Yup – got behind.

Somewhere in here – and I think it might have been Day 49 – had to go to Kaiser to pick up “new and improved” thyroid meds. I didn’t go to the Wednesday Crossfit (though looking back at the post, the WOD actually looked kinda fun…) – then Thursday the idea was to go to the WOD, but I went in with Kat and Trish to pick up my Nike race bib. We found our names on the Nike wall, and then turned out that Kat hadn’t run more than just shy of 7-1/2 miles, and wasn’t really “prepared” with nutrition, race pack, etc. – so we did the whole Sports Basement “trip  to Mecca” (laugh). There was a BRUTAL car accident then as we were coming home – so no chance of making the 6:30 p.m. WOD. (In retrospect, maybe it was a GOOD thing that we wound up at Sports Basement, since it’s possible we could have been IN that accident – there was glass literally ALL over Highway 101, and from where the flares were, it looks like they had closed down all but ONE lane – there were a ton of police cars plus mashed-up cars on the side of the road too).

Friday I did go to Crossfit –

CONDITIONING WOD:
50-40-30-20-10
KBS 1.5/1P
Push Up
6 x 50M Shuttle Run Sprint at end of each round

I wasn’t going to do the run – since it was (duh) 2 days to the Nike – but I did and I came in FIRST out of the whole box (by one second – Jimmy literally chased me down). Exhilarating! Of course, I’m scaling – but I’m going as hard as I can. Discovered that you can make the kettlebell swings go faster if you (again – duh) pull the kettlebell DOWN (instead of just letting gravity take it down) on the downward part of the swing. Bo was leading the WOD and said that I am going to have to use a heavier kettlebell now. 😉 (I have to ask what the “1.5/1P” part means above – I’m not sure).

Did more running around Friday – had one business call that I can’t bill for (sigh) – and then Tom and Jan had us over to “St. Patrick’s Day Dinner” – because she of course broke her leg (tripping on our stairs!) the day BEFORE they were going to have it this year. She’d put the corned beef in her freezer – and now that they are moving (SIGH!) they wanted to do it. It was a lot of fun – my doctor told me I MUST stop eating gluten because it is SO BAD for the thyroid (body sees the thyroid cells/gluten in the same “way” so when you eat gluten the body attacks the thyroid) – so no Irish soda bread for me – I had 2 glasses of champagne but no wine at dinner. Yes I know, “bad” re the champagne but so it goes. I did leave at 8:30 (right before she brought out the Irish Coffee!) to get to bed, since Thursday and Friday are really the MOST important sleep days before a race. Slept SUPER late on Saturday – again, with the theory that the more you can do, the better.

Saturday mainly laid out my “race woman” (as you can see at Left) then I had to get all dolled up, as I was the auctioneer for a charity auction benefiting the House of Steel. They were kind enough not only to have “flipped” the usual event program (putting the auction before the dinner, not after), but they boxed up a yummy take-away dinner for me from The Pleasure Is Mine catering. I got home at about 8:00-ish, ate my yummy dinner while watching a little bit of a movie with H, then was off to bed with my OuchWraps puppy 😉 (That’s what I’m calling my big wrap.)

Got up at 3:00 a.m. (yaaaaaaawn!!!!) and ate my “ritual” Vega Pre-Workout Energizer and oatmeal (no gluten – H made me check!) then posted my ritual “Ave Imperator, morituri te salutant…” on Facebook, then off to be Vanpool Mama. I brought my friend Kat and 6 other TNT/LLS Run Team folks (yes, that adds up to 7…V.A. and Sherri sat in each other’s la) to S.F. The day before I’d gotten the van carpets steam-cleaned, just in case someone had to sit on the floor! The best thing I did that morning was to I.M. with Sherri – she actually wrote to tell me she had a cold and wasn’t going to do the race – I kept writing and writing until she got out of bed and decided to brave it. I am SO GLAD that she did! We had one “tense moment” when my mentee Sandy Z. somehow lost her corral wristband in the car (I was really worried she had dropped it in the parking lot while getting INTO the car), but all worked out fine.

Kat and I took a photo of ourselves in our “crazy cat ladies getting ready to take their cats out on their leashes” outfits (courtesy of Marin Goodwill – hey, you can’t beat $10 for sweat pants and jackets!) and then went and met Trish, Anne, Lois, Michelle, and April at Maiden Lane for some send-off photos “as usual” for Nike.

I wound up trading my earlier corral slot to V.A., because she was afraid she couldn’t make it if she started back in 11+ where she was slotted. The amazing part is that I haven’t ever actually been in the “back” corral – WOW it’s far back! The good part was that was where Kat’s wristband started her, so we were able to start together. I have run with other people, but never when not starting in the same corral. I had come up with a “scheme” for how we would link up – but I always forget what it’s like to run with 29,999 of my BFFs. So I was really glad to have the same wristband.

We practiced our squats in the Port-A-Potties, and then ultimately the gun went off for the first racers. And then we waited . . . and waited . . . and waited. WOW, it takes a long time to get to the last corral! I want to say it was close to 40-45 minutes. I could really see why V.A. wanted my slot in the next corral after the Professionals/fasties!

I’d decided we’d do a 7/2 Galloway. I kept our pace pretty well – in that in the results (they time you at every 5k) I only had 2 minutes “creep up” over the whole race. Not bad. We were slow though, because instead of “fast walking” during the 2 minute walk periods, was just walk-walked. That was fine though – once we got to Mile 12, Kat said “I’m done” – and I said “Um, no you’re not” – so I’m glad that we had taken a bit longer in the “walk breaks” than usual. When we got in sight of the Finish line though, Kat SPRINTED to the finish – and I mean a full-on sprint! I couldn’t have caught her. It cracked me up! I thought “If you had that in you, woman, we could have spread that out over the whole course…” 🙂 She came in at 2:49:49 – I’d hoped to get us in at 2:30, but that was about what I figured we’d come in at since we “walk-walked” the walk breaks.

Ran into my sister in the shirt line, who talked my ear off until I got to the TNT tent, about her races, her classes, her experiences, her “I have done so many races I just give my shirts to all my family members,” her thoughts on chocolate milk (“ridiculous, in ‘all my research’ it is useless”), her (name that tune). Unfortunately as Kat needed a Medium and I was in the Large line, lost track of

her. I did catch up to Anne, Lois & Trish in the TNT Tent (and saw Brian, Patty, HB – had seen Elise, Al, and Jen Jay on the course) which was great. It had really gotten cold and foggy, so was glad for the “astronaut” blanket. I did take one of the turkey sandwiches – unfortunately only the peanut butter ones were on gluten-free bread. Then back out to find Kat.

Cell reception was sketchy, but I did send her a text and left her a voicemail, and just headed to the After-bag shuttle. I figured we had dropped our bags off at the same bus, so she’d have to head that way at some point. Caught up to my sister again there with my Dad. Dad was trying to get a hold of Mom (who had been tasked with parking the car).

Liz was shouting at all the walkers who were passing the bus in an “Atta Girl” fashion on and on and on. Found my After bag and was able to get into some warmer clothes and start nursing my recovery drink when Kat showed up (YAY!)

I was super duper glad I’d been able to get Kat a TNT shuttle bus wristband, as we sashayed past the IMMENSE line for the Nike bus and got into ours bound for Union Square. We got into the car, and then headed to Whole Foods where Kat bought me a whole tub of the Vega Energizer as a thank you (no, thank YOU!)

Got home and kibitzed a bit with H, then headed up to the requisite ice bath 😉 I actually wasn’t all that sore or stiff, so I hadn’t picked up a 50 pound sack at Andy’s. I just used the ice we had in the machine. I did add a new “wrinkle” to the experience though – generally I have a cup of miso soup (and a full-sugar Coke, if the run has been over 17 or so miles) – this time I made a cup of Bulletproof Coffee (Brain Octane Oil – which is basically a supercharged version of coconut oil plus butter plus egg yolks) and then added a shot of whisky. (H teased as I was making the coffee that I should “add a shot” to it – at which point I realized – Oh HECK yeah, that sounds like a GRAND idea!)

Caught up on Facebook while lying in bed afterwards, making sure that all my peeps, V.A., etc. had made it in – and then just went to bed. H and I were supposed to go out to an early showing of

“Gravity” after I got my ice bath/nap out of the way, but I was just too sapped by all the talking on the run, being talked “at” by my sister, etc. that I’d had too much “input” for the day! I was sorry because I know H really wants to go, and I hope that we can do it later this week. (I had thought Wednesday, but I just found out he has to go director training in San Jose Wednesday and Thursday – then we’re off to Tahoe for 4 days. Maybe we’ll see it up there!)

I did come down around 8:00 p.m. and got some dinner, then H and I watched some “low taxing” TV and I went back up to bed. That’s a lot of resting! Felt good though.

I really had planned to get up and out to Crossfit this morning, but H still feels bad (he has a nasty sore throat and cold – has had it for a week), and so since I plan to go to Bikram at 1:30 p.m. (it’s already noon – how’d THAT happen?), I bailed. I think H will go with me tomorrow night before he heads out to San Jose.

So now it’s October 21st – time to really get going on our TAR video. I have emailed my Mom to find out if she has any “bookworm-esque” shots of me when I was a kid. I have some other shots and video (especially of the skydiving), but per the timing that I laid out, it only needs to be 30 seconds. Unfortunately – unless Robbie has one – I don’t have any photos from when we were at Lucas together – even then, the funniest part is that we were mainly in contact on email!

I figure I’ll just start a Dropbox folder, like Prashant and I have done before. That will make me feel like this is “going somewhere.”

Unfortunately no more language tapes for a while, as I have our book club book on tape and need to listen to that before Thursday night!

 

 

 

 

 

Okie dokie. I posted some thoughts on Day 4/September 1st (entitled ‘The Video” – something like that). It had my thoughts as to how the beginning could “look.” We get THREE MINUTES. I personally know – from doing video podcasting, speaking, etc. – that 3 minutes is just about time to breathe in and out, and say one sentence. Unless you want to talk like Alvin the Chipmunk.

Here are TAR’s pointers on the video:

Be yourself!  We want to get to know who you are as a person, and who you are as a team. Tell us about yourself and your teammate. How will your personalities affect your experience on the show?  How will you interact with the other teams? How will you interact with each other? When describing yourself, remember to cite real life examples. We love a good story!

This is a show about relationships, so let us know how your relationship with your teammate will help you win this Race. It’s not about putting together the best skit or wearing the wackiest costumes. We’re looking for real people and we want to see the real you.  Tell us what skills and life experiences you and your teammate bring that will help you do well as participants on the show. Both teammates need to be on one video. We especially are looking for how the two of you interact. If you can not get together to make a video, you’ll have to figure out a way to edit both of you on the same video. We do not accept single submissions for this show.

This all has to be shown in 3 minutes, mind you.

So this is a mock up that I think will GET THEIR ATTENTION, and will
SHOW WHAT COULD BE INTERESTING FOR THEIR SHOW:

First 30 seconds: Star Wars “crawl” intro:

Star Wars “crawl” in beginning (SEE Day 4 idea on this) – ending as noted in that post. Using the John Williams score that’s actually linked to that post, the music begins at 0:03. I believe that a short crawl (a la the one I mentioned in the Day 4 post) would get us to about 0:23, where the “scratch” sound would happen, then my voiceoverand R’s voiceover (as per Day 4).

That will take us to about 0:30.

Second 30 seconds: Robbie’s photos/introduction by me:

Next comes R’s photos, I overdub her story, as we then seem more “together”/as if we “know one another’s story” because we’re telling each other’s story.

So this would be something like:

(photos of R as a kid hunting/fishing/canoeing – in between whatever story is told – now/L.A. entertainment stuff/more desk-related)

I overdub: “Robbie started out as a tomboy kid in Michigan. She learned not only how to swim, climb, and jump, but also paddle a canoe backwards. Now, she’s a city girl, in the Entertainment Industry in Los Angeles.” (That exact phrase, said at the right speed, would be 10 seconds. So it would need 20 seconds more, for the full 1/2 minute, and would need photos to go under the voiceover.)

Third 30 seconds: Sandy’s photos/introduction by R:

(photos of S as a kid – bookworm – in between whatever story I tell – now/more active, lawyer)

R overdubs: “[Photos of me as a kid – the names of the photos could be the “subtitles” of these photos, perhaps shot as if they are in an old scrapbook, with the title underneath?] From her earliest memory, Sandy lived out her life between the pages, imagining what it would be like to climb, jump, and canoe without actually getting dirty. She is happily married [photo of H and me at wedding with Robbie in background, perhaps with an “arrow” pointing to Robbie that says ‘Robbie’ on it] and has traveled with her husband [travel photos go by here], but he is responsible for the planning – she takes care of keeping things light [photo of “making a face like the statue” in Cambodia goes here]. As she approached 50 [photo in orange leather dress at 50th bday celebration], she came to realize that life was more fun in 3D, got up off the couch, and in the past couple years has completed an Ironman triathlon [Ironman finish photo], marathons, triathons, all while raising over $25,000 to fight blood cancer. She’s a lawyer in Northern California, and wants to do the Amazing Race to prove that she can both keep things light and plan.”

This, said at the correct speed, is 30 seconds long. I have Dropboxed photos of me as a kid with books, photos with Herbert, one photo of Robbie from my wedding (standing next to my friend Seb, who could be cut out – this could be used by Robbie or not used); one photo from our wedding where Robbie is doing the video to the side, various race photos.

Fourth 30 seconds: scroll intro of our background “together”:

The screen goes black, Williams score fades back in (at about 3:45 mins, per the John Williams score linked on Day 4), “scroll” starts with:

Robbie and Sandy met over 20 years ago
while interns at Lucasfilm. They were older than the other interns,
but played well with others. They stayed in touch through first email,
then Instant Messaging, then Facebook and Facebook Messenger.
Though 20-year friends, they have seen each other less than 10 times in person.
Their relationship is that of…

(in Starvader script): CYBER PALS

NOTE: To do this right will take looking at the initial Star Wars “scroll” HERE to see the font/scroll (just like the first “scroll” mentioned above) – but in ours, the “CYBER PALS” (which should look like “STAR WARS”) will come after, not before, the crawl.

You hear me in the background shouting “Robbie!  HEY!  STOP THAT!” and the “needle scratching off a record sound” again…it could even cut to “Darth Vader’s theme” for a few seconds if we have time, in a black screen (as if to indicate me, the big bad lawyer/Darth Vader…).

Fifth 30 seconds – our “video” together:

Cut to us on Skype. Video should “fades in” as if the video is “cutting into” a conversation that is already going:

R: It’s all about the visuals. We have to use the Star Wars theme ‘cos that’s where we met – and I think that we should like do a cut of us running across the Golden Gate, now 20-odd years later. It’s beautiful. I can drive up. We could shoot it on a weekend.

S: But that’s not our “relationship story.” The deal is – how will we work together, when we’ve been friends for 20 years but nearly never in the same place? That’s never been done on the show! That’s the story! [me flailing my arms around]

R: [arms crossed, sort of pouting] But it’s not very pretty. We need good visuals.

S: [eyebrow raised] Well . . . I’m taping this. That’s a visual.

R: [Horrified look] Oh, you’re not. [Peers into Skype box] Geez look at my hair….[hand in hair]

Video fades out to black.

<That dialog, as written, is 30 seconds>

Sixth 30 seconds: Finale:

Black with stars (see Star Wars video for what I’m talking about) – you hear R in background saying “you’re not recording this, right? Really?” and then S saying something like “You’re going to learn I snore like a Mack truck on steroids” and R saying “Look, we’ve gotta have better visuals…” ending with R capitulating – “okay, let’s try it” and S then saying “I dunno, maybe you’re right…”

Slowly fade in to the following, in this order: (1) our names and info, then (2) “CYBER-PALS’ fades in (in the Star Wars font)…then (3) the Pick us line fades in, then (4) the last line fades in:

ROBERTA KENNEY, 59 (rlk@rkenney.com)
SANDY SHEPARD, 51 (goodsolutions1@yahoo.com)
CYBER PALS
Pick Us: We don’t even know what we’ll really be like!
Let’s all find out together, on camera!

Ending with the “end” of the John Williams score (in THIS version – it’s from 2:00 to 2:07 – the other score that’s linked above doesn’t end the same).

Finis.

The only thing that we do NOT have is a “photo of the team together” (per the application) – we have everything else once we get this video done. So that’s the one thing that we have to figure out how to have. Could be a photo of the Skype screen….I put a number of potential “single photos” into the Dropbox, for me.

POSTSCRIPT: Just heard a great tag-phrase on an ad: Would love to co-opt it, something like “We want to travel the long distance together, to shorten the distance between us.”

Crossfit workout:

CONDITIONING
6 RFT
200M Run
25 Box Jump
15 Pull Up
5 Deadlift 100/70KG

I am typing this in the night before – I might actually do this one – I like all those things. Of course, the pullups would kill me LOL! I did what – 4 x 10 on Monday? And this is 6 x 15…? Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. I can’t do 70 KG deadlift – but I can do 40 (orange bar is I think 10 kg, and then the 30 kg plates) – I think I could do 6 x 5 of that.

Box jumps – Bo said to put a 5 kg plate in between the 25s the next time. So that’d be what I’d do.

Wondering about them pullups…..

UPDATE: Yeah, not going. I’m SO SORE from yesterday’s WOD that I’m going to try to get a massage today. I have a masseuse that in “$-ier times” I purchased like a 10-pack from and still have massages left on – I’ve already emailed her! Have a ton of chores to do today (running around-type chores – going to post office, helping Mom pick out a rug color, etc.) but I can smoosh them around my calendar and get that massage in. Oooooouch, sore!

My Day 49-TAR thing will be listening to language tapes while chore-ing.

UPDATE: No massage – SIGH! – masseuse booked. I did get a Groupon spray-tan though and it looks glorious 😉

So, yesterday at work study, I did my usual (steam clean the yoga floor, do laundry, clean up after the piggies oh I mean yogis in the bathrooms, etc.) and then I had one BIG chore to do.

Gail had gotten what is likely a semi-annual delivery of “soap and stuff” from Seventh Generation – and my job was to put it away. Now, she said that I didn’t have to do all of it – but I made it a “TAR event” (yeah, I’m pathetic, I know) and also knew that she’d just be so glad it was done that if I could, I should.

There were 40+ boxes of product – from boxes of a dozen squirt-bottles, to boxes with two huge jugs of “wholesale” soap (as in, the stuff you would put “into” a bottle you already have). The boxes were of a size that (weights being manageable) I could stack two on top of one another, and they would fit just under my chin, with my arms fully extended. Since I’m over 6′ tall, those are fairly large boxes.

Now, granted, I couldn’t stack 2 on top of one another, for two reasons. One, some were too heavy for me to carry two at a time. Two – I had to carry them from a breezeway down a steep flight of stairs, duck under a support beam, into the cellar, then under a rat’s maze of pipes to the very back of the cellar, where the cleaning products go. (Things that are used up more quickly, like coconut water, Hint water and such, are stacked against a pillar by the door just inside the cellar, but the rest is way in the back.)

Both R and I were pretty impressed the pink-haired girl in TAR this season (the mean one) in that during the event where the teams had to carry 60 pound sacks of salt to a tub and pour them in, she was able to carry two at a time, versus all the other women who could just barely lift one. I admit I was thinking about this as I was lugging those boxes around!

I realized that bringing the boxes from the breezeway down the stairs one at a time, ducking under the beam, through the door, under the rat’s maze of pipes, then piling them up nicely where they belonged obviously would take way too much time. I personally couldn’t pile up 2 boxes (even of the lighter ones) and go down the stairs, because I couldn’t see the stairs if I did that. So what I did was to bring all the boxes to the top of the stairs, and then lift them down the stairs, going down 3-4 stairs at a time. So basically, making a little “wall” of boxes at the top of the stairs until they were all that bit closer, with me pulling them down from 3-4 stairs below. I could get 3 boxes across, 3 high – but any higher I wouldn’t be able to “lift over” the wall to get the next set – this being where R building from behind would have been a boon!

It was interesting doing it – also interesting figuring out the “Tetris puzzle” of how to get as many boxes as I could onto a stair (they were not exactly the same size, did I say that?). They all said “do not shake/this side up,” so by and large (meaning – “when I didn’t lose my grip on one and it tumbled sideways down a stair”), I paid attention to that.

I also was very VERY conscious of how I was moving my body. This weekend when we were moving those damned quartzite slabs around, H was constantly harping on me to watch my back. The good part of Crossfit is that it makes such a big deal of that, too.

Once I got the boxes all down to a couple stairs from the cellar door, I started transferring them into the cellar itself. I stacked them up on the coconut water boxes, etc. that were inside the door, so that I wouldn’t have to lift them off the ground. (Thank goodness the door didn’t have a spring! That would’ve been an extra level of madness…) After I got as many boxes as I could in, I carried those boxes back (under the pipes and ducts) and stacked them up. Then I would go back out to the stairs, transfer those boxes to on top of the coconut water boxes, then carry THEM back.

At one point, I wasn’t watching what I was doing (since most of the “dance” I was doing necessitated me to be moving backwards down the stairs), and I picked up a box and turned to take it into the cellar – then SMACKED into the support beam right in front of the cellar door. O-M-G. I actually saw stars – I thought that was just a joke from old Bugs Bunny cartoons!

Today I have Crossfit at 6:30pm with H – he can finally get off work to go. I just heard he will be down in San Jose for 2 days next week on work – they’re working him HARD. He wanted to get away for Thanksgiving, but I don’t think we can swing it. So he actually just told me he has booked us 3 days up at Squaw Creek in Tahoe – he found a Groupon, and so he did it. (Now, mind you, he doesn’t like that I do work/study on Mondays, and this will be a Friday-Monday thing. So I’m going to have to find someone to take my time without making a big deal of it.)

Ah, money. We did our taxes, and my income was pathetic last year and I mean pa-the-tic. I didn’t realize it was SO bad until I saw it in black and white. I’ve tried to do my best to do things (like work/study) so that stuff I want to do doesn’t come out of our budget. Since we were members at the JCC mainly because they had a wonderful pool for me to use, by getting H involved in Crossfit, I can transfer the JCC “budgeted amount” to Crossfit. (Not that we actually HAVE a budget mind you – H takes care of paying all the bills that aren’t directly “my bills.”) That means that we’ll have to suspend our membership to the JCC and its lovely salt-filtered-no-chlorine-pool, but I’m okay with that – if I want to swim, I can just bite the bullet and go swim in the Bay, or from the dock in Tiburon. Two people at Crossfit costs a bit more than the JCC did, but I know H really likes it more, and I also know he’s getting a much much better workout than he was getting just going to their fitness center and going through his “routine” two days a week while watching TV on the wall.

So how pathetic is my income? As in, I made a gross of around $20,000 last year.

Back when I was general counsel and my company was on rocky grounds – I actually wound up getting downsized – I had an interview at a company I really wanted to work for. I remember this very clearly. At the time, I “couldn’t figure out how I could possibly” drop my salary down to $110,000 from the $200,000 or so I made.

Pfffffft.

H doesn’t really complain that I don’t make that much, probably because he mainly pays all the bills, and they are the same bills that he had (by and large) when he was single. I still have my house, but I rent it out, and now (FINALLY) after re-financing, it’s cashflow neutral. (I was actually a little negative every month until earlier this year – but we also have a big line of credit on it that we’ve used to purchase more rental properties.) I do all the laundry, breakfasts, dinners, lunch when he goes in to the city, and such like that – but my gross of about $2,000 a month obviously shows why I do things like stage “clothing swaps” at my house instead of heading to Nordstrom’s. Not like I was ever a big shopper, mind you – but a lot of things that we used to do – go out to dinner, movies, etc. – have definitely fallen to the wayside.

More pathetic is the fact that a huge chunk of that pathetic income goes to malpractice insurance. I really should get my act back together and market for more work – but H hasn’t sat me down and said “you gotta bring in more” – and so, I don’t. Bad me. A few times I’ve floated my resume out for in-house jobs – since if I did get a job that made more, H could retire sooner – but I’ve managed to make it into that lovely age group where folks don’t want to hire you because you’re really “way older” than your boss would be. And H actually likes me to be at home. Ha! I guess that makes me a trophy wife! LOL!

I think the $ thing was front of mind because we just did our taxes, but also because R’s always “trying to figure out” when I work. I work when work comes in. The thing is, work hasn’t come in all that often recently. My biggest client got purchased – so that work went away. Even my 2nd and 3rd largest clients have “tightened their belts” in this economy, so I can go for a month without getting much work at all – a little here, a little there. So that’s my story – and how my life works. 😉

POSTSCRIPT:

Workout at Crossfit was: CONDITIONING
5 RFT
400M Run
20 Wall Ball
10 Dip
50 Double Under/100 Single Unders

I did it all – coming in after the “regular guys” but before Jay, his wife, and H. Wondering what R is going to say about the application….

Okie dokie. So:

1.  Food Journal: So far (yeah, so it’s only 11 a.m….) I have logged my food (and workout) on JillianMichaels.com. I have recommitted to doing this. I really gotta get back in the game, food-wise.

2.  Today at Crossfit, because I have the marathon on Sunday, Anthony and I worked on form for 3 different exercises: Pull-ups, Deadlifts, and V-ups.

a. Pull-Ups: So, I did 4 sets of 10, using the black (85 lb. help) powerband. The band was so strong that I couldn’t “pull it down” far enough to get my foot into it, so I had to stand on the tall box, and basically lift my foot up into it, then “lower myself down” from there so that my legs were straight. The idea is to stand on the ground (one foot of course in the band), and then it “helps” you to get up in the pull-up. When I did this with the trainer I hired for a month at the other Crossfit box, this was a hot mess. 😉 He had me get into the bands by him pulling them down – then I was too far from the ground to actually reach the bar if I was standing on the ground, so I was always in fear of the band “shooting me up” so that it would make my grip falter. This worked out well – it was slow going, mind you, as after the first 10 (which I was able to do in sets of three) I had to do them 1 at at time. As Anthony had indicated, you need to really get the form down – and once you start to “get it” you….start to get it. Meaning – when I was doing them as I was before – which meant I was standing on a box, squatting down, and using my legs to help me get up to the bar” – it wasn’t the “real pullup movement.” This was the “real pullup movement” – my legs are straight, I’m pulling myself up from the floor – but I have 85 lbs. of help. (So, that means I’m lifting about 100 lbs.) Anthony originally told me to do 20 sets of 10 (ha ha ha), then 15, then 5 . . . I got to 4 sets of 10 before the “hard core crossfitters” (Sheri, Ashley, Rich, etc.) needed me to move because of what their workout was. (If I’d been doing regular pullups I wouldn’t have had to have moved, but because I had the box, the band, etc. all under the bar I just took up too much room.)

b.  V-Ups. So I think I’ve mentioned before that a V-Up is when you have your hands over your head and your legs straight out, and you “sit up” bringing your hands and your feet up at the same time so that you are in a “V”. I was doing 10 of these, then 10 of the pull-ups, etc. The thing  that I realized when I was on my 2nd set is that I can bring my hands forward and my legs up – but my back was staying on the ground, which is not the idea. So I wound up “scaling” this by keeping my feet up the whole time (so when they were “down” they were still an inch off the ground), then lifting them up, and at the same time using my hands behind my thighs, to get my body up/back off the ground. I can’t remember if I put my hands over my head, then brought them forward to my thighs, then used them to “help” my body up – I think so.

c.  Deadlifts. The deadlift is when the barbell is on the ground in front of your feet, and you pick it up (standing straight), then let it drop. The key here is NOT to do it with your back, you do it with your legs and your butt particularly at the top. Anthony had me do sets of 3. I started with the “orange” bar, plus 2 5 kg weights. That’s what I’ve done deadlifts with before. That was too light, really (fine if I’m doing a WOD that has like sets of 10, but not for form drills). So he had me go up to 10 kg on each side, then 15 kg each side (3 plates each side! – I know, I’m so excited and usually folks are doing this with 3 20-25 kg plates on each side, even girls – but hey it’s a PR for me!) He coached me to keep my feet a bit wider than my hips, and then my hands are outside of that – he said to “check” that I was in the right “position” to basically stick my thumbs out as I grabbed the bar, and they should brush my thighs. He also said to be SURE I keep my elbows in, because, with my bicep tendon/attachment issue, that folks who turn their elbows “out” are asking for a rip. Once I got up to the 30 kg. on the bar, I did 11 sets of 3 lifts each. With more weight you can REALLY tell how you have to be “in the right position.” Anthony has constantly been harping on me to get the weight close to my legs – with the extra weight, you can feel how if it’s not right up next to your legs, gravity pulls it down and out of your hands. So I “get it” – and I also “get” how some of the websites I have read talk about the fact that you really can’t “get a move” until you’re doing it under a fair amount of weight.

d.  Pushups. We also tried pushups, but I still really can’t do anything lower than that doggone red box that they use as a desk. That’s a bit lower than the parallel bars, at least, but not a chance I can do them on the highest box jump box. Frustrating. That right shoulder REALLY is messed up, and though it was compromised years ago in the Marines, I know that what really “did it in” was pole dancing. Because for all those years I did it they didn’t really make you do moves “on both sides,” I was CONSTANTLY swinging on my right arm. I absolutely and completely know that – and them not teaching “stability moves” for the shoulder – is what did it in.

3.  TAR Episode 3. I was SUPER BUMMED – my next favorite team – the NFL guys – got eliminated this round. The first round was the father/daughter team, and I didn’t really have any feelings one way or another with them. But the 2nd round was the Bingo Boys, and I was sad, because I wanted them to go a lot farther (I sort of thought of them as potential “contemporaries” to R and me). I just LOVED the NFL guys though – great attitudes, etc. And they wound up getting screwed by airplane delays – so came in last. SO SAD! (Now I hope the baseball wives don’t get gone next – they’re my next favorites.) Learnings:
a.  Language.  OK I know that this is petty, but EVERYONE got in the taxis in Portugal (the next country) and were speaking in SPANISH! Interestingly, they subtitled the Spanish, but they didn’t make a point in the subtitles (which I think they should have) that everyone was speaking SPANISH in a country that speaks PORTUGUESE. So today on the way to Crossfit, I listened to the Portuguese language CD I’d copied from the library. Now, granted, “va rapido!” is pretty much the same, most teams said “gracias” to the taxi drivers (“Thank you,” in Spanish) whereas in Portuguese, it’s “Obrigado.” Also – interestingly – Good bye is “Ciao.” I really have to make more of a point to listen to those CDs when I’m driving, folding laundry, etc. Even if I don’t remember a single thing, it will get my mind working.

b.  First Class Lounge. This was a super interesting thing – and I think it comes from “life experiences.” At one point, all the teams were “stuck” and needed to get put on “standby” on a flight. Two of the teams (the exes and the affianced couple) just waited at the ticket counter/gate, waiting for someone to “show up.” The baseball wives found the first class lounge, and got the gal there to book them on standby – so they were #1 in line. I think that this was a matter of experience – I would bet you the NFL players would have done the same thing. Because both teams would have had the life experience of knowing what first class lounges can do for you. Now, granted, if you’re a TAR aficionado, now you, too, know this (laugh) – but this is something I would have thought of as well. I remember when H and I were dead stuck in Vietnam because of getting “fogged in” down in Danang, and he had the lounge folks working overtime to help us get out of the country. It was crazy – we had to go get our bags, etc. (that’s a funny story for another day!) – but not only did they speak perfect English, but they had everything at their disposal AND told us where to go in Saigon, etc. Anyway – there’s just no way that the other two couples would have even thought of that, because I don’t think it’s in their life experience. That was a great learning. First class lounge folks rock!

c.  Flights. This was fascinating. The teams had to get from Chile to Portugal. There were a TON of options – a ton! The thing that was SO SAD was that the NFL guys literally made it to the Tour Agency FIRST, and then wound up getting screwed somehow because the gal was looking on the wrong day, etc. OMG! Then she put them on a flight with 2 stops, and they wound up getting socked in (they actually called her back, and she tried to help them, but … what a mess), THEN they went to Madrid and missed their plane so they had to go to London (which is where the Afghanimals and the “Ice Queens” went originally) – oh it was just SO SAD. They even said to their camera that the thing about what they did was that if you did the workouts, you practiced, etc. that you KNEW where you were/it was “all on you.” But this was totally out of their hands and immensely frustrating. The cool part (I really liked these guys!) was that they didn’t get mad, they didn’t cuss and stomp about, etc. – they were super philosophical about it. I’m not quite sure what the learning was – there were SO MANY different options to get out of Chile, that I guess the learning is to try to get the one with the fewest stop-overs…?? Interestingly, the NFL guys made the choice to do 2 stops, whereas the 2 teams that went to London were arriving “later” than they were by a few hours – and then of course wound up beating them, by virtue of the fact that they only had one plane change. So perhaps – if it’s just a matter of a few hours – to take the most direct flight/trip? Man, that’s a tough question. Because it could put you that many hours behind if “everything goes right” – perhaps to ask about the weather in the stop-over spot? Or how often flights are delayed out of it? Anyway – just something to ponder 😉

d.  Teaming Up. The ER doctors and the affianced couple wound up on the same flight, or somehow “together.” There was a choice where the teams either had to do “Miles or Tiles” – they chose “Miles” which meant taking a huge compass (as in a protractor/compass not a “magnetic” compass) out to a map and “measure” Magellan’s travels, then say how much it was in miles. What they did was work together – they guys carried the huge compass between the points, the gals did the math. That worked SUPER well – the interesting thing was that the Afghanimals and the Ice Queens had “paired up” and ALSO went to do that event, but the guys said “oh, we’ll take care of you” which was stupid, because they couldn’t figure out how to do it (and the girls couldn’t either). That’s a learning for basically “don’t let another team do things for you, they might be stupid.” 🙂 The gals – smartly – gave up and went to do the “Tiles” and said they’d “meet the guys there” – which they did. The “Tiles” was putting tiles together into a mosaic. Again, it was interesting to watch – the “exes” (who of course have an Express Pass still – AND the extra Express Pass) tried to put the mosaic up on the vertical as they were putting it together – stupid, because they kept dropping the tiles and BREAKING them. The Afghanimals did the same thing – but the gals who did it all laid it out on the floor FIRST then put it up on the vertical. Hello! Don’t mess with gravity! LOL.

e. STAY WITH THE PACK! In the case of the NFL guys, AND the Bingo Boys, they lost out because they went “a different direction” than the bulk of the pack. I think in each case they were trying to “get a jump on” the rest of the competitors, but if you’re not first (e.g., this time there have been a “first bus” and a “second bus,” a “first plane” and a “second plane” etc.) then just suck it up and stick with all the folks that are taking the second method. It seems that the potential of getting “a jump” on the folks in the second “transportation method” is FAR outweighed by the potential that you wind up getting screwed – as BOTH the Bingo Boys AND the NFL guys found out.

I think those were the main learnings – maybe R has some others. The Episode was basically to get out of Chile on a plane to Sao Paulo, Portugal, get on a numbered tram to a destination, pick up an oil painting of a carriage (then asking someone “what does this mean?” and the answer was to go to the Coach Museum), get a clue at the Coach Museum which was the “Miles or Tiles” event, then take a taxi to a Renaissance Faire-esque reenactment where one of the team had to shoot a stationary crossbow (with a wooden crank) at a shield and pierce it (the clue was on the back) – in full chainmail – then back in the taxi to a castle up on a cliff, where Phil was. Oh – I guess that’s another learning – the whole Taxi/Directions issue – the team that was in first had a taxi that EITHER went the wrong way OR they told the taxi to go a different way that was not the right way (it was unclear) – and so they wound up coming in 2nd. There were signs on signposts going up a mountain to where the castle was, and I couldn’t figure out if the taxi driver took a wrong turn, or if he was going the right way and they turned him around the “wrong” way. It was unclear – but it’s a learning – keep your eye out. OMG and also one of the teams, the taxi rear-ended another car – badly!!! – but for SOME reason the person who was rear-ended said they could keep going!! That was unbelievable!!!

From the clips that they show for Episode 4, the ER doc woman gets some sort of clue, and the pink-haired woman of the ex’s tries to get it from her, but the ER doc says that she’ll trade the info for the Express Pass that the ex’s have extra. Smart, smart, smart. I think R is right – these folks are SUPER smart, and they might actually win because of it. (Though I was mad at her because she was one of the “speaking Spanish to the Portuguese taxi driver” people.)

Now it’s noon – I’ve read through email (no work…) and if I do it, yoga is at 1:30, then I have work-study at the yoga studio (so I get the yoga for free) from 2:30-5:00. Mondays are sort of busted for that reason. I REALLY gotta get to yoga – I did go last week! – because otherwise I’m spending this time doing the work-study for nothing.

UPDATE: Did Yoga – for the work study/TAR “event” see tomorrow 😉

 

So – yesterday (Saturday) was a 40 minute run with Team In Training (Sendoff for the Nike Marathon), then more “working crossfit” building our patio area. Granted – H does a lot more of the lifting than I do – but I do enough! (You can see some of the photos of the quartzite “WOD” HERE on my Instagram feed.)

Today we’re going to theatre with my Mom and Dad (Berkeley Rep) – and then it’s Episode 3 of The Amazing Race.

I have the Nike Marathon a week from today – so next week I’m going to be working on stretching/etc. at Crossfit, plus one exercise. I think I talked about this before: I spoke with both Bo and Anthony, and they pointed out that there are SO many exercises in Crossfit that it’s best to pick one at a time and really “get” it, then move on to the next. I’ve decided to work on pull-ups, because it’s just upper body. This will keep my legs “free” and “resting” for a week before the marathon.

One of the things that I realized a few weeks back is that I seem to only be able to “hold onto” one big life change at a time. It’s like, if I’m doing one, I want to get my “treats” from the other. What does that mean? I was SUPER good with eating, especially when I was doing the DietBet with my friends. But I wasn’t so good with working out – I was way more of a couch potato in fact. Then, when I started doing the working out, I stopped paying attention to diet. No – worse – I got really bad with it! Of course it doesn’t help that my husband likes how I cook, and we have a big wine cellar 😉

So today, starting tomorrow, I’m recommitting to the food “thing.” When I saw my doctor (I have some health issues that have cropped up recently), he said in his typical New York Jewish way (said with great love), that “now that I’m over 50” I have to stop eating “like I’m 20” because I’ve “reached the time in my life when I can’t have babies, and so my metabolism has ratcheted way down so that the rest of the tribe doesn’t put me out on the ice floe.” Thanks, Doc (laugh) – but I know that’s true. Sad, but true.

I use Jillian Michael’s BodyBugg (I wear it 24/7) – and I was recording all my food on her website – and will be again, starting Monday.

SIGH! I hate doing that, but I really need to get a grip on this, and I also know it’s (those dreaded words!) “Good for me.”

Besides, who wants to be put out on the ice floe?!?

 

 

So this morning, H asked me to help him with our “front area” project. He THOUGHT that we could get going around 9:00 (so miss the morning Crossfit) but “definitely” be done, eat lunch, etc. and off to the 3:00pm WOD.

Um, yeah, so HERE is where we are at 3:17pm . . .

This is so frustrating and I really feel for H. We ordered all this quartzite, because we had figured that is what we would do the whole front area with. After 2 (maybe 3?) days with a contractor and a “helper” doing the majority of the laying out, it was WAY too “chaotic” for H, so he had to keep ripping it out every night and starting over (he hasn’t been to Crossfit all week). Finally yesterday he told the contractor just not to come back.

His feeling is that the quartzite really takes away from the “zen” feeling of the outdoor fireplace. So instead, the idea is now to make a path out of it (the photo above is taken from the stairs up to the house), that “spirals around” the fountain (that’s the hole in the middle), and make the rest a sort of “sandy gravel” – a la a Zen garden. As you can see, of course, we have about 2 tons (truth) of quartzite “extra” (there is a whole extra pallet that’s behind the fireplace, outside of this photograph).

So that’s about a $1,000 mistake (maybe more, not quite sure).

We’ve been doing “puzzle work” since 9:00 – H had a conference call at 3:00, and he’s now off getting something to eat (e.g., decompressing). It’s SO hard to do this silly job.

I am trying to see this with TAR eyes. First, I’m hauling these quartzite slabs around, so feeling rather proud of myself. (I did manage to gash the top of my foot with a sharp edge, but otherwise so far so good.) One thing that H showed me was how to take two sticks he’d put together with a bolt, and to measure the angle of the “hole” that we were trying to find a “triangle/point” to fit into – genius, but something I wouldn’t have thought of. (I was trying to eyeball it, which I’m VERY good at, but sometimes I’d be a degree or two off and hauling a slab of quartzite over to a spot just to find that it wasn’t “quite right” was a pain). By using the 2 sticks (like paint stir-sticks) and bolting them into the angle that I was looking for, I could go “measure it against” all the various slabs.

He also had a very cool contraption he’d made out of 4 sticks – but these had the “bolts” so that they slid down a “track” cut in the middle of each side. What that means is that you can make any sort of shape square/rectangle/parallelogram that you want. Especially when we were trying to find something that was basically “flat on one side but with this shape triangle on top,” it was genius.

Not sure that R and I are going to be laying out a plaza (in Italy?) – but these little gizmos were something I would not have even known existed and they’re great.

Now I have to go and make something for my own “lunch” (at 3:30) and get ready to go out for “Round 2.” Luckily (not sure if that’s so for my bank account, but so it goes) I went through my email and no work for today, so I’m able to do what H needs me to. Tomorrow I have the Send-Off for the LLS Run Team starting at (I think?) 8 a.m. in the city – then Sunday we have Berkeley Rep with Mom and Dad. I thought I was doing the charity auctioneering (I keep getting auctioneering gigs, funny) this Saturday, but it turns out it’s next Saturday. Which is good in that it gives me more “day” tomorrow, but bad in that it’s the day before the Nike Marathon so no wine for me! Shame – there’s always all sorts of great edibles at these things.

That’s all she wrote – time to go pull those gloves back on! 🙂

So the WOD for today is:

8 RFT
Run 200M
10 Goblet Squats 1.5/1 P kettlebell
10 KBS (Kettle Bell Swings)
10 Pushups

Not too sore from Crossfit yesterday – Trish and I basically sandbagged the last Wednesday LLS/TNT run, because the coach talked for so long that it was DARK before we headed off, and I was too scared to run! Seriously…it was “dusk” and my eyes just aren’t so good. If you’re going to ask for someone to go do something when it’s dusk (to dark), require a headlamp. I was kinda sad that we basically just walked – then we sat in Sports Basement because it was not only dark but COLD outside while they were doing their last rounds of Core – then came home.

H said he’s going to come to Crossfit tonight – he hasn’t been in a week, since he’s been working on our outdoor patio area. We have these HUGE slabs of quartzite that the contractor is supposed to be placing the way H wants them to – and we all know that if H wants something a certain way, in reality, he has to do it.

So a friend gave me a $100 Groupon certificate – and another friend (and law client) sent me a Groupon notification, that would cost $109 to get. (They were literally like a few hours from each other.) She had signed up for the classes, and I think wanted company.

So now – SHINY PENNY! – I have signed up to get an NAFC Certification.

You’d think I never have any work to do, wouldn’t you? Interestingly enough, I do – it’s just that my work is big bursts of time concentrating (at $300/hour) and then I have “breaks” that I do things like blog (smile), work out, shop, etc. It’s not like I “need” another certification (hardly), but since my friend is going to do it, and since this is all stuff I’m CRAZY interested in, I thought (given the timing – free certificate then BLAM a class just about that price) that I’d go for it.

I know, I said shiny penny already . . .

As a separate note, I have pretty much decided that next week I do want to start working on pullups. I’m going to check with Bo tonight to see what he thinks, but that’s my thought right now. Things like pushups are just a non-starter for me with the shoulder but (strength apart) so far I haven’t had issues with pullups in re my shoulder, so I think that’s a good place to begin.

Today at Crossfit, Anthony told me that I had “graduated” so I can do the Conditioning WOD or the “regular” Level WOD. I think I’ll stay in Conditioning for a while, thank you! (Until I can oh, say, do a pull up or something LOL).

Here’s the workout for today:

15 RFT
Run 100M
7 Deadlift 70/45KG
5 Burpee

I did the deadlifts with the orange bar and 10 kg – Traci did it with adding another 5 kg (two smaller 2.5s) and I think I might do that next time. Anthony “welcomed me to the club” upon seeing my sexy bruise from deadlifting into my knee last time around.

Did the burpees on the tallest box – took it outside. I’m not sure how long it all took me – I was second to the end before Marfer (Maria Fernanda) – Margo rocked it and was in first of all.

The warmup included donkey kicks (which I still can’t do), bear walks (which is basically walking forward and back with your arms/legs straight. Grrrrrr), “Good Mornings,” jumping squats (I did regular), shoulder rolls.

I mentioned to Anthony that next week I can’t really do the WOD because it’s the week before the marathon – he said he’d ask some folks who do endurance running that are members of the box what they’d suggest I do. What he said was that if I was still doing Conditioning, I should pick one thing and work on it, so that “ultimately” I can “really” do the regular WODs. I have to figure out what that thing will be. I want to say pullups. They suck, but I know there’s gotta be a trick. 😉 I mentioned to Anthony that it was frustrating my core was so weak – I can’t even do V-ups. He said that the thing is, that the squats, dead lifts, etc. ALL work the core, so you don’t just “need to do a billion situps” to get that together. Which makes sense. I certainly remember though too that the stronger my core was for example in biking, the easier the biking was and the easier on my shoulder. Without that ab strength, I would put more weight on my hands, and so after 100 miles or so my shoulder would ACHE (as in, I’d have to stop and really wiggle it around, etc.) The best abs I really had was before Lavaman, and WOW it made a difference in my overall performance. Even swimming – your abs are tight, you float better.

So this is the last Wednesday workout with LLS. The marathon came fast! I’ll be glad that it’s over though. Not that I’ve really done all that much as a mentor – leading some Saturday runs, going Wednesday, etc. – and I really honestly didn’t get “into” the training like I did all the other marathons this past year. I think it’s because I was really “done” when Trish asked me to be a co-mentor with her. I would have turned her down, but the email RIGHT after that was Brian telling me that Kimmi had passed away from cancer. So I realized that I “had to” do this one for her – she and I had actually joked not a year before that she “would be” doing Nike with me this year. Saw Brian last week – he’s SUCH a great guy – it was his anniversary on Sunday thought, and he was going to go to the big Golden Gate Park bluegrass shin-dig … he said last year, he and Kimmi went for their anniversary, and she was feeling “a little sick” from the cancer coming back but (dot dot dot). Wow.

And my last subject line thought has to do with Time. I just don’t seem to have any – ! I think that the Crossfit thing really does bite a big hunk out of the day. I actually do like the 6:30pm WOD better…because after, I just come home, have dinner, H and I hang, go to bed. But the 9:00am WOD, I’m done by somewhere around 10:30, then have to come home, do some email, post to the blog (smile), shower, then BLAM it’s already noon (like now). I have a thing with Francine at 3:00 in Mill Valley, then the last LLS workout is at 6:00 in the City. Day gone. Yeah, I know, I know, I’m lucky – I don’t have to “do the 9-5” and all that jazz. But I do have work I have to do – I’m just not getting to it in a timely fashion, because I’m so TIRED! That’s not good. I didn’t even go last Wednesday to the workout, because I realized when 5:00 rolled around that in reality, I didn’t want to get in my car – I wanted to go to bed. And so I did….