P90X works and makes sense!

So I'm not HEAVY into the P90X right now.. though I hit it HARD over the winter. This is the first time I feel I've seen any change in my musculature.. and it continues to change and improve as I get my nutrition more dialed (so not the case over the last week). I did two rounds of P90X and am finding that with minimal "maintanence" effort I'm able to maintain both strength (I'm not as strong as I was) and definition.

All this is great, but as I'm getting more into my tri training I'm thinking P90X (to a lesser degree than before) needs to make it back into the rotation. 1. It MAKES me do it and 2. Both Core Synergistics (how many times have you heard you NEED TO WORK ON YOUR CORE) and Plyometrics are GREAT additions to a tri program to keep you balanced and strong. Now to just figure out where to fit it in. I KNOW I can find the time because I can do it in my basement instead of watching TV.. or while watching TV w/ P90X on my computer... at this point I only need reminders bc I almost have it memorized.

Here are some photos (taken by my 4 year old so forgive the AWESOME quality and the sweet artwork in the background!). The pic of just my bicep at the bottom in the pink sports bra was taken at the hieght of my P90X training and the others were taken today. Now I swim and do some upper body maybe 2x a week, but more like consistantly 1x a week. I lift heavy (for me) with 10 - 12 reps (to failure). The 'to failure' or the 'last three should be mighty tough' philosophy was brought to me by P90X in that past I would just kinda mess around and never see any results! I also learned to mix it up - Tony is ALL about the muscle confusion - so instead of doing 3 sets of 10 of the same bicep exercise I usually (for example) will do one bicep exercise, one shoulder, one tri and then do the bicep, shoulder, tri sequence again, but do different exercises from the last ones for each muscle. Other days I might do the same approach, but back and biceps so forth and so on. I find it keeps it a bit more interesting, doesn't take as long and uses all the different parts of the muscle.

I feel like P90X gave me a good base on how to do the weight room along w/ the confidence to go in there and do my thing w/o feeling like a scrawny little girl that didn't know what she was doing. I now have some basic workouts memorized with some adjustments by me and have a notebook w/ the actual workout written out if I'm feeling scrappy (which isn't happening a lot with all the tri training).

You can also see how teeny weeny my tri top is in this pic. :) You'll have to wait for photos from Knoxville to see the full effect of the kit! :)

This is the best thing I could find in the 'before' department. Look at those spaghetti arms.

Can you tell a difference between these two pics? I feel like I can. Less bulk, more definition. I likes.

So what's the point? The point is that strength training is important for all athletes - whatever your sport - and non-athletes. P90X will give you direction, confidence AND strength and definition. It's mixed up enough to keep you interested, but the same enough that you can actually learn and grow with it. I love that it has straight up weights/body weights, stretching, yoga and plyo. It also has a 'kick boxing-ish" and a cardio video, but they weren't my favorite and I figured I do enough cardio as it is!

If you are looking for a "program" or something you can do at home for convenience sake this is by far the way to go!!! It's like having a personal trainer come to your house for a fraction of the cost. Or you could fly me to your abode and I'll HOOK YOU UP! :) 

What are you doing for strength training? Do you need a kick in the pants? When do you fit it in? Can I talk you into putting some dorky photos of you flexing on your blog.. it would make me feel much better about my photos. :) ha ha

Values - are you living yours?

I've been feeling fairly unbalanced lately.. this always takes me to a quiet place (ha that ONLY exists in my mind) to reflect on WHAT'S UP!

I came across THIS post about values and while I generally feel I know what my values are and usually read these things and think about it, but never put pen to paper I decided to get to work w/ my notepad and the list and see where it lead me. Wow! It slapped me square in the face!

The post links you to a list you can print and go over for both your personal life and you work life.. since mine are pretty much one in the same I just did one list. I dutifully went through and circled all the 'values' that I thought pertained to me and then easily (maybe too easily) narrowed them down to my top 5. No problemo. Normally I would get bored and stop here... distracted by oh so many things, but I perservered and MADE myself continue.

Next you write your top 5 on a paper w/ enough room under each to write (on the left side) where you are aligned w/ this value and (on the right side) where you aren't aligned with this value.

My values are: (not necessarily in order)
1. Family
2. Health/Wellness
3. Fitness
4. Community/Connectedness
5. Simplicity (yea, this ones kinda new.. though it's been in the background for a while)

So I wrote Simplicity down and came up with a decent little list of 'aligned', 'not aligned' and moved on to Family.... CRICKETS! I stared blankly at the 'aligned' column and wanted to cry. It's not like I needed to write it down to KNOW that some work needs to be done here, but just looking it in the face was like being slapped! Of course there are areas where we are 'aligned' .. we eat dinner together every night, I'm a stay at home mom so I spend nearly every waking moment with my children (the quality of those moments could easily be brought into question), I color with them.. or they, uh, color and I'm on the, uh, computer.... anyway you get the idea. There aren't a lot of times where the little ones get my full and undivided attention, Tom and I don't do date nights, I'm terrible with traditions (perhaps you saw my tweets about the easter bunny NOT hiding eggs at our house.. BAD BAD bunny!). On the other hand you better be sure the 'aligned' category under Fitness was FULL! Ugh.

So what does this mean!? I'm not 100% sure just yet. The next part of the process is to take your 'not aligned' items and find ways (both large and small) to address them. I'm working on that ... uh, right after I'm done with this.. oh, and after I pick the kids up from school.. oh, and after I get groceries... I PROMISE it's working through in my brain, but I WILL put it on paper.. because clearly that's a necessary part of the discovery process for me!

This may (or may not) affect my plans for triathlon this year... time will tell. Right now I'm focusing on Knoxville Rev3 as I work though this. Stay tuned. It's always exciting (or not) up in here!

What are your values? Have you given it much thought? Is your life aligned with them? If not, what are you going to do about it!?

Simplicity and training

I love to train. I've known this about myself for a while now, but I could never really put my finger on exactly what it was. (It's a lot of things, but I had an aha moment today). Since having kids it's the only thing I will make time for for JUST ME and it really clears my head. Why? Why does it clear my head. Well I figured it out today.

Since returning from our WONDERFUL trip to Texas my head has been a mess. All over the place.. can't settle down.. can't focus and can't seem to be able to accomplish much of anything. It's like I my head was a tin can filled w/ marbles and someone was shaking it! Today I got on the spin bike at the gym and rode for 1.5 hours, took an hour long class then continued to spin for another hour. It was great. While I was on my own for the first 1.5 hours I listened to a book then after the class the instructor (a friend) stayed and rode and another triathlete happened to come and join us and we talked through the last hour. It was great. And after the ride my head was no longer a tin can and the marbles are gone.

Why is my head so clear after a good solid work out? Well, I'll tell you!

Because it's the only time I do just ONE thing and ONE thing only. My life is a chaotic mess and I'm scatter brained as it is. Okay, calling it a mess isn't fair... it's not a mess, but it's busy. The kids, the house, my odd jobs and my eclectic interests cause me to spin topsy turvy a lot. Generally speaking I enjoy this, but after a while it gets a bit crazy. Particularly if there has been a lull in workouts (as there was previous to our return from TX).

So everything I've been reading about simplicity has been talking about not just simplifying your surroundings by way of cutting the clutter, but also simplifying your life and it's processes. Getting rid of stuff has been no problem. I've never really been one to be too attached to stuff (I'm an army brat we moved a lot and didn't carry a ton of stuff around with us), but the simplifying life/processes is a challenge for me.

One book (The Power of Less by Leo Babauta) in particular talks about SINGLE-tasking instead of MULTI-tasking. It makes sense really... multitasking has you going all over the place getting a little bit of everything done, but not ALL of ONE thing. This is all well and good in theory, but is proving difficult for me to execute on! He goes so far as saying that you should downsize your goals to ONE, yep one, and when that one is done move to another... PRIORITIZING them and thus simplifying your life and tasks. This is a work in progress for me. I'm a born multitasker (and YES this means it takes me a long time to get stuff done... if I get it done at all... just ask my DAD! :D)

So what's the point? God, who knows huh? The point is that is that I do love to SINGLE task my workouts.. I feel balanced and strong when I do that... so I'm willing to BET that if I figured out how to SINGLE task in other aspects of my life I would feel BALANCED and STRONG there too! :)

I'm going to start small. I'm not ready to DROP to just ONE goal... I've got THREE biggies going right now, but I am going to start doing ONE thing at a time. I baked some bread last night while doing a bunch of other stuff and almost went to bed without actually baking it (it had been in the oven to rise). That would have made for some really crappy toast this a.m.

So you know what I'm doing right now? I'm writing a blog post. That's it. I'm not writing a blog post, eating breakfast, checking email, updating my facebook and twitter status, baking bread, coloring with the kids AND stretching all at the same time! Leo suggests turning off the internet when you sit down to do something on your computer that doesn't require web access... thus forcing yourself to SINGLE task! Give it a shot! It feels pretty good and it didn't take nearly as long to write this post as it usually does. I'm not saying it improves my quality of writing.... that will only come with practice!

So what do you do to simplify? Does a good workout knock the marbles out of your brain too?

MS150 - I LOVE the BIKE!

I knew I would enjoy the opportunity to ride my bike in some warm weather, but I had an amazingly good time at the MS150 this weekend. Hats off to my cousin Stephanie for getting the family together to ride in honor of my Uncle Don!

Not only was it nice and warm (after about an hour or so each day) and mostly flat (save a trip through a national forest on day 2) I got to ride with Tom... which doesn't happen that often. Kids and all. He even had a good time. He wasn't really sold on the organized ride thing.. lots of people he doesn't know (or trust on a bike) riding right next to him isn't exactly his idea of a good ride.. not to mention the fact that he hasn't exactly been riding. We're not even going to talk about the fact that he can NOT RIDE at all (mostly) for years and then drop back to back 50 mile then 75 mile rides. How does he do that!? I mean we didn't hammer it or anything, but come on! He's even asking what event we are going to do next.

The first day we did 50 of the 75 miles of the ride. We started in Waller, TX (apparently there were three start points) then stayed in some cabins (instead of camping in La Grange w/ the 13000 other people riding) and this was a good call.

As we were headed to the ride start I was saying to Tom that I didn't think I needed to eat lunch on a 50 mile ride. His response was that 'it wasn't about me' and I was thinking he meant that the ride wasn't about me and that I was making a judgement that they were offering lunch.. which I wasn't. As we came into the first rest stop and we were discussing stopping he again mentioned that it 'wasn't about me' and that's when I realized what he meant. That this ride was about the family and 'doing it together' not about here we are at the start and we'll see you at the finish. That husband of mine... he's a good man. So I begrudgingly stopped and waited for the rest of the family to join up with us at the first stop, and everystop after. I'm glad I did. And if Tom actually read this I would thank him for helping me not be an asshole... :) We met up with mostly eveyrone - except Tina because she thought we were out front and was trying to chase us down I think. We sat and had lunch together and were able to catch up on how everyoen was going. Which turned out to be a very good thing because dad got FOUR flats in a row and blew threw one of our tubes and ended up with a second of our (Tom's and mine) tubes. Tom changed the flats for dad which made it go much quicker for him so I'm really glad we held back.

Everything held together for dad for the rest of the ride.

The stops actually made the ride go by really fast and likely contributed to my lack of soreness for day two. The cabins were fantastic. Tom threw together a nice meal for us all to share while sitting and talking on the large front porch while watching the cows do their nightly routine. Did you know that they don't use horses to herd the cows anymore? At least this cowboy didn't. We saw an SUV out in the field and weren't sure what he was doing out there, but it quickly became obvious that he was using it to herd the cows back to the barn.

Above is the view from our cabin. We were out in the middle of no where and it was GREAT! Nice and quiet with a great front porch. Hmm here's an idea. I could have taken a picture of the cute little cabin, but I was so taken by all the cattle doin' there thing around us that I didn't even think about it. Plus there were cow pies everywhere. If you look REAL close you can see a little pile on the bench of the picnic table.
I drank about one glass of wine too many and had to get up in the middle of the night to drink an entire bike bottle of water before I could go back to sleep. Morning came quickly and we hit the road. Three of us had decided to do mostly the entire second day so we got sagged to a good jump in point, tucked some plastic grocery bags in our jersey fronts to block the early morning cold and set off on day 2. Legs felt just fine... saddle area not so much. Lot's of TUCK YOUR HIPS to stay on your sit bones .. OWWIE!! Spin saddle NOT the same as bike saddle...

At one point you could stay on the main highway course or break off into a state park that had more aggressive hills. Tom and I opted to go the park route and it was AWESOME. We got to bomb up and down hills in the shadded forest for about an hour. It's the only part of the ride that we really pushed and felt my legs getting heavy, but it was GREAT! I had a blast back in there and was happy to see that all the hill work in spin class is definitely paying off. I used to be HORRIBLY weak on the hills, but was able to hang on the climbs. Tom - without riding for a long time - can still kick my butt, but I was CHICKING some riders... and at one point a guy said "AGAIN?" as I raced past him on a hill.

We got back on the highway and settled in to a nice easy pace for the rest of the day. We had wind at our backs most of the day. Just a small section at the end with the wind at our faces.

All in all it was a great experience to be able to ride with the family and have a planned route. "Riding" is much different from racing and I really really enjoyed the no pressure atmosphere and seeing so many people that I know were out there conquering this distance for the very first time! I have to say that this years MS150 was a VERY different experience from my first MS150 over 10 years ago. The MS150 did an amazing job of organizing this HUGE (I already said 13,000 riders right!?) event. Not one cluster the whole day. I would highly recommend this ride. Get your family and friends organized. 2012 will be here before you know it!

Now I can't wait to get home and get into some serious bike riding. 100 miles... bring it!

2011 Danbury Half Marathon

2nd race of the season... done.

Honestly I kept forgetting that I was doing this race. My TP wanted to run a half this year. I may have said I would do her first race with her. Then she said she wanted to do Danbury. UGH! My memory of Danbury from the previous year was almost two hours of torture on hills. Perhaps I had blown myself up a little training for Miami and was little "done before I started" as TP pointed out.

This year I was 'just running' I had no expectations on myself other than to join my friend in her first 1/2. Gotta say this approach works MUCH better for me. No pressure, just running. I loved it. This year was 1million zillion billion times better than last year. I loved it and was reminded that Oh, I do like this running thing.

On top of that my TP blew her "pie in the sky" goal out of the water by nearly 10 mins. That was lots of fun. She ran a smart run and pushed it beyond her comfort zone at the end. I'm so glad I was able to be there w/ her for her first race and such a great success! She should be so very proud of herself! :)

The day before the race I PIGGED OUT so by the morning of the race I wasn't really hungry (and frankly I've been eating later breakfast lately) and I wasn't sure what to do. I mean it's race morning don't I need to eat SOMETHING!? So I had my coffee and water and waited for the hunger to set in. This race has a late start (10:20am) so I figured I'd get hungry before then.... It was time to go... still not hungry. So I poured the remainder of my coffee over one scoop of First Endurance Cappuccino Ultragen in a flask, mixed a bottle of EFS and headed out.

I still wasn't really that hungry, but about an hour before the race I drank the Ultragen/coffee combo (which by the way tastes like a milkshake.. um, yum) and then wandered around a bit. I had been sipping on the EFS drink and had another swig right before heading to the start line. I didn't take anything with me.

We did the whole run and I didn't have one hunger pain the whole time. I didn't realize until we were done that I hadn't been hungry. SHOCKED really. I still wasn't that hungry. I am ALWAYS hungry.

I've been kinda holding out on using the First Endurance products thinking they were only "worthy" of longer / harder efforts, but man that stuff works... will need to put in in normal circulation.. anything longer than an hour to one and a half hours seems about right.

Focus.. hello? Are you out there?

I'm so unfocused right now and feeling kind of overwhelmed at the same time. I'm not focused on anything.. certainly not triathlon. Has me a bit nervous for Knoxville! I'm sure I'll survive.

I'm not even focused enough to write a blog about it. UGh! Thus why I haven't posted in a while.

I have 2.5 hours to myself 4 times a week and they are mostly taken up with workouts. All I want right now is to lay in bed and read the upteen thousand books I have checked out from the library... none of which are about triathlon. I'm reading about simplicity, the environmental impact of our over consumption... guess it's all kinda heavy and has me wanting to be in my head and not outside my body doing the things I have to do as a mother and athlete... can't I just get a tent and go into the woods for a little while? Please? No, oh fine!

So I do my workouts... read some books... feed/cloth/bathe/play with some kids... interact with my husband.... work w/ the contractors that are currently fixing the ice damning (I mean damming) damage to our house and day dream about being able to sell it sooner than later.

That's about it.

Sorry I'm not more uplifting and all go ho and what not about the pending tri season. I keep saying it will come. It will come, right? Of course it will. I guess this is my blog and part of the reality of this Wife.Mother.Athlete gig is that it's not all always great fun... so here's your daily dose of reality....

As we know ladies.. life happens... we keep our chin up and carry on!

Off to the woods w/ the kids and dog. Right after I bake this loaf of bread. We're hunkering down a little I suppose!

What do you do when you just want to escape!?

The Foodee Project - fits nicely w/ this simplification thing

I've simplified much of our house (there is still some work to be done), but I am now working on simplifying the many projects, processes and tasks of my life. One big one is MEAL PLANNING!!!!

How do you simplify your meal planning? PLEASE OH PLEASE tell me. Okay.

I've NEVER been good at this and it's definitely a process, but I wanted to share something that I just stumbled upon. Side note: I am working to incorporate more meat into my diet (previously vegan/veg) and am lacking delicious ways to prepare it. This site focuses on Paleo style eating - just FYI. If you're not so much into the meat you can skip this. :)

FOODEE to the rescue!

Basically they have a recipe a day - which I kindly added to my left side bar for your convenience and mine. All recipes are archived on their site. I originally thought these were recipes they were compiling peronsally, but when I clicked on one to check it out I was redirected to another blog. SHEER GENIUS! Now I don't have to spend time searching the web to come up with these things on my own. Browsing through other people's blogs (You know I LOVE to read blogs) and getting distracted by their other content. Yes, it does take me to these people's blogs so I guess I still run the risk of clicking away from the recipe and getting sucked in.

You can also submit your own yummy delicious recipes .... to drive traffic to your blog and allow people to get sucked in! Wink, Wink! :)

I'm happy to support this site and hope you'll check it out! I've got three meals from this site alone on my meal plan for the upcoming week. It really has made my life so much easier!!!

THANK YOU Foodee keep 'em comin'!

Triathlon and balance

 Travel gear for ONE month for STEVE's trip.

I've been reading a ton (I go in spurts.. I'll be a voracious reader on a particular topic and then I won't read for a long time.. it's like taking a drink from the fire hose then suffering through a drought.) about simplicity and minimalism ("Minimalism isn’t about being cool or hip (though some might think so). It’s about re-examining our lives. It’s bucking against the trend of over-consumption, of consumption as the fundamental act of our lives. It’s a critique of the status quo of owning too much, of mindless buying of gadgets and big cars and clothes and other luxury items." quoted from mnmlist.com). While minimalism can be quite extreme it appeals to me. I'm not in a position to delve so far so to have only a knapsack of belongings and travel through Europe with no source of income, but the idea of owning less and ending my consumerist style of living has great appeal. We've started to downsize quite a bit and I will say it's both freed up my time and seems to be starting to free up my mind while introducing me to a new way of thinking.

I'm thinking about how we are spending our money a great deal lately. We are by no means over spenders (and by we I'm mostly talking about myself bc Tom barely spends any money at all), but I know we (okay.. I'll just start saying I) spend money on things we don't 'need'. I want to work on 'needing' less. I want our family to live our life to it's fullest. I want to DO things together that are both fun and enriching.. not spend all our money on things, but on experiences. Anyway. I could go on and on and on... but I have no concrete answers to it all that I'm ready to share.

Hmm. This ONE RACE worth of stuff looks similar to Steve's ONE MONTH of stuff.

The other day as I'm driving along and thinking about all of this this pops into my head, "Can I be a 'minimalist' and an athlete.. specifically a TRIATHLETE!?" We aren't exactly known for SIMPLICITY or MINIMALISM. How much gear does it take to complete a triathlon not to mention the bottles and clothes we go through in any given week. I mean seriously. And don't even get me started on the shear quantity of food we can throw down!

In the end... yes, I think there is a way to find balance in it all. I have gone through my workout clothes and gotten rid of the non-essentials. You know those jerseys/shirts/shorts that are always rolling around in the back of the drawer. The ones you pick up, look at and then see you 'favored' and choose that one instead and the race shirts that are so ugly but you earned them, but you hang on to the extras for the days that you are behind on laundry and your favorites aren't available. The beauty of it is by getting rid of non-essential things in my life it's a rarity for me to get so far behind on the laundry that I NEED the 'extra' clothes. So away they went and I haven't missed them. A lot of the plastic bottles have found their way to good will or the recycling as well. Not a problem what so ever. Might need to wash a bottle pre-ride when the training volume gets longer and 'exhaustinger', but I'm cool w/ that to have some space in my life.

When it comes down to it part of the LIVING piece of the puzzle includes triathlon for me so it will always be worked into the program. I'll be talking about how to get it done... as I figure it out! Hmm wonder how Tom would feel about starting w/ the 11 bikes and 6 frames we have rolling around the garage! Probably not going to be 'downsizing' any of those. We could fill a small house w all of our bike stuff. I did get him to get rid of all his old extra helmets. Really, you have only ONE head why 6 helmets? Next up the 7 pairs of bike shoes. I get it.. you need road and mountain, but beyond that?????

How much GEAR do you have rolling around and how much of it is redundant and EXTRA!? Why do you keep it?

Tri Season is upon us folks!

 For $10 off race entry enter TRAKKERS27 at check out.

Okay. Time to get my head in the GAME! Tri season is here. REAL training has begun and my head is elsewhere (in case you hadn't noticed). It's all good though. I'm hitting the workouts (uh, except the swims last week. Additional level of scheduling headache w/ the hubs traveling and my regular swim time being in the evening.. post kid's bed.) I think I've got it nailed for this week. Time is carved out and plans are made (I sit down w/ my calendar every Sunday and make sure my workouts are SCHEDULED!!! this helps me insure that I get them done. I do have to juggle sometimes, but for the most part I can hit them) so I'm hopeful that my two swims will happen... though I'll be swimming solo and we all know how that usually turns out. Not quite as good as when I'm training w/ my friends, but something better than nothing.

Rev3 Knoxville is only 8 weeks away. EEK! I'm feeling okay. I lack focus a bit right now, but so long as I'm getting my workouts done I'm happy. The running is still painful... BOO! I'm suspecting that I'm going to be limping along all season because, let's face it, I'm not going to have any time to get off it for months to truly let it heal. I KNOW I need to do some yoga and I'm working on (meaning planning and getting my mind around getting up earlier) finding a place to fit it in. I've only ever overcome an injury and gotten back to pain free running through yoga. We all know it would benefit us... as would uh, swimming, biking, running, eating, sleeping and strength training. Who wants to pay me to just exercise all day? Cause I'll do it! Any takers? I can set up a paypal button on here and you can just start clicking it! :)

For $10 off race entry enter TRAKKERS27 at check out.

 

I'm no longer racing Rev3 Quassy either (oh, how plans change after the initial hub bub wears off and reality sets in). I AM working with Rev3 as the Local Volunteer Coordinator and I'm having so much fun with it. I mentioned some of the connections I'm making as a result. I've gotta say I love LJ too! She's so amazingly energetic and delightful. SO.. if you are coming to the race, but aren't racing (or you, uh, live here) click on THIS link and hit SIGN ME UP! and volunteer for this great race. It's an amazing experience to volunteer and gives great perspective as an athlete. Give back to your sport! You know you want to!

 For $10 off race entry enter TRAKKERS27 at check out.

Originally I had planned on doing Rev3 Portland as well, but things have changed. For a few reasons... 1. Money money money - all frequent flier miles have been used up for our trip to Texas for the MS150 in April.
2. Family. A trip to the PNW to do a race also includes crazy running around to see family. I wouldn't feel right going out there just to race and not going to see everyone. This would add a level to stress that I don't want to put the family through. We will find a time for a family only non-race related trip.
3. We are taking the kids to DISNEY World for their birthday. They don't know yet. We're going to do that 'hey kids, wanna go on an adventure today. Get dressed we're going to Disney." thing. This goes w/ the 'spend our money on family time' and not on items thing. Though Disney is FAR FROM MINIMALIST! ha :) To each their own.

Now I'm speculating as to whether or not I need to (should) do a local HIM. Thoughts on that? Can I hit a Full Triathlon without first doing a HIM? Coach says absolutely.. what are your thoughts fellow AGE GROUPERS!?

For $10 off race entry enter TRAKKERS27 at check out.

We're not even going to talk about Rev3 Cedar Point yet. Maybe after we get through Knoxville. Still totally freaks me out to think about it so I generally just don't! :)

For $10 off race entry enter TRAKKERS27 at check out.

Capping off with Rev3 South Carolina will be great fun. I'll be looking for what coach calls the Ironman Bounce.. a little bit of extra speed doing a shorter (God, really?) race after a longer race. Or I might be just glad to be heading back to my alma mater for some fun with the team and reunions with fellow alumni. We'll see how I'm feeling when we get there!

I am getting paid or three workouts a week so I suppose I shouldn't complain too much! My spins are going great. Coach has worked it so I have my three spins a week to just wreck myself w/ speed work and big gears and then I do one nice long ride outside. This works surprisingly well for me. I have a hard time killing myself on a ride outside, but I have a hard time NOT killing myself in a spin workout. Go figure.

In addition to this a buddy and I are putting together a tri program at the gym where I teach spin (New Milford Sports Club) that starts in June (yes, that's late, but it's for a sprint in August) and I'll be running a run and bike program as well in April and May. I'm really looking forward to sharing my love of sport w/ others and I get an enormous high from seeing people succeed in their athletic endeavors!

Should hear about whether or not I got into the NYC Marathon sometime mid April. Here's hoping that TP and I both get in. It would be a great way to cap off the season before hanging it up for some R&R.

Let's do this thing!!

How are you feeling about your upcoming season? HIM pre IM a necessity or a luxury?

Kid fun - Making Playdough

My kids have taken a real liking to play doh and I really hate the smell of it. Plus I don't need to buy more play doh containers so I decided to reuse the containers I already have (which are many) and make our own. It's so easy and non-toxic and I bet you've got everything you need around your house right now!

The kids really love to help and feel pride in making their own stuff. They put everything in the pot, I cook it, it cools, they kneed and put the food coloring of their choice in. Viola! Fun making it and more fun creating with it.

 Here's all it takes.

Basic ingredient ratios:
2 cups flour
2 cups warm water
1 cup salt
2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
1 Tablespoon cream of tartar (optional for improved elasticity)

food coloring (liquid or powder)


Mix all of the ingredients together, and stir over low heat. The dough will begin to thicken until it resembles mashed potatoes.

When the dough pulls away from the sides and clumps in the center, as shown below, remove the pan from heat and allow the dough to cool enough to handle. (if it feels sticky just keep cooking it until it no longer feels sticky.)

 Turn the dough out onto a clean counter or silicone mat, and knead vigorously until it becomes silky-smooth. Divide the dough into balls for coloring.

Make a divot in the center of the ball, and drop some food coloring¹ in. Fold the dough over, working the food color through the body of the playdough, trying to keep the raw dye away from your hands and the counter. You could use gloves or plastic wrap at this stage to keep your hands clean- only the concentrated dye will color your skin, so as soon as it's worked in bare hands are fine.

Work the dye through, adding more as necessary to achieve your chosen color.

They were proud of themselves. Lily had enough attention span left to actually play with it. Jason was pretty tapped out by the time we were done (though it was pretty quick) and they are both outside running now. Off to make dinner.

This really does take up much more of my day than Triathlon! ha I promise there is a post coming on my up coming race and the training that is ramping up.

Scott (a co-worker at New Milford Sports Club) and I had a good meeting today with some potential athletes for our tri program and I'm hopeful that we'll get at least 10 people on board so we can run the program. I can't wait to see them cross the finish line and experience the joy of accomplishing such a huge goal!

Balance

As you can see by my latest posts I haven't been focusing on triathlon or running too much ... I was 'recovering' from my marathon. I have still been exercising and running a bit here and there, but my mental energy has been other places. I've enjoyed the hiatus.

It's reminded me that I STILL need to work on balance. This blog is called WIFE.MOTHER.ATHLETE! Not just ATHLETE! I got all swept up and carried away in the Trakkers thing. Which is still totally awesome and I still can't believe that I'm a part of it all, but I need to also attend to, talk and write about the other two aspects of my life and therefore this blog. So in the posts to come you can expect to see more stuff about my other roles... along w/ my athletic endeavors.

Just sayin'.

Off to continue with some recovery SLEEPING!

Connections and Inspiration from an amazing woman - Susanne Navas

 I have been working away on both cleaning my house out in preparation for what I hope to be very exciting things AND working on recruiting volunteers for Rev3 Quassy.

Through the latter commitment I have been meeting people left and right, but only one in person. Susanne Navas lives in a neighboring town and I just had to talk about her here. I was tipped off to her presence by LJ from Rev3. Someone else within the Rev3 organization had met some representatives from the ACHIEVE kids tri program and suggested that we look into it here because there was an ACHIEVE chapter in the Waterbury area. I sent an email to a generic email address off their site and was directed to Susanne.

We exchanged an email and it seemed we had some things in common. She's a triathlete, mom and ambassador for a healthy lifestyle. I just knew I had to meet her. Who can't use a great training partner and friend?

This woman gets STUFF DONE! And she does it with grace!

Susanne is the head coach of the Waterbury Acheive kids tri program through the Waterbury YMCA (which I might add she spearheaded getting started in her community because she believes in it so much), she runs her own life, career and tri coaching business called Reboot through which she does and Active Women's Group, a Girls Program, group coaching and individual coaching. She is a driving force in her community to get people moving!

Susanne and I got together to talk about her involvement with Rev3 and because I am always looking to make great connections with other active women in my community.. or, er, surrounding communities. I had a very easy time of this in other communities I've been in, but it hasn't come as easy here. Don't get me wrong I have a great training partner that I love dearly, but I'm looking for a community of women to get together and inspire each other. Okay ... this is hard with the mommy gig I know!

I had no idea what to expect when meeting Susanne, but I was very excited. I've met a lot of women in the triathlon world... and most are fairly type A and it shows itself quickly. Susanne came in and she was very unassuming and while she was wearing an "I tri like a girl" shirt (which I believe she sells HERE. She does a little bit of everything doesn't she?) she had more of the yogini chill zen aura about her then the hard core triathlete kick ass and take names aura. I didn't instantly feel intimidated by her! (This is all good.) She listened to what I had to say and shared a lot of things about her life, but not in a boastful manner... just in a 'this is my life' manner.

I walked away from our little meeting so inspired by the fact that she sees something that she thinks is cool and worthwhile and she goes home and DOES IT. MAKES it happen in her community. This is how she got started with Acheive. She saw it in the back of a magazine on her way back from Ironman Cozumel (yea she's an ironman too) and when she got home she made it happen. She jumped any and all hurdles (to include getting USAT certified) to bring that program to her community. This just kicks ass if you ask me. I would have though oh what a great program. Looked to see if there was a chapter locally that I could volunteer with and when I discovered that there wasn't I would have been bummed and moved on. I would never have dreamed that little ol' me could get that kind of thing going. Not Susanne man she picked up that phone and made it happen. I'm so in awe of that. And in awe of her nature. I mean if you just met her you never would guess all that is behind her! She's unassuming! Not all "look at me I'm a total bad ass that gets so much stuff done". She's a pillar in her community without being boastful about it.

Her latest thing (which she again discovered in a magazine) is to do a Walking Bus ... basically she's going to be meeting kids (with the help of other adult chaperons) at the local Starbucks to walk to school instead of riding the bus. A subtle way to bring activity to the community and accentuate the need for more sidewalks to facilitate a more active life style.

On top of this she emailed me to see if Rev3 would be interested in donating some t-shirts for the kids to wear during these walks - which will go on the entire month of April. Always thinking about helping her community. WoW!

When I asked her how she mobilize people in such an amazing way her response again was very humble. "I never really thought about it.  I guess I just live my life, & always try to have fun & be thankful."

She's a starter and a doer this one. And a keeper. I can't wait to spend more time with Susanne. I hope to be involved in what she's got going on... because I'm mostly a doer not so much a starter.

Check her out and be inspired to be the best YOU can be and to start doing things in your own community.

Are you a starter or a doer? Do you know a 'Susanne' in your community? What can you do to instill a more active and healthful lifestyle in your own community? It starts with us people!

Minimalism and Simplicity - The Kid's Rooms

I'm skipping right along to Chapter 3: Environment of Simplicity Parenting because it jives with what's up here at the Mount household. Clean it out and simplify!

Our kids have too much stuff. And by 'our' I don't mean mine I mean 'our' in the collective sense. Most of the kids in America have a pluthera of toys they rarely if ever play with. They are scattered here and there, tucked in places, found on the kitchen floor and in the living room. It's rare to go to a friends house (I'm including my house here folks) that has kids without tripping on at least ONE toy.

Have you ever sat back and watched the kids go through the process of play with so many toys. They are like bulls in a china shop pulling everything out and running around like maniacs dropping toys in their wake. They are crazy eyed and lack focus. Then it's time to clean up and they whine and complain that there is TOO MUCH for them to do it all. (Okay parents this is clue numero uno.. if there are too many toys for your kid to clean up there are likely just too many toys in general.) And every time we are out they are begging and pestering us for more toys when the ones at home barely get played with. They really just get dumped on the floor and then put away.

Here's the deal (according to the book) imagine you collected all of these toys... from all areas of the house wherever they have landed. Now imagine that huge pile in your family room. This pile needs to be halved, then halved again and perhaps again. Discard what's no longer even working, donate others that are never played with, store some to be reintroduced later (I did not do this) and the rest are your keepers.

There is lengthy discussion about the types of toys that should be kept. Basically all the ones with batteries.. yea, they can go. (good luck w/ that.) That toy that promised that it would get your kid into Harvard.. guess what, it probably won't. Kids learn the best when they are sort of left to their own devices to use some creativity. Ever seen a kid pick up a stick and use it as any number of things? (We are currently on sword battles. Yeah!)

Here is the 10 point check list for toys that NEED TO GO!
1. Broken
2. Developmentally inappropriate (you know the ones you are holding onto from their younger years or the ones you got from someone, but your kid isn't really ready for just yet.)
3. Conceptually 'fixed' toys - leave nothing to the imagination - think 'character toys'.
4. Toys that 'do too much' and 'break too easily' - most of those battery operated monstrosities.
5. Very high stimulation toys - think flashing lights, mechanical voices, speed and sound effects.
6. Annoying or offensive toys - awful noises, project an offensive attitude or are generally ugly
7. Toys that claim to give your child a developmental edge
8. Toys you are pressured to buy
9. Toys that inspire corrosive play - not only guns and weapons, but anything that inspires play that isn't joyful and fun
10. Toy multiples

The book even moves into the realm of your child's book collection. I have had some direct experience with this one. At bed time your kid goes to pick his/her bedtime stories and has so many choices that it takes them an eternity to choose. The book suggests only 6 or so books per kid. Store the others to rotate in as you see fit. My kids didn't notice that I took most of their books away and now choosing stories at night doesn't become a battle. I put the rest in a bin up in my room in the attic where I can rotate them in and we go to the library to change it up a bit.

There is a long section about what to keep. Think basic multipurpose toys. Toys that aren't locked into one thing usage. You want your kids to be able to use their imaginations for part of the equation.

 Now that you have gone through and gotten rid of a large chunk of toys what do you do with what remains? You put the favorite toys where the kid can see them and you take the rest and put them in 1 to 2 bins that are covered so as not to distract them from play. They can still play with them obviously as they want, but they aren't bombarded by their presence and distracted by them.

All of these ideas apply to your child's wardrobe as well. We have also cleaned out their clothes (okay mostly it's my daughter that needed this.) and it's helped tremendously. Lily is quite particular about what she wears and she had a lot of clothes that did not fit the bill, but I liked them and was hopeful that she would wear them. Okay really? She won't wear them. They would just end up on the floor so she could get to the ones she wanted so my only interaction with these outfits was to pick them up off the floor to put them back where they go. So out the went. Now she has only her favorites to choose from and it is a manageable amount of clothing that she can take care of it herself (to include putting it in the drawers after I wash it for her).

Your goal with your child's space is to offer them an uncluttered space that is inviting and restful to the senses so they can go in there and productively be themselves. Imagining and creating and LEARNING!

Again I have no before pictures, but here are the after pictures of my kid's rooms. I'm loving it! They are now able to pick up after themselves with out complaining that there is too much stuff. And guess what, they haven't even NOTICED that most of their stuff is gone. Yes there has been the occasional 'where is xyz?" and I just say, "I don't know did you look in your bin?" and they usually trot off and then forget about it.

As an aside I had an epiphany the other day about this subject. Our bedroom is nearly empty aside from a bed, two end tables and two chairs. It's a big space - bigger than any bedroom we've ever had and we never purchased any more furniture. The kids LOVE to play up there and I never really got it because there is nothing up there. They would usually bring a few animals with them and just go to town up there... for hours. After reading this book I get it. It's like they've been trying to communicate all of this to me and I just wasn't hearing them.

The light blue/dark blue paint was already there. We added the circles because his sister had circles and he wanted some too.

 That's it. Those are all the toys! (I do have some games stashed for us to all play together.)

 I've since moved Lily's bed to open up the room and allow for more play area.

And the night stand holds all her clothes except her dresses.

 She loves to draw/color.

 The rest of her clothes and her toys.

This process is ongoing and I've really enjoyed the results. If you aren't ready to go whole hog and get rid of stuff I suggest that you get yourself some bins/boxes and just try it for one month. See if your kids notice and how they react and see how you feel as the parent now that you don't have to constantly trip on your kid's stuff and nag them to put it away!

This book is worth the read I'm serious! Pick up a copy at the library or a used copy from Amazon then pass it along to a friend or sell it on Amazon ... that's the simple way to do it! 

Minimalism and Simplicity - Parenting

I am a woman obsessed. This is pretty normal for me. Find something ... latch onto it... assume it will fix all the world's problems... consume myself... make changes... move on to next life altering greatness.

My current WORLD's PROBLEM solver is simplicity. I'm not sure that it is the solution to the world's problems, but I know it's helping me a TON!

The book Simplicity Parenting by Kim John Payne, M.Ed was recommended to me by a dear friend. She's one of the women/mom's that just gets me (my BFF from the Austin Marathon trip - Mama Marie) and has a similar parenting style to mine so I just knew this book would be a good one! And it certainly didn't hurt that it is in line w/ my current love of simplifying.

This book continues to rock my parenting world.

Here is a blurb from their site that I thought was spot on in describing the book (ironic huh? On their very own site!)

Simplicity Parenting by Kim John Payne offers a simple, orderly, and effective pathway to simplify four realms at home, which reduces stress on children and their parents, and allows room for connection, creativity, and relaxation.

Environment: De-cluttering too much stuff at home.
Rhythm: Increasing predictability by introducing rhythmic moments for connection and calm.
Scheduling: Soothing violent schedules brings moments for Being into all the Doing.
Unplugging: Reducing the influence of adult concerns, media and consumerism on children and families to increase resilience, social and emotional intelligence.
Parents who take steps along this pathway to simplify their homes and their schedules, to introduce more predictable rhythms and to filter out concerns which children are not yet able to cope with, find that their children:


• Are calmer and happier
• Do better socially and emotionally
• Are more focused at school
• Find it easier to comply with family rules
• Become less picky eaters

These parents also find that they themselves:
• To have a clearer picture of what they value as parents
• Are more united with each other in their parenting
• Have more time and energy for connection, relaxation, and fun


I will continue to do posts around the books suggestions - what I'm doing and how it's going.

In the meantime check your local library, cruise around the website and try some of this in your own home and see how much easier it can make things for everyone!

How's the clutter in your kid's life? How do you think it effects them?

Minimalism and Simplicity - The Kitchen

Perhaps because people are cracking up over my drawer photos (well, just the guys.. ha) I thought I should add that I was inspired by Kath at KERF to do this post. She shared (much better) photos of her kitchen and it gave me the kick in the rear to finish mine up!

I finally feel like I've dwindled the kitchen down to a comfortable level. I thought I would share my "after" photos. Unfortunately I don't have the "before" photos of my cupboards and pantry stuffed full of unused items. My wine glasses and martini glasses used to be kept in a separate room because there were too many to fit in my already cluttered kitchen. That was my last 'let go'.. how many wine and martini glasses do I really need? We don't ever entertain.. and probably won't start any time soon. And if we do I can ask someone to please bring some glasses for me to borrow for the evening. Right? :)

So here are some photos. No, it's not always this neat, but I have been trying to leave it looking like this at the end of the day so I wake up to a fresh start each morning. All you other stay at home moms know just how much time we can end up spending in this space any given day.

Nice clear counters. Not the case in the 'before' photos. (Making some chicken broth.)

Ah, my favorite spot in the kitchen. The beloved coffee bar. The white bins on the bottom hold 'office' items like envelopes, our check book, stamps, note cards, stapler etc. The basket on the left is a place I can put random toys found on the breakfast bar until they can be placed in kid's rooms later. The basket on the right holds all my teas.

 Where I keep track of what's up at Che Mount. The family calendar and the filing system. All "to be filed" (upstairs) items go here along w/ kids homework, currently the kindergarten registration paperwork and a drawing to frame. 

 This pantry used to be a nightmare catch all for things I couldn't find a place for. It's since been pared down to 'essentials'.. though Tom and I just had a discussion about some of the attachments for the stand mixer that are rarely - if ever - used that will likely go. I am following his lead on this as they are really his things.

 There are more glass food storage containers that fill in some of the bare spots, but they are all currently in use in the fridge.

 I keep the most used pans (small sauce pan and omelet pan) in the cupboard above the microwave along w/ our hot pads.

I could probably stand to downsize my spices, but I'm not one to throw things out. 

I've got to say that I'm pretty proud of myself for completing this task. I usually find all kinds of excuses to keep things and I've been pretty aggressive in the kitchen and feel so much lighter now. I'm not constantly moving things to find the things that I need to use quickly. I'm able to keep the counters clean because they aren't covered in stuff. I try really hard to use the same coffee and water cup all day. I'm pretty good with that.. I also have a favorite spoon (weird I know) and paticular bowls that I like so I will wash them after each use and reuse them... downsizing my dishwasher load.

On a separate but similar (to dishwasher duty) point. I just changed up my laundry routine and it has cut it at least in half. I now have the kids bring their laundry baskets downstairs (they are 4.5 years old now) and I wash all the laundry. I fold mine and Tom's and I just dump Jason and Lily's into their laundry baskets and then will either have them carry them upstairs or will place them in their rooms and have them put their clothes away. I was wasting my life folding tiny little clothes that only ended up in balls on the floor or in the drawer as they chose what to wear. So why bother right? Jason loves the responsibility of it... it's a bit of a struggle with Lily, but I have let it go. It's just not a battle worth fighting... 

As I get through the rest of the house I'll take some pictures here and there. Another load building in the back of my car to be dropped this upcoming week!