Thursday, September 26, 2013

The Thing I Won’t Be Doing This Weekend Is..

Remember how I told you I was doing a century ride (that’s a decade ride time 10) with Venus de Miles this weekend? Well, now I’m not.

All events around here that require use of public roads have been cancelled for the next 30 days due to the flood.  If you can believe it, this road below was one of my most favorite roads to ride on, pre-flood. I would ride it at least once per week. It was also a recommended running route in Running Times last month.

colorado flood

The riding event this weekend was supposed to take us on this road. I know that many people have lost their possessions and their homes. We have been so very fortunate to not have experienced that. It pales in comparison, but I have lost quite a few of my favorite riding routes and running trails. They are like old friends to me, so it makes me sad. This one is still closed:

bethheilbridge

In lieu of the ride, participants are going to be volunteering in flood relief efforts. There were several choices regarding volunteering – I chose “Boulder Mudslingers” because it means digging out houses, helping the elderly pack up their belongings and load trucks. I like being dirty.

This was the first mud race Ken and I ever did – way back in 2004 before I even started running.

lovelycouple

I still have a 100 miles to ride this weekend for training. I’m breaking it into three 2 hour loops and I’m begging anyone who knows how to ride a bike to join me because I am sick of myself. I spend millions of hours a week training, most of those hours by myself. I’m really starting to get on my nerves.

Everything has been massively switched around for me this week. Although today was supposed to be a rest day it was an anti-rest day with 4 hours of workouts (my new rest day will Sunday when I volunteer):

Bike 3 hours ~ 52 miles
Swim 1 hour – 3,000 yards

I hardly recognize myself anymore because there was a day in the not too distant past where 4 hours of training in one day would have fazed me quite a bit. I’m not bragging, I’m just saying it is astounding to me how the body and mind adapt.

I know I’m lucky to have a schedule that permits these kinds of days. I work from home, and only about 25 hours per week. When I do home visits with families, I schedule them around my family and my training. I can get up early and write or stay up late and write. I can write in my underwear, I can write by a tree, I can write in a tent, or in a house by the sea (that is me channeling my inner Dr. Seuss. I can still recite all of those books from when my kids were little. My favorite of all time is still Green Eggs and Ham).

IMAG2060

I read it to Heidi now because my kids are too cool for this sort of thing.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

How do you coordinate your training around your work/family schedule? Do you work from home? I’ve been doing my job (writing home studies for families who want to adopt or do foster care through social services) since Sam was born 15 years ago. It’s a great fit for our family.

Favorite kid’s book? I have so many. I always loved Bread and Jam for Francis, anything Richard Scarry and Love You Forever.

SUAR

36 comments:

  1. It really looks like Heidi is enjoying Green Eggs and Ham!

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  2. Well my training doesn't look anything like yours but I am training for my first marathon and it's on trails (I don't 95% of my running on trails) which means I do a lot of runs after work in the evenings and long runs on weekends (which seems to be the norm for a lot of people). I run 4-5 days a week and do cross training (weights or bike riding or rock climbing) 2 days a week. The hubs and I don't have kids so that makes things easier and he's great about taking care of our herd (4 big dogs)-doing the walking/feeding/etc if I need to get a run in. Eventually I want to do an ultra so that means the miles will keep racking up and I am not sure how I'll get the training in-I'll figure it out when I get there I guess. ;-)

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  3. I am training for my first Marathon.. I just have yet to pick one and sign up. I work part time.. after the kids are in school around 9 and am done by 1pm.. Most of my workouts, or running is before the kids get up for school 5:00am! I've learned to run in the dark, which is 100 times better then running inside on a treadmill. I'd rather have the stars and moon to keep me company. I stopped swimming when the pool closed on Labor Day weekend.. I fit in biking in the evenings when my son's at soccer practice. Long runs are any day I feel up to running more miles.. which is not that often.. and I hardly give myself a day off. Although, today was kind of a day off since I only ran 4 miles!

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  4. I am training for my first marathon (next April!!). I work out in the middle of the morning, after my oldest goes to school. Most of my running is outside, with my jogging stroller. I will do strength training and spinning in the gym, also while my oldest is at school.

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  5. Mom and I decided to volunteer too, only we'll be up in Lyons. It was great meeting you on Tuesday!

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    1. Great meeting you too. Sorry I won't see you out there but maybe at the luncheon?

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  6. It's always a battle to coordinate training with twin preschoolers but I manage. I know when they're older and I can train whenever I want, I will miss it. At least that's what they tell me. I think it's awesome you're spending time volunteering and I totally get how some roads and trails are like friends. I have a few of mine as well.
    Favorite children's book? Brown Bear b/c it was the first one the boys could "read" by themselves and they were so proud.

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  7. We love all the Dr. Seuss books too! And Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Winnie the Pooh, Charlotte's Web, The Secret Garden, The Little Prince,... I'm sorry that your trails are a mess and it is great that you volunteer for restoration! Working from home proved to be more difficult than working for a company, so I'm unemployed for two years now - well, still looking after the kids and our household:)

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  8. How do I coordinate my training around work/life? Poorly. But I'm working on it. As my marathon training is ramping up in these next several weeks, I've realized that I'm going to have to bite the bullet and start telling everyone "no" to whatever they want to do until after my race. I'm still weeks away, and I'm already looking forward to the taper. Happy Training.

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  9. I love Francis's lunch in Bread and Jam -- the little salt shaker is the best!

    I work from home 2/days week and the rest I'm in the office. I run at the butt crack of dawn.

    I get sick of myself too when I'm doing heaving training. Too bad I don't have multiple personalities - it might make my training runs more interesting.

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  10. Man that road is so sad :( Good for you for doing some volunteering.

    I work 6 1/2 hour days. My husband likes to do the work outs most of the time so we end up running after dinner m/w/f and we hit the gym t/th and long run on the weekend and maybe a bike ride. It's hard to fit it all in sometimes.

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  11. Oh and The Fire Cat is one of my favorite kid books. I had one when I was little and got all excited when I found one in a thrift store so I have it again. http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/169427.The_Fire_Cat

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  12. Big A, Little A, What begins with A? Aunt Annie's alligator, A a A.

    Some of those books are burned into my memory.

    My husband is a running widow. My daughter is out of the house and my son sleeps until noon on the weekends. So I run to or from work and then I run on the weekend morning while my son sleeps.

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  13. I work part-time at the hospital, and do private consulting from home and on the phone. I try to get most of my training done before and around sunrise. It gets tiring, especially when you still want to be a big girl, and stay up late. Still, the sunrises, and time available for family and friends later in the day makes it all worth it. One of my favorite early childhood books was "Amelia Bedelia". I find myself relating to her from time, when I feel like I'm doing everything wrong. My all time favorite young adult book is "Anne of Green Gables"!

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  14. I am fortunate enough to be retired now after 28 years of teaching elementary school. My children are young adults and on their own, so I have NO excuses - I can run whenever I want. I know I've read Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin, Jr. a million times to my children when they were preschool age. I still have the book and hope to read it to my grandchildren one day!

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    1. I used to read Chicka Chicka Boom Boom to my now 17 yr old, loved that book!

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  15. So sad to hear about all of this! I was an ambassador for the Illinois Venus de Miles event so I know they are great ladies who work hard. I'm glad to hear they have taken their skills and applied them to helping out.

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  16. "Where the Wild Things Are"
    Doing four hours of loopy loops today too and swam 3500 yesterday.
    I get up at 4 a.m. or earlier-and have lights all over my bike and swim and run in the dark.
    Great that you are chipping in with clean up work.

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  17. I work as a commercial photography producer so there are times when my training just doesn't happen...like when I have a 14 hour shoot day. Or 5 in a row. Most of the time I'm getting up around 4:30-5:00 am to get my workouts done and / or I'm doing them after work. My fave kids book - it's a toss up between Green Eggs and Ham (I loved that book so much I wrote the entire thing out in a green sharpie on a t-shirt when I was a teenager) and Where the Wild Things Are.

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  18. Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. we've all had days like that. I run on my lunch hour during the week and long runs on weekends. luckily my partner and 7 year old think its cool to bike ahead of me along the route and wait for me to give me water, etc.

    i see pictures of the Colorado flooding and it reminds me so much of what happened here in Vermont from Irene. glad your house is safe.

    ReneeW

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  19. Sandra Boynton books... I had them all memorized when my kids were little. They're pretty catchy! "The sun has set not long ago, now everybody goes below... to take a bath in one big tub... with soap all over, scrub scrub scrub! They hang their towels on the wall and find pajamas big and small. With some on top and some beneath, they brush and brush and brush their teeth. And when the moon is on the rise, they all go up... to exercise! And down once more, but not so fast... they're on their way to bed at last. The moon is high, the sea is deep... they rock and rock and rock to sleep.

    Hey, I still remember!!

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    1. Oh, and I'm a fitness instructor and photographer, so I'm pretty lucky with easy jobs to fit workouts in. :)

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    2. Hahha!! Love that you have that memorized. I used to love to read my kids Sandra Boynton books as well!! Brings back memories.

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    3. I could have quoted that same book (and a couple of others). A favorite for both of my kids. My son's nursery (1st year before we moved) was all done in Boynton farm animals. Loved it!

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  20. Favorite books for kids (and adults, haha): with my son: The Giving Tree; Goodnight Moon. with my daughter: we love the "Llama llama" and Fancy Nancy books.

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  21. I completely get what you are saying about the training. Two years ago, 30 minutes was my workout time. I am up to around 3 hours a day, at least 5 days a week now (30 minute run, 45 minute weight lifting, 1 hour crossfit, and 30-45 minutes of bike or swim) getting ready to start Ironman training. I knew I wanted Ironman Louisville 2014 at the beginning of this year so I've been doing 2-3 a day workouts (before work/run to work, on my lunch break, and after work) to get my strength and stamina up. I start IML training next week. Things that would have seemed cray a year ago, are the norm and I have trouble with not feeling like I am slacking if I only work out once a day, or take a rest day where I do nothing, not even walking. I'm a little obsessive in life, though.

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  22. I'm a stay-at-home mom, so folks think that it should be easy get a run in but, alas, it isn't. My youngest just started pre-K so 3 days a week I'm completely child-free...and yet I've run exactly twice during that time since school started. Sigh. It's a work in progress. There's a lot of life happening, too, so that's cutting into my running time. It doesn't help that I'm not training for something specific, either. Guess I better sign up for my next race. ;)

    Favorite kids' book? I'm a big Dr. Seuss fan, too. My first grader just started reading the Boxcar Children series (by herself!) and I always loved those. My all-time favorite is "The Monster at the End of This Book" by lovable, furry old Grover. :)

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  23. Knuffle Bunny, is one of my fav's. Then I saw there were sequels and the girl grows up and it made me cry. So it is no longer a fav. I know my kids will grow up, but I haven’t accepted that yet! ;)

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  24. My mom and her friend Denise will be at the Venus volunteering. Denise is amazing- check out her story: http://www.womensadventuremagazine.com/blog/reader-stories/stroke-recovery/
    or at http://denisewyo.wordpress.com/

    I'm lucky that my work has allowed me to flex my schedule, so long runs could happen in the morning. I'm extra lucky that my family says, "We'll see you when you get back," for Saturday long runs. I also wake up at 4:15 to make all those runs happen.

    We're fans of all books, but I feel like I read Go, Dog, Go! more than any of them. I frequently still yell, "It's a dog party!" I'm so grateful we've moved onto chapter books. We read The Hobbit this summer.

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  25. I work from home, too, but I get out first thing in the morning and get my runs done early, even on weekends.
    I always read to my dogs, too. My favorite kids book of all time is Cannonball Simp. I send my niece Shel Silverstien's poem books. She loves them!

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  26. I am the training for my 2nd marathon (though it's the 3rd time I've trained - I trained for NYC marathon last year. Cancelled due to Sandy). I work full time. I have 2 kids under 10. It is challenging, to say the least. During the week, I run when I can: early mornings, lunch hour, after dinner. I do long long runs on weekends. And I'm slow, so my long runs take a really, really, REALLY long time. Thank goodness, I have a wonderfully supportive spouse (and kids). They are my biggest fans and supporters. Without them, I could not do it.

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  27. I am only training for a marathon but I'm sick of myself too. It's REALLY lonely (and boring) running alone for hours at a time. I am trying to work on my mentality but I just feel mental at this point!

    I work part-time but my hours are really variable so I've had a hard time getting my runs in lately. Plus, I am NOT a morning person so that really puts a crimp in my time since it's impossible to get anything done for myself after my husband and kids get up and going. I think I'm going to have to learn to "like" mornings but, so far, it hasn't happened.

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  28. Great job getting all of your training in! I was lucky that most of my Ironman Lake Tahoe training was done before all the crazy weather hit. I work at least 50 hours a week, some flexibility but it's usually getting up at 4 am or staying up late to get my training in. But I don't have kids so that makes it very different.

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  29. I wish I lived near you, i love cycling and I would love to be your occasional cycling partner... And maybe you could make me a better runner.

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