Training is Hard…

…if it wasn’t everyone could be an athlete, or a doctor, or a social media expert (ha!). I have to remind myself of this fact when I get down on myself about one thing or another.

In the grand scheme of things, that one run I missed should not have been enough to send me spiraling in the exact opposite direction I’ve been headed, but it did. I fell so hard I quit cooking for myself, I dressed like I didn’t care, and worse of all I was being really hard on myself for no apparent reason. I had single handedly convinced myself I couldn’t do it (“it” being the things I had been doing for the past few months).

Others around me were having successes, personal bests in running, handstands in yoga, and there I was telling myself I had failed. So I finally decided to kick my own butt into gear and get a juicer. Now, on the surface this may seem like one more item getting in the way of actual progress, but for me it was a door back into the reality I wanted. The juicer was a small item that let me feel in control. I could make juice, and juice was good for me. So I started juicing.

Once I started juicing I suddenly felt better about myself. Beet juice instead of a soda, it was a small step, but a good step. Once I felt better about myself I started running again, actually running. I had made the mistake of allowing my runs to become a habit, not a part of my day. 3 miles round trip on the Greenway, down and back. I was doing it to keep up the look of a runner, so my DailyMile stats (or lack there of) wouldn’t cause alarm to my friends who hold me accountable. They weren’t runs for the right reasons, in fact they were far from it.

On Saturday I used every trick I knew to stall our “long” run. I couldn’t find my shoes, keys, shorts. I needed a new playlist. Then finally I got out the door, then down the street, then around the first bend in the lake, then I even forgot I was running because it felt so damn good.

So yeah, moral of the story is training is hard. Sometimes it sucks and makes you feel like crap, but you (and I) need to remember, not everyone can do it, and that makes us special.

My Quest for Easter Dinner

In my quest to become a better cook, partner, and just plain better at being domestic I decided I wanted to cook a delicious and authentic Easter dinner. The catch, I didn’t want to make the normal, ham, cheesy potatoes (yum), yams, and green beans that I normally eat at Easter (thank you Grandma).  Instead I wanted to make ethnically traditional items, though I had no idea really what that meant, and I wanted it to be awesome, like everything my Grandma makes.

Like any good Gen Y-er I went to the trusty Googles  to find my answers. After searching for “traditional Easter foods” I came across BBC Foods who luckily had a whole section of exactly what I was looking for. In the end I decided to make grilled lamb chops (Greek) and leek risotto (Italian).

After telling Chris my idea he was instantly on board, it was the lamb that did it (apparently he’s a big fan of lamb). Our next steps were to go find a store that could supply us with some local lamb (my new rule about meat), Kowalski’s was our winner.

iPhone in hand we walked through the isles grabbing up all the items we needed to make our traditional yet foreign feast. It was a wonderful feeling. Fresh local ingredients. Ethnic recipes. Everything was perfect, or so I thought.

Early Easter morning I began prepping the food for later that day, making the marinade, setting out the ingredients to double check, then disaster struck. I didn’t have any chicken stock for the risotto. I promptly kicked myself then began the search for an open store.

Easter apparently is more protected than even Christmas as I found myself calling the closest Walmart to confirm their hours. Yes kids, they were open, all day. So Chris and I set out on our adventure to Walmart, unsure of what might lie ahead for us. I began kicking myself even more as we drove down to Bloomington, my Grandma would have never forgotten something as common as chicken stock, how could I have let this happen?

As we pulled into the parking lot everything changed. There were grandparents, parents, kids, young professionals, and your general people of Walmart all there, all having forgotten something on Easter. I wasn’t a complete screw up, I hadn’t messed up Easter!

That evening as we sat around to eat the delicious traditional dinner we had just successfully made, Chris and I couldn’t help but laugh at the trip before and agree that it made for an Easter that won’t soon be forgotten.

Making Yums

As I stated in a previous post, I wanted to become a cook, not just someone who could follow recipes. I read the book “An Everlasting Meal” and was truly inspired by some of the simple, yet brilliant insights the book shared about cooking. In that post I also promised to follow up on how it was going, so here we go.

Week 1 was awesome! I saved so much money on lunches and dinners it was unreal. One day for lunch I made a delicious egg, avocado and banana pepper open faced sandwich from the eggs I had boiled and the other found ingredients from my house.

Then for dinner one night I made a rice, chicken, and pea soup with fresh grated parmesan cheese and cracked pepper; which took all of 5 minutes to whip up because I’d pre-cooked the rice, chicken, and homemade broth already. It was SO simple, and so good, and all me cooking from ingredients rather than a recipe card.

Then unforeseen circumstances hit and derailed my path to cooking enlightenment. While setbacks are always hard and often time discouraging, I looked at the derailment as a step forward because it showed me how I could make delicious items at home that I actually craved. I wasn’t just settling on food at home to save money or to prove something to myself, I actually wanted to eat the foods I had been making. As a result I’ve decided to dive back head first into cooking on Sunday with a celebratory trip to the grocery store to stock up on ingredients, it’s going to be a good time.

OMG, I ran a 5k!

So a couple weeks ago I broke my silence and officially tagged myself as a runner. This was a hard thing for me to do because I wasn’t just setting myself up to fail for me, but for all my friends who read the post as well. I don’t like failing, especially when I’ve spent so much time ranting about my new endeavor so much.

Good thing I killed it at my 5k this weekend!

You heard me right, I killed it. I ran the full 3.1 miles without stopping, dying, puking or punching my trainer (who paced me the whole time and helped me cross that finish line).

The week leading up to this joyous event happened to be one of the more interesting ones in present memory. It started out with Chris and I taking a short 3.1 mile run. I was really hitting my stride, I could feel that we were going faster than usual and I was surprised when I realized it felt good. As we continued on my Nike+ app informed me that my pace was 9:34/mile, now this may not seem like much to the seasoned runner, but to me that meant a full 30 seconds faster than I had ever gone before. Now, could I keep it up? Yep. Chris and I finished the 5k distance in just under 30 minutes, a new record for both of us. Victory!

The next day it was in the 50′s and I left work an hour early to take advantage of the day light and warmer temps. Chris and I decided to try for a longer run since the weather allowed and we had daylight on our side. By the time we finished our run we had completed 6 miles, the longest single distance we had ever completed. Victory!

Then the walls came crashing down. My best friend’s grandfather was slipping fast (not even a week after we had brought him home from the hospital). I threw my yoga class out the window and put myself at her disposal. He sadly passed away on Friday. That day was a long one and I found myself wanting to cope by running, so while she napped I ran. I ran hard, then I just stopped, right there on the path around Lake Harriet at sunset. I stopped and I cried, harder than I have in a long time.

I cried for Amber and her family. I cried because I witnessed someone’s last breath. I cried because I thought about my own mother. I just cried. I had no idea I needed to, but after I did the running came easier.

The next morning was my 5k. I’d been out too late the night before with Amber drinking blackberry brandy because it was Grandpa Jerry’s favorite. I woke up thinking the race was going to be hard, but I pushed that aside and set an easily attainable goal. I wanted to finish in under 31 minutes. This goal would mean I could run at my normal “slower” pace and still complete it. I set the bar low, I couldn’t deal with failure.

Jenny being the good trainer that she is somehow knew I was in my head, so as the race was about to begin she pulled me to the start of the pack with her and said she was pacing me, yikes. She pushed me through the whole race, even when I thought she had more faith in me than I did. When I wanted to stop and walk she told me “this wasn’t intervals, that’s why they called it a race” (she’s right). When I thought the last mile was too much she said, “at most there’s 10 minutes left, in 10 minutes you’ll be done” (she was right). I kept pushing, and I crossed the finish line 27:40 after I started (8:55/mile), and I cried again.

This time they were tears of joy, and while there is still lots of work ahead of me before I’m a runner to be reckoned with, I know I can do it. I can do anything.

Tags: 100% Irish for a Day 5k, running

“An Everlasting Meal” and Cooking

I recently got Amazon Prime (this is dangerous), but I swear I only got it to order my school books and get faster shipping…I don’t even believe myself.

Anywho, I went on my first Amazon buying “binge” last week and ordered three books which would help me fill my 2012 goal of reading at least six books to better my life in some way. The first book I chose to read was “An Everlasting Meal: Cooking with Economy and Grace” by Tamar Adler.

Over the last year I have worked really hard at watching what I eat. I joined Weight Watchers and lost about 25 pounds, the only issue was that I spent so much money on food, and I was still eating out. Weight Watchers did a nice job of teaching me the types of food I should eat, but it didn’t teach me how to cook for everyday.

I have always been jealous of my mother and grandmother who could make an entire dinner out of nothing, in a single dish, all while never looking at a recipe. Which made me realize, following recipes does not make me a cook.

I went into this book with few expectations, maybe I’d take away a recipe or two (again, thinking it would be like every other “cooking” experience I’d had up to this point), but I surely wouldn’t learn anything that would make me a cook over night. I finished the book in two days, and was pleasantly surprised by how it was both beautifully written and easy to read.

It started with the basics, how to boil water, then moved into the finishing touches of dinner parties and desserts. In the middle it goes through the everyday task of cooking, and not just cooking a single meal, but cooking in a way that unites may pieces into many meals.

Initially I took two main takeaways to heart when I finished the book:

1. Every part of the cooking process should have a purpose. For example, boil a chicken for a week’s worth of food, use the water it cooked in as broth for future meals, use the fat that settles on the broth as a substitute for butter. It’s all connected.

2. Meals don’t have to be complex to have a lot of flavor. For example, hard boil an egg, serve it over rice including some vinegary peppers and garlicy protein.

So, I decided to try it.

Tonight I boiled a whole chicken, cooked white rice, and hard-boiled some eggs (okay, so Chris did the eggs). Now the possibilities are endless. What am I going to make with all these prepped ingredients? Only time will tell

I plan on both trying to keep this up as well as to expand and take more of her ideas from the book into consideration. Who knows, I might become a pretty awesome cook someday instead of someone who can just follow directions well.

So, I’m a runner now.

I Whitney Shaw, (former) smoker, with a bad ankle am a runner.

Anyone who knows me is officially scratching their head at this statement, but it’s true.

It all started back in November when a few of my co-workers and I found our trainer Jenny and started small group lessons. Jenny started kicking our butts from day one, which is exactly what I personally needed. I’m a believer in Jenny so when she announced she was hosting a “Learn to Run” workshop starting in January I thought, hell yes! Let’s face it, if I can learn to run in Minnesota in the dead of winter then I can run in any weather condition. So the challenge began.

The class itself was set to run for 10 weeks, with the class ending with a 5k. We started running intervals at a 1:1 rate (1 minute walking, 1 minute running), each week increasing the running portion by a minute. I was surprised by how attainable this task was. We then set our date for our group 5k, March 10th, which happened to be our last day of class! (To put things in perspective we’re running 7:1′s right now.)

After the 5k was picked I began to wonder if I was actually going to be able to run the 3.1 miles, at this point I had been running 3:1′s which felt like death and I could still only get 2.5 miles or so in with each run. I needed to prove to myself that I could do it, so I went ahead and did it!

Since that achievement I have felt like I have been hitting my stride (yes, I made that pun). My “short” daily runs have since become easy 3 mile runs, and my long runs are getting longer and longer, which completely blows my mind. I continue to amaze even myself with the progress I’m making and my dedication, hell, even Chris thought this “fad” would last no more than a month.

As the 5k gets closer and closer my excitement level gets higher and higher, I must admit, I have a countdown going. Oh yeah did I mention that I’ve got Chris running with me and that we have signed up for a 7k for the weekend after the 5k? Because that’s totally happening!

A lot has changed in me since I have started running, the big thing being I crave my running shoes. It’s a good feeling. I’ve also lost about 10 pounds and toned the crap out of my core and calves. I’m not complaining, not one bit.

In addition to my races I wanted to set another challenge so I have since started training for a half-marathon and with enough hard work I have no doubt I will accomplish this goal. Stay tuned for more running woes and whoas!

I’ll leave you with my favorite quote about running that I’ve found:

“Non-runners will sit on the couch and call you crazy. Those folks, sadly, will never learn what their bodies are capable of. You, on the other hand, will die knowing you completely, totally, unabashedly used up the body that was loaned to you. That’s not crazy. That’s freakin’ awesome.” - Susan Lacke

Reaction Post: Professors Using Technology

I recently watched a recording on The Chronicle of Higher Education‘s blog from a forum entitled “Students Assess Their Professors’ Technology Skills.” Having been on both sides of this argument (formerly as member of  a higher ed technology department and currently a student) I was instantly interested in what the students were going to have to say.

Initially I was pleasantly surprised by the fact that the recording was taken in realtime, not edited after. Also exciting was that the forum was conducted using the very new Google Hangouts, way to go free technologies!

As the forum continued I found myself recognizing that all the students did an excellent job of being respectful, while still conveying their points. In any situation in which you’re sharing/potentially criticizing it’s important to remain respectful, especially if you’re trying to create change. No one likes being attacked, especially someone who is “supposed to” and many times expects to be an authority figure, like a professor.

The underlying theme in my mind, of the whole presentation was simple: technology does not make a class, but it can certainly break it.

The students had many valid points, all of which you can listen to yourself in the video (it’s less than 10 minutes), however I wanted to share with you one of my favorites. The quote came from came from Jie Jenny Zou (senior), ”You should be able to teach a class without the technology. Technology should be there to help you.”

This was powerful to me because I’ve seen classes crash and burn because the Powerpoint presentation didn’t work. I’m not sure how many more times it needs to be said, but reading from a Powerpoint is NOT teaching. It’s regurgitating, which is sadly what most students are asked to do each day. If the instructor (online or in person) is simply reading from a presentation then they are effectively asking their students to consume their vomit, only to throw it back up.

Gross? Maybe, but how is that different than how some professors ask their students to “learn?”

Tags: eduction technology, Google Hanhouts, online learning, Powerpoint