Every Wish That We Put Into Motion.... (comments welcome!)

[avondale]

I hear you on the perimenopausal weight and changes... for me, big changes in that sense coincided with the year after the pandemic started, when social things were still really restricted and a lot of work from home (so not as much motion). I don't have the "having babies" excuse, either. I'm still working on it, so I have no secret suggestions. Also, I have a gag reflex to the taste of most vegetables, which doesn't help, LOL.

It's definitely a lot harder when you have to set an example. When I was a tween and teenager, I tended toward the chubby side of things naturally because my mother had no idea what healthy eating was really like (in
order to cook that way), my father had very specific ideas of meals (must have meat and potato at every meal), and my father's genetics tend toward obesity - I have those genetics, mostly. At my age, of course, I wanted to be thin. I found a small (laughably small by today's standards) listing of calories in various servings of food and used that as a bible to calorie count my entire way through high school. I ate maybe 1200 cal/day (using the listing). My mother made no attempt to discourage me from doing that (my father was completely oblivious - he was a jerk, honestly). To this day (I'm 52!), I cannot look at any food without mentally estimating the calories and what it's going to "do" to me. Recently, I asked my mother why she ever let me calorie count like that, and thus develop such a bad relationship with food, and she said, "I never thought you'd stick to it like that!" Well, that's my personality. So.....long story to say that, yes, your example and guidance to your kids is really important.

Sounds like a good plan for you to take some time off from running and give yourself time to figure out what you want to do next.

 

[Herding_Cats]

Welp. When you get back into the sub pool at the school and teachers are immediately walking up to you saying "Are you back?! Today isn't a one-time thing?" And then the principal is calling and texting you about "an opportunity" over the weekend.

Long story short, one of our kindergarten teacher's husband is nearing the end of his life and she is obviously out of the classroom to be with him (and deal with everything that comes after.) And now I'm going to be subbing in her classroom for the next 2 weeks at a minimum. They are going to work around my basketball schedule (school lets out at 4, and I have several games that are nearly an hour drive away) so that I can leave about 15 minutes early when I need to and someone else will cover the end-of-the-day packing up.

Send vitamin C. Send zicam. Send zinc. Send margaritas because I don't take kindergarten jobs as a rule.

Guess this is my springboard into meal prepping since I'll need to take a lunch and also work basketball 4 nights this week and would rather not exist off popcorn, hotdogs, celcius, and snickers bars in the evenings.

 

[Mr_Incr3dible]

HC,

Not sure exactly what to say such that I don't sound like a nitwit. But as Ron White says, I have the right to remain silent, but not the ability....
1. I definitely hope you can take whatever break you need and regroup. You certainly have a lot on your plate with kids and work.
2. I have a friend of mine who started the 1500 cal/day thing about ten months ago and has lost about 80 pounds. I sure can't do that, as I would definitely be a certain dwarf to be around. It has taken me 6 years to drop about 19 pounds, which has been by cutting carbs and sweets, plus with my half@ssed amount of running added in. I've tried the LoseIt app, and failed to be diligent in logging my food. and I've definitely lost some of those pounds multiple times. So just stay at it with whatever works.
3. As for taking a break from training, I'd say take a break from training for a specific goal or race, but IMHO keep doing some sort of walking or jogging for mental health. I'm to the point where I get real antsy if I go too long without something, even if it is just a walk. And I know that I'm saying that as someone who isn't having to chase after and shuttle kids as much as you are.
4. I'm not really any faster than I was 5 or 6 years ago. I've done a couple of all-out races for POT, but it seems my pace is my pace and I might be able to finish a race a handful of minutes faster if the temperatures are favorable, but that's about it. I hate that I won't be getting back to my sub-60 minute 10K times, but I am getting older and it is what it is.

Good luck with it, and know that you bring a lot of life to this board and that you're a hoot in person, and that we'll all be rooting for you.

 

[Herding_Cats]

It took 2 days of subbing kindergarten for me to mostly lose my voice. Their teacher says she's going to be back on Monday, but the principal asked me to be there that day as support, and if she's somehow coping really well I'll just be a "float" sub around the building. I think having an extra adult in the room will be helpful as the kids regain their normal schedule. We are having a "wind chill day" and school is cancelled because it's not a great choice to have kids waiting for the bus when it feels like -30 out; I'm not sad because attempting to do anything academic was exhausting, AND I had a kid try to elope yesterday when we were coming back from lunch.

I've had some slight, intermittent swelling in the top of my left foot since the marathon. On Tuesday when I had to stop quickly (plant my foot to pivot and turn to run the other way) something felt like it jammed and I had immediate localized swelling in that foot. I made sure I didn't stop with my foot pointing straight forward with that foot for the remainder of the game, and it hasn't been as much of an issue since, but it's something I'm keeping an eye on.

When I had my game on Tuesday my legs said "Excuse me, what are you trying to do?" for the first game, and then figured it out (with the help of caffeine) for the 2nd game. My quads have been more achy than usual, and that was the muscle group that I felt the most post-marathon as well. Likely due to all of the walking I ended up doing.

 

[avondale]

AND I had a kid try to elope yesterday when we were coming back from lunch.

I thought you were at an elementary school????

 

[GollyGadget]

I thought you were at an elementary school????

Valentine’s Day is only a few weeks away. Love must be in the air

 

[Mr_Incr3dible]

AND I had a kid try to elope yesterday when we were coming back from lunch.

Even with cooties present?

 

[Herding_Cats]

A "no training is happening currently" update:

I've taken on the job of being the 1:1 aid for a kindergartener with a traumatic brain injury (happed this past summer) as they learn how to go to school. So far it's been pretty easy, and I mostly help them transition between tasks, give additional prompts when we do academic work, and take them for walks when they starts to get over-stimulated. But their first day/first hour last week showed why they need an adult dedicated just to them while the school works out the IEP and appropriate accommodations. I do that for 3 hours in the morning, and then I fill in wherever they need for the rest of the day. That has been a lot of indoor recess duty with the polar vortex, parapro work, and filling in for teachers in the afternoon.

The principal DID offer me a building sub position, and I politely declined because I'm just not in a position to commit to being there every day all day in addition to refereeing for another month to month-and-a-half, my own kids' track schedules, our spring break trip (we will miss a few days of school), PW, and just plain needing a day off here and there. I'm exhausted all the time right now because I'm borderline hypervigilant for 3 hours in the morning on weekdays, and then just trying to keep kids on task for 3-4 hours in the afternoon and THEN going directly to basketball. I had a 14 hour day and a 12 hour day last week.

On top of that I immediately picked up whatever upper respiratory crud is going around (DH has it too as of yesterday, and he never gets sick!) that sits on your larynx, so I've lost my voice a few times this week as well. I've croaked to players in pre-game meetings that "I'll point extra straight tonight" since hearing me say a team color would be nearly impossible. Yesterday was the real test when I worked 6 games of 3rd and 4th grade basketball, which requires me to talk/yell. A LOT. Because those kids have no idea what they're doing out there.

This week I have a ridiculous number of games (thanks rescheduled make up games!) and work at the school every day. Boo hoo. Poor me. I work every day. But for reals. Going from being a SAH parent with a pretty chill schedule to being "on" all the time with a few hundred kids, trying to learn several hundred names as quickly as possible, and not be an overstimulated mess for my own family when I get home is an enormous transition.

ETA: I did receive my Goofy shirt this week as well. Took a little longer than it should have since USPS decided to send it to Kansas the day before it should have been delivered, but I was not scammed and am happy to have it since the number of things from MW that have shown up at the outlet seems very small.

 

[nancipants]

That schedule sounds overwhelming and it’s totally understandable why no training is happening. I often think that I could not be a runner with a kid if I didn’t have a work from home job. I have so much respect for people with demanding office jobs or lots of kid activities who still manage to train.

 

[avondale]

I often think that I could not be a runner with a kid

I generally think just this, full stop. @Herding_Cats 's schedule is just crazy to me.

 

[Herding_Cats]

DH: are you planning any training runs for Princess? Oh wait. You're only doing the 5 and 10k. Plus you don't really have time.

"Only the 5k and 10k."


No I do not have time. Between the 2 of us, we worked 30 games this week. I had 1 night "off" and still went out to watch a game as one of DS2's classmates/friends is on the cusp of scoring 1000 career points. He didn't get it that game, but it'll happen this week.


I'm currently scheduled to work 8 middle and high school games this week (trying to call off from 3 on Monday as I had a scheduling mix-up and haven't figured out how to teleport yet) and then around 8 more elementary games on Saturday. DH works one more night than I do, so it'll be a 30+ game week again for our house. I literally go to school in the morning, leave and drive to another school, work basketball, drive home, eat, and go to bed. On Wednesday night I didn't get home until almost 10pm because of the distance and road conditions.

The weather continues to suck. I hate winter. Spring cannot come soon enough, and I desperately need 3 days in the sun during PW.

Not worrying about about MW reservations is weird, but I'm also not having FOMO (yet) about any of it. Probably because I'm too deep in the weeds with everything else going on currently.

It looks like DS2 is going pull off class valedictorian after completing 18 weeks worth of physics work in 3 weeks after a schedule snafu was going to get him an auto-deny from U of M for his application, so we are still waiting to hear about a decision from them (his #1 choice.) He's already been accepted to 4 other universities (MSU, GVSU, CMU, and Oakland.) The extra A in the class, on top of his 4 AP and 1 dual-enroll gave him just enough of a boost to pass a classmate. And we are talking about thousandths of a GPA point.

What is the mental load again?

 

[The Expert]

Kinda funny to think of a race weekend as down time, but it's sure sounding like it for you! I like winter, but even I am over it at this point. It set in early and cold and has stayed SO cold. I'm done.

Congrats to DS2! That's a lot of work he's put in and I hope it pays off with the school he really wants.

 

[avondale]

Congrats to your son! What is he planning to major in? (I'm an academic advisor at a university, by the way, hence my curiosity.)

 

[Herding_Cats]

Congrats to your son! What is he planning to major in? (I'm an academic advisor at a university, by the way, hence my curiosity.)

That’s a great question! He doesn’t really know. Apparently he applied to U of M’s engineering program, which is why we ended up needing to find a physics class for him 3 weeks before semester ended as that’s a pre req for them. We were encouraged that one of the application readers reached out to our hs advisor to point out the missing credit.

But at the end of the day, if U of M is significantly more expensive than Oakland, he won’t there. Spending $40-50k extra just because of a name isn’t worth it, and as DS1 is going to Oakland, we have a really good sense of costs there already.