!!!
Friday, October 16, 2009
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Laina's "How To" Videos
Laina has gotten into making "How To" instructional videos. The first installment is "How to cover your eyes with your feet".
And a special bonus episode: Cheater Chopsticks for Toddlers
And a special bonus episode: Cheater Chopsticks for Toddlers
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Triathloning
While I was out of work, I decided I had no excuses to exercise, and chose the cheapest form around - running. I have never been a runner, and thought I just wasn't built for it. But I discovered something called "couch to 5k" on the 'net, and realized I was just going about it all wrong. I did the 'ease-in-to-it' method espoused by the program, and within a couple of months I was up to 5k with no problems, then worked on speeding it up a little. I'm by no means a runner still, but at least I can run decent distances without ending up massively winded.
Then I decided to join a new masters swim program at the local rec center, since swimming has always been my favorite form of exercise. I had been swimming solo for a while, so I wanted to give a coached workout a try. I didn't realize it at the time, but it was 100% triathletes, most of which are from a local triathlon club.
After moving up the ranks in the workouts, I decided to give a swim/run a try. It was a 750m swim and a 5k run at the Aurora Reservoir. I did great in the swim in spite of the awkwardness of the wetsuit, and finished first out of the water. Then I got what I now know is called 'side stitch' immediately on the run, and had a horrible time, getting passed by 3 other guys to end up finishing 4th (it was not a big event, there were probably only about 30-40 people there).
Despite the painfully bad run, I decided I wanted to try a triathlon. After pushing it off a few times due to work getting busy and not feeling prepared for the bike, I finally signed up for one of the last ones of the season, the Fall Frenzy here in Parker (500yd swim, 11mi bike, 5k run). I would have liked to have done a longer swim, and not a pool swim, but I thought it'd be fun to do the big local one, in spite of a lack of bike training.
This triathlon was heated from slowest to fastest by swim time, so I started pretty late in the morning (second to last heat). I was put in a lane at the pool where I was the fastest seed time, and I ended up catching up (lapping) to the last guy in our lane about halfway through the swim, but instead of trying to pass him, I for some reason decided to hang back and just conserve some energy for the bike and run... so my time was a little slow, a 7:39 out the door (so probably about 7:19 for the actual swim).
The annoying thing about triathlons is that being a swimmer isn't that great of an advantage. Most of the guys I beat in the swim ended up passing me in the transition from the swim to bike anyway, since I took about a minute or so longer than most being a little clueless my first time. Then I hopped on my mountain bike (with slick tires to help somewhat with the equipment disadvantage) and made my way around the bike course. It wasn't pretty, as expected since I hardly got any bike training in, but I got through it, and moved on to the run. It took me a pretty sorry 44 minutes to go 11 miles, and I hardly saw a soul the whole time since I was in one of the last heats. One of the only people I saw was the second place female finisher who whizzed past me on a several-thousand dollar racing bike and a swoopy aerodynamic helmet.
I knew from a couple of 'rehearsals' that running after biking feels really awkward, like your legs weigh 100 pounds each. So I stretched on the last part of the bike and tried to wake them up in the run before getting up to full speed. I finally started seeing some other competitors and confirmed I wouldn't be the very last person to cross the finish line. Despite not feeling like I was running very fast, I still somehow managed to knock out the 5k in 25 minutes, which, albeit not blazing fast, was actually faster than I had planned. Jenna and Laina were waiting for me at the finish line, but I had to make a beeline past them straight to the bathroom.
So my total time was 1:23 for the whole shebang. I finished 119th overall out of about 480, and 17th/30 in my age group (30-34)
I'm not sure where I'm going with this triathlon thing, but it was actually kind of fun, and I could definitely see getting a lot better at it. I was pleasantly surprised that I pulled it off without any problems, and am thinking of taking the biking part a little more seriously next year. Had I biked as well as I ran, I would have placed pretty well. I'm currently looking for a bike trainer (a device to make your bike stationary) to do some morning basement workouts over the winter.
The only part that I was really not prepared for was the ice-bath afterwards. I was pretty exhausted and my legs were feeling pretty overworked. Jenna heard from a triathlete friend that you need to take an ice bath after these things to avoid severe soreness. I did it, and I think it worked, because I felt great the next day!
Then I decided to join a new masters swim program at the local rec center, since swimming has always been my favorite form of exercise. I had been swimming solo for a while, so I wanted to give a coached workout a try. I didn't realize it at the time, but it was 100% triathletes, most of which are from a local triathlon club.
After moving up the ranks in the workouts, I decided to give a swim/run a try. It was a 750m swim and a 5k run at the Aurora Reservoir. I did great in the swim in spite of the awkwardness of the wetsuit, and finished first out of the water. Then I got what I now know is called 'side stitch' immediately on the run, and had a horrible time, getting passed by 3 other guys to end up finishing 4th (it was not a big event, there were probably only about 30-40 people there).
Despite the painfully bad run, I decided I wanted to try a triathlon. After pushing it off a few times due to work getting busy and not feeling prepared for the bike, I finally signed up for one of the last ones of the season, the Fall Frenzy here in Parker (500yd swim, 11mi bike, 5k run). I would have liked to have done a longer swim, and not a pool swim, but I thought it'd be fun to do the big local one, in spite of a lack of bike training.
This triathlon was heated from slowest to fastest by swim time, so I started pretty late in the morning (second to last heat). I was put in a lane at the pool where I was the fastest seed time, and I ended up catching up (lapping) to the last guy in our lane about halfway through the swim, but instead of trying to pass him, I for some reason decided to hang back and just conserve some energy for the bike and run... so my time was a little slow, a 7:39 out the door (so probably about 7:19 for the actual swim).
The annoying thing about triathlons is that being a swimmer isn't that great of an advantage. Most of the guys I beat in the swim ended up passing me in the transition from the swim to bike anyway, since I took about a minute or so longer than most being a little clueless my first time. Then I hopped on my mountain bike (with slick tires to help somewhat with the equipment disadvantage) and made my way around the bike course. It wasn't pretty, as expected since I hardly got any bike training in, but I got through it, and moved on to the run. It took me a pretty sorry 44 minutes to go 11 miles, and I hardly saw a soul the whole time since I was in one of the last heats. One of the only people I saw was the second place female finisher who whizzed past me on a several-thousand dollar racing bike and a swoopy aerodynamic helmet.
I knew from a couple of 'rehearsals' that running after biking feels really awkward, like your legs weigh 100 pounds each. So I stretched on the last part of the bike and tried to wake them up in the run before getting up to full speed. I finally started seeing some other competitors and confirmed I wouldn't be the very last person to cross the finish line. Despite not feeling like I was running very fast, I still somehow managed to knock out the 5k in 25 minutes, which, albeit not blazing fast, was actually faster than I had planned. Jenna and Laina were waiting for me at the finish line, but I had to make a beeline past them straight to the bathroom.
So my total time was 1:23 for the whole shebang. I finished 119th overall out of about 480, and 17th/30 in my age group (30-34)
I'm not sure where I'm going with this triathlon thing, but it was actually kind of fun, and I could definitely see getting a lot better at it. I was pleasantly surprised that I pulled it off without any problems, and am thinking of taking the biking part a little more seriously next year. Had I biked as well as I ran, I would have placed pretty well. I'm currently looking for a bike trainer (a device to make your bike stationary) to do some morning basement workouts over the winter.
The only part that I was really not prepared for was the ice-bath afterwards. I was pretty exhausted and my legs were feeling pretty overworked. Jenna heard from a triathlete friend that you need to take an ice bath after these things to avoid severe soreness. I did it, and I think it worked, because I felt great the next day!
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Whah?
I came home from work the other day and Jenna told me Laina wrote her first letters, an 'A' and an 'L'. After dinner I decided to have her show me.
She whipped out a pretty believable 'L' and 'A' right in front of me, and since her name only has two other letters in it, I decided to teach her 'N' and 'I'.
After running through each letter once, I had her write her name one letter at a time. This was her first pass...
(she got distracted by the dent in the board and drew a tree instead of an 'A'!)
After refocusing her efforts, we erased and tried again, and here was her pretty impressive third effort (I think the second one was a dud)
Not bad, eh? We had some issues with the 'N', but hey, she's only 2 1/2.
She whipped out a pretty believable 'L' and 'A' right in front of me, and since her name only has two other letters in it, I decided to teach her 'N' and 'I'.
After running through each letter once, I had her write her name one letter at a time. This was her first pass...
(she got distracted by the dent in the board and drew a tree instead of an 'A'!)After refocusing her efforts, we erased and tried again, and here was her pretty impressive third effort (I think the second one was a dud)
Not bad, eh? We had some issues with the 'N', but hey, she's only 2 1/2.
Labor Day Weekend
The problem with waiting too long before writing a blog post about Labor Day Weekend is that I can't really remember exactly what we did over Labor Day weekend. Luckily we have photographic evidence.
It appears we tried to lose Laina in a cornfield of some sort... Oh, this must be the corn maze we went to at the botanical gardens.
We also must have gone on a ride-along to a crime scene where Laina uncovered a.... no.... actually that's the little archaeology sandbox at the botanic gardens...
Laina is also starting to build an entourage. Its good to have peeps. This was after our neighborhood Labor Day brunch/picnic. Good idea, I think we've got ourselves the beginnings of a neighborhood annual tradition.
I'm sure we also did some other things that weekend, but without the pics, I have no idea what it could've been.
It appears we tried to lose Laina in a cornfield of some sort... Oh, this must be the corn maze we went to at the botanical gardens.
We also must have gone on a ride-along to a crime scene where Laina uncovered a.... no.... actually that's the little archaeology sandbox at the botanic gardens...
Laina is also starting to build an entourage. Its good to have peeps. This was after our neighborhood Labor Day brunch/picnic. Good idea, I think we've got ourselves the beginnings of a neighborhood annual tradition.I'm sure we also did some other things that weekend, but without the pics, I have no idea what it could've been.
The Beach
Yes we have a beach here. No, its not exactly the pacific or atlantic, but there's sand and water... so there you go...
Laina literally digs it.
The Barn
Laina is finally starting to come around to horses, to Jenna's delight and my dismay. Not every little girl gets to play with toy horses in a real arena...
But she also takes time to stop and smell the flowers.
Climb on to giant red wagons...
And strike cute poses for the camera.We actually had a friend of Jenna's (K.Mathias Photography) come out and do a mini photo-shoot at the barn. Laina was in a slightly cranky mood, but she managed to get some good ones (the bottom three photos).
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