Category Archives: Thoughts & Feelings

XC Ski

Well I went with my mom and her co-worker XC Skiing today! It was so much fun, but I think I toasted them on the trails! I remember a time that my mom was in better ski shape than me, but I think because of all of the working out i’ve done over the past week or two I’ve already become stronger!

It was REALLY warm out today… probably close to 50. I easily could have been in a tank top, which seems ridiculous given the amount of snow that is still left. I could get used to this though! If today was my last time XC Skiing of the season I won’t be terribly depressed… but it would be nice maybe one more time. We’ll see.

I tried to “run” most of the time, or at least double pole with a kick like my old co-worker taught me, but I quickly found myself way ahead of my mom, especially when it came to hills. It felt great, but my arms are still tired from Spin class!

Well… toodles!

Spin Cycle

Today I went to my first Spin Class since 2005 maybe 2006. As I got there I saw the class was jam packed for a Friday night jaunt. That sort of made me feel better, that I would blend in!

The instructor who looked about 75 years old helped me get set up, and off and going! We started out the spin class all nice with a few hills and warming up, and then the Nazi Slave Driver in him came out! I thought I was going to die or pass out a few times! I DEFINITELY hit my lactic threshold a few times!

His favorite line was to ask everyone in class: “If you’re going to puke…where do you puke?” and then everyone screamed out… “To the Right”… I thought oh boy what did I get myself into, and wow, puking sounds so appealing right now!

I was so hot and not sweating very well, so next time I do spin I need to be well hydrated ahead of time! All I wanted to do the second half of class was run outside into a snow bank!

I know if I attend regularly that it will help me improve my biking technique… so I will go back and spin with crazy Don again.

Kirra undoubtedly had a blast again in the kids area!

Till next time!

Day One – Stop making excuses

I’m sick or “pretend” injured…

I’m tired….

I don’t have time…

I’ve tried and I’m still not as good as _____…

The gym is too far away…

It’s too cold outside, or its raining…

I could keep going with this list, but I’m guessing you get the point. So often my training gets derailed by my own inner dialogue I have with myself, that I am… truly my own worst enemy in the training department. So often I miss just one day of training and then I pack up the trunk…the show is over!

When I look in the mirror I’m not who I once was. Don’t get me wrong, and don’t worry I do not have self esteem issues, but my body has taken a vacation on me. And not the kind that gets all sun kissed and sandy… no… my body is not as muscular as it once was. I miss that…

I used to run 6 miles per day, and swim and bike nearly every day as well. I was in a cycling club that logged 80-100 miles per weekend, I was completely “in shape”.

I’ve tried over the past few years to get motivated, and get back on the fitness horse, but I haven’t really gotten on. Sure I’ve ridden side saddle, but I want to ride western style again like i’m in a wild wild west movie. I’m getting back on with low running mileage and two sports I really love and adore…swimming and biking.

I’m not planning anything really crazy this year, unless you think that 6-8 triathlons this year is “crazy”. Nothing will be over an olympic distance, because again… i’m learning to ride a horse again… not try and ride 8 seconds on a wild bull. (what’s up with the western theme..seriously?)

So… here it is… laid out for all to see. I’m about to stop making excuses and just do… or just TRY for Pete’s sake.

I’m doing 4 indoor triathlons this year at various Life Time Fitness locations around the metro. Why four? Because if I do 4 I get this super nifty transition bag and I can look cool when I show up to my other races!

I’m also planning to do some open water/outdoor triathlons as well.

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Today… was day one…

Since Jason’s been home with Kirra all day the girl doesn’t get out much and see people her own size. Because I have grown to hate this winter I’d much rather workout inside than outside… plus if I’m going to be training for a a triathlon and swim its kind of hard to swim in frozen lakes, and bike on icy streets. Besides that… there is a great kids area at the gym so she can get some kiddo time.

So! We went… Because i’m on the huge Triathlon kick, and since my first one is in 6 weeks I thought I better get training. Today – was a “see where I’m at”, backwards triathlon.

Run
Bike
Swim

RUN:
Ran 20 minutes on the treadmill. This is the time that you have to run for the indoor tri. You’re scored based on mileage. I started out walking for 5 minutes and ran about 13 minutes, and then took a 2-3 minute cool down slow run and walk. I made it a whopping 1.5 miles!

Bike:
Walked over to the bikes, adjusted my seat and off I went. After doing a quick heart rate check I had to slow down. My bike seat was all goofy and kept twisting and shifting on me, so that was just a real treat of a ride… also the seat raises and lowers in levels not exactly my height… so it was kind of a sucky ride. I think in the future I’m just going to do spin class where you can adjust your seat exactly and wear your cycling shoes which makes such a HUGE difference… but I kept it above 90 RPMs and biked for 30 minutes which is the time that you’re supposed to bike. I made it a whole 7.4 miles! Woot! I think I could go faster on a spin bike which I get to be on for the tri.

Swim:
Jumped in the pool and started out with my tried and true = breaststroke. I used some tips from my co-worker Quinn for better technique and “drills”. My co-worker is/was a competitive swimmer so I feel like I can utilize her expertise and get some help. We were talking about how silly it is that I do breastroke for triathlons when freestyle will help me go a lot faster and probably conserves more energy.

The reason I don’t do freestyle is that my breathing always gets jacked up, and my arms get super tired… but I thought, ah what the heck and gave it a try. To be honest… I think with some practice the freestyle stroke is going to be the one I utilize this season. It felt better, and was surprised that it worked. When I tried to go too fast I barely made it 25 yards, but once I slowed down…regulated my breathing it worked out great! Speed will come later. For now… i’m working on technique and not drowning…. If I had to guess I’d say I went 300-400 yards.

All in all it felt good! Kirra had a blast playing with people her own size.. when I told her it was time to go this was our dialogue as she was climbing in the slide area:

Me: Kirra its time to go
Kirra: No… not yet
Me: Kirra, I want to go home
Kirra: Well… I don’t

Eventually I bribed her out with Dora.

She had to go potty, so our conversation continued:

Kirra: um. Mommy? Did you have a nice swim?
Me: Yes Kirra. I ran and biked and swam actually.
Kirra: Yeah, I have to run and bike and swim tonight too. I’m going to be so busy and pooped out!

All in all I’d say it was a great workout. I’m excited to do it again!

Until Next time….

Liar Liar pants on Fire….

Well Kirra has been a pretty good liar lately!

I don’t mind her being sassy believe it or not… but this lying business!!!
(GROSS FACTOR WARNING)…Yesterday she has some skid marks in her undies, so when we asked her about it… she told us that Tyler pooped in her undies….
At the dinner table she told us she had to go potty… so we let her leave the table…and when she was gone for a bit we found her in our room watching Dora! (STINKER!!!)

Skating time! Round two!

Well Jason and I decided now that Kirra has smaller skates thanks to her cousin Bella, we’d give it another go…Plus Kirra has been begging us to take her skating since her and I watched Nationals on TV. We got out there and at first Kirra was really scared although functional! I just told her to walk normal on the ice…

We got the pusher around her while Jason was in front, and I was behind her kind of holding her up, while she held onto the pusher to get her comfortable and re-assured on the ice.

Eventually she felt sturdy enough for just one of us to hold the pusher because she tried to skate too fast and would fall on her butt. At first she enjoyed hanging onto the front bar,although she was supposed to hang onto the top curves…so her steering was pretty bad!
After we got her to hang on the top and LOOK where she was going…I held the pusher in front to keep her from going too fast, but she was doing pretty good pushing her mama around the rink! We even made it around the rink about 6 times before she declared her tiredness! That’s about $2 per loop for us! HAHAH.

Jason and Kirra were pooped out, and I wanted to let loose a bit, so I fired off some more loops fast to compensate for our entry fee. There were far too many people on the ice with little kiddo’s so I couldn’t do any spins or jumps.
O’well. I’ve learned that teaching Kirra how to ice skate is going to take LOADS and LOADS of patience, but she really enjoys it, and I enjoy watching her skate as I had all those years ago, and with her puffy pink coat, she kind of looks like the little pig! 🙂

Finishing up January

Well the first month of the year went really pretty well! I got to see my super good friend from the Navy, and Kirra has settled into her new routine with Daddy (who is a stay at home dad again)…

Although having my camera back I haven’t found much time to go out and take photos. Lame hu? Hopefully February will provide me with more opportunities to photograph! I have some portraits lined up, and a vacation too… so that should be good.
I ended up quitting my part time job. I loved working with them, but decided it was too much on my plate, especially in the summer. I was a bit stressed out last year with all of the things I was trying to juggle and decided that this year should be different.
This weekend I’ve stayed in mostly all weekend. I started feeling sluggish Friday and Saturday, and then Saturday night I really started to feel ill. I thought maybe I was just tired since it was a headache…but now I have a sore throat too :(…I went to go to the minute clinic but it was a three hour wait…and then I went to Target’s clinic but they were all full…so I will just go in-in the morning.
I went to Black Swan with my sister and brother’s girlfriend on Saturday which was really good!
Well I’m off for bed. I should rest so I can make it into work tomorrow!

Phoenix Arizona

What a super great trip I had in Phoenix! Each year I get to travel to an expo around the United States to help promote the marathon. It’s a fun way to do something different at work while seeing the country. 2011 I got to go to Phoenix with my co-worker Sandy.

We departed FREEZING Minnesota on Thursday morning for our 9:00 a.m. flight. I was happy to learn once on board that they were hosting an in flight movie, “The Social Network”. This certianly would make our three hour flight go by a lot faster, and it did! We landed saftely, and it was neat over looking the valley and the mountains. I noticed one thing on our decent… NO SNOW… and… no grass….. interesting….

We grabbed our luggage after we deplaned and hoped across the road to grab the shuttle to the rental car facility. Once out of the airport we felt the AMAZING warmth that Phoenix had to offer, and it was gladly recieved. I turned my cell phone on for an instant weather report… 71 degrees. Woot Woot!

We drove over to our hotel which was super nice, and got up to our room on the 26th floor with an amazing view. After that we ran over to the convention center and set up our expo booth, which took a total of 15 minutes.

After that we hopped in our rental car and went touring. Sandy had found this Mineral Museum online and wanted to check it out. It was really neat to see all of the different rocks and minerals! It reminded me so much of my grandpa and his love for egats.

Sandy is also a “geo-casher” which means that she does modern orientering with a GPS device. So I happily rode along with her as she looked for chaches. We came across a military memorial park which was really interesting to me and also hosted the anchor from the USS Arizona which was sunk during the attack on Parl Harbor.

We also came across this riduculously old gravesite that was the most pitiful graveyard I’ve seen in my life. Again… no grass… just dirt and delapetated headstones. It was kind of sad to tell you the truth.

Then since we didn’t know where else to go, and since most museums were closed, we tooled around on a impromptu “road trip” through Northern Phoenix, and some mountain foothills/aka little mountains. We had a really fun time looking at the different neighborhoods, and alas we found some yards with grass.

We had a coupon in our Expo packet for a free appitizer of lettuce wraps from P.F. Changs so we took a road trip to Tempe for dinner, and it was pretty good. Our waitor was from White Bear Lake so that was kind of fun in a “small world” kind of way.

Friday we went for breakfast right at the hotel and had a super good breakfast buffet. Probably… the best breakfast buffet I’ve ever had in my life! We were stuffed! After that it was work time! We were across the aisle from some sparsley dressed women who were working with overclothed men. It was interesting… but there were SO MANY people from Minnesota that either came down for the marathon, were snow-birds, or have relocated permenantly to Arizona from Minnesota.

While at the expo my old roomate from the Navy when I was in Spain and Japan stopped by to say hello. It was really fun to see her and her super adorable daughter.

After work we headed out to Scottsdale for a really nice dinner at the Old Town Tortilla Factory which is a restaurant that was remodled from a 75 year old adobe home. It was great. We sat on a sprawling 1,400 square foot brick patio that was filled with heaters to keep you nice and cozy, and lots of white christmas lights all over. It was really a nice ambiance!

After a delicious dinner we strolled down the main road which was lined with Art Galleries. Actually it was called the art walk line . It was just gallery after gallery filled with amazing artwork that went for a minimum of $1,800, and the most expensive piece I saw was a piece by my new favorite artist Pejman going for $42,000. It was definitely a great night spent with great company!

Saturday morning we woke up and had breakfast again at the hotel and this time I had a waffle that was equally delicious! We worked a full day while taking breaks also to enjoy the beautiful weather! We saw lots of Minnesota folks at the expo including some people we actually knew! After a long day it was time to bust down shop…

Shawna picked me up at the hotel, and it was as if I had only seen her last week! It was a great reunion! She brought me to her new sprawling house that was really nice, and some other navy buds were at her house as well. She cooked a very very lovely Carne Asada Tacos for dinner, and we had a bonfire at her house until 3:30 a.m. when we finally fell asleep after some much needed catching up! I miss her so much already! I’ll have to watch for cheap air fare so we can visit each other again!

She brought me back to the hotel in the morning and Sandy and I packed up and headed to breakfast. We didn’t go to the hotel for breakfast but rather some mini chain restaurant that specializes in breakfasts and lunch. It was super delicious. I had an omelet what was super nummy. After that we sadly were due to go back to the airport. Our time in the sun had ended…

We got on our plane – this time with no movie…and headed back to Minnesota. I had so much fun with Sandy on this trip! It was truly a marvelous time.

On our decent I noticed the houses and all of the snow… so much different than our landing in Arizona… but it looked like someone had set up a magnificent “Department 56” display… and again… I was home….

Life in plastic, it’s fantastic!

Yesterday was just an ordinary day. After I picked Kirra up from Tally’s we ran over to Target to pick up a few items, and order her birthday cake. We’re celebrating Kirra’s 3rd birthday this Saturday over breakfast.

Kirra had swimming again last night, which she just loves. She is supposed to be in a class of five, but everyone else keeps ditching out, so once again Kirra got a private lesson. She did really great again, and cried when it was time to be done. (Which I semi – blame on the instructor because he took her down the froggie slide, but only let her go down one time…)

We are so happy with taking lessons at the Y, and I was glad I made the switch without forking out the big dough for Foss. Our instructor is great too, and Kirra likes him despite barring Kirra from going on the froggie slide more than once.

Once we got home there was only time for -one- Dora, and then it was bedtime. Shortly after Kirra went to bed I did as well. It had been a long day and i was just exahusted. At my best guess around 2:00 a.m. (becuase I never looked at the time) Kirra climbed into bed with me and usually she just finds her little spot and goes to bed.

Well last night she climbs in, and is all rambunctious. She keeps trying to get me to do something, but i’m not really paying attention, because i’m sooo tired… so I tell Kirra to laydown (several times might I add), and eventually she is quiet and i fall back to sleep…

Fast forward to around 5:30 a.m. I wake up and Kirra is not in bed with me, (PANIC)so and i notice the bathroom door is closed… (MORE PANIC) so i rush in there hoping i’m not walking into a nightmare situation, – no Kirra- go to her room where she is fast asleep. Phew! (Personally I couldn’t belive she put her self back to sleep, but cool)

I go back to bed to sleep another half hour, and my arm hits something hard, cold and plastic, and i realize all of Kirra’s barbies are in bed with me. I turn the lights on to get ready, and all of barbies clothes are in bed with me too… so i wake Kirra up and ask her if she was playing barbies in my bed, and she said, yup – but you were too tired to play barbies though mama…

Well there is no denying now that she is my kid! I absolutely loved barbies when I was a child, and I’m glad Kirra enjoys them as much as I did. I will have to teach her the appropriate times to play barbies however. Well off to drop Kirra off at Tallys & go to work!

Early Birthday!

What a great weekend we had! Saturday Kirra and I woke up semi early and had some breakfast together, and then we were off to take photos for a friend at a park nearby. After the photo shoot we went out to Burger King for some lunch, and playtime.

Kirra and I got back around 2:00 p.m. or so and boy were we exhausted! We both took a lovely three hour nap and then headed out to Grandma & Grandpa’s. Pam & Phil were there too because they were all going on a vacation to Mexico and had to plan it out.
Unfortunately Uncle Miah & Auntie Am didn’t know if they could make it to Kirra’s birthday party this upcoming weekend, so they brought Kirra’s birthday to her a little early! We all had to go outside to see what it was, and Kirra’s eyes light up, and her arms went up in the air like she just scored the wining touchdown. They bought her a barbie wheels four wheeler! THANKS UNCLE MIAH & AUNTIE AMILLIE!
 
It ended up being a late night so Kirra and I just slept over. She woke up exceptionally early because of daylights savings time so we woke up and Grandma made us french toast which was super delicious,and then we took a long walk down the dirt road with Kirra on her 4 wheeler. After some ATV time we jumped on the trampoline and then went to church.
Kirra and I came home and she took a nap (aka played quietly in her room) and I got a few things done. We’re headed out to my 7 year old nieces birthday today! The fun never ends…