Thursday, June 30, 2011

TTT

Workout yesterday: Suck Less Program - 185 push ups, 324 sit ups, 179 tricep dips, plank intervals (4 min total). I've been cycling through the sets pretty fast - push ups, sit ups, tricep dips, followed by plank. It's exhausting. It gets it done quick, though.

1. I am addicted to Click. Seriously. I have it for dessert sometimes. It's a little bit crazy how much I love this stuff.


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You can check their website HERE. That's not a referral link or anything. I just love it.

2. Seriously. Who chooses this!?


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3. Last night, #2 says to me, "I want to make an ENTRANCE. I need a smoke machine. And a shovel."

Um....

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Word(y) Wednesday....

Last night's run: RLRF called for 400's. I'm not fancy enough to run on a track (it scares me, honestly), so I did mine on a treadmill set at 1 incline. I also am math dumb, and can't think and run at the same time - so instead of 100 RI, I did 400 cool down. Don't judge me.

Anyway. My 400 goal pace was 2:24-2:32. .5 mi warm up, then...
1 @ 2:26
2 @ 2:21
3 @ 2:21
4 @ 2:22
5 @ 2:19

and 400 cool down at the end. 3 miles, 33:23.

I am really enjoying this RLRF so far. The pace is always fast enough for me to think twice before starting - like, can I *really* do this?!, but not SO challenging that I can't actually do it.
*******

Are you a fan of delicious flavor? I'm meeting up with some other runner/bloggers at Yogurtland tomorrow evening! If you're in the area, I'd love to meet you - shoot me an email for the details!

*******

Guess what came in the mail yesterday?


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Yep... Pearl Izumi cycling shorts, that I got a killer deal on.

Plus....



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Coincidence? Probably not...

Monday, June 27, 2011

Plan for the Week, and weekend recap

Happy Monday (ish)!

Last week I hit ALL of my planned work outs. However, I'm timing-dumb, and ended up doing Suck Less on the same days as my runs. I dislike this. A LOT.

Monday - nada

Tuesday - Speedwork on the treadmill (12:10, 11:04, 10:30 splits), followed by Suck Less (195 sit ups, 170 push ups, 124 tricep dips. Skipped plank.)

Wednesday - left work early to make enchiladas with my little cousin (little, ha, she's 20).

Thursday - Tempo run, 3 miles with 2 at tempo pace (intended pace 10:37, actual 10:25), Suck Less Program (185 push ups, 392 sit ups, 143 tricep dips. Still a plank skipper.). Stretched and did some yoga in between sets, so I'm counting it, kind of.

Friday - I made ravioli, from scratch, on a whim, for my big cousin. It was magical. You can see it and drool HERE.


Saturday - Sweat Your Thorns Off Virtual 5K, plus 1.9 miles tacked on for my highest mileage since The Ankle. My RLRF long run pace was supposed to be 12:24... actual 12:20. 5 miles! But that's not all... Followed by bumming my 12 yr olds bike (she's taller than me, it works) to see how I really feel about cycling. Turns out, it's glorious. Aside from the ass pain. That's easily remedied. THEN! I still did Suck Less - 200 push ups, 256 sit ups, 168 tricep dips.

Phew.

This week....
Monday - Suck Less
Tuesday - 3 miles, intervals
Wednesday - Suck Less
Thursday - 4 miles, 3 miles at tempo pace
Friday - Suck Less
Saturday - 6 miles (eeek!)

After my very, very busy Saturday, I spent Sunday undoing ALL THE THINGS. Donuts for breakfast... I'm the mayor of Donut Star.

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Don't be jealous.

Then, I took #1 and #2 to 85*C bakery in Irvine. #1 has been begging us to go, but there was a giant line last time. Turns out, there's ALWAYS a line. So we went. And waited. And it ended up being magical. And fairly cheap, which I appreciate.

THEN, we went to the Japanese market in Costa Mesa... where apparently I hadn't had enough pastry...


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Yep.

Then, for dinner, this kid....


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requested a flower shaped pizza.


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Right. I mean, I tried.

Saturday, June 25, 2011

This weekend is off to a grand start

First, last night, I took this....
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And turned it into this...
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Which we ate with....
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Which I also made. And it was amazing.

Then this morning, I did this...
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Because THIS GUY organized the Sweat Your Thorns Off Virtual 5K.... Followed that with another 2 miles for a total of 5 - my longest run since The Ankle.

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Sweat-tastic.

And now we're off to Sports Authority to use some gift cards I got for Mother's Day.

Hope your weekend is rocking! Adios!

Friday, June 24, 2011

Good news, guys....

If there's ever a natural disaster in LA/OC, and I'm at work, I will not starve.



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Rest easy, folks.

Why Today is Awesome

1. Last night, I KILLED my tempo run. It was pretty rad. Based on my (estimated) time trial, I was shooting for 10:37. What actually happened - 1/2 mile warm up, 1 mile @ 10:39, 1 mile at 10:15, 1/2 mile cool down.

Now I think I've been underestimating myself. That 2nd mile seemed pretty easy....

But that's not all!

2. Then! I did Suck Less. Total of 185 push ups, 392 sit ups, 143 tricep dips. The H "accidentally" gave me column three of sit ups, instead of column two. Jerk.

But I did them, and it wasn't that awful. Again with the underestimating myself....

Anyway, I *kind of* have some muscle now. Sort of. A little.



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3. Also, did you see the Tinker Bell Half Medal!? Hello, giant sparkly twirly thing...


(Yes, I've heard Tinker Bell TWIRLS. How rad is that?!)

4. I saw this on my way to work today....

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Really? I think I would pass on hiring you, my friend.

5. Last night, I talked to someone with the local chapter of Team in Training, and Gabby has been selected to be the Honored Teammate for the Orange County/Inland Empire for the winter season! So excited to be working with TNT, and help the Team raise money for LLS.

6. Florida is coming up FAST - 10 days! While I'm not at all excited about the hot, and the humidity (oh dear lord the humidity), I AM excited to see some people I haven't seen in a while... and hopefully eat some real Cuban food. Not that fakey stuff I pretend to make.

7. You know you're a runner when this shows up in your taskbar.......

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8. And FINALLY, it's the last day of the work week, and I don't have to be in my office for TWO WHOLE DAYS! Phew. It was getting close to stabbing-o-clock around here.

Thursday, June 23, 2011

Three Things Thursday

1. This is the funniest freaking thing I've read in ages. No, seriously. SERIOUSLY.

2. Things that everyone seems to love that I don't understand: greek yogurt, and lululemon.

3. Tonight, is tempo run night. Eeek!

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Wordless Wednesday...

But first... I did speed work last night, and it was magical. I mean, it sucked, at first, but then it was magic. 3 miles, splits: 12:10, 11:04, 10:30. It was sweat-tastic. Then, I did Suck Less Program. That no-lie sucked hard. 195 sit ups, 170 push ups, 124 tricep dips. Skipped plank. I'm a plank skipper. I'm at peace with that.

Phew.

Anyway...

Wordless Wednesday!


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Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Tirade Tuesday

1. Dear HR/OPS guy: Why would you throw a tantrum like a 4 year old about coffee? Just buy the damn coffee. You drink it as much as anyone else. You have the corporate card. You have petty cash. Grab it on your lunch break. It's not that complicated. But no. It's all so very unfair, isn't it, that you are EXPECTED to do that. You, who is in charge of all other office supplies. Why would we ever expect you to also buy coffee while you're at Costco buying papertowels. That's silly.

No worries, my friend. I bought some on my way in. My reciept is on your desk. I'll be expecting that expense check come Friday. Thanks.


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2. Hey, legs. You used to suck less. I don't know what your deal is now, but cut it out. You're irritating me. I know you can be better than what you are currently acting like. Stop that.


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3. Stupid knot in my hamstring: you hurt. I have been foam rolling and stretching, and you won't quit. You suck.


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4. Priceline - please just give me the damn hotel I want at the price I want to pay. I would be grateful.


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5. My BFF's, CalTrans. Was it really necessary to completely close the entrance to the 22? I like going that way sometimes, and now I can't. FOR A YEAR. Why would you DO that?! What did I ever do to you? WTF.

Monday, June 20, 2011

Plan for the Week

First, what I did last week:

Tuesday - Suck Less Program (total 96 tricep dips, 265 sit ups, 91 pushups, plank intervals (4 min total))
Wednesday - 3 miles, easy-ish pace (until the Goose Attack)
Thursday - Suck Less Program (total 100 push ups, 289 sit ups, 105 tricep dips, plank intervals (4 min total)), yoga at home
Friday - 3 miles, easy pace
Saturday - Suck Less Program (113 tricep dips, 307 sit ups, 130 pushups, plank intervals (4 min total))
Sunday - 4 miles, easy pace
Sunday - testing out for the week on push ups and sit ups (45 push ups, 80 sit ups)

What's missing? Oh, right. Any type of speedwork, at all. Unless you count running away from birds.

I don't know what my damage is, but every time I've run, it feels like I've never run before in my life. And it sucks, and I just can't get my legs to go faster. I thought I'd work in a mile time trial, and it just didn't happen. I mean, I tried, and I seriously felt like I was kicking ass, and then I roll out with a 10:55 mile. BS. I know I am better than that. My legs need to start sucking less, asap. I'm about ready to be done with them.

Of note, there were hills. But that's no excuse.

Anyway.

On tap for this week...
Today - Suck Less Program
Tuesday - 3 miles, speedwork (no, for real this time)
Wednesday - Suck Less, yoga
Thursday - 3 miles, tempo (again, for real, really)
Friday - Suck Less
Saturday - 5 miles, easy

Current Racing Delimma of the Week
I know I said I wanted to run the Operation Jack half in December. But I'm kinda playing with the idea of... not. I volunteered last year, and had a blast. I think I'm leaning towards volunteering again this year.

And this is my crazy reasoning....

I am already registered for half's in September, October, December, January, and February. What's missing from this picture? November... and I can't find a November race that I'm inclined to do. If I *could*, I'd register and hit all six months consecutively, because I'm a crazy person that way. (But not as crazy as this girl...).

But since I haven't...

WWYD? Any great (California) half's that I don't know about?

PS - Cupcake recipe, coming up.

PSS - I just double checked my splits, and there's something off with the app I was using... 'cause it really looks like it was just over a 9 minute mile. That sounds far more likely.

I guess I need a Garmin...

Friday, June 17, 2011

A day in the life....

I mentioned the other day that Gabby had a 9 hour appointment on Tuesday.

This is kind of medical-y, and detailed, so feel free to skip down to the pictures (or skip down to Five for Friday, 'cause there's no running or cupcakes involved here).

Gabby has Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. There are 4 pieces of treatment for ALL - Induction (which included The Steroid), Consolidation, Delayed Intensification (which re-introdueced The Steroid), and Maintenance. We're in the midst of DI right now. Someone warned me, back in February, about DI - that Consolidation was okay, but then there's DI. And it pretty much sucks.

He was right.

Luckily, Gabby was not considered high-risk (nor was she low risk, but most kids aren't), so our experience with DI wasn't as bad as it could have been.

I try, really hard, to keep a balance between recognizing how serious her condition is - she looks okay, and acts okay, most days, so it's easy to forget sometimes - and trying to maintain her "kid-ness".

I'm very lucky, that she has a dad that was able and willing to stay home and take care of most doctor visits, and that I have a job willing to let me take whatever time off I need.

Gabby was scheduled for nine hours at the infusion center (OPI), to kick off the last half of DI.

When I saw that, I was sure it was an exaggeration. Positive. How is that even possible, really? Nine hours? No way.

The H planned on going by himself, but that sounded dumb, so I took the day off to go with them.

Every OPI visit starts with The Cream. It's just a numbing cream, and it works pretty fast, so in theory she doesn't feel anything when her port is accessed. Still, Gabby knows exactly what it means. The Cream means, her port is getting accessed. She doesn't really dig that.

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One of Gab's new quirks, is that she's extra particular about what she's wearing. She likes to "accessorize" herself... and I'm guessing it's just a part of her trying to hold on to whatever control she can. All of these things happen TO her, and she can't stop them... but she can put on a headband, followed by a hat, followed by a hood.



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....first kid in.

She knows the routine - she walks straight up to the reception desk for her bracelet, stamps our ticket for parking validation, waits, then off to check weight, height, and vitals...

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(this is her favorite person at OPI - they have a routine down)

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Her BP was pretty low, so double checking....

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Off to the room, then port accessing time....

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So, I've tested the cream, on my hand, and it does numb... but to be honest, I'm not sure how much of this she can feel. She certainly ACTS like it hurts, but I don't know how much it really does. It took me awhile to grasp what the port is, but here's a link that explains better than I could. Right after I took this, I had to hold down her legs. She tried to snag that needle straight out of the nurse's hand.

Then, the procedure room. Gab doesn't really dig the procedure room, either.

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Today's procedure was a lumbar puncture, with intrathecal chemotherapy... basically, they inject chemo (methotrexate) into her spinal fluid to treat any leukemia cells hiding there. She's given some sedation, and we're kicked out.

Just enough time to run down to the pharmacy and drop off some new prescriptions.

She's pretty out of it when she first wakes up....

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True, that happened.

All of that, by 9:45am.

After she rests, and wakes up a bit, we're sent back to our treatment area.

Turns out, it was true - nine.hours. One of the drugs - cyclophosphamide - she has to be thoroughly hydrated for. Nine hours included IV fluids, testing her urine, more hydration, more testing, more hydrating, more testing, before the chemo could even be administered... followed by MORE hydrating.

All that, for this...

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Sat around. Watched TV. Tried to get her to play, but she was having none of it. Brought her chicken nuggets, which were a winner. Watched more movies. Sat around.

Lily, one of the therapy dogs, came for a visit....

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.....last kid out.

We got to OPI at 7:50, and left at 5:15.

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Five for Friday

You guys, I skipped Three Things Thursday. Eek. It's like the whole world is off kilter now.

1. I ran 3 miles Wednesday (and survived to tell the Tale of the Goose <- link if you missed it), and seriously, I was achy yesterday like it was a long run. It was pretty awesome.

2. Somehow, the stars aligned this week, and I made the world's most perfect cupcakes.


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Lemon cupcake with ginger buttercream.

Really.

3. The weirdest thing happened to me yesterday. I was driving, and there was water, falling out of the sky.


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What IS that?! Anyone?

4. My older two kids are spending FIVE WHOLE WEEKS in Florida this summer. FIVE WHOLE WEEKS. That is a really long time. REALLY LONG.

5. I'm flying them out, and will be in FL for a few days visiting family. You know what the thing is, about Florida? It is REALLY hot. REALLY HOT. And, also, humid. Which is worse than hot.

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Half Training, Day 1.....

I took yesterday off for a couple of reasons. First, my 12 yr old was "graduating" elementary school (here they go through 6th grade, so no worries - she's normal being 12 and leaving elemenray school!). Second, Gabby had a super long appointment Tuesday (which I'll cover tomorrow for Photo Friday), and another Wednesday, so I wanted to be with her and The H.

I had some time in the morning after straightening #1's hair, so I thought I had puhleeeenty of time to squeeze in my 3 miler.

Plan: 3 miles, easy pace (half pace +90sec).

If we're Daily Mile friends, you saw that this is what actually happened....


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Let's recap. From the top.


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On my corner... Thanks, God. Noted.

I get about half a mile in.... and poof. Phone call. #2 forgot the stuff for her last day of school party. Could I pleeeeeeeease come bring it to her.

Not that I'm doing anything, right?

So u-turn, home, to pick up crackers and chips. Luckily, I was really close. Grab the bag...


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...and run to her school, .3 miles away. Note: Running with a shopping bag is not as graceful as you would think. And if you already think it would be pretty ungraceful... it's even less so than you have imagined.

School is down the street from a lake, that is super cute to run around and let's me believe I live in Disney World all year around.



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Run over the bridge, around the lake, and back up.

Except, there are...

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Geese. Everywhere. And they don't budge. Ever wonder what it's like to play frogger, with giant birds?

Come to Irvine. I'll show you.


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See that? Down there?

Upon closer inspection, it was this!


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So. Freaking. Cute. And I don't even like birds!

So I stopped, and leisurely took pictures. Not really paying any attention to the giant geese on the left of the sidewalk.

Then I took a step, past them.



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And Mother Goose, turned into this in zero seconds FLAT.

Apparently, Rule #1 doesn't work just for zombies, it also covers poultry. I took off (around the damn geese) with a giant, spread-eagle, hissing creature following me.

And then we graduated elementary school, and all was well.

The end.

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