Photo from Mount Royal, Frisco, Colorado.

"That is happiness; to be disolved into something complete and great. When it comes to one, it comes as naturally as sleep." - Willa Cather

Sunday 30 October 2011

Naughty Thoughts

Now that we are back in Denmark and I no longer have the luxury of day care for Mattias or my mom to help, I have reverted to old ways of thinking:

"The easiest way to become a faster runner in the next 7 weeks may be simply to lose weight"

Running for two hours a day every day with a baby jogger at a slow pace is just not going to get me into better shape. So what about a crash diet?

As of this morning I'm 52.2 kg. I'm actually happy with that. If I go much lower, I'll be the annoying skinny woman who always has to wear a sweatshirt while working out slowly on the elliptical. Once you get to the point you can fit your thigh in an "ok" hand sign, you'll no longer be able to run an ultra (I guess I'm pretty far form that).

This weekend I was alone with the two kids. And I caved: I got a babysitter. I guess I have resolved that it's better to spend money and get an intense workout than to rely on anorexia to get faster. Here was the agenda for the morning:

-run to gym (1 mile)
-spinning for one hour (35 minutes over 80% max pulse. Hear me out: spinning in the US does not hold a candle to spinning in Denmark. You make yourself sick with exhaustion here simply because your pulse is being continually monitored and is on display in front of the room for everyone to see, so once you start lagging, everyone knows - and 35 minutes over 80%, at times over 90%, max pulse is NOT easy! I say this so you know how totally hard core I am.)

-I then attempted to simulate a sprint triathlon transition by changing my shoes and jumping on a treadmill (this WAS interrupted by cleaning my bike off). I ran a 1km warm-up (that was dumb in retrospect, if I were trying to simulate a triathlon) and then forced out a 5k in 22:14. Holy cow. It was great. I could hardly move. But I had a little time before
-CX works, so I hopped on the stair climber and then went to the class.

A killer wokout with 30 minutes of core afterwards. Much better than sitting around trying not to eat.

For those of you hoping for other sorts of naughty thoughts: don't worry, I have those, too.

Remember my love for Andy Schleck? Well, after seeing this picture, I felt a little, well, betrayed...


And Enrique Iglesias hasn't made any new songs lately.

So while I was running the 5k on the mill, I fell for a figure skater: Adam Rippon.

The fact that he missed a few landings at the ISU championships in Canada today made me like him all the more. (let's ignore the fact he must be half my age)

See SR, this is what your weekends on call do to me!

And it is a good thing I have a soft spot for boys who like girls. Yesterday, a woman came up to The Lorax, Mattias and me and said "what a cute baby! And that must be her older sister!" Oh, my. Where to begin? Nevermind the fact Mattias was in blue and The Lorax in Spiderman. The thing is, this is not the first but the 10th time it has happened and soon The Lorax will be embarrassed.

You judge for yourselves. They look like boys to me. (taken 10 minutes ago)

Okay, so maybe it is time to make an appointment for a haircut.


I've owed you a song for a long time. I have no new running songs. But I like this song (it's nice):
Diamond Heart by Active Child

13 comments:

mmmonyka said...

That's mean. You just broke my heart showing me that picture.

Now I need to go find me a different platonic love object. I am thinking someone German and at least 5 years younger than me.

DDitlev said...

I'm GLAD you went for the baby sitter option :) I'm sure that SR are too. Most men like girls that look like girls .. fast or not ;)

I must admit I was a little curious about that title ;) Welcome back to Denmark by the way!

Love those pics :)

Kirsten said...

Don't even DARE to go there - thinking that loosing weight is the solution for anything in this world!! We have both learned that it's not!
Babysitters are awsome and much more efficient.

SteveQ said...

If you follow the two cyclists' eyes, they're actually looking at something on the ground. Women! Always thinking men are staring at women, when we're actually um, er, are those real?

Diana said...

You know, I was wondering how you have been able to get so many runs in with a baby. I barely have enough alone time to take out the trash, let alone get in a nice solid run.

Agreed, a babysitter is a much better choice than going on a crazy diet. Unhealthy eating habits are not the answer and will not make you a better runner.

I don't think your kids look like girls. My daughter gets mistaken for a boy all the time because she isn't constantly dressed in pink. Kids usually just look like kids to me. Your children are just adorable! Love the wide-eyed Mattias pic!

Danni said...

Glad you're thinking twice about anorexia as a training plan. Base building with 1-2 speed workouts a week (which easily take less than an hour) would probably be totally sufficient.

Sandhya said...

Gorgeous photos! As always, awed by your discipline. A question: I know you've probably shared this before, but what's your plan for speed work?

SteveQ said...

Adam Rippon? But you already have little boys to take care of! I just posted about my fondness for writer/chef Melissa Clark; my taste remains the same.

Ana-Maria RunTriLive said...

This made me laugh, thanks for that.
My 6 year old looks a lot like yours. When he was younger people would frequently mistake him for a girl. OK, yes, I also sometimes dressed him in girly colors...
I always took that as a compliment that he is very cute (as is yours), but he absolutely hated it. And now at 6, everything that is not blue or green, or that is a bit soft, is "girly". Grr

sea legs girl said...

Sandhya - I wish I could make a plan. It's all about fitting in what I can with little Mattias. Yesterday, for example, I got 3 x 1 mile intervals in before he started crying.

SteveQ said...

The song I sort-of ran to today: "Minneapolis" by Mark Mallman.

Brianne said...

Gosh that Mattias is cute, and I don't normally say that about babies under 5 months old. My daughter, age 1, got referred to as "he" several times the other day despite pink sneakers and a PONYTAIL on top of her head so don't feel bad. Apparently some people think a brown coat and green pants means boy despite the presence of other obvious clues.

heather said...

Oh, that used to happen to my brother and me when we were really little. People would mistake him for a girl because he really needed a haircut (was dressed like a boy, though!) and would say things like "oh what sweet little girls! they look so alike!" I don't know if he remembers that - he must have been 3 or 4 at the time - but I've always wondered if it bothered him :)

Anyway - good for you for going with a sensible training plan! Whenever I get in the mindset of "I should lose weight so I can run faster", it's usually when I *already* weigh about as little as I healthily can (for me, about 127 lbs, I'm 5'10"). I just tell myself no, you don't need to eat less, you need to run faster :)