Adjusted Reality

“Reality can be beaten with enough imagination.” – Mark Twain

Category: Books

Zlitens Posty Post: Post 2

If you want to get a BodyBugg click there, since that will get you 20% off and I think it rewards me some how, but I am not sure how. http://bodybugg.extole.com/a/clk/2sghb

 

But On to Blogging !!!

Part 1. Reading!

Since we last talked, I have read,

Ashes of the Realm; Greysons Revenge

This was a fun continuation of the last book Ashes of the Realm: Juliette’s Dream, and it grew the characters up some, introduced a few new players in the galaxy and a new inter-dimensional race that is now set on enslaving our galaxy. So we now know what books 3 and 4 will be about at least. But as always Saxon Andrew kept the pacing up and even though when compared to his last series this is hitting on a lot of the same topics, they are in slightly different ways, so its still enjoyable. The character development is nice.

 

 

 

Then I read

The Expendable Few

After like 12 books in a row by Saxon Andrew, back to a book by Randolph Ladone. What a treat to go from a 3rd person narrative with an almost omnipotent view to a book written in the first and second person, that goes into the thoughts and feelings of the character as things happen rather than just observing them.

This book is the newest of the Spinward Fringe series, and does not follow or continue on with any of the main characters from the series. Think of it as a spin off book, or an expanded universe book. Things that happened in the series have happened and the universe is the same but things are continuing on.  There were some characters that made cameo’s but it really wasn’t about them. Wheeler ( one of the main bad guys turn good guys from books 2 to 4) shows up for about a dozen pages, and a few “relatives” of people you know from before.

I did really enjoy it though, there were some twists that I didn’t expect and there was some great descriptions of ground and hand to hand combat in this one. No epic space battles this time, but with the way it ends I am sure that is coming soon. To wrap up, Thanks Taylor for the book as a birthday gift, and I can’t wait until Raldolph gets the next hundred or so books out for that series. (Also if your in the media, the first book would be a great made for tv movie.)

Next I read

 

The Giver : What a terrible book. Apparently they are making a movie out of it, and I do love distopian type settings of the future. But this just left a terrible taste in my mouth, and a stain on my mind that I think will haunt me much like the ending of The Prestige , but Worse.

SPOILERS

To recap the story, there is a community in the future that is well regulated all functions are performed by individuals who excel at that function. Families though are not allowed to have more than 2 children, and children can only come from the women of the community known as birth mothers. Once their child has been born it is taken to an institution where it is  kept for 1 year, then given to a family that has requested a child.

Needless to say the book attaches you to not only the main character but a few others who end up being “released”. In other words put down like a dog, and it not only includes the elderly but also anyone who commits a crime or even a baby if it is not “acceptable”. So in one scene there is a “nurturer” who just delivered twins from a birth mother, and he weighs the two babes, then takes the smaller one, sings it a lullaby and then kills it. ( Arrg I am still all pissed off in side just writing about it. But then again that is probably what the author was trying to do.)

So yeah, apparently a required reading book for middle school kids here in Texas. Just disgusting.

 

OK after Finishing that terrible thing, I at least have something fun to back it up with. I had Emailed Saxon Andrew about a month ago just to thank him for the series I had read since it was so much fun, and I got a reply asking if I would read and give feedback on book 1 on a new series. He also just put it up on Amazon so that works.

Lens of Time Series: The Pyramid Builders

So far this has been a fun time about a genius professor, and his slutty dressing friend who has 4 doctorates but was sick of people being intimidated by her smarts so she started dressing like a bimbo. Not the best character introduction to the characters so far, but hey I already am happier about it than the last book I read. So expect in a week or two to have a real review of this since I am only on like page 50.

 

Training:

Its been about 3 weeks since my last post, so my training chart will be kinda big here.

As you can see I have been at it good for the last few weeks, although I should have put in a weight metric in today so that that was more accurate. Pretend there is a grey box on the 19th that says Weight 186.2. I was lowest on the 16th due to being dumb and staying up late on Sunday after the 10/20 having drinks and dehydrating myself. But we will get into the Dumbness of Sunday later.

 

Race!

SO the 10/20 was last weekend and it was a blast! I had to make 1 quick bathroom stop at mile 2.5, but thankfully it only really added about 2 minutes to my total time and I felt MUCH better afterwards. That redbull went through me fast LOL!

Click Here if you want to check out all my info for the race. gps, heart rate, cadence, elevation and overall great data! BTW Training Peaks is just awesome for the amount of info you can put on there, and the Garmin 310XT gathers a ton of data when you have the heart rate monitor and cadence sensor attached.

My perfect weather, perfect feeling, super awesome goal was going to be 1:45:00, but it was Humid, then raining then muggy, and a bathroom break added in, and my total time was 1:49:52. I am very happy with that time, its not the best ever but for sure the best 10 miles I have had so far.

 

TRI Season!

Rookie tri is in 17 days!

Lets list out things I need to do before Tri season.

  1. Keep going to Swim Class. So for Christmas Quix got me “lessons” and we finally found a place to get them. Thanks to Moolala or what ever the deal site is called. This last Tuesday was my first lesson, and my goodness, I had no clue how bad my swimming techniques really were until I was shown how to do them properly and coached on it also. That explains all the pool time you see on my schedule this week.
  2. Wash the bike again, and lube it all up. This is kinda important all the time, but with the more miles we have been getting in the trainer and on the road lately, this is a must. Really id I don’t post at least once a month saying I washed and lubed the bike, get on my butt for it. Its the longest portion of any Tri, and if its not in great condition how can I expect to do well.
  3. More open water swims. I am not afraid of swimming in a lake or river, but it would be benifitial for me to get out there and practice my swimming in Not-a-pool just so I can get the feel again of waves, and the choppy waters.
  4. Get mentally prepared for even more training. I really should step it up from 4 to 5 times a week to 6 to 7 times a week.

GUILT 🙁

Things I did wrong over the past 3 weeks.

Weight, I have seemed to have hit a lull in my weight loss, but I think a big part of that is I stopped tracking so consistently, and just kinda didn’t care much for some days. Here is an update weight chart.

The yellow line is where I want to be, the blue line is where I am.

Desserts have also been an issue, I can usually go without desserts, but lately I want chocolate after every meal it seems. or pie, or chocolate pie. I gotta get that under control.

Next I had too many drinks after the 10/20 race.. Too many, and it wasn’t that I was too hung over or evil or anything like that, but that I got it in my head to go prune a tree in the back yard that my mother in law got after me about the day before. While doing this, I did not hurt myself or anyone else, but I did get my glasses caught on a branch of the tree, and they somehow flung into the yard. We searched everywhere and could not find them. Needless to say I had to go get new glasses Monday morning.

NEW GLASSES!

Well Leah hated my old glasses anyways. Complained about them probably once a month that they were either dorky, or didn’t fit my head right, or something. That’s OK, this time I was prepared. At the glasses store I took pictures of 14 different pairs of glasses on my face and then emailed them from my phone to her desk at work. Then just let her pick out the ones she wanted me to have. (Guys, this works great. The sales people might think your crazy now. but Believe me, its worth not getting told you made a bad choice over and over.)

It really kind of worked out for the best, I knew my prescription had changed and I needed to go in. I had been getting headaches again every day while sitting at my computer for a  few weeks. But I had been avoiding going to the optometrist because the place I went to was full of jerks, or at least people I didn’t like dealing with. They also nickle and dime everything, like do you want the old machine with worse results included in your visit, or for 35$ more we will put you with the new machine.. There was no way I was getting an apt there without at least a weeks notice, so I went to the place next to the lens crafters that I had decided on since I could get the glasses in about an hour.

Well This place was amazing, the staff was nice, they had tons of modern equipment that all just worked the first time, and the Doctor even explained things to me as he was testing my eyes. (Unlike being berated at the other place for making the doctor late to his golf game since his own machine broke.)  Best of all the visit only was 35$ because they actually took my insurance!

The Lens Crafters experience wasn’t amazing, but I know their lens grinding machine broke or something and instead of 1 hour it took them 4, but over the next 2 days they kinda made it up to me.

Hoo Boy…

It’s been busy!  Even with a weekend of relaxing and a 3 day weekend, I’m just now getting here to talk about it.

So yeah, things and stuff.

Rosedale Ride: I was going to talk about it in more details, but let’s just sum it up with these bulletpoints

  • Hardest race I’ve done in a while.  Riding for 5 hours took a lot out of me.  This needs to get better by the end of summer because I certainly don’t want to be taking anywhere near that long to ride the 56 miles for my half ironman, but happy to prove to myself that I can go the distance.
  • I’m still terrified of my new shoes.  Falling helped to get that freak out of my first crash out of the way, but the two times I fell down just stopped on the side of the road shifting my balance wrong, I think freak me out more even though they didn’t hurt at all – there is all manner of curb I’ll be riding on, and who knows if I have to stop near somewhere it will be tragic to fall over the wrong way.
  • Regardless, I’ve got my big girl panties on about it and not changing my pedals back – everyone else seems to do fine with them so I’ll learn too.  My heart rate may just stay a little high on rides and I may be chanting *please don’t make me stop, please don’t make me stop* when I get to intersections.  10 miles last weekend went ok though!

My runs have been very hit or miss lately.  Some days I have just draaaagged asssss through the miles and it was all I could do to keep going (but also found that all I needed to do is slow down – 11 minute miles may be frustrating, but that’s all I have sometimes).  Some days, I feel like a rockstar.  I’ve been able to do some pretty fantastic 3-6 mile progression runs where after the warmup mile, I’m pretty easily running under 10 minute miles.  For example this morning, I did 10:45, 9:55, 9:40, and 9 for the last quarter mile.  I just have to have faith that even though the first half to full mile will suck, I usually perk up.

Swims, I’ve been maintaining about 1 per week, about 30 mins for 1500 yds.  I need to get some open water lovin’ in here this month before Rookie in May, but I’m just not concerned.  I did just snag a groupon to finally get Zliten his Christmas swimming lessons, so that’s exciting!

My eating has been fairly subpar (for me).  As such, my weight and measurements really haven’t gone anywhere (I assume with the measurements, as I haven’t gotten the tape out in a few weeks).  This week, I am trying something new: smoothies for lunch.  Instead of spending my lunch break frantically preparing food, I’m trying out some new recipes.  Today, I put in skim milk, chocolate protein powder, water, chocolate pb2, 2/3 banana, and a squish of chocolate syrup (just tasted not quite right without it).  Tomorrow, I think I’ll try the strawberries/strawberry protein powder/banana/milk (trying to figure out a fat to put in there – c0conut oil maybe?).  I’m having a small savory side with it (today, veggie quinoa pasta salad, tomorrow, maybe a greek salad).  I couldn’t drink it all and saved the other half for a snack and felt really full today.  Bonus!

Also, I think that what I really need to do is the “eat 500 calories less than Zliten” diet.  He regularly burns about 500 more than me, and we mostly split our meals down the middle (so he’s losing weight, I’m not).  That’s a lot though – that’s like a whole meal less!  I’m trying to eliminate more snacks instead of a meal then, because I really hate eating 300 calorie meals, I’d rather just try to suck it up and feel like I’m eating a real meal unless my energy levels are super low and I’m feeling bad.  And honestly, the way I’m feeling after my lunch smoothie, I don’t need no stinkin’ snax!

Working on the training program for us through the half ironman.  Let me tell you, having 2 races a month and two vacations (one 4 days, one like 10 days) within a month and a half of race day (like, right during peak training time) is providing a CHALLENGE, but I think I have it conquered mostly.  I’ve never followed anyone’s tri training program, just did my own by feel, and that’s what I’m doing this time (I’ve done a LOT of research and picked and chose what worked for me).  I discussed with Zliten, and instead of a lot of long single sport training, we’re going to pile on the brickage.  That is, instead of getting comfy with overdistances like wanting to bike 100 so that 56 feels like cake, we’re going to do more bike/runs that are closer to half iron distance.  And, of course, we’ll train with the caveat that if our body needs a rest, we’ll back off (and planning in more rest weeks than I have ever before so that should help).

Fun Things I’ve Done Since Last Report:

  • Went to a wedding with a candy bar and BBQ for dinner.  I wished I could stay longer but it was Sunday night and work calls on Monday, so I had my sweets and danced my ass off for a bit and then headed home.
  • Had a board game and pizza day at work as a fun day not last Friday but the Friday before.  We played a bunch of D and D board game and DAMN IT’S HARD.  Then we went home and drank absinth and played more.
  • Spent March 30th without pants or workout gear on.  The most strenuous thing I did was hang out at the neighbors for a while.
  • Saw Hunger Games on April Fools Day.  No foolin’, I enjoyed the movie a lot.  They skipped some of the nuances, but they definitely did the books good and I’m just sad I couldn’t watch the next one yet!
  • Made some EPIC chicken and bok choy in garlic sauce.  I finally figured out awesome chinese food at home – it does just take a little chicken broth and flour to make it right.  I used brown rice flour so it’s a little better, I suppose.
  • Booked our trip to San Diego this summer.  We plan on spending most of our time there with Zliten’s parents, but also are hoping to get in a nice long bike ride early AM Saturday and run America’s Finest Half Marathon on Sunday.  Finally, a race in a different state!
  • Went to Camp Gladiator boot camp.  If I didn’t absolutely need to do traditional training for tris, I might blow off run/bike/swim for a month and do this.  It’s super fun!  We played freezetag!
  • 10 mile ride and 6 mile run at Pflugerville.  We plan on making good friends with the lake this year.  Didn’t have time to swim, next time for sure!
  • Played D and D (the actual role playing game) all day good Friday.  It’s an amazing core workout, the guys make me laugh so hard!  And, I fireballed FIVE trolls to death and ended the game early.  Ha!  Being a wizard is a good thing… here’s me triumphing over the fallen beasts…
  • Did the Mighty Texas Dog Walk, with this cutie pie – he only has 3 legs but that totally doesn’t stop him at all!  He was definitely in the first quarter of finishers, he just wanted to run run run run *sniff sniff pee* run run run run *sniff sniff peeeeee*.  He definitely tired his owners out.  However, he was definitely a sleepy dog after… apparently he barely complained when his parents left to go out later.
  • Between this and the next entry, had brunch, a short nap, got groceries, swam, lifted weights, and got all gussied up.  5 hours definitely was productive!
  • Had fancy birthday dinner with my good gal pal D in which we ingested: blue cheese with honey, pork cracklins, garlic bean sauce on toast, a pimms cup, spicy pickles, a cauliflower steak, buttermilk pie, and sticky toffee pudding (lots of tastes and sharing around the table).  So yum!
  • Then, we went to the Kung Fu saloon and I kicked ass at skeeball (I won almost EVERY game and they had it set up as a competition), drank grape vodka, watch people play an epic game of Jenga, played Jenga ourselves, and had a thoroughly fantabulous evening.  Here we are watching an epic match of centipede.
  • On Easter, we slept in (OMG 9:30 wheeeee), went to my parents house.  We ate ham, played cards, played bocci ball, ate pound cake, played more cards, and then got home and had a little relaaaaaaaaax time.  Not the most flattering pic but whatevs.

So, please forgive me for not blogging, but as you can see, iz been bizzy.  This is ommitting the fact we’re still training 5-6 days a week and I’ve been working hard to meet a deadline at work (met today! woohoo!)

This week, hoping to just train and relax as much as possible, as Thursday is bike maintenance class, and this weekend is the 10/20 (10 mile run race) and Dad’s 79th b-day celebrations, so we’re booked.

Now, I’m off to log some more miles because I’m off work earlier than expected and get my crunchtime on!

Questions of the day: What’s the awesomest thing you’ve done in the last 2 weeks?  Any suggestions on how to conquer my pedals on my bike better?  How long do you need to warm up for on a run before you feel like you’re really IN THE ZONE?  Any bets on how long it will take me to come back and blog? 🙂

Zliten wants to start posting too!

I am not very good at this sort of thing, but I kind of want to post to you people too. So I am going to start with a guilt post for yesterday. Because everyone wants to get to know me by a guilt post.

GUILT

Yesterday was a day of being sore and taking a day off from the gym. But by doing so I over did it in the food department. I try to burn about 3000 to 3500 calories a day and take in about 2400 calories on average. You know to keep with the weight loss but keep fueled. Yesterday though, it was backwards. 3200+ intake and only 2600 burn. Oops… Oh well I will just have to make it up the rest of the week.

So really, stop trying to give me cake, cupcakes, ice cream, candy, or beer. For a few days at least 😛

TRAINING

Now that that is out of the way, lets talk about how excited I am for the up-coming Tri Season. Its almost here. Only like 5 and a half more weeks until Rookie! Can you believe it? Last year Rookie was my first Tri, and probably one of the most fun I have ever had in a race. I was so nervous and really didn’t do all that great, but it was amazing. This year it will be my 4th overall Tri, and my second one this year, if you count the Indoor Tri. (Not sure I really count that one but for this I will)

Compared to last year, My swimming has improved drastically along with my biking, and I am a whole different person now when it comes to running, I think I was doing about 13 minute miles for a 5k back then, this year I am about 10 minute miles, so its going to be amazing.

My training plan for the week in case anyone cares.

 

INTERNETERY

I use Training Peaks as the place where I track all my workouts, races and other stuff. I used to use it for food and exercise, but it was getting out of hand tracking my food in 3 different places.

I have been a Spark People tracker for years now, sometimes on sometimes off the wagon so to speak. It always drives me crazy when I start tracking but once I get a few weeks in it gets better, then I just love seeing the data I have. (Yes I am a data junkie, the more data points I can have the more I like something) Just like this here is my weight chart that starts Jan 1 2008.

I also have a Bodybugg but will go into that on another day. It gives me great stats too.

 

READIMICATION

Finished my 17th book in 17 weeks last night, it was pretty darn good, it was Ashes of the Realm: Juliette’s Dream, Book 1 of the new series from Andrew Saxon. I have to say I tore through the Annihilation series 8 books in 7 weeks. It was a fun romp around the galaxy with a group psychics. Just my kind of pulp science fiction.

Once I finish book 2 of the Ashes series, I will be reading The Expendable Few its the new one from Randolph Lalonde, My buddy Zorak got it for me for my birthday. It’s going to be a fun read I hope. I think its an offshoot of the main Spinward Fringe series, but if you think of all the spinward fringe books its like book 11 of something. Gotta love how prolific these writers are now that they can self publish on the kindle with only a touch of a button. (Sure sometimes there are some errors an experienced editor and publisher would find and fix, but they are mostly ignorable)

 

 

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