happy. Well, over a six year period, I put on 23 pounds. When I hit 158, I was one unhappy camper. That's when Hubby and I started our own Biggest Loser competition. I went with the P90X program while Hubby chose to walk on the treadmill. Over the 90 day period we kept track of our progress. I managed to lose ten pounds during that time. At the end of the 90 days, I switched to running. Over the next four or five months, the weight loss just didn't happen, and in frust...

The taxes are finished after much hand wringing over the weekend. An easy 12 miler Friday afternoon followed by a solid 20 mile ride Saturday did wonders for my mind as well as my body. For Saturday's ride I did the first five miles easy, averaging around 14 mph then ramped it up for the other 15 miles. When it was all over, my average speed was 17.2 mph, and that was with a pretty good wind from the SW, which turned into a near headwind for half of the ride. In the end, I finished the week on Sunday with another mile swim (having done a mile swim on Thursday), giving me the best week of workouts I've had in a very long time. Today, I'm resting. After the Boiler Sprint Tri and a full week of workouts, I'm tired. My next sprint tri is this coming Sunday, and it's time to ease up to be fresh for it. I think my swim has significantly improved, so I'm really looking forward to the swim on Sunday. I submitted a faster time, hoping to not get stuck behind slower swi...

Lots of negative, hurtful, mean thoughts swirl and crash into one another as I sit here, trying to do my taxes. Nothing else in my life sets me off like filling out these forms. It's not so much that the numbers, the rules, and the exceptions make my eyes glaze over. Believe me, they do. It's just that I don't make much money considering and having to justify every little thing is mind-numbing. Each year, when I do my taxes, I end up thinking about the education I have (an MA), the amount of time I spend on my job (upwards of 55 hours a week), the amount of time I put into professional development (reading, conferences, publishing), and the amount of money I bring home (enough that I can save a little out of each check--not a huge amount but enough to create an emergency fund). All of this combined makes me feel like I make squat compared to a lot of other people who have less education, spend less time doing their job, and aren't required to participate in professional...

Took a nice, leisurely ride this evening. Since the day was sunny and warm, lots of people were out, using the trail. I passed a young couple running together, and each of them had earbuds in, I presume listening to music. I found it kind of funny they were running along silently, not talking to one another. Hopefully they chatted some as they jogged, or it could be they didn't need to speak. I passed a dad with his two very young daughters, one on a trike and the other on a scooter. He walked a few steps behind them, holding his arms out at times as if he was herding them, trying to keep them going in one direction. The girl on the scooter wanted to go one way while the girl on the trike wanted to go the other. Dad coaxed scooter girl to turn around and go with her sister. I passed a couple, she pushing a stroller, he keeping their rather larger German Shepard reined in as a woman walking her very small Dachshund took a wide berth, watching the Shepard out of the corner of h...

Boiler Sprint Tri 2011 Well, I didn't meet my goal of 1:25. While that's somewhat disappointing, I'm happy with how things went considering. I finished at 1:28, 13th out of 41 women, 112th out of 156 overall. I know where my weaknesses are, and I just need to dig deep to overcome those weaknesses. The swim went okay. I've never timed myself swimming a 300 or 400, so I just guess when I enter my swim time while registering for an event. Stupid move number one. Each time, this has meant I've seeded myself lower than what I should have. I end up behind slower swimmers, and when they swim three abreast in the lane, anyone behind them can't get around. This happened yesterday. Although, I will say that yesterday the event organizers allowed people to jump ahead in line even if their seed time was slower. Three guys decided they were faster than what they really were and jumped in front of me. Then they swam side by side most of the swim, preventing others who wa...