Archive for January, 2008
This last week was brutal. Between the crazy, hectic work week and the non-stop rain (not complaining, we need it!) there was hardly any time for running or anything else. I only got two runs in but at least they were both good. Today I did 7.2 on the same course as last weekend’s seven. Total time was 1:11:12 and here are the splits:
1 - 10:41
2 - 9:56
3 - 9:39
4 - 9:59
5 - 9:51
6 - 9:37
7 - 9:29
.2 - 1:57
In general, today felt much better than last week. My overall pace was about 25 seconds faster which probably had a lot to do with finally getting a few good nights of sleep this past week. Ashok has taken to sleeping in until 7:15 again, god bless him! Even though we usually don’t take Lucy on long runs, she came with me today which probably helped too. She was so excited; after a rainy week of no running and only a few short walks here and there, she was still bouncing around the house like crazy even after a 7 mile run.
I still haven’t posted my food pictures yet-I’m hoping to figure it out this week when I get some much needed time off. Unfortunately, this break won’t last long. February had been looking nice and mellow for a while, but a bunch of work has come in and looks like it will be a crazy month.
But, before that all gets started I have something to look forward to: on Wednesday of this week, my sister turns 40 and we are going out to Osteria Mozza to celebrate. This restaurant is pretty new and has been the source of much buzz in L.A. so I am excited to check it out. If I can manage to take pictures of my meal without making a total ass of myself, I’ll post them here after. Those food pictures will probably be much more interesting than all that cereal and pasta I ate last week.
January 27th, 2008
So, this week didn’t go quite as well as planned. I only got three runs in and abs/yoga only happened once. I did 7 slow miles on Sunday and they looked like this:
1 - 10:15
2 - 9:50
3 - 10:10
4 - 10:41
5 - 10:12
6 - 10:13
7 - 10:15
I know I said I was going to focus on getting these runs done and not worry about speed, but I really would like to be going a little faster than this. This morning, I went out and did 3.1 and tried to pick up the pace:
1 - 9:04
2 - 9:07
3 - 8:21
.1 - 0:45
I was definitely pushing hard, but it felt good. I am going to try and post my Week of Food pictures later today although I didn’t quite follow through on that task as well as I had hoped. Stay tuned.
January 22nd, 2008
I am shamelessly stealing this meme from Catherine. Here are the instructions:
The BAND meme:
1. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
The first article title on the page is the name of your band.
2. www.quotationspage.com/random.php3
The last four words of the very last quote is the title of your album.
3. www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days/
The third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.
My band name: Thunder (nice!)
Album title: “…enough to lend to.” (meh..)
Album Cover : can be seen here. Not so Thunder-iffic but a nice picture, nonetheless.
January 16th, 2008
I have decided to take on a task for this week. Inspired by Runner Susan, I am going to attempt to photograph everything I eat starting this morning and ending Sunday night. Although for me this doesn’t involve any sort of diet, I think it will help me get an idea of how well, or not well, I am eating. This week will be a tough one too, since I have several late night opera rehearsals that will get me home around midnight at which point I usually have a secret pig out party in my office with the cat as my only witness. Perhaps the possibility of photographic evidence of my late night binges will slow me down a bit? I sort of doubt it.
So far my goals are going pretty well. I got 5 workouts in last week (4 runs, 1 ab/yoga). For my long run this week I did 6.5 miles and although they were pretty slow at least I got them done. I am trying not to focus too much on speed in the long runs-since April will be my first half marathon ever, I just want to finish more than anything else.
Shopping….well, I did buy a couple of things on clearance at Target for Ashok (a $3 shirt and a $6 raincoat, come on!) but I didn’t buy any more shoes for myself-I will survive with just the adorable red sneakers and not invite any of their relatives to come and live with me. Curbing the shopping is hard, it is a bad habit that has developed over years and will probably take just as long to get under control.
In a very busy weekend we managed to get in some time at the park on an absolutely beautiful day.
We had a picnic lunch that included quiche for Ashok which he ate with his little finger sticking out after asking around for Grey Poupon. He is fancy like that.
And just to clarify something I mentioned in my last post, Ashok: The Sequel is not yet in production and due to the WGA strike is likely to be delayed for some time. In other words, I am NOT pregnant. Thank you.
January 14th, 2008
I was looking through my archives a few nights ago trying to figure out if I made any resolutions last year. Aside from a few lousy jokes about more whining and complaining and more adorable baby pictures (both counts: accomplished), it doesn’t look like I made any real attempt at change last year. This year I only have a couple, and I won’t call them resolutions. Let’s call them Realistic Goals for 2008.
- Work out more days a week. I have been pretty consistent with running three days a week, sometimes four, but I haven’t been doing any other kinds of exercise and I’m starting to feel it. I’m going to shoot for 4 runs a week and one or two days of either yoga, ab work or walking. Goal #1 should be made easier by Goal #2 which is….
- …to run a half marathon this year. I have been toying with this idea for a few months and now that Brian and I are talking (just talking!) about the possibility of Ashok: The Sequel some time in the not so distant future, I think it’s time to bite the bullet and get a half under my belt before I can’t wear a belt any longer.
After doing some research and absolutely falling in love with the idea of this race, (a weekend in Santa Barbara! Wine!) only to discover moments before giving them my money that I have a late rehearsal the night before and would never be able to make it up there in time to get a decent night’s sleep, I finally settled on The Great Race of Agoura Hills. Not as fancy a location and unfortunately, a more challenging course but the timing is right. Also, the course goes through the hills right near where Brian and I got married, so there’s some nostalgia factor there. I went through some back issues of Runner’s World and found a training plan that should work for me (I’ll be doing the short program). I’ll need to start that plan in about three weeks which gives me a little time to get my mileage up to where it should be. It feels good to have made this decision and have a big race to work towards.
Right, the shoes. I bought these over the holidays:
I loooves them. Obviously, they are not for any sort of exercise other than bouncing around town, but they are so ridiculously comfortable. They basically feel like wearing slippers AND they make my giant size 9 feet look practically petite. I may have to get another pair in black even though they’re not on sale any longer. Which brings us to Realistic Goal #3:
Less shopping.
Yeah, not going so well so far. Although, for the month of December I controlled myself quite well. This ban, or let’s say “reduction” (we are talking about Realistic Goals, after all) applies to clothes and shoes for myself as well as for Ashok. It is often hard to control myself when I find cute little things in the baby section at Target, but the truth is he has plenty of clothes and wouldn’t know the difference if I dressed him in paper towels tomorrow morning. (Not that I would do that. Paper towels are very 1986.) For myself, there are just certain stores I need to stay the F away from so that I’m not even tempted. I’m allowing myself a couple of necessities like a raincoat (yes I live in Los Angeles, but hey, it rained this week!) and new concert black pants (most of mine don’t fit right anymore and the ones that do are looking sorry). Hopefully, finding those will keep me occupied and kill that jones I get for smell, sound and taste (don’t judge) of new clothing. We’ll see. Addiction is powerful.
January 9th, 2008
I have been meaning to sit down and write our holiday recap for days now-Ashok is finally down for his nap, so I’ll give you the high points in a scattered incoherent manner before he wakes up.
After an incredibly snotty Christmas, we did finally fly out to Atlanta to spend New Year’s with these folks:
Even though every last one of us was sick at some point in the weekend (some showed up sick, like us, others got sick in the middle or left sick) we still had a great time. I feel lucky to have such a great group of people to hang out with every New Year’s. Ashok also got to meet his great-grandparents for the first time and we celebrated their 72nd wedding anniversary. 72 years!
After a grueling five hour flight home with a toddler who just can’t sit still for even five freaking minutes, I was glad to be home. I went out the next morning for a run at the Rose Bowl forgetting that the big game had just been the day before. (I think I did this last year, too.) My normally pristine, beautiful running course was basically a big pile of trash. I had to maneuver Lucy around several half eaten pizzas before she had a chance to dig her snout into them. Basically, it was lovely. I thought about taking pictures but that just seemed sort of gross. My run sucked since I hadn’t really run in two weeks of being sick but I made myself go out again the next day and it was much better. I even tried to go out again the next day; three days in a row is not something I usually do, but there was a big storm coming so I figured I would try before I was forced to miss more days. About one mile in, my hip started to hurt and I realized I was probably pushing it after two weeks off, so I called it quits and came home.
The rain hit yesterday at about noon, just as I was helping my mom unload stuff into her new apartment. It poured buckets for the rest of the day through the middle of the night and we had the pleasure of discovering water leaking into our fireplace. Ah, homeownership! We’re supposed to get even more today and tomorrow which is great-we need the rain desperately here in drought land-but that bucket will probably have to live in our fireplace for a few more days.
I still haven’t figured out how to post video of Ashok walking, but here’s what it looks like:
Here he is wandering through LAX like so much unattended baggage:
More soon, I think he’s waking up….
January 5th, 2008