Whew! That was a really awful week. And, after all that studying for organic Chemistry, I still only managed a 'D' on that exam, so I've dropped that class. I'm still going strong in Analytical Chemistry, so that will be my only class for this semester. Not sure why I couldn't wrap my brain around the reactions, but I tried. When the test was put in front of me, I just blanked out.
As predicted, I didn't workout or knit for that week plus. However, since deciding to drop the class on Sunday, I immediately got back into myself and picked up yarn and got busy. So, in one day, I crocheted up a bucket bag purse, which I fulled yesterday, for our monthly bunko gift swap. Once a month, a group of neighborhood girls and I get together for some fun playing bunko, enjoying a few alcoholic beverages, and gossip. At the end of the night we have a white elephant gift exchange based on a predetermined theme. This coming up month the theme is purses, so what better purse can I give than a one-of-a-kind creation of my own! I'll try to post a picture later today. I used Brown Sheep Burly Spun yarn in a multi colored colorway called 'Strawberry Patch', with a plain red border on the top. It looks pretty darned good, was very fast with a 'P' sized crochet hook, and fulled up quickly and firmly. I almost hate giving it away!
I'm also working on a pair of plain stockinette socks for my mother-in-law. She asked for some several weeks ago when she saw me working on something else. I'm knitting these up with Panda Cotton sock yarn, in a pink colorway (sorry, don't remember the name of it right now). Then, my sister-in-law has asked me to knit up some leg warmers for my new nephew, which I'm happy to oblige on that request (who am I to turn down a request to knit someone something -- that'd be sacrilige)!
I finally got out this morning for a workout after my 10 day + hiatus. Boy, did it feel wonderful! I thought I would be much slower, but actually I finished the 2 miles in under 12mpm pace, which I thought was pretty darned good. And if I had had more time, I could've gone further. After taking the kiddo to school I did another walk to the store to mail off a few Netflix movies that needed to be returned, and pick up a few items we needed. While I didn't racewalk there or back, I kept my pace at under 15mpm both ways to at least feel a bit more like a workout. It's a bit hard to racewalk with a backpack when there's a water bottle, and a bottle of mustard careening back and forth slamming into each of your kidneys. Yeah. Not cool. So I got in a total of 4.75 miles this morning, and it felt great!!!
I also discovered about a week ago, that the track at the university is located right next to the parking lot where I park. How convenient! Now that it's getting light a lot later in the morning, and I don't have my OChem class anymore, I can still arrive at the school the same time I did before, and get in a workout before my AChem class! Score! I just hope my classmates don't mind the post-workout 'ripeness' that I may exude. Maybe I'll take some deodorant with me to cover things up a bit.....
I mentioned briefly in a previous post my interest in gardening. Well, here in the desert Southwest, we garden a bit differently than the rest of the world. Nothing grows here in the summer (except okra I'm happy to have discovered), so pretty much most gardening is bassackwards compared to everywhere else. I finally ripped out my okra plants (I think 14 pints of okra pickles is enough, thankyou), and recently planted broccoli plants, a tomato plant, tomato from seed, peas, lettuce, carrots, parsnips, and a jalapeno plant. The broccoli and tomato plant are doing well (even have flowers on the tomato plant already), and the lettuce, carrots and parsnips have all sprouted. The tomato from seed and the jalapeno plant did not :(. So I've replanted some more seed, in containers this time, so I can move them around more to get more sunlight. The peas -- well, they sprouted. But, as soon as they sprouted, it seems, the birds dug up the sprout and took off with the seed!!!! GRRRRRR!!! I'm so not happy about this. I've replanted some this morning, in containers, and in the garden straight, and am trying out some measures to deter them. However, if any of you have any suggestions, I'd love to hear them!
OK, so that's what's been going on around here. Hoping that with my time now incredibly freed up, I should be posting more often.
Onward!
Showing posts with label race walk. Show all posts
Showing posts with label race walk. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Just an update
Quick update. I've been able to get back into a better groove this week with workouts. Of course, having Monday as a holiday helped out with that! But the best part, it's cool enough in the very early mornings to get outside to workout!
Monday: 2.25 (about) racewalking, after which point I ran into my friend Carol whom I haven't seen in a long while. I walked with her and her dogs the rest of the way home, so a little over 3 miles covered.
Tuesday: this is technically a rest day since I have to leave for class so early and don't get back til much later in the day. However, I walked from my car to class and back rather than taking the shuttle, and I know that distance is at least .5 mi each way, so I'm taking advantage of that little distance on those days.
Wednesday: a planned 3 miles racewalking became only 2 miles after encountering a loose dog on my path and changing directions. Oh well. These things, while annoying, happen sometimes. Not sure of what my pace really was as I didn't wear my Garmin and had to switch to regular walking right in the middle so as not to get the dog's attention. I do know that it felt like a great workout and I was pushing a lot during the last .75 mile or so.
Off to shower and to school. Thankfully today is just 2 lecture classes and I'll be home by lunchtime. I have tons of homework/reading to do, not to mention the lab writeup and research paper that I need to start today as well, so it will be a busy day.
OTN: STILL working on the SWTC cardigan, almost done with both front panels. Hoping to finish that tonight during baseball, and maybe even casting on a sleeve (I told you this kind of project just goes on and on).
Have a great day everyone!
Onward!
Monday: 2.25 (about) racewalking, after which point I ran into my friend Carol whom I haven't seen in a long while. I walked with her and her dogs the rest of the way home, so a little over 3 miles covered.
Tuesday: this is technically a rest day since I have to leave for class so early and don't get back til much later in the day. However, I walked from my car to class and back rather than taking the shuttle, and I know that distance is at least .5 mi each way, so I'm taking advantage of that little distance on those days.
Wednesday: a planned 3 miles racewalking became only 2 miles after encountering a loose dog on my path and changing directions. Oh well. These things, while annoying, happen sometimes. Not sure of what my pace really was as I didn't wear my Garmin and had to switch to regular walking right in the middle so as not to get the dog's attention. I do know that it felt like a great workout and I was pushing a lot during the last .75 mile or so.
Off to shower and to school. Thankfully today is just 2 lecture classes and I'll be home by lunchtime. I have tons of homework/reading to do, not to mention the lab writeup and research paper that I need to start today as well, so it will be a busy day.
OTN: STILL working on the SWTC cardigan, almost done with both front panels. Hoping to finish that tonight during baseball, and maybe even casting on a sleeve (I told you this kind of project just goes on and on).
Have a great day everyone!
Onward!
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Just an update
I promise, I'll try to keep this one brief. I know my posts can be rather lengthy, I hope none of you that might be reading my little ol' blog mind.
So, since my last post a few things have happened. My in-laws were successfully moved here on Saturday. The transition has been a little bumpy, but pretty much as expected. My mother-in-law was not happy about being directly placed into the nursing home, as she claims no one told her that was going to happen right away. I know she was told this for months now, and obviously the medications she is taking is causing some cognitive problems. This of course, complicates the whole transition process, but it is what it is. Thankfully, it's a really nice nursing facility and I think that as she gets more used to the surroundings and the people there, she will have fewer problems/episodes.
I've also found some new drive and dedication towards my workouts. Having the Olympics going on right now definitely has played a part in that revival. Speaking of which, I just watched the Women's 20k racewalk last night and was really happy with the coverage from CNBC. Finally, some commentators who at least educated themselves on the sport, and made the race exciting and interesting to watch. For me, I could watch racewalking without any commentating, but obviously for others less interested in the sport, let's face it, watching 40 women racewalk an oval for 90 minutes is not exactly exciting. I imagine someone else feeling how I feel when I watch tennis. I love to play tennis, but can't stand to watch it. These commentators tonight at the 20k walk did their best to not simply constantly repeat themselves, and kept it entertaining with various stories of other athletes (I had no idea Claire Woods and her bronze medalist fiance were getting married 4 days after the closing ceremonies). Oh, and no snide remarks about the sport itself (yes, that's directed to you Bob Costas). So, kudos to CNBC!!! I'll be writing them a letter congratulating them on their fine commentary and coverage. I'd like to encourage you to do the same please.
On the knitting front (boy this update is getting long), not as much happening. Still working on my Dbacks socks, but I'm on the foot section of the 2nd sock and I'm hoping to wear them to this Sunday's Stitch 'n Pitch game at Chase Field. I'll post pics as soon as they are done. Also, making some progress, albeit really slow right now, on the SWTC cardigan. It's taken a back seat to the socks for the rest of this week for obvious reasons. We'll see if I can't pick that back up next week.
So here is my update on this week's workouts:
Did nothing over the weekend.
Racewalked at a slow pace on the treadmill on Monday for 3 miles.
On Tuesday, actually went outside for a 3 mile racewalking workout, then did 30 minutes of water aerobics in the evening.
Rested Wednesday just cause I had too many other things to do.
This morning, went outside again (!), for a bit of a faster racewalking workout.
Temps in the morning this week have been nice, right around 80F, and low humidity. It's still a little warm for my liking for a truly fast or high quality workout, but I'll take it!! My time this morning is the fastest I've done for 3 miles since June, so that's good. Tomorrow's plan includes 3 miles on the treadmill or outside at an easy /moderate pace. My new shoes are still not here!
Don't forget to watch the Men's 50k racewalk today on nbcolympics.com at 4:30pm (PT) . They will have a live feed of the event on the website, and then TV coverage will be tonight at 11pm (or midnight for some time zones) on USA network. Go Phillip!! Go USA!
Onward!
So, since my last post a few things have happened. My in-laws were successfully moved here on Saturday. The transition has been a little bumpy, but pretty much as expected. My mother-in-law was not happy about being directly placed into the nursing home, as she claims no one told her that was going to happen right away. I know she was told this for months now, and obviously the medications she is taking is causing some cognitive problems. This of course, complicates the whole transition process, but it is what it is. Thankfully, it's a really nice nursing facility and I think that as she gets more used to the surroundings and the people there, she will have fewer problems/episodes.
I've also found some new drive and dedication towards my workouts. Having the Olympics going on right now definitely has played a part in that revival. Speaking of which, I just watched the Women's 20k racewalk last night and was really happy with the coverage from CNBC. Finally, some commentators who at least educated themselves on the sport, and made the race exciting and interesting to watch. For me, I could watch racewalking without any commentating, but obviously for others less interested in the sport, let's face it, watching 40 women racewalk an oval for 90 minutes is not exactly exciting. I imagine someone else feeling how I feel when I watch tennis. I love to play tennis, but can't stand to watch it. These commentators tonight at the 20k walk did their best to not simply constantly repeat themselves, and kept it entertaining with various stories of other athletes (I had no idea Claire Woods and her bronze medalist fiance were getting married 4 days after the closing ceremonies). Oh, and no snide remarks about the sport itself (yes, that's directed to you Bob Costas). So, kudos to CNBC!!! I'll be writing them a letter congratulating them on their fine commentary and coverage. I'd like to encourage you to do the same please.
On the knitting front (boy this update is getting long), not as much happening. Still working on my Dbacks socks, but I'm on the foot section of the 2nd sock and I'm hoping to wear them to this Sunday's Stitch 'n Pitch game at Chase Field. I'll post pics as soon as they are done. Also, making some progress, albeit really slow right now, on the SWTC cardigan. It's taken a back seat to the socks for the rest of this week for obvious reasons. We'll see if I can't pick that back up next week.
So here is my update on this week's workouts:
Did nothing over the weekend.
Racewalked at a slow pace on the treadmill on Monday for 3 miles.
On Tuesday, actually went outside for a 3 mile racewalking workout, then did 30 minutes of water aerobics in the evening.
Rested Wednesday just cause I had too many other things to do.
This morning, went outside again (!), for a bit of a faster racewalking workout.
Temps in the morning this week have been nice, right around 80F, and low humidity. It's still a little warm for my liking for a truly fast or high quality workout, but I'll take it!! My time this morning is the fastest I've done for 3 miles since June, so that's good. Tomorrow's plan includes 3 miles on the treadmill or outside at an easy /moderate pace. My new shoes are still not here!
Don't forget to watch the Men's 50k racewalk today on nbcolympics.com at 4:30pm (PT) . They will have a live feed of the event on the website, and then TV coverage will be tonight at 11pm (or midnight for some time zones) on USA network. Go Phillip!! Go USA!
Onward!
Friday, August 15, 2008
Chugging along
Sometimes that is what it feels like when I'm on the treadmill. Just chugging along. Same speed, same cadence, same, same same. OK, so what can I expect on the treadmill right? It's by far my least favorite way of getting in a workout. Aside from the lack of scenery and fresh air, I'm always a bit anxious on the treadmill. I've watched people fall off of this thing, including one time earlier this year where a woman fell off and landed right on her face. She knocked herself out, had a seizure in front of me, and really scared me to pieces. I still have vivid recollections of those scenes every time I hop on the machine myself. Not exactly great visualization for a decent workout. I persist only because I know it's a temporary thing, and in the not-too-distant future, I'll be out at the track, or better, on the roads putting miles behind me.
So today's workout was again, a 3 miler at a consistent pace on the treadmill. My left hamstring is awfully tight for some reason (too much stretching the other day?), so I took it especially easy today. Tomorrow is an off day for cardio, so I'm hoping to get out to the canals on Sunday for a nice 6 miler. Pray to the weather gods for no thunderstorms!
On the knitting front, I finished knitting sock#1 of my Dbacks socks and need to get the black 'D's on them. I also finished the back of the SWTC cardigan. It's the largest piece of the 5 pieces that make up the garment, so hoping the remaining pieces go quickly. I really want to get it done and return it to SWTC to get this monkey off my back. My new sock yarns from San Fran arrived and I'm itching to get those on the needles. Also, I'd like to feel free to spend some time dyeing and getting my Etsy shop up and running before I start school again on the 25th of August.
My husband is in Maryland completing the final preparations for moving the parents here. They will fly here tomorrow morning. I'm nervous, anxious, and at the same time, feeling impatient for this whole thing to happen. I'm anticipating that the first several weeks will be chaotic and difficult. My hope is that things will go smoothly, but I'm not holding out hope for that. I just hope it's not any worse than what I'm anticipating. Time will tell.
Congratulations to all those who competed last weekend in Spokane at the Master's Nationals!! And also to all of the athletes at the Olympics!!
So today's workout was again, a 3 miler at a consistent pace on the treadmill. My left hamstring is awfully tight for some reason (too much stretching the other day?), so I took it especially easy today. Tomorrow is an off day for cardio, so I'm hoping to get out to the canals on Sunday for a nice 6 miler. Pray to the weather gods for no thunderstorms!
On the knitting front, I finished knitting sock#1 of my Dbacks socks and need to get the black 'D's on them. I also finished the back of the SWTC cardigan. It's the largest piece of the 5 pieces that make up the garment, so hoping the remaining pieces go quickly. I really want to get it done and return it to SWTC to get this monkey off my back. My new sock yarns from San Fran arrived and I'm itching to get those on the needles. Also, I'd like to feel free to spend some time dyeing and getting my Etsy shop up and running before I start school again on the 25th of August.
My husband is in Maryland completing the final preparations for moving the parents here. They will fly here tomorrow morning. I'm nervous, anxious, and at the same time, feeling impatient for this whole thing to happen. I'm anticipating that the first several weeks will be chaotic and difficult. My hope is that things will go smoothly, but I'm not holding out hope for that. I just hope it's not any worse than what I'm anticipating. Time will tell.
Congratulations to all those who competed last weekend in Spokane at the Master's Nationals!! And also to all of the athletes at the Olympics!!
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Better than expected
So school started yesterday for the kiddo's and things are better than I expected. Last year was filled with the torture of getting them up and ready to go every morning. Whining, complaining, nagging. And that was just from me! This year, different story. I know it's only been 2 mornings, but both mornings, the kids got up on their own, got themselves ready, and even got themselves breakfast this morning. I'm a bit in shock and thinking this can't possibly last the whole week. But in the wee corners of the back of my mind, you know what I'm hoping for! All year baby, all year! I can dream, but I won't hold my breath....
Anyway, today started out with a 3 miler on the treadmill. New shoes haven't arrived yet, so I threw on my old trusty Chinese racewalking shoes. I love them, but they have the support of a ballet slipper. I try to save these for intervals on the track and actual races on the track only. They served me well this morning in a pinch. I am a bit sore, as predicted from the weight workout yesterday, but nothing too noticeable. I wasn't fast on the treadmill, but was consistent throughout the whole workout, keeping the same speed all the way through, and not stopping once.
On the fiber front, I got busy winding skeins of undyed sock yarn from the cones I purchased last month. Gecko yarns won't be hitting Etsy until at least the end of the month as I just haven't had time to devote to winding and dyeing. But when it does open, I will have plenty of great colorways to offer. I'm almost done winding the 20 or so skeins that I want to open with, and dyeing is the quicker/easier aspect. I should be able to dye all of them over the course of 3-4 days which will happen next week. Squeee! I can't wait!
I've still got my Dbacks socks on the needles, as well as the SWTC cardigan. I'll be continuing progress on those today too. Once I double stitch the Dbacks "D" on the one pair, I'll post a picture for you all to see.
The in-laws are moving here this week. My husband is flying out on Thursday and will fly back with them on Saturday. My mother-in-law's room at the nursing home is all ready for her, and we are adding a few things she requested like a recliner chair, and a sewing machine. Yep, she can still get up and operate a sewing machine! I'm a little anxious over taking on this responsibility and keeping their presence here from effecting our lives too much, especially for my kids. But I think we've hashed out a lot of predictable problems as much as we can and we're as ready as we're going to be. It would be nice to feel some reassurance from his sisters regarding what we can expect from them as far as visiting the parents and care of them when we're on vacation and such, but it's become obvious that they can't be relied upon for any reassurance at all. Such is life.
Onward!
Anyway, today started out with a 3 miler on the treadmill. New shoes haven't arrived yet, so I threw on my old trusty Chinese racewalking shoes. I love them, but they have the support of a ballet slipper. I try to save these for intervals on the track and actual races on the track only. They served me well this morning in a pinch. I am a bit sore, as predicted from the weight workout yesterday, but nothing too noticeable. I wasn't fast on the treadmill, but was consistent throughout the whole workout, keeping the same speed all the way through, and not stopping once.
On the fiber front, I got busy winding skeins of undyed sock yarn from the cones I purchased last month. Gecko yarns won't be hitting Etsy until at least the end of the month as I just haven't had time to devote to winding and dyeing. But when it does open, I will have plenty of great colorways to offer. I'm almost done winding the 20 or so skeins that I want to open with, and dyeing is the quicker/easier aspect. I should be able to dye all of them over the course of 3-4 days which will happen next week. Squeee! I can't wait!
I've still got my Dbacks socks on the needles, as well as the SWTC cardigan. I'll be continuing progress on those today too. Once I double stitch the Dbacks "D" on the one pair, I'll post a picture for you all to see.
The in-laws are moving here this week. My husband is flying out on Thursday and will fly back with them on Saturday. My mother-in-law's room at the nursing home is all ready for her, and we are adding a few things she requested like a recliner chair, and a sewing machine. Yep, she can still get up and operate a sewing machine! I'm a little anxious over taking on this responsibility and keeping their presence here from effecting our lives too much, especially for my kids. But I think we've hashed out a lot of predictable problems as much as we can and we're as ready as we're going to be. It would be nice to feel some reassurance from his sisters regarding what we can expect from them as far as visiting the parents and care of them when we're on vacation and such, but it's become obvious that they can't be relied upon for any reassurance at all. Such is life.
Onward!
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Today is a rest day. At least on the workout front of my life it is. Yesterday's workout consisted of 3 miles on the treadmill, racewalking at about 4mph, but at a 2.0 incline. I've decided that Tuesdays and Saturdays will be my off days due to my rapidly approaching start of school on August 25th. I have to work around my school schedule, and I think those days are best. I can hardly believe the summer is over already! My kids start school next Monday! Ack! I'm not ready!
I am, however, looking forward to watching the Olympics which start this Friday. As a child, I loved watching the gymnastics events the most. I was a gymnast until I was 14, at which time I managed to break my hand twice and rip my knee innards apart in the course of 1 year. I pretty much decided after that that my body just couldn't handle it anymore. I was a pretty good gymnast despite the fact that I was so tall. The only event I couldn't do was the uneven parallel bars. I was so tall that you couldn't get the bars far enough apart for me and still have the lower bar at a high enough height for me to not hit the ground when I hung from it. It was my favorite event to watch, so I was very disappointed when I discovered that I couldn't actually compete in that event.
I still enjoy the gymnastics, but of course, nowadays, I really enjoy watching track & field, and especially the racewalks. It looks like this year, NBC will have highlights of the racewalks rather than showing the entire event live. What a shame! And not even during prime time (which is when the races are actually occurring for those of us on the West Coast of the US), but rather, sometime between 11pm and 1am or something like that. I know race walking is a bit of an obscure sport here in the US, but come on, this is the Olympics! Can't they show all of the events live or at least in full at some point in time?? Sheesh... I know marketing talks, but can't we put capitalism aside for the Olympic games! Please.
Oh well, guess I'll have to try to catch glimpses of Joanne, Phillip and Kevin (our 3 US race walkers) during time-outs of the basketball game.
Knitting wise, I'm still chugging along on the back of the SWTC Cardigan, although now I'm a bit more than halfway done with that piece. Hoping that switching to stockinette stitch will speed things up and I can get it done today. I'm taking the kids to see "Get Smart" today, so maybe I'll take it with me. I've not yet tried knitting at the movies, but can't hurt to try right?
I've also put aside the Retro Rib Socks for a short time so I can cast on my Diamondback socks. It's really simple: I dyed my own yarn in a color that is as close to Sedona Red as I can get, and will knit simple stockinette socks. Then I'll double stitch the 'D' symbol down the leg once they are done. I'd like to get these at least started and maybe almost finished for the Stitch n Pitch game here on the 24th.
So that's it for today, hope you all are having a great day and a great week!
Next post: new pics of the Nutkins, and maybe some WIPs as well.
Onward!
I am, however, looking forward to watching the Olympics which start this Friday. As a child, I loved watching the gymnastics events the most. I was a gymnast until I was 14, at which time I managed to break my hand twice and rip my knee innards apart in the course of 1 year. I pretty much decided after that that my body just couldn't handle it anymore. I was a pretty good gymnast despite the fact that I was so tall. The only event I couldn't do was the uneven parallel bars. I was so tall that you couldn't get the bars far enough apart for me and still have the lower bar at a high enough height for me to not hit the ground when I hung from it. It was my favorite event to watch, so I was very disappointed when I discovered that I couldn't actually compete in that event.
I still enjoy the gymnastics, but of course, nowadays, I really enjoy watching track & field, and especially the racewalks. It looks like this year, NBC will have highlights of the racewalks rather than showing the entire event live. What a shame! And not even during prime time (which is when the races are actually occurring for those of us on the West Coast of the US), but rather, sometime between 11pm and 1am or something like that. I know race walking is a bit of an obscure sport here in the US, but come on, this is the Olympics! Can't they show all of the events live or at least in full at some point in time?? Sheesh... I know marketing talks, but can't we put capitalism aside for the Olympic games! Please.
Oh well, guess I'll have to try to catch glimpses of Joanne, Phillip and Kevin (our 3 US race walkers) during time-outs of the basketball game.
Knitting wise, I'm still chugging along on the back of the SWTC Cardigan, although now I'm a bit more than halfway done with that piece. Hoping that switching to stockinette stitch will speed things up and I can get it done today. I'm taking the kids to see "Get Smart" today, so maybe I'll take it with me. I've not yet tried knitting at the movies, but can't hurt to try right?
I've also put aside the Retro Rib Socks for a short time so I can cast on my Diamondback socks. It's really simple: I dyed my own yarn in a color that is as close to Sedona Red as I can get, and will knit simple stockinette socks. Then I'll double stitch the 'D' symbol down the leg once they are done. I'd like to get these at least started and maybe almost finished for the Stitch n Pitch game here on the 24th.
So that's it for today, hope you all are having a great day and a great week!
Next post: new pics of the Nutkins, and maybe some WIPs as well.
Onward!
Sunday, August 3, 2008
Inside track to Beijing
Just FYI for those interested, an acquaintance of mine (more of a friend of a friend, although I've met him before), is competing for the US in the Men's 50k Race Walk -- Phillip Dunn! He has a blog on blogspot for others to follow along on his trek. I've added the link to my favorite blogs on the right, go check out his blog and let's all cheer him on!
Tempered by fire
That's what they say is the best way to purify a metal, or other substances. It improves it, brings out the best in whatever that substance is right? It's not altogether different in some of the aspects of my life either. Racewalking, knitting, family issues. The same concept can apply to all of these.
This morning I got up very early and was out at the track by 6am. It was still hot. Really hot. Freaky hot for so early. I managed 4 very slow, just plain ol' walking miles on the track. I'm still not yet reaccostumed to this heat. For just plain ol' walking (ok, I did one lap racewalking really slowly, but really it doesn't count for much), I finished in exactly 1 hour. But I know that getting out there, even in this heat, even just plain ol' street walking, will help in the long run. As those new capillaries are forming in an effort to cool my body off, I know they will still be there once the cooler temps arrive, and I start speeding up again. All those capillaries will be available to shuttle oxygen rich blood to those working muscles. So while I wouldn't call today's workout a quality workout, hopefully it will add in a quality workout later down the road.
Yarn-wise, I'm being "tempered" by working on a project for a yarn company (South West Trading Company). It's a cardigan, one of my least favorite kind of projects. This is the kind that must be knit up in pieces, and then sewn together. So while each piece is not exceptionally large, it still feels never ending. Once I'm done knitting one piece, there is still another piece to cast on and knit. Then another. Then another. Then another. And even after that, then I have to knit the buttonband. And the neck border. And piece the thing together. And add a button... and ... and... you get the picture.
This type of project really tests my resolve and perseverance to stick with something this long. Especially when it's not even for me or a gift for someone special in my life. My motivation? Well, in payment for all my time and work, I'm usually paid in yarn from the company. This time however, rather than receiving a same quantity of the same yarn from the project, I'm going to request a fiscally similar quantity of their undyed sock yarn for my upcoming business. I think that makes really smart business sense! So I press onward with it. If I plan my day out well today, I might even get piece #1 done today.
Nevertheless, I simply cannot bear to only have this project active in my world. So last night, after working 5 inches of said cardi, I cast on Retro Rib Socks (Evelyn A Clark) in a Regia variegated yarn. These will be a Christmas present for a male member of the family.
So the plan for today: finish the back of the cardi; continue working on the Retro Rib Socks (maybe make it to the heel flap); and wind at least 5 skeins of yarn; watch the baseball game at 1pm; and lastly, attempt a crockpot method of making my Panang Beef dish.
Onward!
This morning I got up very early and was out at the track by 6am. It was still hot. Really hot. Freaky hot for so early. I managed 4 very slow, just plain ol' walking miles on the track. I'm still not yet reaccostumed to this heat. For just plain ol' walking (ok, I did one lap racewalking really slowly, but really it doesn't count for much), I finished in exactly 1 hour. But I know that getting out there, even in this heat, even just plain ol' street walking, will help in the long run. As those new capillaries are forming in an effort to cool my body off, I know they will still be there once the cooler temps arrive, and I start speeding up again. All those capillaries will be available to shuttle oxygen rich blood to those working muscles. So while I wouldn't call today's workout a quality workout, hopefully it will add in a quality workout later down the road.
Yarn-wise, I'm being "tempered" by working on a project for a yarn company (South West Trading Company). It's a cardigan, one of my least favorite kind of projects. This is the kind that must be knit up in pieces, and then sewn together. So while each piece is not exceptionally large, it still feels never ending. Once I'm done knitting one piece, there is still another piece to cast on and knit. Then another. Then another. Then another. And even after that, then I have to knit the buttonband. And the neck border. And piece the thing together. And add a button... and ... and... you get the picture.
This type of project really tests my resolve and perseverance to stick with something this long. Especially when it's not even for me or a gift for someone special in my life. My motivation? Well, in payment for all my time and work, I'm usually paid in yarn from the company. This time however, rather than receiving a same quantity of the same yarn from the project, I'm going to request a fiscally similar quantity of their undyed sock yarn for my upcoming business. I think that makes really smart business sense! So I press onward with it. If I plan my day out well today, I might even get piece #1 done today.
Nevertheless, I simply cannot bear to only have this project active in my world. So last night, after working 5 inches of said cardi, I cast on Retro Rib Socks (Evelyn A Clark) in a Regia variegated yarn. These will be a Christmas present for a male member of the family.
So the plan for today: finish the back of the cardi; continue working on the Retro Rib Socks (maybe make it to the heel flap); and wind at least 5 skeins of yarn; watch the baseball game at 1pm; and lastly, attempt a crockpot method of making my Panang Beef dish.
Onward!
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Taking those first steps. Again.
I finally made it out for a real racewalking workout. First one in about 3 weeks and probably only the 2nd one this whole month. While not exactly like starting at square 1, it did sorta feel that way. As I pulled on my shoes this morning, I was almost nervous about this workout. Like I was doubtful about my ability to even go the (relatively speaking) short distance of 3 miles, let alone racewalk the whole thing. I got my iPod on, and as I stepped outside and warmed up a bit in my driveway, I realized that I had forgotten my Garmin. On second thoughts, I decided to leave it at home and just use the chrono on my regular watch. Did I really want to see how slow my pace was? Nah. Not that having the watch mattered much either. I'm apparently so out of touch with my workouts that I forgot to even start it. And I didn't even notice until I was about 2 miles into the workout. Freudian slip perhaps?
I ended up not racewalking the whole distance afterall, but mostly due to the heat which I've become unaccustomed to since Greer. Afterall, 3 weeks in temps that rarely went above 80 and were mostly in the 60's makes the blood a bit thicker. At 6am this morning, it was already approaching 90F here. I will need to re-acclimate to the conditions here before attempting anything too intense. Luckily, by the time that happens, temps will start coming down anyway with the approach of Fall.
I have not raced in well over a year now. I'm thinking that I should jump back into some events to help keep me motivated and accountable. I do know that when I was racing all the time, I was in great shape, and rarely if ever missed any workouts. I don't feel as competitive as I used to, but still enjoy a fun event, especially if shared with friends. I'll have to take a look at some local race calendars and see what's coming up in the Fall. And this year, I intend to participate in at least several judged racewalks in the winter. Last year, that was also my intention, but that nasty Valley Fever took me down for pretty much the whole Winter and much of the Spring.
On the needlefront, I'm almost done with my Mirrored Nutkins. I have just finished the gusset decreases on sock #2 so I'm in the home stretch. If I actually finish those today, I may finally cast on for the SWTC Cardigan that I've been meaning to start on. I'm meeting up with the knitting GRRRLs tonight which I'm so looking forward to. Haven't seen most of them in 3 weeks, and some, I haven't seen in over a month due to being away on vacations.
I need the destressing right now due to some family issues that have come up (again) with my in-laws. We are trying to move them over here, but are having serious problems with a location to place my MIL, who has Parkinson's. More than once now, we have located a place that is within a reasonable distance from our home, that has space, and looks acceptable, and were given lots of assurances that they could take on the care of her. However, when it came down to the final assessment, they say no, that she needs nursing care. And then we are back to square 1 with finding another place. Of course, this occurred again on Friday while we were on vacation. There was little we could do being away from home, over the weekend, and traveling via train. We jumped on it on Monday (mind you, we came home on Monday at around 3am), but despite all of that, some of his other family members are just breathing down my husband's back and b*tching at him. I don't think they really have a clue as to how much time and effort it takes to secure a place for their mother. I really feel for my husband who's taking time away from his job (which I sure hope he doesn't lose due to taking all of this time away), trying to balance everything, trying to shield me and the kids from the effects of all of this, and dealing with the complaints from his other family members. After taking on the extra $1600/month mortgage on this house that we bought for the express purpose of being able to take care of their parents, giving up private education for our kids, welcoming them into our home for the rest of their natural lives, agreeing to the commitment to take care of them for the rest of their natural lives, you'd think they'd be a little more appreciative. Or at least say thank you. We have not asked them to help out with the additional monies we will surely be spending just to have them here, let alone asked them to contribute to the additional mortgage we've taken on for their care. We've not asked them to do anything other than come here once, maybe 2x per year, so we can go on vacation. They won't even agree to that. My husband has flown out there no less than 2x per year every year for the past 5 years. Not to mention the combined 30 days they've spent here, with ME taking care of them, over the past 20 months so that they could be free from worrying about them over their vacations. You'd think they could at least give up 7 days per year between the 2 sisters. Nope. Instead they heap abuse on him and treat him horribly. And then they wonder why I don't want one of them in particular to ever come to my house. Yeah, like I would welcome someone in my home who has been sickly disrespectful to my husband. Not. My husband should be sainted for doing this, and putting up with all the abuse without retaliating. He's a better person than me.
OK, that's probably about enough for now!! I intend to have a great day with my kids (only 11 more days til school starts, I'm not looking forward to it, summer should be longer). Hope you all have a great day too.
I ended up not racewalking the whole distance afterall, but mostly due to the heat which I've become unaccustomed to since Greer. Afterall, 3 weeks in temps that rarely went above 80 and were mostly in the 60's makes the blood a bit thicker. At 6am this morning, it was already approaching 90F here. I will need to re-acclimate to the conditions here before attempting anything too intense. Luckily, by the time that happens, temps will start coming down anyway with the approach of Fall.
I have not raced in well over a year now. I'm thinking that I should jump back into some events to help keep me motivated and accountable. I do know that when I was racing all the time, I was in great shape, and rarely if ever missed any workouts. I don't feel as competitive as I used to, but still enjoy a fun event, especially if shared with friends. I'll have to take a look at some local race calendars and see what's coming up in the Fall. And this year, I intend to participate in at least several judged racewalks in the winter. Last year, that was also my intention, but that nasty Valley Fever took me down for pretty much the whole Winter and much of the Spring.
On the needlefront, I'm almost done with my Mirrored Nutkins. I have just finished the gusset decreases on sock #2 so I'm in the home stretch. If I actually finish those today, I may finally cast on for the SWTC Cardigan that I've been meaning to start on. I'm meeting up with the knitting GRRRLs tonight which I'm so looking forward to. Haven't seen most of them in 3 weeks, and some, I haven't seen in over a month due to being away on vacations.
I need the destressing right now due to some family issues that have come up (again) with my in-laws. We are trying to move them over here, but are having serious problems with a location to place my MIL, who has Parkinson's. More than once now, we have located a place that is within a reasonable distance from our home, that has space, and looks acceptable, and were given lots of assurances that they could take on the care of her. However, when it came down to the final assessment, they say no, that she needs nursing care. And then we are back to square 1 with finding another place. Of course, this occurred again on Friday while we were on vacation. There was little we could do being away from home, over the weekend, and traveling via train. We jumped on it on Monday (mind you, we came home on Monday at around 3am), but despite all of that, some of his other family members are just breathing down my husband's back and b*tching at him. I don't think they really have a clue as to how much time and effort it takes to secure a place for their mother. I really feel for my husband who's taking time away from his job (which I sure hope he doesn't lose due to taking all of this time away), trying to balance everything, trying to shield me and the kids from the effects of all of this, and dealing with the complaints from his other family members. After taking on the extra $1600/month mortgage on this house that we bought for the express purpose of being able to take care of their parents, giving up private education for our kids, welcoming them into our home for the rest of their natural lives, agreeing to the commitment to take care of them for the rest of their natural lives, you'd think they'd be a little more appreciative. Or at least say thank you. We have not asked them to help out with the additional monies we will surely be spending just to have them here, let alone asked them to contribute to the additional mortgage we've taken on for their care. We've not asked them to do anything other than come here once, maybe 2x per year, so we can go on vacation. They won't even agree to that. My husband has flown out there no less than 2x per year every year for the past 5 years. Not to mention the combined 30 days they've spent here, with ME taking care of them, over the past 20 months so that they could be free from worrying about them over their vacations. You'd think they could at least give up 7 days per year between the 2 sisters. Nope. Instead they heap abuse on him and treat him horribly. And then they wonder why I don't want one of them in particular to ever come to my house. Yeah, like I would welcome someone in my home who has been sickly disrespectful to my husband. Not. My husband should be sainted for doing this, and putting up with all the abuse without retaliating. He's a better person than me.
OK, that's probably about enough for now!! I intend to have a great day with my kids (only 11 more days til school starts, I'm not looking forward to it, summer should be longer). Hope you all have a great day too.
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Working it out
Returning from vacation is like backing a corkscrew out of the cork of a wine bottle. Everything is in reverse and I'm trying to put things back in their places. But, if the vacation is a good one as ours was, my perspective has changed a little since we were here last. After living in such tight quarters and out of luggage for 10 days, and always being aware of catching trains or buses on time, suddenly I feel that there has been disorder in our life prior to this vacation. And that needs to change a bit. While I'm enjoying relaxing on the super rigid time schedules, I do recognize that we do need a bit of time organizing in our lives. I need to make time, or schedule tasks, throughout my day, rather than leaving those things to fall in wherever or whenever I feel like doing them. Nothing to rabid, just a little sense of predictability might be a good thing for us.
So today, I got up, again too late to do a racewalking workout outside, and biked to the store for the few items I had forgotten or needed since grocery shopping on Monday. Yesterday's workout consisted of pool running and lap swimming for about an hour. I wasn't really timing myself, but rather, gave myself a window of time and focused on having a quality, rather than quantity workout.
I also need to spend more time focusing on my upcoming Etsy shop, and so, need to devote at least some time everyday working on winding skeins, and dyeing them so that I'll have enough product at the get-go to make it worthwhile for people to check out my shop. There's no sense in opening a shop with say, 3 skeins for sale.
Of course, multitasking is a must. I love watching baseball games and can certainly knit, do some cleaning, or wind skeins of yarn while doing that.
It's all a learning process, but I'm in a good place right now to make these changes since I've been out of my normal element for several weeks now. So here's to making things more productive but more enjoyable!
So today, I got up, again too late to do a racewalking workout outside, and biked to the store for the few items I had forgotten or needed since grocery shopping on Monday. Yesterday's workout consisted of pool running and lap swimming for about an hour. I wasn't really timing myself, but rather, gave myself a window of time and focused on having a quality, rather than quantity workout.
I also need to spend more time focusing on my upcoming Etsy shop, and so, need to devote at least some time everyday working on winding skeins, and dyeing them so that I'll have enough product at the get-go to make it worthwhile for people to check out my shop. There's no sense in opening a shop with say, 3 skeins for sale.
Of course, multitasking is a must. I love watching baseball games and can certainly knit, do some cleaning, or wind skeins of yarn while doing that.
It's all a learning process, but I'm in a good place right now to make these changes since I've been out of my normal element for several weeks now. So here's to making things more productive but more enjoyable!
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
For more pictures....
of our train trip... rather than post them all here... take a look at my Flickr page... a link is on the right hand side of the page. They are all in a set labeled "California Train Trip" (or something like that). I'm still not done uploading them all, still have about 100 pictures to get in there, but there's plenty to see already, hope you enjoy them!
On the knitting front, I've finished one of my Mirrored Nutkins and now feverishly working sock #2. Have yet to start the SWTC cardigan, but perhaps will cast on for that sometime today. The cardigan is knit up in their luscious new yarn called "Therapi". It's a wool/silk blend, with some jadeite in it also. Really is lovely yarn to work with (when is silk not lovely to work with). Does split ever so slightly once in a while, but really not often. It doesn't felt well, but can be spit spliced (someone explain that to me). I'll post some pics later this week if I do cast on so you all can take a look-see.
So the next few weeks will be very busy here in the Kneedler's household: recouping from our trip; school starting for the kids on the 11th; starting up my business; and my in-laws will be moving here from Maryland. My mother-in-law has been suffering from Parkinson's for the past 15-16 years, so she will be moving into assisted living or a nursing home. My father-in-law will be living in our guest house for the time being, although I suspect that won't last more than a year or so due to his recently degrading health as well. Thank G-d for knitting and racewalking to keep me some sanity, I could use all the help I can get!!
Speaking of racewalking, that has been missing a bit in my life this past month. Honestly, I think I've walked once so far this month. With the vacations, there just wasn't much opportunity or time, so that has fallen by the wayside for several weeks. But I knew that would happen, and now that we're home again, I'm ready to get my training up and running again. It's very hot here this week, and workouts will need to be very early in the morning. I'm thinking I should start with some 30-60 minute workouts in the pool instead with the flotation belt on. Pool running is a great alternative here in the desert when 'quality' road workouts are nonexistent once it gets too warm (which is anytime after about 8am). I'm looking forward to going to Dave's advanced camp in October, so I better get my butt in gear for that. Then in late January, I'm hosting a regular racewalking clinic here at my home. If you're interested in learning to racewalk, Dave's weekender clinics are second to none. See his website here to learn more: Dave's World Class Racewalking
Back in May I had mentioned that the kids and I were looking to lose weight over the summer. I'm happy to report that we were successful!! I lost about 10lbs, my older Boy lost something like 15lbs or maybe more, and the younger boy lost about 8lbs. Not a huge amount on the grand scale of things, but definitely steps in the right direction. Surprisingly, I didn't gain any weight on vacation despite eating crap pretty much the whole time (although we did make efforts to control portions and make smart food decisions). I guess all that walking around and lugging around the huge duffle bags and backpacks all the time helped out too. Yay again for train travel!!
Lastly, just wanted to mention again how cool it was to travel by train. Not only did we get to see scenery not available from the concrete highway, but it was actually a very eco-conscious mode of travel. It is 17% more efficient than air travel, and 21% more efficient that traveling by car - on a per passenger per mile basis. Awesome!! In addition, when in our various locations, we used the local mass transit, especially in San Francisco, every chance we could. We rarely sat in a car for the entire 10 days, which is awesome for a family vacation for 4 covering more than 1000 miles.
I found that using an Amtrak pass was the most economical as well, and highly recommend that anyone thinking of traveling via rail consider getting one. One price covers all your rail needs over a set period of days. And it's usually far cheaper than buying each rail ticket on its own. Check it out here: Amtrak passes
Onward.......
On the knitting front, I've finished one of my Mirrored Nutkins and now feverishly working sock #2. Have yet to start the SWTC cardigan, but perhaps will cast on for that sometime today. The cardigan is knit up in their luscious new yarn called "Therapi". It's a wool/silk blend, with some jadeite in it also. Really is lovely yarn to work with (when is silk not lovely to work with). Does split ever so slightly once in a while, but really not often. It doesn't felt well, but can be spit spliced (someone explain that to me). I'll post some pics later this week if I do cast on so you all can take a look-see.
So the next few weeks will be very busy here in the Kneedler's household: recouping from our trip; school starting for the kids on the 11th; starting up my business; and my in-laws will be moving here from Maryland. My mother-in-law has been suffering from Parkinson's for the past 15-16 years, so she will be moving into assisted living or a nursing home. My father-in-law will be living in our guest house for the time being, although I suspect that won't last more than a year or so due to his recently degrading health as well. Thank G-d for knitting and racewalking to keep me some sanity, I could use all the help I can get!!
Speaking of racewalking, that has been missing a bit in my life this past month. Honestly, I think I've walked once so far this month. With the vacations, there just wasn't much opportunity or time, so that has fallen by the wayside for several weeks. But I knew that would happen, and now that we're home again, I'm ready to get my training up and running again. It's very hot here this week, and workouts will need to be very early in the morning. I'm thinking I should start with some 30-60 minute workouts in the pool instead with the flotation belt on. Pool running is a great alternative here in the desert when 'quality' road workouts are nonexistent once it gets too warm (which is anytime after about 8am). I'm looking forward to going to Dave's advanced camp in October, so I better get my butt in gear for that. Then in late January, I'm hosting a regular racewalking clinic here at my home. If you're interested in learning to racewalk, Dave's weekender clinics are second to none. See his website here to learn more: Dave's World Class Racewalking
Back in May I had mentioned that the kids and I were looking to lose weight over the summer. I'm happy to report that we were successful!! I lost about 10lbs, my older Boy lost something like 15lbs or maybe more, and the younger boy lost about 8lbs. Not a huge amount on the grand scale of things, but definitely steps in the right direction. Surprisingly, I didn't gain any weight on vacation despite eating crap pretty much the whole time (although we did make efforts to control portions and make smart food decisions). I guess all that walking around and lugging around the huge duffle bags and backpacks all the time helped out too. Yay again for train travel!!
Lastly, just wanted to mention again how cool it was to travel by train. Not only did we get to see scenery not available from the concrete highway, but it was actually a very eco-conscious mode of travel. It is 17% more efficient than air travel, and 21% more efficient that traveling by car - on a per passenger per mile basis. Awesome!! In addition, when in our various locations, we used the local mass transit, especially in San Francisco, every chance we could. We rarely sat in a car for the entire 10 days, which is awesome for a family vacation for 4 covering more than 1000 miles.
I found that using an Amtrak pass was the most economical as well, and highly recommend that anyone thinking of traveling via rail consider getting one. One price covers all your rail needs over a set period of days. And it's usually far cheaper than buying each rail ticket on its own. Check it out here: Amtrak passes
Onward.......
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