Adrian's Summer Running 2011: Week 1

Well, week 1 is complete and I didn't do as well as I would have liked.  The Top of Utah Half Marathon, that I had already signed up for, is on Saturday, August 27, 2011.  So that put it at 17 weeks away.  My training method is a 12 week training so, right now I'm looking at 5 weeks of non-structured training.

I played soccer on Sunday and wondered how I should log those miles.  I emailed our fitness guy and he suggested using a pedometer.  While that doesn't sound very accurate, I decided to make up a metric of every half hour of heavy exertion in a sport, I'll count that as 1 mile.  This way, I know I went over 1 mile but I'm safely underestimating it.

Here are my results from Week 1 of the cardio/fitness challenge

Adrian's Summer Running 2011: Juniper Systems Challenge

Before the month of May, my company's fitness guy (Steve Suhaka) decided to announce another fitness challenge to Juniper Systems employees and their families. The previous 4 months, Steve made a fitness challenge for Juniper employees that looked at how many pushups and situps you could do, as well as VO2 max and body mass index. This current fitness challenge is a cardio challenge where each person participating will track how many miles they cover in 5 different categories:

• Walking
• Hiking
• Running
• Cycling
• Swimming

Because Cycling miles aren't the same as running/walking miles, each mile cycling will count as 1/3 of a mile.  And because of the strenuousness of swimming, each mile of swimming will count as 3. Running, Hiking, and Walking will all count normally; 1:1.

The overall goal of this cardio fitness challenge was to have the participants cover 20,000 miles over the course of 16 weeks. With some rough calculations, that means the 80+ people signed up would need to cover about 15 or so miles per week; which is doable. At the end of the fitness challenge, Juniper Systems will have a 5k fun run to cap it off. A mileage sheet was emailed to the participants to record each person's miles for each of the 16 weeks (in each category of cardo).

I was pretty excited about this because I had already signed up for a half marathon and this would help motivate me to run.  And I had a feeling that they would reward people who ran the furthest, etc and I am hoping to be one of those people.  I was a little sad that Lisa couldn't do this because, at the start of this, she was about 6 months pregnant.

Adrian's Summer Running 2011

I have been running all summer (original post date of this blog entry is August 31, 2011, but I am backdating it to May 7, 2011) but haven't blogged about it. I will blog about my adventures in running for the summer and back date each blog post to the correct corresponding week. This is just for me personally to reflect on and if anyone wants to read about what I've experienced for the last 4 months.

Since about late 2006, Lisa and I had always had the goal of running a half marathon. I don't know how we came to this goal but it sounded like a good idea and would be something I could check off my list of things I've done in my life. Starting in December of 2006, Lisa and I started training for a half marathon that would take place on the weekend of March 4th, 2007. We used Hal Higdon's training program (to a degree) and were extremely dedicated to running. Since we didn't have a full 12 weeks, as suggested by the training, we fudged it to make it work. I was really proud of how far we came and how well we did, especially when we started running 9 miles in one day.

A couple of weeks before the half marathon Lisa got a message from Utah State University to come to a welcome weekend sort of thing to check out the campus. Well, I'm sure you can guess the rest, this weekend happened to be the same weekend of our half marathon. Needless to say, we never ran the half marathon and hadn't run one since. I was a little disappointed because we had trained so hard and did so well. I even thought about just running the 13.1 miles to see how well I could do... but I never did it. I wanted to have a "race day" like experience; unhindered by vehicles and other such distractions on a 13.1 mile run but figured I couldn't recreate that... I did learn that the weather for the half marathon was awfully cold (start temp was possibly in the high 30s) so that did make me feel a little better about not running the race.  (Oh and we got to go skiing for free up at USU so it was worth it!)

A couple of other times we attempted at training again for a half but other things kept on getting in the way: school, kids, school, and kids, etc. Last summer (the summer of 2010) Lisa started training again for a half marathon for late summer. She had a Salt Lake City half marathon in her mind and was doing well with her training. She had wanted to do the local, Top of Utah Half Marathon but that one is so popular that it fills up really quickly (a couple of months before the race). Motivated by Lisa's running, I started running too. She would run when it was light out, and I would run at night. But as the distance and time commitments started building up, Lisa couldn't keep up with her training; mostly because of the neediness of Olsen (and her willingness to get things done - school work). So she had told me that she wanted me to try the SLC half marathon that was later in the summer. It would be a short training span but I thought I could do it. Well, the logistics of getting down to SLC and participating in the half marathon didn't work out, plus, if I remember correctly, I had something else I had to do on that weekend. So we still haven't completed our goal of running a half marathon.

This year, back in April, I decided to take a different approach. I signed up for the Top of Utah half marathon way early. So therefore I was committed to run this race!

The Power of M&Ms

This weekend we decided to get serious about potty-training Olsen. We put him in fun underwear and set the timer to put him on his little potty. He needed an M&M to sit on the potty and would get three more for peeing. He has actually done really well! On Saturday, he had two accidents and told us right away about it. On Sunday and today, he has had no accidents! Sometimes, he doesn't want to sit on the potty, but M&Ms are too hard to resist. He still hasn't pooped in the potty, because he always seems to do that right after he wakes up from sleeping and is still wearing his diaper, so I'm not sure how to go about that. I have been trying to space out the interval of getting him on the potty, and I'm hoping that soon, he'll be able to tell me when he has to go instead of us putting him on the potty. But we've had a lot of progress these last two days!

Olsen finds out he's going to have a little sister

Olsen finds out he's going to have a little sister
Originally uploaded by Aggiewelshes
We got the idea from watching America's Funniest Videos; there was a video of parents telling their 2 kids about having another baby. The boy (probably about 6 or 7?) at first didn't believe it and we thought, this isn't very funny for this show. Then he starts breaking down in tears about this new baby. After a little bit his slightly older sister starts bawling as well. It was hilarious. I thought it would be funny to tell Olsen, on video, about his future little sister. The video was pretty funny; check it out!

Click on the video, or video link, to see the description in Flickr (or I guess I can post it here):
Olsen at first has a little chat about having a little sister. He compares Calliou having a sister named Rosie. (Calliou is a tv show he loves to watch about a 4 year old boy and his adventures. He has a 2 year old sister named Rosie). Then Olsen realizes that he would much rather have a brother and gets a little sad.

Here is Calliou and Rosie: 

(posted by Adrian)

Potty Training Attempt #486

Two days after his initial successful potty adventure, he had another successful one!  Then it was daily fighting to try and get him to sit on his potty seat.  It was pretty frustrating and seemingly hopeless, but finally, tonight, he peed again in his potty seat!  So maybe there's a slight bit of progress here.  This weekend we might try potty training boot camp and see what happens.

Dinosaur Park

On President's Day, we took Olsen to the Dinosaur Park in nearby Ogden.



The Dinosaur Park is made up of a museum with replica dinosaur bones and a few automated robotic dinosaurs that move and roar. But the biggest part of the Park is their long outdoor trail marked by dinosaur sculptures.



Olsen liked this part the best, because he enjoys walking outside. Plus, there was a playground there as well.




Olsen called this dinosaur a "scary dragon."


walking under a giant dinosaur


posing with dad on one of the dinosaurs in the playground


looking out from the playground tower



Olsen had a good time, and we will be going back again. I had ended up buying a year long family membership through Groupon, so we can go as much as we want this next year.

Olsen-isms

Olsen has been talking a lot lately, and I love it, because he's so open and honest with the things that he says and thinks. Some of my favorites:

Out of the blue, he'll say, "I like Mama. I like Dada, too. I like doggie. And I like Olsen."

When he's eating a snack, he'll try and share with us and say, "Mama, want some?" or "Doggie, want some?" (which of course she does!)

He also tries to get us to participate in his games. The other day he was playing with a fly swatter and pretending to swat flies and put their carcasses in a container. After awhile, he said, "Mama want to try it? Mama want to swat flies?" After I put my flies in the container, he said, "Good job, Mama!" "Thank you, Olsen." "You're welcome, Mama."

There are times when Olsen is disagreeable, and I start to get irritated. I think he can tell, because after while, he'll say, "Sorry, Mama" in his most contrite voice. It sounds more like "Thor-ry, Ma-ma," and it's hard to stay upset with him.

Sometimes, he gets upset since it can be hard being two. He'll say, "I'm sad," or "I'm mad," and cry at the injustices brought upon him. I'll hold him for awhile and he'll say, "I feel better now." May we all get over our anger as easily and happily as a toddler!

Potty Training Attempt #346

Ok, well not exactly 346 but there's been many many times in which we've tried to get Olsen to go potty on his potty seat or on the "big potty."  But today, he finally pottied for the first time in his little potty seat!  It was such a big deal and I hope it's the start of many more times of going potty on the potty seat (instead of his diaper).  I just had to write this short blurb on here so we can remember when he first peed in the potty! :)

Tuesdays with Olsen

We recently switched Olsen to go to daycare Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays (from Tues, Wed, Thurs). I am hoping to collect all my data for my dissertation this semester and will have to travel a lot. With this new schedule, I can have Saturday to travel back home if needed (since Adrian's schedule is not as flexible now with his new job).

It's kind of nice, because there are more activities for Olsen and me to participate in on Tuesdays. Today we went to story time at the North Logan Library. They have two story times, one for 0-2 years and another 30 minutes later for 3-5 year olds. We went to the first story time first. He loved the singing parts of the session. He really does love to sing. He danced to the chicken dance and sang "Itsy Bitsy Spider" and "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes". But then he walked off during the actual stories, so we left the story room and he played in the children's section for awhile. We ran into a friend and her son and talked with them before Olsen decided that he wanted to go back to the story room and hear the story.

So we waited until the next story time, and he actually listened to the stories the second time around. He even got to participate in the felt board story and place his piece of 8 lions on the board when the librarian read about the lions. Although he was much more involved for the second story time, we didn't stay the whole time. His attention faded when they got to the third story about Inuit people. He still had a lot of fun, and I think we'll try and go back next week.

2010?

I realized that I did not blog at all in 2010! That's a whole year of Olsen's life. Here's a quick photo summary.

He turned two!

celebrating with sparklers

watching his birthday parade!

He had the chance to go on several trips.

He went to Zion National Park:


He visited his grandparents in Corpus and Pearland:

beach boy

splash pad fun

He went to Montana and danced at Sara's wedding:




He went to Yellowstone and the Tetons:

posing with his dad by the Yellowstone River

throwing rocks in the Yellowstone River

He went to Reno and Lake Tahoe:

exploring the beach

jumping off rocks at our cabin

Some other fun events of 2010:

petting pigs at Baby Animal Days

lots of hiking:

running with Lucy down the trail

more rock throwing at Hyrum Reservoir

cheering on the Aggies at USU football games

our little dinosaur

exploring the hay maze

picking out a pumpkin at Paradise Valley Orchard

eating apples while apple picking

shoveling snow for mom and dad!

decorating the tree

hanging out with Raley during our TX Christmas visit

pictures with the grandparents:




I think Olsen had a good year and is looking forward to the continuation of 2011! I can't believe he'll be THREE this summer.

Inventory of 2009

I read this on the always enjoyable Blakery and found this fill-in-the-blank template from Mary Schmich at The Chicago Tribune and thought I would give it a try. Because Blake's right: what else can parents of toddlers do on new year's eve?

In 2009, I think I gained a few more pounds when Olsen was able to tolerate dairy, because that meant the return of ice cream and cheese to my diet!

I lost some confidence in my ability to balance my roles as student and mom. I hope to really work on this in 2010.

I stopped showering daily. It's not really possible with a toddler. But I want to try and get up early to exercise so if that can happen, then I will be back to showering daily. :)

I started Olsen in daycare twice a week and still have mixed feelings about it.

I was hugely satisfied by some things I actually got done regarding schoolwork this past year.

And frustrated by the things I didn't get done.

I am so embarassed that I freaked out about my lack of progress in my Ph.D world in front of Meg and Joanna. (They were wonderful and helpful though.)

Once again, I said I would eat more vegetables and cook much more instead of getting pizza all of the time.

Once again, I did not do that nearly as much I should have.

The biggest physical difference between me last December and me this January is the extra pounds, I guess I would have to say again.

The biggest psychological difference is that I am much less worried about Olsen's physical health. His digestive system has not given him any trouble for several months now.

I loved spending time with my little toddler. He's so funny.

Why did I spend even two minutes stressed out about what I should be doing instead of just doing it?!

I should have spent more time making more progress on my degree.

I watched way too much TV!

I didn't exercise nearly enough.

Graduate school drove me crazy.

The most relaxing place I went to was Estes Park this past summer.

Why did I go to Athens, GA and leave my toddler-baby for 5 days?

The best thing I did for someone else was try to be helpful and easily accessible.

The best thing I did for myself was use a little bit of the time Olsen was in daycare to have some lunch dates with Adrian.

The one thing I'd like to do again, but do it better, is parent Olsen. (I borrowed that from Blake).

Happy New Year and New Decade!

2010 - the year of Lucy surgeries

It looks like 2010 will be the year of Lucy surgeries. Our little girl seems to be falling apart. Last month she was diagnosed with hip dysplasia and surgery is recommended since she cannot really walk very well right now. Last week she was running in excitement and hurt herself. We thought it was her hips but it turns out that she tore her cruciate ligament in her left knee, so she needs surgery on that first. And then after 6 months (!) she can get one hip done and then 3 months later, the other hip. Then after all that, she needs to get a tooth pulled. In the meantime, Lucy will have to take it easy and can only have minimal exercise. She's a little overweight so I'm not sure how we will be able to get her to lose any weight or at the very least not gain any more until she is recovered.

Lucy in the leaves, a few years ago, a few pounds lighter.

last semester recap!

I think last semester went well for the most part. Olsen started going to an in-home daycare two days a week, Tuesdays and Wednesdays. He is generally more sad and grumpy on Tuesdays and is nicer on Wednesdays. I hope that soon he will actually look forward to going. He always enjoys lunch there at least.

I also went to a conference in Athens, GA and left little Olsen for five whole days. Poor Adrian. But he handled it really well and they both survived. I didn't use that trip as an opportunity to wean, though. He still likes to nurse and I thought it might be a good thing to do through flu season at least. It is interesting to me how some people think that Olsen is too old to nurse but at the same time are fine with 2 and 3-year olds with pacifiers and bottles. oh well, some American ideas can be puzzling.

I don't know if I made as much progress on my degree as I would have liked. I'd really like to step it up this next semester. I think Adrian feels the same and can hopefully finish his masters soon. I'd really like to take and pass my comprehensive exams by the beginning part of next fall. We'll see if that happens. Maybe that will be a new year's resolution.

a little frustrated

I've been trying to work my graduate school life around Olsen, so anytime I get any free time from Olsen, I HAVE to spend it doing work, because being a Ph.D student is supposed to be a full-time job. Plus I am getting paid pretty generously (in terms of graduate stipends) to be a graduate student, and I need to make sure that I earn it. But this leaves me with no time to myself to do something that I would consider fun. This is horrible, but sometimes I feel a little resentful that Adrian has his soccer that he plays twice a week and is in an all-day tournament today. I'm glad he has the opportunity to play soccer and get his exercise and he really is a HUGE help with Olsen, but sometimes I wish I had something similar for myself. But really, it doesn't matter, because like I said, whenever I do get the time away from Olsen, I can't really justify doing anything other than work (plus, I'm also a little behind where I should be in my graduate program). I don't know - I'm just frustrated and a little discouraged right now. I need some balance in my life and right now, I'm just not sure that it's possible. Maybe it will be when Olsen gets a little older...

Estes Park and the Rocky Mountains

We had a fun vacation at Estes Park, CO. We were fortunate to get to use the cabin that Adrian's dad is offered every other year from his former company. It was so beautiful and right in the boundary of Rocky Mountain National Park.

Olsen was actually pretty good on the ride over. We started in the evening and stopped after about 1.5 hours in Evanston, WY so Olsen could crawl around in the park. Then we stopped again in this complex called Little America (a respite from the desolate WY landscape with a hotel, restaurant, travel center, playground and 50-cent icecream cones!) to eat dinner. By that time, it was about Olsen's bedtime so he pretty much slept the rest of the way to Fort Collins.

The next day we went to our cabin and settled in.

Olsen loved the piano in the cabin.

The views were incredible from the big picture windows. We played some shuffleboard and explored Estes Park and the downtown area.

On Sunday, we decided to hike a trail right behind our cabin, the Deer Mountain Trail. Our cabin sits at 8300 feet, so the elevation is a bit higher than Logan (4500 feet) and we felt it! It was a nice hike but later we found out we didn't quite reach the top. Oh well, we got to hike and I was a little anxious to get back before Olsen got too much sun.

Monday: We decided to take it easy and went to explore the Bear Lake area in RMNP. The trails around the lakes there are accessible to wheelchairs so we brought Olsen's stroller. The Bear Lake area is very popular and the parking lot fills up very quickly in the morning, so we had to ride the shuttle bus over. Olsen enjoyed people watching on the bus and two older Aggies asked if Olsen was named after Olsen Field after noting his name on his helmet. Bear Lake and Nymph Lake were nice and we saw a friend of ours who is doing her graduate work in the area and took her survey on visitor perceptions. I was pretty surprised at how many people were in the Park. I expected crowds in places like Smoky Mountains and Yosemite but for some reason, I didn't expect the degree of crowding that we encountered in Rocky Mountain. In some ways, I feel like the large crowd can detract from the experience but then at the same time, I think it's great that a lot of people want to come out to national parks and experience the wilderness. Perhaps, national parks are not really the place to go if one is in seek of solitude.

The lilies were in bloom at Nymph Lake

Tuesday: We drove along Trail Ridge Road in the Park. We stopped at the Alpine Visitor Center (the highest visitor center in the park system) and hiked a short trail to a look-out where we saw a lot of elk. On the trail, we met several Aggies (we are truly everywhere!). One was a Navasota teacher that I worked with when I was a master's student at A&M.

It was windy up there. We think Olsen looks like a superhero in this picture with his intense eyes, clenched fist, and hair flying out of his helmet.

Wednesday: Adrian hiked Long's Peark, the highest point in the Park and one of the Colarado 14'ers, while Olsen had his day of rest. He crawled around and played a lot AND practiced his walking!

Thursday: We strolled around Lily Lake and showed Olsen the ducks and baby ducks. Then we went to the Baldpate Inn, which has the world's largest collection of keys.

They even have a key of the White House, sent by George Bush, Sr. Many people leave keys there as well. We ate the famous bread, salad, and soup buffet at the Inn. It was really good. One lady told us that her oldest child wore a helmet when she was younger. It's nice when people do that, because we did get a lot of stares this week - I guess because we were exposed to a lot more people the whole week. Oh well, I think Olsen looks really cute in his helmet. It seems to emphasize his cute face. We spent the rest of the day walking along downtown Estes Park.

Friday: We went down to the Wild Basin area of the Park and did a very short hike to Copeland Falls. If we ever come back to the Park, I'd like to continue on the trail to the Calypso Cascades and Ouzel Falls, but we needed to get back to the cabin so we could clean it before we left.

We left Estes at about 5:30 pm and drove through to get back to Logan. Olsen was really nice and pretty much slept after we stopped for dinner. He had one moment where he was upset but we were in WY and there was nowhere to stop for 30 miles. By the time we reached a place to stop, he had fallen back asleep, poor thing. We arrived back in Logan at 3 in the morning.

It was a great vacation. Olsen really improved his pointing skills and took his first steps in the cabin. He loved watching the hummingbirds and chipmunks that hung out around the cabin. Now, we are back to reality and have to get back to work! :)