Goodbye 2007

So I guess a New Year is supposed to be a new start - although I really don’t feel any differently than I did yesterday. I have told myself about some “resolutions” although I am wondering how they will stick since it’s been spotty in the past. For me, it’s more of a matter of changing something when I can no longer tolerate the previous behavior or situation.

Same usual stuff for me:
- be more frugal (especially with clothes shopping) so I gave myself a monthly budget for clothes
- eat healthier and train more consistently to get faster and keep body composition in check
- try to be more relaxed/content and not freak out as much
- get my bloody website up along with at least one “web property” which I hope to sell so I am not stuck in a 9 to 5 for the rest of my life

Today I did a 10k - I am 8 pounds lighter than a month ago, but for some reason I am slower. It is very frustrating. I thought being lighter was supposed to make me faster. I know I have not done any speedwork, but the first mile I hoped to hold that pace and I could not, so I finished in a snail’s pace and was not happy about it. I am wondering how much muscle mass I have lost - I’ve been trying to not lose more than 2 pounds a week (that in itself is extremely tough for me)…but I thought it would affect cycling and not running. Hopefully I will get faster in time for my race. I start track next week and (in hopes that I don’t get injured as I usually do in track) it always seems to help me get faster.

A Little Sun

The Saturday before Christmas, I was very glad to leave this cold, snowy, grey, miserable New England weather for warm, sunny Florida. We got there Saturday and did the usual shopping. On Sunday, Daniel’s half-brother and his granddaughter came from Baton Rouge with a surprise…basically David’s present to Helga - a little puppy.

Other than that, we got a lot of training in including swimming and running outside - something we can’t do here in Boston too much. The first day we swam, we ended up sharing a lane with Lisa Bentley, a pro triathlete. As much as it blows to be on a diet over the holidays, it was motivating to see her and think of the positive results of exercising and eating healthy. I also got a great 12-mile run on the path.

We also went to Sea World (I hadn’t been there before) and then to Mount Dora, a cute little town north of Clermont which was the only place in the area that had MBT shoes (even though there’s no known cure, I’ll do anything to minimize my cellulite and tome my tush).

Anyways, we came back to the miserable weather last Thursday. I weighed-in and was very happy to see that I had lost weight (under 120 YAY!). In the airport on the way to Florida, I got a book called “skinny bitch” which is an awesome nutrition book which I think contributed to my weight loss during the holidays…and also I really want to move somewhere warm since it seems to be conducive to exercising.

Since Thursday, I have been doing nothing. It’s been awhile and it feels good (I’ve been exercising, but that is fun…by “nothing” I just mean I haven’t been doing work because that’s **not** too fun haha).

Another thing, I have found that not eating too late really helps me. Late at night I am very hungry, but the following morning I almost always weigh less if I eat around 6pm so I really try to suck it up. I am now at 118.6 and have lost 8 pounds in the past month…and have 3 pounds to go. It’s really hard even though it’s only 2 pounds a week. If I don’t eat enough, I don’t have any energy to exercise. I honestly admire those people on shows like “the biggest loser” who lose 7 or 9 pounds in a week. Hopefully in 2 weeks (by mid January) I will succeed in getting to my goal weight.

It’s coldah than a witch’s ***!

Saturday was long run day. It was originally supposed to be Sunday (today) - however, today there is a blizzard and the thought of running 2 hours on a treadmill was a bit much - so the other choice was sunny and a balmy 17F (-8.5C). Anyways, it wasn’t so bad with all the gear I had. I took some of those hand warmer things for construction workers and put them in my gloves. 2 pairs of tights and other miscellaneous gear later, (like ski socks…see photo), I was off. Did it very slowly - my energy level is a little low because I have been losing weight (7 pounds so far), but hopefully once I reach my desired weight, I can eat normally again and my energy level will return. Florida will be great for vacation, but I will need to get used to winter training in New England!

Progress

So, this past week I have been trying to eat better and exercise more (ie lose weight the good old-fashioned way). I joined Weight Watchers online so that I can track my food and exercise. It’s basically an online tool that takes into account factors like your height, weight, age, and gender to determine how many “points” you get per day in order to reach your weight goal. It gives you points depending on how much exercise you do, which is great because at the end of the day, if I haven’t exercised, I have the option of going home and eating a miniature-sized nuke-a-meal **or** if I get on the trainer, road, treadmill, pool, etc etc etc, I can have a normal dinner.

I tell you it feels much nicer putting weight **on** than taking it off, although I am starting to get used to it. I don’t mind the exercise part at all - as a matter of fact, that’s a positive aspect. It has been motivating me to get back on track with my training routine even though it is cold, dark, and gray outside. At the beginning, I was always hungry though. I think I am eating one third as much as I ate before! Duh, so that’s how I put on weight!

Since starting my diet December 1st, I’ve lost almost 5 pounds. Since I started weight watchers first weigh in (a week ago), I’ve lost 3 pounds. Hopefully by Florida I will have lost 4-5 more!

Diet and Exercise Challenge

I have 10 extra pounds on me since August and my clothing is starting to get tight. Happens every fall since I fall off the training wagon and the weather gets colder so I want to eat more. I am going to commit to sticking to my training schedule better - a lot of the weight should come off that way. Also going to join Weight Watchers online. There is an off season challenge in the USAT - this month it is swimming. That will hopefully offer more motivation. Ok off to run now!

Turkey Daze

For Thanksgiving, as we have done for the past several years, we went to visit my family (or at least part of it).  Wednesday afternoon, we left early and it still took us 10 hours to get there - the traffic on the Mass Pike was ridiculous. Louie came along and was great during the trip.

Thursday morning we arrived and went to do a 10K in Bethesda. I had just done a marathon, so I jogged, but Mariana, Andrea, and Daniel raced and all did well. We were exhausted so we went home to take a nap. Dinner went well and we had about 10 people over. I didn’t eat a ridiculous amount of food.

Friday we went swimming with the DC Tri club people. We found out about a challenge they were having for the off season, so we signed on. We then had coffee and went to Mariana and Andrea’s to have brunch. In the afternoon, we went over to meet Andrea Murad for food/drinks at the Lebanese Taverna and then came back home and fell asleep in front of the TV.

Saturday we went for a nice run along the canal in Georgetown and then went to brunch with Mariana, Andrea, and Paul. At night we all went out.

All of this made me realize living in DC would be pretty cool. When I was younger, all I really wanted to do was leave. That was prob. from having lived in the suburbs. Inside DC at the time, with the exception of the really expensive part, was a bit rough to live in, but now it seems like a lot of it has been cleaned up and is still affordable.

City of Brotherly Love

On Sunday November 18th, I made my first attempt to qualify for the Boston Marathon. I run at a pace that on a “good day” would qualify me, based on my half-marathon and 10k paces.

My training this fall was de-railed a little because I was sick for most of September and October, so I couldn’t stick to the training plan my coach gave to me all too well. In addition, I gained about 8 pounds since the summer. Marathon training is generally about 10-12 hours per week, whereas Ironman training is closer to 20, so even though I was still exercising, it was much less and the weather was getting colder so I was eating more.

On the other hand, near the last weeks of the training, I did do some 18-mile long runs and felt pretty good at the end, so I figured I would be okay for the race.

Daniel and I went to Philly on Saturday and I carbo-loaded at an Italian restaurant (there are lots of great ones in Philly!)

The following morning, at the starting line, I joined the 3:40 pace group, led by a nice gentleman named Dan who was holding up a few balloons - one of which said “Boston or Bust”. I think it was the largest group since it is the qualifying time for the Boston Marathon for women 18-34. The beginning was crowded so there was a lot of jockeying/bullying-for-position. I was thinking “don’t lose the balloons no matter what”…so I did have to do some “light plowing” to catch back up a few times. It was cold, so I had on a craft baselayer with a vest and running tights.

The beginning felt comfortable. Once we settled into a pace, my heart rate was exactly where it should have been (159bpm which is the middle of my “zone 3″ for number geeks like myself). The first half took 1:48 and change. I made it okay over the hills and was able to recover well.

It pretty much felt this way until mile 17.5. Then, from feeling comfortable, I immediately went to feeling terrible. It wasn’t a cardio/breathing issue, but a leg muscle issue. They tightened up and I could hardly even jog. Daniel met me at mile 18 - had I been on pace, I would have done 2:28 but I lost 2 mins and it was at 2:30. After that, I had to jog very slowly and stop to stretch a few times until mile 21ish. I got very cold and my heart-rate dropped to 100ish - was happy I wore warmer clothing instead of shorts and a tank top.

I took in some gatorade and eventually at mile 21 I regained some energy. By this time, I had to run 7:55 for the last 5 miles in order to qualify. I was already so tired so I tried my best, but couldn’t do this - the best I could muster was getting back to 8:30ish so I finished in 3:48. I missed by three minutes, but I will try again on March 2, 2008 in Napa Valley.

For next time, I will try to stay healthy so that I can stick to my training plan better, change my body composition a little, and take in more sodium during the race even if it is cold.

FOWD Conference

(future of web design)…i went to this conference last week on the 7th and 8th. it was a great experience for many reasons. first off, i got to go to nyc and hang out with some old friends. one is a friend from college who i only get to see a few times a year. i stayed over at her place on the lower east side. secondly, through facebook, i’ve gotten in touch with a lot of other old friends who i havent seen for years! one of them is my friend from high school who i hadn’t seen in 13 years.

the conference was very inspirational and motivational. in addition to learning a lot about the (projected) near future of my career field, i saw that i needed to get crackin’ with some business ideas in order to escape the routine of 9-5. the ideas are, of course, web-based products and services that are somehow related to my interests. i figure, keep it fun by doing something related to my hobbies!

as far as new info i learned, some of the topics were along the lines of mobile sites as more and more people are having browsers on their mobile devices - so most of the solutions are goal based as opposed to just being informational (ie schedule appointments, other things that need to be “done” quickly as opposed to just reading/browsing)

secondly, i heard the 37 signals guy, ryan singer, talk about interface design. i reguarly use a few of his products (basecamp, ta-da list) and think his business model is ingenious - its success has a lot to do with its design.

then, there was a lecture about AJAX. i don’t know a lot about it yet, but it was of interest b/c the technology is very powerful and i hope to leverage it for some of my project ideas. it’s nice because it creates interactivity on the browser without having to have a flash player or other proprietary plug-ins.

other topics included email campaigns, using flash for design and applications without it looking “flash-y”, illustration in web design, community sites (threadless was used as an example!), and branding.

one of the topics that was enjoyable was “destroying the web 2.0 look” - thank you!! thank you!! thank you!!

finally, the second day i went to a half day workshop with joshua davis. it was extremely inspirational to a- hear him speak and b- learn about his process. daniel had recommended going to the workshop and it has definitely opened up my eyes as far as where to get inspiration from.

eye charts and drafting

how are these 2 items related? i’m about to write a rant about them in this post - that’s how!

first off…what is up with this whole “web 2.0″ aesthetic??? i understand that some features of the latest generation of websites are great and all (blogging, ajax interactivity etc etc etc) but why must they be designed based off of some cookie-cutter guidelines? some features - like the clean appearance - i’m down with, but aside from a few creative-looking ones (momono is one… hundenanny is very cute), but most of them: YAWN!!..why so boring? and why the gigantic font size? they look like friggin’ eye charts! and lucida and trebuchet are nice fonts and all, but with their recent overuse, people are going to grow sick of them…5 or 10 years from now, they’ll be associated with being “so 2006″….and tagclouds??? they just look like throwup on a wall - yiiiicccchhh!!! didn’t toyota use that type of thing in their ad campaigns 25 years ago? ok, so it’s retro but not in a good way. anywho, hopefully this trend will crash and burn just like the spice girls…moving on…

second item i have a few choice words about…drafting: a form of strategery often seen in bike races - it’s when a rider gets behind another rider (or riders) to conserve energy. illegal in most triathlons, such as the one i did yesterday

the rule is you’re supposed to be three bike lengths away from the closest person to you - and if you decide to pass, you must do so within 15 seconds…pretty simple - but yesterday, i noticed blatant drafting from the women -

first off, one woman that i know, very fast on the bike, passes by me..then a group of 4 or 5 others follow…yet they continue to draft off her - this goes on for about 15 or 20 minutes - eventually the woman i know shakes off most of them, but there is still one woman, from a local team, who was less than a foot away from the woman in front of her for half an hour longer - and not only was she drafting, but she would not rotate through - the draft-ee kept pulling off to the side and looking behind her (something that probably slowed her time by a few minutes) in hopes that the drafter would either a/ pull through or b/ bugger off…but no…she would just stay on her wheel and follow her - i was behind them for the legal length of 3 bikes watching the whole thing go down - it was ridiculous…it’s like yah my bike time could have been 1:13 instead of 1:16 had i done that, but then i (and all the people around me) would have known it was by cheating and not because i was that fast - the thing is, in local olympic triathlons, the penalty for drafting is only 2 minutes…in other words, for someone of my speed, not likely a deterrent since we could make up at least 2 minutes, more likely 3 or 4, from our non-cheating time by drafting - and people likely to do that, those with no shame, probably don’t care if others see them - so self-consciousness of being considered a cheater wouldn’t phase them either - i say slap’em with a 5-8 minute penalty or give them some sort of a warning

ok getting late now - so till next time

pam

breathe

2 great events of my life have happenned lately - first i finished an ironman and then i got engaged. when i returned from germany, i felt very relaxed, focused and (gasp) happy…that took a few weeks to wear off…then the usual started again. i was busy all the time and had trouble focusing. i could not get a grip on what i was supposed to do - i was freaking out about not working out and gaining weight - i was freaking out about being so busy with work. i know i really need to return to doing yoga - that seemed to help a lot when i would get anxious, but it just seemed like didn’t have enough time for it. then i got really depressed - even though things in my life were going well, i was/am still sad all the time. how annoying. trying to find a moment to breathe.