There will be lots of (fake) bike riding this week. And hopefully some running, too. Swimming is my reward for getting the other stuff done and still having time left over. Next week is becoming completely booked with other activities and events that will largely prevent me from training– but that’s supposed to be the “taper” week, right?

I’m nervous, but really, I think once this week really gets started, I’m not going to have enough time to worry about this tri anymore. Between field trips, swim team, the end of school & 5th grade graduation, my parents coming in, doctor’s appointments, tennis, make up lax tourneys, Mother’s Day, Brownies, the chicks hatching, tiger publishing and the Revenge season finale, I think my mind will be pretty full.

At least, I hope so.

Short URL: http://tinyit.cc/e84018  Tweet:

Also? It makes at least one of my daughters into a SUPER cranky bear EVERY morning.

BUT, if you take those same 10ish minutes of sleep in the afternoon, everything changes. It boosts your memory, helps you focus, lifts your mood and makes you less tired. It can even help you lose weight. (proof, and more proof) There is nothing this little power nap can’t do.

So, my take on this is that it isn’t me who *isn’t a morning person*. Its mornings that actually suck.

Short URL: http://tinyit.cc/1ee04e  Tweet:

They are no longer allowed to have their iTouches in their bedrooms. For months, they have enjoyed going to bed listening to their choice of music or podcast without commercials. Bedtime was more peaceful.

There were some small issues. In the podcast app, there is a “sleep timer,” which I would set. In iTunes, there wasn’t one. It frustrated me a little, but it was manageable. Slightly more frustrating was the fact that the podcast sleep timer was routinely ignored and reset.

I had some misgivings about letting them text and FaceTime and instagram in the privacy of their rooms. They are good girls, and I trust them. But that is a whole lot of unfettered access to a whopping amount of technology. And they are young, and they are still learning how to deal with the technology, just like they are still figuring out how to be 9 and 11.

Is it ok to FaceTime with boys? In their rooms? Does it change when the boy is one of a set of triplets and the girls are also good friends who are always involved in the FaceTime, too? If not, how does that get controlled without ruining the friendship? Is it ok to follow friends of friends on Instagram that they don’t really know if they know most of the other friends?

Questions like this are going to continue, and I know the answers are never going to be easy. Nor are am I going to end up coming up with the same answers as my friends and my daughters’ friends’ parents. Oh, it will be interesting, and I’m sure I will be crowned the Meanest Mom EVER more than once (and more).

What made me turn the corner and make the rule was one night when I was out. The girls were exhausted and had instructions to go to bed early. Stagg got them into bed early, and that was it. What he didn’t know was that they spent the next hour and a half idly chatting with a friend. It wasn’t constant, but it was enough. And it ended with, “gotta go, my mom’s home.”

The point I am trying to make with them is that I want their bedrooms to be a place where they can sleep without distractions. And the texting is a distraction. When one daughter complained that all she was doing was telling the other 2 to stop texting because they all needed to go to sleep, she made my point for me. When the same girl complained because she wanted to listen to her podcasts at night and then said she turned the sleep timer off because the show would turn itself off when she was almost asleep, but not at the end of the show, so she had to turn it back on, she made my point again. These devices are interfering with their sleep. Sometimes its subtle, sometimes, it isn’t.

And I know we are only barely on the on-ramp of our own Information Superhighway.

They are not pleased with this rule, but they get it. Mostly. One girl has a tendency to “forget” pretty often (and it isn’t the one I would have guessed would forget). She wanders upstairs because it is where she is comfortable, where she wants to entertain and hang out with her friends, and sometimes, where she wants to read the book she’s got in iBooks.

They have been adept at finding new places to find privacy for their time with their devices. It makes me cringe a little, but I am trying to let that battle go for now. Privacy/Secrecy was not the core of this skirmish. This was about being able to unplug. My best hope is that by the time the constant connectivity would really be an issue, they will be used to it enough that they count on the iFree haven their rooms have become where they can exist without distractions.

In some way, I feel like I’ve just told them that no, they may not have their own separate phone line with phones in their own rooms. (but oh, how much easier that statement is to enforce!)

Short URL: http://tinyit.cc/9c9490  Tweet:

There were things I learned pretty quickly, like don’t go right when the kids get on the bus, because that is when the middle & high school year round swimmers go, and they are super fast twigs that made me feel sad. And I learned that sometimes, there just isn’t time, and that’s ok. But it was a binary equation: I swam or I didn’t swim. It was simple, easy and oh so manageable.

At some point, I added running into it (at least a little). For the most part, it became an if not this, then that sort of equation. Running provided a backup for swimming and swimming was a backup for running if my plans changed. Of course, many times, I didn’t end up doing anything, but I blamed that on summertime and my schedule as a whole.

So this year, I signed up fro a triathlon and added biking to the mix. It is proving to be very difficult on my simple brain. I find that even with a training schedule (which I have to modify to suit my life), I end up feeling like I need to do something other than what I am doing. That I am either not doing enough, or not doing the right thing at the right time.

That, combined with my not loving biking are making me realize that perhaps, this whole triathlon thing is not for me. I want my “gold star” feeling after I’ve exercised back, which is something I have been missing with all my worrying about what I should be doing.

But, who knows.

Short URL: http://tinyit.cc/9df9ec  Tweet:

I was skeptical, but she was pretty convincing. So, when I got home, I looked it up online and saw that there were many people who agreed with her. And since we happen to have a source of raw, organic, local honey right here on the property, I thought I’d give it a shot.

To say that Stagg was skeptical put it mildly. When we finished the last of the honey we had in the kitchen and I had to buy more from the store, he was less than amused that I was taking some of our honey and putting it on my face.

I’ve been careful to use a very small amount to make it last.

Well, that and if you use too much, you end up with a sticky face, and that is no fun.

Recently, I noticed that I’ve been using more honey than I thought. My bottle was emptying far faster than it had been. I used even less.

I looked for a leak.

I looked AGAIN for a leak.

It was still vanishing at a rate that didn’t make sense.

Finally, the other night, I asked Stagg if he had been using the honey in the bathroom.

He gave me a tight lipped smile nod that turned into a laugh.

Sometimes, he told me, I get hungry.

My eyes had not finished rolling when Maggie piped up from the back seat that she, too, sometimes got hungry in the shower and ate the honey.

In honor of that, she thought we should have a special Passover meal for dinner.

Something like pork loin, she suggested.

Her name was originally in the first line, but she is embarrassed that there was something she didn’t know. But now she does, so she is back to knowing EVERYTHING.

Short URL: http://tinyit.cc/eee8  Tweet:

I am the coordinator of our neighborhood swim team, and I have watched 4, 5 and 6 year old children circle swim with no difficulty. Never have I seen one confused by the concept or unable to do it. As adults, this is the same concept we use when we drive, so adults should be familiar with the concept, too.

Last month was the first time I have ever approached someone at a pool and had her tell me that she didn’t know how to do that. I was so stunned, I couldn’t even argue with her.

Yesterday, it happened again. Actually, yesterday there was a series of issues.

As I got to the pool, there were 3 lanes for lap swimming, each with 2 people in them. But, a water aerobics class was starting, and it was HUGE. So they took a lane away.

So there were 2 lanes with 6 people to go in them, and me still standing on deck. All 4 of the other people went into one lane, so I went to the 1st lane and waited to get the women’s attention.

It took me a while, and I could see that circle swimming with this pair was going to be a challenge. One woman was swimming a slow breaststroke with paddles, and the other was swimming at a good pace and had brought a bag o’ personal gear and a handwritten workout sheet. (She was doing a respectable 2250)

I caught the fast lady explained what was going on and said we’d need to circle swim.

She said no.

I have sprints to do, she said.

It was the wrong thing to say.

I did not say the first thing that came to mind, which was, “I’ve been watching you swim, and your sprints are not going to be a problem for me.”

I did ask her how long her sprints were.

She huffed at me (HUFFED!!) and went back to swimming.

By this time, the slow lady came back and I started over. She told me she’d be done in 15 minutes or so, so I should just wait.

Because, apparently, her time is more valuable than my time.

During these exchanges, I had been sitting on the side of the pool with my legs in the water. After they both started swimming, I stood up for a minute, then went over to the side of the pool area to think it through.

Then I went back and sat on the side of the pool where the women would have to see my legs while they swam and be reminded of their poor swimming etiquette.

A swimmer in the next lane stopped and talked to me. I did not resist the temptation to point while explaining what was going on. She thought it was pretty ridiculous, too.

Sprinter lady finally swam up, huffed again, and told me that if I wanted to try, I could, but that it wasn’t going to work.

So I jumped in and went. I started behind the sprinter lady (who was kicking, not sprinting), passed her, got passed by the slow lady coming down the other side, then turned around and swam through the obstacle course again. I’m guessing that what is normally a 25 yard lap gave me about 35 yards with all the zigging and zagging.

There were some times that I had to wait for a few seconds to let them get in a position where it would all work because even with me in the lane, the REFUSED TO CIRCLE SWIM. They were so whatever they just kept swimming up and down their own sides of the lane.

When sprinter lady did her sprints, I made sure to smoke her every time. Since I couldn’t really race her side by side, I’m not entirely sure that she was aware I was smoking her, but in addition to my 35 yard laps, I was doing 2.5 laps to her 50s. I hope she noticed.

About 10 minutes later, the slower woman got out of the pool, and I got a side.

Within 20 seconds, though, a large man came to talk to sprinter lady saying he wanted to get into our lane with us. I have no idea what happened in that conversation, but sprinter lady left the pool shortly thereafter.

I managed to laugh in the water and not look up. I know she didn’t finish her workout because she stomped away. But there was no way that 300 pound man was going to be able to swim down the middle of the lane. It was either circle swim or get out of the pool.

Personally, I think circle swimming is just easier.

A request went out from school for cabbage soup, and I ended up being asked to make a batch with any recipe I could find.

I had a feeling they were trying to make a point that cabbage soup is not great. But, I have a problem intentionally making something gross. All that time, all that effort.

I found a recipe for Thai Cabbage Soup with chicken, and frankly, I thought it came out pretty good. There was cabbage, and leeks, chicken and noodles.

Still, it was cabbage soup.

Turns out they were starting to read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and wanted to serve cabbage soup to the kids to help them feel like Charlie’s poor family at the beginning of the book.

Turns out, it didn’t work so well. Katie LOVED my soup. (Maggie ended up getting someone else’s soup and didn’t care for it).

For dinner, we had Corned Beef and tater tots. Katie fed a tot to the dog, ignored the corned beef and asked for cabbage soup.

That girl walks to the beat of her own private brass band.

Short URL: http://tinyit.cc/40b09  Tweet:

I know, it sounds like a small, silly thing.

But really, I love coffee.

I drink mine with half and half and sugar. But I can drink it black in a pinch.

I do not drink flavored coffee.

I do not use creamers, and especially not flavored creamers (hence the black coffee)

But, oh, I love my coffee. It smooths out the start to my day.

My kids know that I am a much nicer person after I’ve had a cup. And Stagg has understood just how sick I was on the 3 or so mornings I have turned down coffee since we’ve been married.

Oh, I am thankful for coffee.

It was a first. There will be more. Of that I am certain. I hope that they will go better.

The biggest issue was the pedals. I practiced at home a couple weeks ago and ended up very frustrated. When I finally gave up and decided to try on the bikes in the Spin room at the Y, I had a moment’s relief. But at the Y, I ended up just as frustrated because I still couldn’t clip in. Of course, the instructor told me what to do, and 30 seconds later, I could clip in and out with no problem.

On the trail, though, no such luck. It was difficult to get the first shoe clipped in, and the second one just didn’t happen. Stagg and I pulled over to the side several times and he attempted to tell me what I was doing wrong, but I still couldn’t get it right. He was frustrated*, I was frustrated. There were some words. I tried the whole way, but I think I still ended up being clipped into both pedals for fewer than 7 miles total. And I think that is being pretty generous.

Other than that, the ride was good. I was not prepared for my elbows to hurt, or the fleshy parts between my thumb and forefinger and my first two fingers. They hurt, but it was mostly ok. Every stop (there are some intersections along the trail where you have to stop), I would bend my arms in really tightly to ease the pressure.

I’m a nervous rider for some reason. Logic told me that it would be ok to move into a more comfortable position for a little while even if it meant I couldn’t reach the brakes. I watched Stagg ride with no hands, stretching his back and arms. But I am nervous enough that even a second or two away from the brakes made me panicky… and threw me a little off balance. The biggest issue with that was that I could’t drink my water while riding.

And the headwind. Somewhere around mile 6, the wind started. Right in our faces. It was comforting to know that, at least, that meant that we’d have a tailwind to help us out. Yeah, that didn’t happen. Headwind on the way back, too.

About mile 14, a man passed us who was going at a pretty good clip. I was able to follow him pretty well until my left leg, that was not clipped in started to slip off the pedal wildly. As I got more tired, the slipping started happening more. It became a little ugly. I was getting tired, I was already frustrated, I was thirsty and still nervous, and the trail was getting more crowded.

With less than two miles left, Stagg passed a group of walkers who took up the whole right hand lane. The right-most lady was a bit… zaftig. There were bikers coming towards us on the other side, and I could hear people riding up behind me.

I panicked.

I was too scared to pass, because of the people coming– I didn’t want to cause a wreck. So I slowed down and moved over to the right as much as I could.

So one of the guys in the pack behind me yelled at me not to stop in the middle of the road. He was clearly upset with me.

He was right. I was wrong.

And someday, I will be able to do that whole thing right.

But on Sunday? He scared me so much, my foot went flying across the top of the pedal and swung out wildly– I probably almost kicked the guy who yelled at me. That was followed by a whole lotta shimmy-ing and shaking while I tried to get the bike back under control.

And that was followed by a bunch of tears. And sniffling.

I was very happy I was wearing sunglasses.

I was also very happy to get back to the parking lot and be done with the ride.

I’ve got a lot to learn, and I’m going to learn it.

* When we got back to the house, Stagg swapped out pedals. I had much less trouble clipping in & out of his. It still wasn’t seamless, but it was much better. And Stagg said there was definitely an issue with the pedals I had– especially the left one that was giving me such a hard time.