OK, so this is in no way, shape, form really a miracle but it's a good thing, nonetheless.
On Saturday evening, someone decided that they really wanted my truck stereo and threw a rock through my driver's side window shattering it. Of course, they then took the stereo (ripping the dashboard in the process).
When I saw my the glass on my front seat and that my stereo was gone the first thing I looked for was my bike in back which, thankfully, was still U-locked to the rack. Whoever took my $150 stereo but left the $1100 (after all the extras) bike.
I really hope they like Broadway musicals or they're really not going to enjoy the CDs they snagged.
Life is about the little things. And little blessings.
Namaste
For more information about Team in Training please visit http://www.teamintraining.org/ or to donate visit http://www.active.com/donate/tntmn/evanelson
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Thursday, June 12, 2008
learning to count
I've been a bit delinquent lately - both with the blog and my training.
The operas that I've been working on momentarily took over my life. They open on Friday/Saturday so everything should settle back to normal soon. Until then - I'm sneaking in a workout when I can find it.
Yesterday was a swim day and I knew I wouldn't have time to swim after work before rehearsal (been getting home around 4:30 and have to be in St. Paul by 6...I need an hour and a half just to do the workout at this point) so I decided to swim over my lunch at the downtown YWCA. I walked the two blocks to the gym in the rain and went for a swim. My goal, after warming up was to swim 1600 yards or 32 laps which is approximately the distance for the swim in the race. The challenge then becomes how to keep track of how far I've gone. All too often in the middle of a swim I find myself without a clue as to how much I've swum. I was determined this wasn't going to happen.
First, I decided to complete two 800's without a rest. (It's easier to count to 16 without losing your place.) The first 800 I counted from 16 to 1 - a tip I picked up from SELF magazine in order to give yourself a feeling of accomplishment when you get to the end. In order not to lose what lap on was on I would think what happened to me in a certain year. (i.e. what happened when I was 15 years old, 12, 9 (I couldn't remember anything that happened when I was 9...)).
The second 800 became more complicated. I divided the 800 into 100's but didn't want to lose where I was in the 100 so I counted like this: 1.1 (first 100, first half), 1.2 (first 100, second half), 2.3 (second 100, first half), 2.4 (second 100, second half). I was counting the 100's and the 50's...you know for good measure.
I came back to work re-energized (though I crashed about an hour later due to lunch) and will work-out more often during the day. And the downtown YW is super nice. STEAM ROOM!
It's exactly a month from the triathlon...time to count the days....
Namaste
For more information about Team in Training please visit http://www.teamintraining.org/ or to donate visit http://www.active.com/donate/tntmn/evanelson
The operas that I've been working on momentarily took over my life. They open on Friday/Saturday so everything should settle back to normal soon. Until then - I'm sneaking in a workout when I can find it.
Yesterday was a swim day and I knew I wouldn't have time to swim after work before rehearsal (been getting home around 4:30 and have to be in St. Paul by 6...I need an hour and a half just to do the workout at this point) so I decided to swim over my lunch at the downtown YWCA. I walked the two blocks to the gym in the rain and went for a swim. My goal, after warming up was to swim 1600 yards or 32 laps which is approximately the distance for the swim in the race. The challenge then becomes how to keep track of how far I've gone. All too often in the middle of a swim I find myself without a clue as to how much I've swum. I was determined this wasn't going to happen.
First, I decided to complete two 800's without a rest. (It's easier to count to 16 without losing your place.) The first 800 I counted from 16 to 1 - a tip I picked up from SELF magazine in order to give yourself a feeling of accomplishment when you get to the end. In order not to lose what lap on was on I would think what happened to me in a certain year. (i.e. what happened when I was 15 years old, 12, 9 (I couldn't remember anything that happened when I was 9...)).
The second 800 became more complicated. I divided the 800 into 100's but didn't want to lose where I was in the 100 so I counted like this: 1.1 (first 100, first half), 1.2 (first 100, second half), 2.3 (second 100, first half), 2.4 (second 100, second half). I was counting the 100's and the 50's...you know for good measure.
I came back to work re-energized (though I crashed about an hour later due to lunch) and will work-out more often during the day. And the downtown YW is super nice. STEAM ROOM!
It's exactly a month from the triathlon...time to count the days....
Namaste
For more information about Team in Training please visit http://www.teamintraining.org/ or to donate visit http://www.active.com/donate/tntmn/evanelson
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Bikes, bruises, and blue skies
What I would call summer (and everyone else in MN likes to call spring) has finally reached us here in the Twin Cities. After all, what's not summer about 60 degrees? I'm going to ignore the fact that summers here live in the 80's to 90's and that the triathlon is in July which is bound to be a hot month. I would not have any issues with a cool summer. It would make everything a lot easier on me.
Saturday was the first group ride I was able to attend. The ride started in Afton on the MN-WI border about 20 miles southeast of St. Paul. The ride was, literally, 20 miles of hills some of which were a 30 degree incline. Not much fun to go up or down in my opinion.
I fell. Twice. Once at the turn-around point because the person in front of me stopped short and I wasn't able to clip out in time to not fall over. The second time I was going up a hill (I was almost done!), felt like the gears weren't shifting correctly, slowed down a little too much and crash! down I went. My left knee is taking the brunt of these hits though my right leg has some fun bruises on it as well.
All in all, things are going well. I'm allowing enough time outside of rehearsal and work to train (I think). The real test, though, is July 12. Less than two months away!
Saturday was the first group ride I was able to attend. The ride started in Afton on the MN-WI border about 20 miles southeast of St. Paul. The ride was, literally, 20 miles of hills some of which were a 30 degree incline. Not much fun to go up or down in my opinion.
I fell. Twice. Once at the turn-around point because the person in front of me stopped short and I wasn't able to clip out in time to not fall over. The second time I was going up a hill (I was almost done!), felt like the gears weren't shifting correctly, slowed down a little too much and crash! down I went. My left knee is taking the brunt of these hits though my right leg has some fun bruises on it as well.
All in all, things are going well. I'm allowing enough time outside of rehearsal and work to train (I think). The real test, though, is July 12. Less than two months away!
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Long swims and glacial erratics
Swim workout 4/24:
warm-up:
3 x 100 w/50 drill in between
main set:
200 (1 min rest)
800 (1 min rest)
4 x 50 hard (:10 rest)
200 easy (:20 rest)
4 x 50 hard (:10 rest)
200 easy (:20 rest)
4 x 50 hard (:10 rest)
cool down:
4 x 50 easy
I didn't finish this work out last night but I'm OK with that. By the second set of 4 x50's my body was slowing down. The 800 felt great but it was the longest I've swam without a break in a long time. I think I need to swim more on my own time. (Which is something I've been neglecting because it's my strongest section of the tri at the point.)
I've taken my bike out a few times and have yet to fall in front of other people. I have managed to fall in my apartment while practicing clipping in to the pedals. Important note to self: you must be going forward before you even attempt to clip your second foot in or you will fall over. While it makes for a good story (falling over in ones kitchen on their new bike is always good for a laugh) it's not recommended.
Rehearsals start up soon for the operas. I've changed my work schedule to 7:00 - 3:45 so I'll have time to train before rehearsal every day. (hopefully.)
One thing that's great about training (and especially swimming) is I get a lot of time with my thoughts - even when I'm listening to my iPod while running or biking. While swimming I have a tendency to think about Tony. Probably because high school is when we became friends instead of annoyances of each other and I was on the swim team in high school. So here's a little more background about Tony and myself.
I don't remember the exact year Tony and his family moved in to the house behind ours but I'm pretty sure it was in elementary school - maybe around fourth grade for me. Our backyards shared a fence and a large glacial erratic (a large rock - the size of a VW bug - left behind by Eagle River Glacier when it receded up the valley). Because the rock was so large, it wasn't moved and the fence was built over the rock. Growing up, we would argue over whose rock it really was. I claimed we had more rock on our side of the fence and we had lived there longer and, therefor, it was my family's. Tony claimed they had more rock on their side of the fence. We never bothered to grab a tape measure from either of our fathers to measure it. I don't think it would have mattered. We still would have fought about it. I also used to try to annoy Tony by sitting in my window and singing loudly. I'm pretty confident I succeeded.
Namaste
For more information about Team in Training please visit http://www.teamintraining.org/ or to donate visit http://www.active.com/donate/tntmn/evanelson
warm-up:
3 x 100 w/50 drill in between
main set:
200 (1 min rest)
800 (1 min rest)
4 x 50 hard (:10 rest)
200 easy (:20 rest)
4 x 50 hard (:10 rest)
200 easy (:20 rest)
4 x 50 hard (:10 rest)
cool down:
4 x 50 easy
I didn't finish this work out last night but I'm OK with that. By the second set of 4 x50's my body was slowing down. The 800 felt great but it was the longest I've swam without a break in a long time. I think I need to swim more on my own time. (Which is something I've been neglecting because it's my strongest section of the tri at the point.)
I've taken my bike out a few times and have yet to fall in front of other people. I have managed to fall in my apartment while practicing clipping in to the pedals. Important note to self: you must be going forward before you even attempt to clip your second foot in or you will fall over. While it makes for a good story (falling over in ones kitchen on their new bike is always good for a laugh) it's not recommended.
Rehearsals start up soon for the operas. I've changed my work schedule to 7:00 - 3:45 so I'll have time to train before rehearsal every day. (hopefully.)
One thing that's great about training (and especially swimming) is I get a lot of time with my thoughts - even when I'm listening to my iPod while running or biking. While swimming I have a tendency to think about Tony. Probably because high school is when we became friends instead of annoyances of each other and I was on the swim team in high school. So here's a little more background about Tony and myself.
I don't remember the exact year Tony and his family moved in to the house behind ours but I'm pretty sure it was in elementary school - maybe around fourth grade for me. Our backyards shared a fence and a large glacial erratic (a large rock - the size of a VW bug - left behind by Eagle River Glacier when it receded up the valley). Because the rock was so large, it wasn't moved and the fence was built over the rock. Growing up, we would argue over whose rock it really was. I claimed we had more rock on our side of the fence and we had lived there longer and, therefor, it was my family's. Tony claimed they had more rock on their side of the fence. We never bothered to grab a tape measure from either of our fathers to measure it. I don't think it would have mattered. We still would have fought about it. I also used to try to annoy Tony by sitting in my window and singing loudly. I'm pretty confident I succeeded.
Namaste
For more information about Team in Training please visit http://www.teamintraining.org/ or to donate visit http://www.active.com/donate/tntmn/evanelson
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Week 7: How to buy a bike
The snow is melting, it's the first day of spring, and I can no longer delay the inevitable. I need to buy a bike.
This is more daunting than I thought it would be. There are so many choices and I know close to nothing about bikes. So I'm jumping in with a list of things I'm looking for, a price range, and not much else to guide me. Wish me luck.
I missed the run on Saturday morning because I didn't hear my alarm but I think I made it up on Sunday buy going to yoga and a super-tough cardio kickboxing class followed by a core class. (I later found out the team did hills on Saturday so I don't feel too bad about missing the run...)
Fundraising has slowed down a little bit and I'm still $1200 from my goal of $3000. I need to brainstorm some new ways to raise money. I will make my goal. (You can help me make it...)
I think that's all for now.
Namaste
For more information about Team in Training please visit http://www.teamintraining.org/ or to donate visit http://www.active.com/donate/tntmn/evanelson
This is more daunting than I thought it would be. There are so many choices and I know close to nothing about bikes. So I'm jumping in with a list of things I'm looking for, a price range, and not much else to guide me. Wish me luck.
I missed the run on Saturday morning because I didn't hear my alarm but I think I made it up on Sunday buy going to yoga and a super-tough cardio kickboxing class followed by a core class. (I later found out the team did hills on Saturday so I don't feel too bad about missing the run...)
Fundraising has slowed down a little bit and I'm still $1200 from my goal of $3000. I need to brainstorm some new ways to raise money. I will make my goal. (You can help me make it...)
I think that's all for now.
Namaste
For more information about Team in Training please visit http://www.teamintraining.org/ or to donate visit http://www.active.com/donate/tntmn/evanelson
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Week 6: After Shakespeare
Thanks to everyone who made it out to the reading last night! I can't wait to fully stage the production (once someone gives me the money to do so).
Favorite moment in the reading: Brandon running off stage as Douglas and saying "Alright" when Hal tells her to run. Seriously. Funny.
Next on the fundraising radar: a cabaret night...more details TBD.
Namaste
For more information about Team in Training please visit http://www.teamintraining.org/ or to donate visit http://www.active.com/donate/tntmn/evanelson
Favorite moment in the reading: Brandon running off stage as Douglas and saying "Alright" when Hal tells her to run. Seriously. Funny.
Next on the fundraising radar: a cabaret night...more details TBD.
Namaste
For more information about Team in Training please visit http://www.teamintraining.org/ or to donate visit http://www.active.com/donate/tntmn/evanelson
Thursday, March 6, 2008
Week 5: Leaky goggles and no lane lines
I've been a bit absent from my blog of late. I've been a bit busy changing jobs, rehearsing for the staged reading, and, well, training.
Last night's swim was interesting - good interesting. We swam without lane lines for the first time (which is good as there won't be any lane lines in Lake Nokomis this summer). The result: choppy water. This also was a good time to become aware of breathing techniques in choppy water which will decrease the amount of pool/lake water swallowed. My goggles also decided to leak. And by leak, I don't mean a little water at the bottom which is annoying but you can still see. I mean, I had to swim with my left eye closed which makes swimming without lane lines ever more adventurous. Eventually, my goggles decided to start working again and I moved up to a faster lane so I would be tapping everyone's feet every other lap to pass them.
I have a (not-so-secret-anymore) secret goal to keep moving up in the lanes so I keep pushing myself to go faster. I also keep hearing Coach Karl's voice (high school swim coach) in my head as I swim telling me not to breath on the first stroke coming out of a turn and to keep my head down for the last five yards.
I've started my bike search and will post more about that when I have a picture of my pretty new bike (hopefully, in the next few weeks).
We did a time trial last Saturday so we have a benchmark for our 1-mile. I ran it in 10 minutes. Not bad for a non-runner. I'd like to have it down to 8:30 by the time the race comes along. We'll see how that goes.
For the next few days, my focus is on Henry IV, part I and getting people to come see the performance. If you're not doing anything on Monday evening, come down to the Lowry Lab in St. Paul and enjoy a fantastic reading.
Namaste
For more information about Team in Training please visit http://www.teamintraining.org/ or to donate visit http://www.active.com/donate/tntmn/evanelson
Last night's swim was interesting - good interesting. We swam without lane lines for the first time (which is good as there won't be any lane lines in Lake Nokomis this summer). The result: choppy water. This also was a good time to become aware of breathing techniques in choppy water which will decrease the amount of pool/lake water swallowed. My goggles also decided to leak. And by leak, I don't mean a little water at the bottom which is annoying but you can still see. I mean, I had to swim with my left eye closed which makes swimming without lane lines ever more adventurous. Eventually, my goggles decided to start working again and I moved up to a faster lane so I would be tapping everyone's feet every other lap to pass them.
I have a (not-so-secret-anymore) secret goal to keep moving up in the lanes so I keep pushing myself to go faster. I also keep hearing Coach Karl's voice (high school swim coach) in my head as I swim telling me not to breath on the first stroke coming out of a turn and to keep my head down for the last five yards.
I've started my bike search and will post more about that when I have a picture of my pretty new bike (hopefully, in the next few weeks).
We did a time trial last Saturday so we have a benchmark for our 1-mile. I ran it in 10 minutes. Not bad for a non-runner. I'd like to have it down to 8:30 by the time the race comes along. We'll see how that goes.
For the next few days, my focus is on Henry IV, part I and getting people to come see the performance. If you're not doing anything on Monday evening, come down to the Lowry Lab in St. Paul and enjoy a fantastic reading.
Namaste
For more information about Team in Training please visit http://www.teamintraining.org/ or to donate visit http://www.active.com/donate/tntmn/evanelson
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