Well, That Came as a Surprise to No One

I skated my 500 time trial this morning, in an attempt to make the now-required qualifying time for the upcoming Roseville American Cup meet. (See previous post for a rant on the subject details).

It came as no surprise to anyone, least of all me, that my three days of "make me a sprinter" workouts didn't, and I failed to make the time.

Actually, not only did I fail to make the time, but my 500 was about a second and a half slower than my 500 last week.  I'm blaming the conditions for the extra slowness, though...between the strong north wind that made two of the three 500 straightaways "into the wind," and the 10 degree temperature at start time (cold ice is slow ice), everyone was slower this week.  And since even last week's slightly faster time was miles away from what I needed, I wasn't surprised to not make the time.  But my 3K went quite well for a second-week-of-the-season effort; my goal was sub 5:30, and I came in at 5:28.  I had struggles with inconsistent lap times (my fifth lap was almost two seconds slower than my seventh and final lap); cascading snot that threatened to choke me and required several mid-race swipes of the glove; watering eyes that almost filled up my glasses; and a zipper on my skinsuit hood that begged to be pulled down just a little bit but which I couldn't get a grip on with my "it's cold out here" insulated gloves.  Between all those challenges and the wind and the slow ice, all in all I was pleased with my 5:28.

I'm still beyond furious with US Speedskating, though (as anyone who has had the misfortune to talk to me at skating this past week can attest).  Not only did they change the rules at some point and fail to make a decent attempt to notify people, they have not responded to my email about the change, which I sent six days ago.  I didn't email to ask to be allowed to skate; merely to ask when the rule change was made and why.  Even if the person I emailed didn't know the answer, I would expect the courtesy of a reply email stating "I don't know but I'll look into it."

So, that's that. I'll help time the upcoming American Cup rather than skating it, and I'll shift my focus, training-wise, to the Masters Single Distance Championships the first weekend in January in Milwaukee.

But I'm still cranky.

Well. That Didn't Last Long.

The "normal," I mean.

After writing the previous blog post this morning, I went to the US Speedskating website to register for the upcoming American Cup race in Roseville.  It's a two-day "official" meet, and one of the few non-masters metric meets that I can do.  It's always fun, and since it's Dec. 7 and 8 this year it's a nice start to the season.

But when I got to the registration page, I found...a statement about the qualifying times for the meet.  A 48 second 500 meter race time is required for "senior" (over 19, so I'm definitely in that category) women to race the event.

Now, this is a problem for several reasons: 1) I do not have a 500 time under 48 yet this season.  In fact, I only have one 500 time for this season, and it's a 50.84.  And, in fact, I only have three sub-48 500 times ever--all from high-altitude "fast" ovals.  I'm pretty close to a sub-48 in Milwaukee so I have a decent shot at making the time there...but Milwaukee doesn't have time trials this coming weekend and then I'm up north with my parents for Thanksgiving weekend and then I'm out of weekends.  None of which would be a problem except that 2) when I first checked the long track regulations in the early summer, the Roseville American Cup was not listed as having any qualifying times.  The other two Am Cups--in Salt Lake and Milwaukee--were, but not Roseville.  So I wasn't worried about  making the time early in the season; I figured I'd see how I did at the Master's Single Distance Championships in January in Milwaukee and if I didn't make the time then, I could go down and try again later before the final Am Cup in Milwaukee in early March.  So when I got sick before the two weekends that I had planned Milwaukee trips this fall, I cancelled the trips without a worry.

Now, however, I appear to be somewhat, um, screwed.  I need to make the time, and I only have one attempt at it--on outdoor ice this coming Saturday.  My outdoor PB is a 48.59, so it's not completely out of the question...but it's quite the long shot.  I've asked Coach TieGuy and fellow skater Sprinter Boy for advice on what to do this week to give myself the best chance possible at making the time, and both were kind enough to offer suggestions.  So I'll do what they say, and I'll get out there Saturday morning and do my best...but I have to admit that I'm cranky.

Really cranky.

Does anyone know, does skating cranky make you fast?  I certainly hope so, or I'm going to be spending Dec. 7 and 8 standing next to the oval holding a stopwatch instead of skating...

Normal. It's "The New Normal."

For my skating thus far in the 2013-14 ice season, that is.  "Normal" seems to be "the new normal."  Which, compared to last year, is definitely not normal.

And I couldn't be more thrilled.

The season started last weekend (I can't believe I've made it through a week of skating without blogging!).  Saturday's endurance and Sunday's intervals were...normal.  Decent lap times for the conditions. Felt good, but not "wow I've never been this fast this early in the season."  Got tired at the appropriate point in the sets (which, in the first week of the season, seems to be "at two laps.").  Tuesday's endurance and Thursday's intervals followed suit, despite the two CrossFit workouts that I managed to work in around the skating. Nice; normal; decent lap times.  Decent technique; my "cornering epiphany" from August in Milwaukee seems to be sticking around and occasionally I'll just nail a corner and it will feel fabulous...but most corners felt...normal.

And then yesterday was the first time trials of the season.  A normal early November day--drizzly, windy, and warm. Slow ice, which is normal for the first race of the season.  I did a 500 and a 1000 (remember that "getting tired at 2 laps" thing that I mentioned?  Two-and-a-half laps seemed just right for my longest race.)  And my results were...normal.  50.84 in the 500, 1:41.71 in the 1000.  Right around where my first attempts of the season usually land.

And considering how things went last year, this year's "normal" is actually "fabulous."

Last year's first 500, in similar conditions, was almost two seconds slower.  Last year's first 1000 was almost four seconds slower.  Last year's early season workouts were marred by slow laps, incomplete workouts, and PVC's (heart arrhythmia).  This year, thanks to doing 2007's easier workouts rather than 2010's more challenging ones, I'm able to complete the workouts as written, which should allow me to train more consistently.  The PVC's seem to be losing their "triggered by exercise" pattern and settling back into their normal "triggered by post-exercise and a couple other things, but not by exercise" pattern, which is absolutely fine by me.  My thyroid is behaving itself, and I'm back to my normal med timing.

So now, with, finally, a "normal" start to the season, I can focus on normal stuff: when should I go to Milwaukee for a time trial?  How will I integrate CrossFit workouts with skating?  How will I schedule my skating around the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays?  How are my lap times and what should my goals be and how fast will I be this season?

All nice normal questions for my somewhat abnormal skating obsession, and I'm very excited to be, finally, in a place where I can ask them again.

So, How are Those Goals Coming?

Back in March, I wrote a two-part post about my goals for the summer pre-season and the upcoming 2013-14 ice season. Since the oval opens for ice next weekend in an hour (life got busy and this post took a backseat for a week!), I think it's time to review my progress on the pre-season and "process" (as opposed to "progress") goals--the ways I wanted to improve how I trained, rather than the goals for the outcome of my training (that, of course, will be another post, at the end of the ice season).  To save you from skipping back to last March's post, here are my "process" goals.

• Execute a good dryland season before the oval opens again May 6 (for inlining)

• Be consistent with warm up and cool down routines

• Do core work and yoga at least twice a week

• Follow the workout plan once the ice season opens

And now (drumroll), let's look at how I've done on the first three:

• Execute a good dryland season before the oval opens again May 6 (for inlining) 

I'm happy to say that I did this.  Mel, Sprinter Boy, Inliner Boy, and a couple others started a group dryland thing, and this enabled me to get all the way to the inlining season without giving up on dryland.

• Be consistent with warm up and cool down routines

I'm getting better at this.  Warmup is still sketchy; I've got some things I want to incorporate into my ice season warmup, since our ice time is limited and it would be good to do off-ice warmup first.  In the inline season I pretty much just skated to warm up, which is fine since I have all the on-skates time I need in the summer to warm up.  I have to say I'm rockin' the cooldown, though--or at least, the stretch/mobility part.  Thanks to CrossFit (which is where I met the PT who introduced me to foam rolling and a good hamstring stretch), I now have a nice routine for mobility and rolling, and I do it at least after every workout and sometimes more often.  This has led to my chronic hamstring pain almost disappearing, and my creaky legs feeling a lot less creaky.  Yay!

• Do core work and yoga at least twice a week

Again, thanks to CrossFit I'm doing great with this one. It's not yoga, but it does involve mobility.  It involves core work, and it also gets me doing some upper body work with weights, which is highly recommended for (ahem) women my age.  I've been doing it twice a week, which will be a bit more difficult now that I'll be skating four times a week, but I'm committed to doing it and (this is the big thing) I love it!  Finally, a core/mobility/upper body workout that I love!

• Follow the workout plan once the ice season opens

Well, I get to take my first crack at this one in about an hour!  I have the November workouts all written, and I'm ready to go.  I really feel hopeful that this season I'll be able to execute the workouts properly and that I'll see the benefits from that in some new PB's.  Time will tell.

And now...it's time to skate!

Fifty: The Review

Since I'm now a week into being 50, I figure it's time to give it a review.   I'm not usually someone who pays a lot of attention to age, but the idea of turning 50 really freaked me out.  So I spent a couple of months freaking out and then, last spring, decided to get my act together and see if I could change and improve some things about myself before I turned 50.  Here's how that turned out...compared to a week after turning 49, I am:

• Lighter.  I had gained about 6 pounds from my normal weight at this point a year ago, and went on to gain another 9 by the end of last spring.  I am happy to report that all 15 of those pounds are now gone (well, they were gone before my 50th birthday celebrations; due to stuff like this

          a couple of them have returned.  They will be dealt with appropriately.)

• Less moody.  Well, mostly.  I do have to admit that the last song I put on my iPod is Get Set Go's "Die Motherf@#ker Die," but it's nicely counterbalanced by American Author's "Best Day of My Life."  Never mind that I can play one right after the other and identify equally with both.  For the most part, my anti-cranky supplement is working well.
• Way hotter.  Well, at least 30 times a day or so I'm hotter (and yes, data geek that I am, I have counted).  Yup, hot flashes.  Whee.  I'm trying some supplements for those as well, but with limited success thus far. This past week, although it was in the 30's, I had to put the air on in my car on the way to work four out of the five days.
• Slower.  At least on inlines; I haven't yet hit the ice since turning 50 (I still need to do my 50 birthday laps).  I had a nice interval workout at the Dome last night, my first intervals there in years.   I was quite pleased that I surpassed my time goal of 1:10 (the laps are 600 meters) for all 12 laps; three laps were 1:09, one was 1:07, and the rest 1:08.  However, these were one lap on/one lap rest.  Back in 2008 I could do 1:10's for five straight laps.  Oh, well.  And anyway, my inline times have been getting slower for the last five years, but my ice times have been getting faster. I think maybe my technique improvements are relevant only to ice, and they're making me faster than my age is making me slower.  And since I think I made another huge technical leap during my visit to Milwaukee this August, I'm hoping for even more speed this winter.
• Just as clumsy as More clumsy than ever.  Yesterday, when skating at the Dome, I needed to use the bathroom.  I've gone into the bathroom with my skates on probably a hundred times with no problem, but this time, well...while standing up, my skates rolled out in front of me and I fell over backwards, which made my legs fly up and bash both shins on the underside of the stall door.  I suppose it could have been worse: I could have fallen into the toilet, or hit my head on it (I did have my helmet on).  Or, worse yet,someone could have come by and asked if I was OK.
• Fitter. In another post I'll do a review of the goals I had set for myself last March, but in general I've had a better preseason of workouts than last year, I'm now foam rolling and stretching for recovery, and I'm going to CrossFit twice a week, which is way more core and upper body work than I've ever done.  As a CrossFit T shirt that I covet says, "Strong is the New 50,"
• Happier.  Back in early October of 2012, I wrote this post.  As far as skating went, I was burned out, unenthusiastic, and slow.  I had had a bad summer thyroid-wise, which contributed to a bad summer of skating.  I was feeling unmotivated and in danger of losing my skating obsession--and since I'm one of those people who is happiest and functions best when in the grip of an obsession, this was a bad thing for my happiness in general.  Now, though...well, now, I've had a good summer season; I've found a way to work on core, flexibility, and upper body strength that I actually enjoy (in fact, the Hubster recently accused me of becoming obsessed with CrossFit as well as skating. Yay!); and I'm feeling excited about the upcoming ice season.

So...fifty is looking mighty good so far!

Fifty!

I turned fifty two days ago. It wasn't as traumatic as I feared it might be.

In fact, it was a whole lot of fun.

The Hubster kept asking me, in the weeks leading up to my birthday, what I wanted to do.  I always said the same thing: be at the cabin with him, my parents, my sister Energizer Bunny and her husband Sherpa Boy, and also my best friend from college.

Since this is exactly what had been planned for my birthday for, oh, the last six months, I figured this should be quite a clear direction, and easy to accomplish.

So, we went to the cabin.  We hiked.  We ate.  We laughed.  We hiked some more, ate some more, and laughed some more.

Oh, and we did Burpees.  Lots and lots of Burpees.

It started with this email from CrossFit SISU:
Happy birthday Kaari, SISU has a special gift for you. A Birthday WOD, 100 Burpees for time. 3 2 1...GO!

Make it great day!

PS- Don't forget to record your score as a Thank YOU!

The CrossFit Sisu Coaching TEAM!

And it ended with, well, I'll copy the email I sent back:

Dear CrossFit Sisu Sadists Coaches,

Thank you so much for the lovely birthday WOD gift. While it was a bit large--"50 Burpees" is a better size for me--I do appreciate the thought.  And although it's likely that it was intended to be a gag gift, I can't resist a challenge--even one that may have been issued in jest.  Besides, what better way than 100 Burpees to ensure that I start the next 50 years of my life off on the right foot (or, more accurately, face down on the ground)?

So October 19, my 50th birthday, we held the inaugural "Burpees on the Beach Burpday Challenge" at our cabin on Lake Superior.  Unfortunately, inclement weather forced the competition off the beach and into our half-renovated sauna, but the view out the window was spectacular nonetheless.

 (BTW, there is no view fabulous enough to make up for the fact that Burpees Suck).

My family rocks.  Not only did my husband, sister and brother-in-law cheer me on—they did the 100 Burpees with me!  In fact, you may want to consider trying to recruit my sister to CrossFit; she’s 52 but beat my time of 12:15 by almost three full minutes—then after completing  her 100 Burpees she did 20 more with me as I finished mine, to “keep me company.”  What a bitch supportive sister!

     

          100!

Post Burpee Euphoria

We all enjoyed the “Burpees on the Beach” so much that we’re planning to do it again.

In another 50 years.

(Thanks for helping me in my quest to “Unsuck Myself” as I enter my 50’s.  And remember—“Strong is the new 50!”)

Kaari  

So fifty was fun; a lot of fun.  And there's more to look forward to: I haven't done my fifty laps yet (maybe Milwaukee in a couple of weeks?), and I want to review some goals I wrote in the early spring, when the 2013-14 preseason was just starting.  And maybe I should wax eloquent about the marvels of living for a half-century, and what it means and what I've learned and what I hope to accomplish in the next 50 years.

Or, I could go eat another piece of cake and plan my workouts for the week.

I Dew Realize...

...how fortunate I am to have the co-workers that I Dew!

I'm a special education teacher. Ten kids in grades K-5, all with varying but fairly significant needs. I can't do it alone--and I've been blessed, for the 15 years I've had my classroom, to work with some of the best paraprofessionals there are.  These women are smart and funny.  They're incredibly good at their job.  They make my life easier and the kids' lives better, and I absolutely could not (nor would I want to!) do my job without them.

They also throw a killer birthday celebration.

I think it started ten years ago, when I turned 40.  One of the paras managed to convince about half of the staff in our school to celebrate me by donning my then-frequent-fashion-statement: plaid (oh, hush up.  I'm fashion-impaired).  Such is my oblivion to clothes, of course, that it took me at least two hours to notice what was going on--but it was fun.  Subsequent years have seen a "Playmate of the Month" calendar--featuring my "playmate" cooler lunch box; an "All the Hotness" theme the year my thyroid meds made me heat up (given my current rate of hot flashes, they could have used that one again this year!); and an epic "KU" fest where they celebrated me as the head of the mythical "Kaari University" (complete with school song.  These women are creative.)

So I knew something would happen this year as I brace myself for look forward to turning 50.  My actual birthday is on the weekend--and a long weekend at that--so Wednesday, yesterday, was "Birthday Day" at school.

And once again they outdid themselves.  Having astutely noticed my on-again, off-again affair with Diet Mountain Dew, they crafted a Mountain (as in "over the hill") Dew birthday.

There were sherpas...

Notice the Dew oxygen bottle

...and a sign.

Dew gear...

 Yes, that's a Dew hat, too

...and balloons.

Notice the "case o'Dew" balloon anchor

And best of all...

A really, really cool cake!

So thank you, ladies.  As I walked out of school at the end of the day, carrying my Dew gear and "Mountain" treats and trailing my impressive clutch of balloons (one of which was playing a cheery birthday song), I couldn't help smiling.  Fifty isn't looking so bad.

And I Dew know that I am truly blessed by the people in my life.