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The Twelve Days of Gazelle-mas: Day 9 (December Review/January Goals)

Dec 31st, 2011
by gazelle.
2 comments

Today I am headed to the coast with a bunch of friends for a lovely New Year’s weekend. There will be running and yoga and games and food (and likely booze). So – today’s, tomorrow’s, and Monday’s posts were written ahead of time. You shouldn’t notice too much of a difference, I hope.

Let’s look back at December, shall we?

December 2011 Goals

  1. Finish the first half of my capstone STRONG! – SUCCESS! I totally made it through the first half, sanity seemingly intact.
  2. Find a daycare for Alvie Bean starting in July! – FAIL! This is a must-do for January.
  3. Enjoy the holidays with a minimum of stress and a maximum of fun! (So many exciting things coming up!) – SUCCESS! Such a great month, not too much stress, and a good deal of relaxation.
  4. Purchase and install shelves/storage for Alvie Bean’s room. – FAIL! I did not get to the shelves; although the closet is cleaned out & ready for them.
  5. Clean out the office and make it more office-y, and less “place where junk goes to die” – half SUCCESS! I figured out what needs to go & where it will be going; just need the architect to help me out with the moving stuff about part of the plan.

December 2011 Training Goals

  1. Fifteen hours of exercise-related activity. – SUCCESS! Provided that I get my hour of exercise in today, I will hit 15 hours for December! Yay, me!
  2. A minimum of five yoga classes – SUCCESS! Six (or seven – depending on what I do today) classes, done!
  3. Finish my December race. That’s all I want. A finish time. – FAIL! I did not do the race. I think that was really the best decision.
  4. Fifty miles on the bike (again, minimum) – FAIL! I did not spend as much time on the bike as I meant to.
  5. Convince Alvie Bean that we really do like swimming. (I actually can’t tell if he hates it, or likes it so much that he tries to swim along…either way, it is not the awesome pregnancy workout that I would prefer) – SUCCESS! Such a great swim yesterday; the best since my 1st trimester, honestly. I think that now that my belly is all popped out, everyone is more comfortable in the water. I am really looking forward to my next swim!

 

January 2012 Goals

  1. Find a daycare for Alvie Bean starting in July!
  2. Purchase and install shelves/storage for Alvie Bean’s room.
  3. Clean out the office and make it more office-y, and less “place where junk goes to die”
  4. Minimize work/school stress through the gratuitous use of meditation (oops – typed medication the first time; not the same thing), yoga, and other exercise.

January 2012 Training Goals

  1. Fifteen hours of exercise-related activity.
  2. A minimum of five yoga classes
  3. Average one swim/week
  4. Average one bike/week
  5. One walk with the architect every weekend

On the ninth day of gazellemas, Amy gave to me:

Nine goals a-making

Eight hours a-sleeping

Seven miles a-cycling

Six yogis posing

FIVE PAIRS OF SHOES!

four pancakes,

three lazy cats,

two empty boxes, and

A Pooh Bear outfit, adorable and twee!

Marathon Training Update

Aug 8th, 2011
by gazelle.
5 comments

I am halfway through marathon training, and am feeling good. I think that if all continues to go as well as it’s been going so far, I will be all trained up & ready for those 26.2 miles!

I did have a not-so-great run yesterday that I ended up cutting short, but am okay with that, because I was out there!  Better a short run than a skipped run, amiright?

One thing I’m doing differently this training cycle is that I decided a couple of weeks ago to give up alcohol for the duration of training to see if it would have a positive effect on my training. It’s been ~two weeks, and I’m feeling pretty good!  There’s been a couple of days when I wanted to reward myself for a hard day’s work (of running or bathroom demolition) with a frosty beer, but really haven’t even been too tempted.  Eight more weeks until the marathon! I’m sure that frosty mug of beer at the end of the journey will taste even better then, right?

This week’s plans include a 4 miler tomorrow, a 6-8 mile trail run on Thursday, and 18 (eep!) solo miles on Saturday morning. I’m thinking of doing a triple out-and-back type run (probably more like three mini-loops) so I can stop by my house for more food/water every six miles.

Later this week, I’ll talk more about the bathroom remodel and all that excitement!

Happy Week!

Blue Lake Triathlon – Race Goals

Jun 10th, 2011
by gazelle.
3 comments

I haven’t done a tri for almost two years, and was feeling woefully unprepared for tomorrow’s. So, in order to make myself feel even worse, I look up the training I did in the two months leading up to my previous tri in August2009.

2009

Runs – 148.5 miles;23 total runs; average mileage 6.5

Biking – 51 miles;5 rides; average ride of 10.2 miles

Swimming – 7,340 yards; 1000/swim;  2 Open Water Swims;

Bricks – 1 tiny brick

2011

Runs – 53,5 miles; 12 total runs; average mileage 4.5 (in my defense, I’m not marathon training right now)

Biking – 30.3 miles; 4 rides; average ride of 7.5 miles

Swimming – 5400 yards; 1350/swim;  2 Open Water Swims;

Bricks – 1 tiny brick

I feel like I’m actually not too far behind my 2009 training; I’m a much stronger swimmer than I was then, and the bike could go either way.

So – goals!

Swim

2009 time: 19:27

2011 goal: anything under that would be amaze-balls!

T1

2009 time: 4:21

2011 goal: I honestly don’t care about this at all….4ish would be great.

Bike

2009 time: 44:58 (~16mph average)

2011 goal: I would love to be about the same here (obviously I would really love to be faster, but about the same works, too)

T2

2009 time: 2:03

2011 goal: under 2 if possible

Run

2009 time: 31:29

2011 goal: 30 minutes or faster

 

Overall, I’d love a PR, but am not sure if that’s realistic with the lower level of fitness I have right now. My main goal is to finish smiling, of course!

I did do a mini brick last night & had an average bike speed of 14 mph, a transition time of 2:14 (carry bike up steps, grab keys, disarm & unlock house, carry bike into house, change shoes, remove helmet, drink water, make sure no cats run out, lock & arm house) and a short run with an average pace of 10:09. I am cool with that.

Race report to come on Sunday!  Happy weekend.

Three (3) Things Thursday

Jun 2nd, 2011
by gazelle.
3 comments
  1. How long does it take to feel comfortable in a new professional role? I’ve been all promoted for over a month now, and I still have an extreme lack of confidence coupled with an equally extreme surplus of anxiety about my new job. The worst part? I’m don’t know how to figure out how to do my new job. I’m trying – reaching out to people in similar roles in other departments – but there is virtually no documentation in this department for this role. And a surprising amount of clean-up.
  2. I am alternately confident and scared that I have a triathlon in 10 days! (TEN! DAYS!) I feel that I am at least as well trained as for the first one (July 2009), and better prepared, since it’s not my first. BUT, I also feel that I am not as well prepared as I could be. I haven’t done a single brick workout. Not one. ACK!
  3. I’ve been driving to work almost every day (trying for 3x/week and carpooling with the architect the other 1-2x/week; it’s a wee bit out of his way to drop me off, but not too bad…) and paying for parking. $11/day. That seems like such a large amount of money to me, until I stop & think about how much my time is worth (according to my employers, obviously I’m worth even more than that), and how much time I’m saving by driving instead of busing (answer, approximately 1.5 hours/day) and how that’s probably worth it. (FYI, this is also how I justified getting a housecleaner.) The only thing I don’t like is it does cut down on my reading time. And sometimes it’s harder to leave here when I don’t have to run to catch a bus. But still, 1.5 hours/day SAVED!

Darwin Neighborhood Watch Kitteh Has His Eyes on You!

And now you can call me crazy

May 3rd, 2011
by gazelle.
3 comments

Because honestly, I’m one screaming/crying mess from the architect calling in the men in little white coats to take me away.

But also, because things have been insane.

Background…a couple of weeks ago, my boss quit. With no notice. A month before the budget was due. I don’t know exactly what happened, and I’m sure this was the best decision for her.

But….the budget still had to go in! So, I got summarily executed promoted, although not to the degree I think is fair…but whatever. Promotion. Raise. It’s all good, right?

I also upped my hours. I no longer have every Friday off. *sob* Instead, I now have to work every Friday – starting May 6. :(

ETA: That should read I have to work every other Friday starting May 6; my life is only 50% hardship.

The position is not being hired for at this time, so I am now responsible for my job (which was a .8 FTE job) and her job (1.0 FTE) in 72 hours/pay period (.9 FTE).

Perhaps needless to say, but I’ve been a wee bit stressed out. Just a wee bit.

Also, last week marked the beginning of my Research Methods class – which I am incredibly excited about, although it is also a lot of work.

I am not a crier, but I have cried a LOT in the last 10 days. Ugly cries.

I have had temper tantrums the like that I haven’t had since I was an obnoxious teenager. I have thrown things! (Well, I threw the lid to the parmesan cheese when it came off in my hand & spilled cheese everywhere 15 minutes before the book clubbers descended on my house to eat frozen lasagna.)

I didn’t exercise for almost 2 weeks.

So – I have done what any logical person, faced with this level of stress and the subsequent inability to handle it would do – I signed up for a marathon.

October 9, 2011 I’ll be pounding out 26.2 miles here in Portland.

I have a training plan! I managed to match up all my long run distances in my 16 week plan with Sarah, except for three (two I’ll be out of town, and the other I’m running a half marathon – IN THEORY.

So – hopefully this works better than therapy (although therapy MIGHT have been cheaper).

To celebrate my marathon-deciding run – a great 7 miler in Forest Park in which I did not walk even once, I bought myself a new pair of shoes (see what I did there? Brought it all back to Shoesday):

 

Brooks Defyance 4

 

Tonight, they went for their inaugural run – two easy miles. I’m thinking this could work….

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