Sunday, August 31, 2003
Goals, goals, goals
The women's triathlon group that I organized is meeting in a week and a half, and one of the topics I want to cover is Goals. This should be a timely subject for me, since I'm starting to think about next year's goals (both triathlon and otherwise) myself. It's almost the end of the triathlon season, and almost the end of my part of the bookwriting process (I've got the manuscript printed out and just need to box it up and ship it off to the first agent on my list of potentials), and it's the start of the "official school year" (though that means relatively little to us unschoolers, other than the fact that we'll be spending more time inside in the winter) so it's time to start looking ahead to this next year's goals.
For a long time in my life, I was relatively goal-less. Oh, I had the usual vague notions of what I wanted to do - go to college, get a good job, find someone I wanted to spend my life with, maybe have kids - but I've come to realize that such nebulous things are not really goals. When I worked at Microsoft, we had a formal review process in which we were supposed to set goals. There was some nifty acronym that escapes me right now, but they were supposed to be Measurable, Achievable, and something else I can't remember (dang that aging brain of mine, time to hit the ginkgo biloba I guess). Of course, at that point in my life, I basically blew a lot of this sort of stuff off and made up things that I thought my managers would like. Even in my triathlon training, which I was also doing at the time, I didn't really have a clear idea of how to set goals. This showed in my results. I spent years running the same routes at the same pace without ever getting much better in endurance or speed. It was only due to the fact that I was young and could take an awful lot of punishing workouts that I got anywhere at all in the sport. Now I'm older, hopefully wiser, and neither my body nor my calendar are up for 4 hours a day of workouts. Over the last few years, I've been forced to get smarter. In short, I've been forced to figure out this whole goal-setting business.
The process of learning how to set goals got kick-started when I decided to do the Ironman. Note that this was 2 years ago, and I'm not planning to do it for 3 more years, so it is most definitely a long-term goal. I knew I wouldn't have the time, and didn't want to run the risk of injuries that would come with a quick ramp-up to that kind of distance race. Also (in the older-and-wiser vein), I've decided that I no longer want to merely survive a race, I want to feel like I'm fully trained up for it. In short, I want to enjoy it (as much as that is possible). So I decided to make it a 5-year goal, to do the Ironman on my 40th birthday. Ironman is a big talisman for me, because I had trained up for it once before. I even got my entry into Ironman Canada, had my race packet in hand, my hotel reservations, etc. but (due in large part to my inability to successfully manage the various parts of my life) I over-trained, gave myself a bleeding ulcer, and basically my body just broke down. Pretty sad at the age of 25! This time, I have vowed that it is going to be different. So I'm taking it slow and steady.
Setting Intermediate Goals
The first thing I learned was that it's not enough to have a big goal. You have to break it down into intermediate goals, and then even smaller goals. I read something incredible that really got me thinking. I can't remember where I read it (pass the ginkgo, please), but basically in an article about training, the author said "You should have a goal for every workout" . WOW! That blew me away. So many of my workouts have been basically purposeless, so at times I have just been treading water. I've been improving over the last 3 years to be sure, but then I started at a relatively low level after having two kids and being out of triathlons for a number of years. But from here on out, if I want to keep getting better, it's going to take more work. More importantly than the amount of work though is how focused the work I do is. That's what setting smaller and smaller goals can do for you.
So for the Ironman, my immediate goals were:
- Complete a sprint triathlon (2 years ago)
- Complete an Olympic distance triathlon and a sprint triathlon (last year)
- Complete a half-marathon in 2:10 or less, two Olympic tri's and two sprints. Improve my times from last year's Olympic and sprint distance races. (this season).
- Complete a half-ironman in 6:30 or less, and as many Olympics and sprints as I can manage in a season (next year)
- Complete a marathon, and however many triathlons I want to (2 years from now)
- Complete the Ironman in less than 14 hours (3 years from now)
Within those goals are a whole bunch of sub-goals. Like for the half-marathon this year I did increasingly longer-distance Sunday Long Runs to work up to the 13 miles and beyond. I increased my long bike rides, and added speed work and hills to my workouts.
Fortunately, as with so many things in life, this has transferred over into all sorts of areas. I figured out how to break down housework into manageable goals, for instance, and that has helped our daily routines around here. Learning how to set goals helped a lot when I started writing my book a year and a half ago. I think if the idea for the book had come to me even a few years earlier, I wouldn't have known how to tackle it. As it was, I just made some goals, like writing for 2 hours a day, or editing a certain number of pages. That has really helped to make that a manageable endeavor.
Goals and Unschooling
This year, I'm starting to think about goals for our unschooling year. That might sound like a big contradiction in terms, but I think that in a model (like unschooling) where the kids learn so much from the example of the parents, that sharing goal-setting skills with them could be invaluable. In the past few years, we've just muddled on through, and I think that's been fine so far. But I can see that Mackenzie is getting involved with more complex projects now, and we're going to have to set aside time and space for him to do them. I need to be better organized so that he gets the support he needs to accomplish his own goals. So I've vowed that once a week I'm going to sit down with the kids and plan out our goals for that week, setting aside time for me to help the kids in the things they want to do. I think after Labor Day and our "Not Back to School" celebrations are over, I will also have a year-long goal-setting session with them, just to get a feel for the things they want to accomplish in the long term. Last time I did this, they surprised me with some of the things that they mentioned. If we hadn't done this exercise, I might never have known that Mackenzie really wanted to learn how to bake, and that Asa was dreaming of rock-climbing classes.
In short, I guess one of my goals for this year is to get better about having goals in our personal lives, and to remember to break the big goals down into smaller, measurable, and achievable goals. Since the only manager in my life anymore is me, there's no real point in inventing something meaningless or blowing it off. Time to get the calendar out and set to work.
The women's triathlon group that I organized is meeting in a week and a half, and one of the topics I want to cover is Goals. This should be a timely subject for me, since I'm starting to think about next year's goals (both triathlon and otherwise) myself. It's almost the end of the triathlon season, and almost the end of my part of the bookwriting process (I've got the manuscript printed out and just need to box it up and ship it off to the first agent on my list of potentials), and it's the start of the "official school year" (though that means relatively little to us unschoolers, other than the fact that we'll be spending more time inside in the winter) so it's time to start looking ahead to this next year's goals.
For a long time in my life, I was relatively goal-less. Oh, I had the usual vague notions of what I wanted to do - go to college, get a good job, find someone I wanted to spend my life with, maybe have kids - but I've come to realize that such nebulous things are not really goals. When I worked at Microsoft, we had a formal review process in which we were supposed to set goals. There was some nifty acronym that escapes me right now, but they were supposed to be Measurable, Achievable, and something else I can't remember (dang that aging brain of mine, time to hit the ginkgo biloba I guess). Of course, at that point in my life, I basically blew a lot of this sort of stuff off and made up things that I thought my managers would like. Even in my triathlon training, which I was also doing at the time, I didn't really have a clear idea of how to set goals. This showed in my results. I spent years running the same routes at the same pace without ever getting much better in endurance or speed. It was only due to the fact that I was young and could take an awful lot of punishing workouts that I got anywhere at all in the sport. Now I'm older, hopefully wiser, and neither my body nor my calendar are up for 4 hours a day of workouts. Over the last few years, I've been forced to get smarter. In short, I've been forced to figure out this whole goal-setting business.
The process of learning how to set goals got kick-started when I decided to do the Ironman. Note that this was 2 years ago, and I'm not planning to do it for 3 more years, so it is most definitely a long-term goal. I knew I wouldn't have the time, and didn't want to run the risk of injuries that would come with a quick ramp-up to that kind of distance race. Also (in the older-and-wiser vein), I've decided that I no longer want to merely survive a race, I want to feel like I'm fully trained up for it. In short, I want to enjoy it (as much as that is possible). So I decided to make it a 5-year goal, to do the Ironman on my 40th birthday. Ironman is a big talisman for me, because I had trained up for it once before. I even got my entry into Ironman Canada, had my race packet in hand, my hotel reservations, etc. but (due in large part to my inability to successfully manage the various parts of my life) I over-trained, gave myself a bleeding ulcer, and basically my body just broke down. Pretty sad at the age of 25! This time, I have vowed that it is going to be different. So I'm taking it slow and steady.
Setting Intermediate Goals
The first thing I learned was that it's not enough to have a big goal. You have to break it down into intermediate goals, and then even smaller goals. I read something incredible that really got me thinking. I can't remember where I read it (pass the ginkgo, please), but basically in an article about training, the author said "You should have a goal for every workout" . WOW! That blew me away. So many of my workouts have been basically purposeless, so at times I have just been treading water. I've been improving over the last 3 years to be sure, but then I started at a relatively low level after having two kids and being out of triathlons for a number of years. But from here on out, if I want to keep getting better, it's going to take more work. More importantly than the amount of work though is how focused the work I do is. That's what setting smaller and smaller goals can do for you.
So for the Ironman, my immediate goals were:
- Complete a sprint triathlon (2 years ago)
- Complete an Olympic distance triathlon and a sprint triathlon (last year)
- Complete a half-marathon in 2:10 or less, two Olympic tri's and two sprints. Improve my times from last year's Olympic and sprint distance races. (this season).
- Complete a half-ironman in 6:30 or less, and as many Olympics and sprints as I can manage in a season (next year)
- Complete a marathon, and however many triathlons I want to (2 years from now)
- Complete the Ironman in less than 14 hours (3 years from now)
Within those goals are a whole bunch of sub-goals. Like for the half-marathon this year I did increasingly longer-distance Sunday Long Runs to work up to the 13 miles and beyond. I increased my long bike rides, and added speed work and hills to my workouts.
Fortunately, as with so many things in life, this has transferred over into all sorts of areas. I figured out how to break down housework into manageable goals, for instance, and that has helped our daily routines around here. Learning how to set goals helped a lot when I started writing my book a year and a half ago. I think if the idea for the book had come to me even a few years earlier, I wouldn't have known how to tackle it. As it was, I just made some goals, like writing for 2 hours a day, or editing a certain number of pages. That has really helped to make that a manageable endeavor.
Goals and Unschooling
This year, I'm starting to think about goals for our unschooling year. That might sound like a big contradiction in terms, but I think that in a model (like unschooling) where the kids learn so much from the example of the parents, that sharing goal-setting skills with them could be invaluable. In the past few years, we've just muddled on through, and I think that's been fine so far. But I can see that Mackenzie is getting involved with more complex projects now, and we're going to have to set aside time and space for him to do them. I need to be better organized so that he gets the support he needs to accomplish his own goals. So I've vowed that once a week I'm going to sit down with the kids and plan out our goals for that week, setting aside time for me to help the kids in the things they want to do. I think after Labor Day and our "Not Back to School" celebrations are over, I will also have a year-long goal-setting session with them, just to get a feel for the things they want to accomplish in the long term. Last time I did this, they surprised me with some of the things that they mentioned. If we hadn't done this exercise, I might never have known that Mackenzie really wanted to learn how to bake, and that Asa was dreaming of rock-climbing classes.
In short, I guess one of my goals for this year is to get better about having goals in our personal lives, and to remember to break the big goals down into smaller, measurable, and achievable goals. Since the only manager in my life anymore is me, there's no real point in inventing something meaningless or blowing it off. Time to get the calendar out and set to work.
Thursday, August 28, 2003
Whale Rider gets two thumbs up from us
As it is Mackenzie's actual birthday today, I took him out to dinner and then to see Whale Rider, which he'd seen a preview for and wanted to see. I don't know which was more wonderful, the movie or getting to have a long, uninterrupted conversation with him over dinner. He's just such a fascinating little guy and we don't get enough time just the two of us. note to self: must make more time for this! The woman at the counter in the restaurant had a thick accent, so we started out over dinner talking about accents and ended up discussing the origin of language, human evolution, the skeleton of Lucy at Olduvai Gorge, why Africa is considered the cradle of civilization, land bridge theories, and on and on and on. I was never much of a kid person before having kids myself, so I simply wasn't aware of how much fun they are to hang out with. I have to admit, I'm a bit biased, but dang Mackenzie is just a good kid to be around.
The movie was also wonderful, we both really enjoyed it, and it spurred more in -depth conversation at bedtime about traditional societies, women's roles, why we've never had a female president in the U.S., human interactions with nature, and more. It's a definite must-see movie if you ask me. So few movies these days are subtle enough with the acting, direction, and the overall message or tone of the movie, but this is one of them. It was also just good plain fun to nosh on popcorn and rootbeer and hang out at my favorite art-house theatre with my big 7-year-old guy.
I also got to enjoy some time today with my youngest. While Mackenize was on a playdate, I took Asa in the stroller with me on my run. She's a lot harder to run with now that she's nearing 4 and almost 40 pounds, which explains why I don't do this often. But it is such a treat just to hang out with her one-on-one as well. I don't get to do that enough either. I have forgotten just how much seeing the world through the eyes of a 3 year old can be. Everything is so immediate - the clouds, flowers, animals. She sang songs to the sweet peas by the side of the road, and waved to the duckies in the water as we went past. While it wasn't much of a workout on the running front, it was more than worth it for the experience.
As it is Mackenzie's actual birthday today, I took him out to dinner and then to see Whale Rider, which he'd seen a preview for and wanted to see. I don't know which was more wonderful, the movie or getting to have a long, uninterrupted conversation with him over dinner. He's just such a fascinating little guy and we don't get enough time just the two of us. note to self: must make more time for this! The woman at the counter in the restaurant had a thick accent, so we started out over dinner talking about accents and ended up discussing the origin of language, human evolution, the skeleton of Lucy at Olduvai Gorge, why Africa is considered the cradle of civilization, land bridge theories, and on and on and on. I was never much of a kid person before having kids myself, so I simply wasn't aware of how much fun they are to hang out with. I have to admit, I'm a bit biased, but dang Mackenzie is just a good kid to be around.
The movie was also wonderful, we both really enjoyed it, and it spurred more in -depth conversation at bedtime about traditional societies, women's roles, why we've never had a female president in the U.S., human interactions with nature, and more. It's a definite must-see movie if you ask me. So few movies these days are subtle enough with the acting, direction, and the overall message or tone of the movie, but this is one of them. It was also just good plain fun to nosh on popcorn and rootbeer and hang out at my favorite art-house theatre with my big 7-year-old guy.
I also got to enjoy some time today with my youngest. While Mackenize was on a playdate, I took Asa in the stroller with me on my run. She's a lot harder to run with now that she's nearing 4 and almost 40 pounds, which explains why I don't do this often. But it is such a treat just to hang out with her one-on-one as well. I don't get to do that enough either. I have forgotten just how much seeing the world through the eyes of a 3 year old can be. Everything is so immediate - the clouds, flowers, animals. She sang songs to the sweet peas by the side of the road, and waved to the duckies in the water as we went past. While it wasn't much of a workout on the running front, it was more than worth it for the experience.
Monday, August 25, 2003
My brain is a sink full of dirty dishes
Why is it that when I go for a long run, like I did this morning, I think of all the incredible witty things I could say on this blog. Yet when I sit here faced with my empty screen, my mind is equally blank? Maybe it's like looking at a sink full of dishes. There's just so many of them you don't know where to start and it's just easier to walk away. There are so many interesting things going on in my life/mind right now, there's no way I could write about all of them. Where's FlyLady when my brain needs her? It's a great big pile of messy dishes in there. Here's a few cups and plates:
*** Mackenzie had his birthday party this weekend. All that preparation and it's over in less than 3 hours. My mom always pulled off really cool birthday parties for us when we were kids, and that's something I really love about her. So I've got that to live up to. That and the fact that Mackenzie wanted a Bionicle party and while you can get Spongebob Squarepants plastered on anything from napkins to goody bags, there's not a Bionicle to be had. Not even in my old standy, Birthday Express. So we had to wing it from scratch. All in all, it didn't come off badly. With an internet connection and a laser printer, and a moldering degree in Visual Design, you can whip up some fairly spiffy stuff. We had the "Kanohi Mask Beanbag Toss" and "Pin the Fire Staff on Vakama" (if this is all gibberish, simply go to www.bionicle.com for translation). More important than all of that though is the time we spent snuggling and talking about how/why he came into our lives and why he is so important to me. We looked at baby pictures and compared the size of his tiny footprints to his now-monster-sized ones. On his actual birthday, I'll set my watch for the time of his birth and tell him his birth story like I do every year. This year, I'm going to take him out to dinner and a movie as well, just mom and kid. He's really this awesome human being that I love to spend time with, how much more blessed can I be?
***I ran 10 miles today and it felt pretty darned good. Less than four years ago, I couldn't run one. That is just such an amazing thing that I feel like celebrating it. After Asa's birth, I started out walking again, then gradually running part of a 3 mile loop, then running more than walking, then running everything but the uphills, then finally running it all. Within a year I was doing sprint triathlons again, then last year I trained up to a 10k and then an Olympic distance triathlon. This year I did a half marathon. Today I ran 10 miles that included climbing a big ass hill on winding trails and it just didn't feel that hard at all. It's just so good I feel like celebrating.
***And in case this is all getting too rose-colored and sappy for you, my mom visited this week with her (admittedly totally adorable) new dog and it peed and pooped in several places on our lovely sea foam green carpets (no, I didn't choose them). So I spent a goodly amount of time today scrubbing poop stains. Then again, such is the life of a mom, but my youngest has been out of diapers for a couple of years now so I'm quite out of practice.
***I had a small personal triumph today. I returned all of the library items that were due today, marking over 2 months with no fines on my card. Ice is forming in Hell as we speak.
***We went to see Winged Migration last night with the kiddos. It's really quite good. Sort of like an extended National Geographic program with stunning photography. Unfortunately, they include some fairly graphic shots of things like cute fuzzy baby penguins being ripped to shreds by hungry sea birds with bloody beaks. My son was in tears and pronounced the whole movie "too sad". Fortunately, my daughter fell asleep before the chick-shredding began or she would've undoubtably been in tears as well. Mind you, both of these kids can watch the Orcs in Lord of the Rings without batting an eye, but real-life stuff, especially having to do with animals just does them in.
Why is it that when I go for a long run, like I did this morning, I think of all the incredible witty things I could say on this blog. Yet when I sit here faced with my empty screen, my mind is equally blank? Maybe it's like looking at a sink full of dishes. There's just so many of them you don't know where to start and it's just easier to walk away. There are so many interesting things going on in my life/mind right now, there's no way I could write about all of them. Where's FlyLady when my brain needs her? It's a great big pile of messy dishes in there. Here's a few cups and plates:
*** Mackenzie had his birthday party this weekend. All that preparation and it's over in less than 3 hours. My mom always pulled off really cool birthday parties for us when we were kids, and that's something I really love about her. So I've got that to live up to. That and the fact that Mackenzie wanted a Bionicle party and while you can get Spongebob Squarepants plastered on anything from napkins to goody bags, there's not a Bionicle to be had. Not even in my old standy, Birthday Express. So we had to wing it from scratch. All in all, it didn't come off badly. With an internet connection and a laser printer, and a moldering degree in Visual Design, you can whip up some fairly spiffy stuff. We had the "Kanohi Mask Beanbag Toss" and "Pin the Fire Staff on Vakama" (if this is all gibberish, simply go to www.bionicle.com for translation). More important than all of that though is the time we spent snuggling and talking about how/why he came into our lives and why he is so important to me. We looked at baby pictures and compared the size of his tiny footprints to his now-monster-sized ones. On his actual birthday, I'll set my watch for the time of his birth and tell him his birth story like I do every year. This year, I'm going to take him out to dinner and a movie as well, just mom and kid. He's really this awesome human being that I love to spend time with, how much more blessed can I be?
***I ran 10 miles today and it felt pretty darned good. Less than four years ago, I couldn't run one. That is just such an amazing thing that I feel like celebrating it. After Asa's birth, I started out walking again, then gradually running part of a 3 mile loop, then running more than walking, then running everything but the uphills, then finally running it all. Within a year I was doing sprint triathlons again, then last year I trained up to a 10k and then an Olympic distance triathlon. This year I did a half marathon. Today I ran 10 miles that included climbing a big ass hill on winding trails and it just didn't feel that hard at all. It's just so good I feel like celebrating.
***And in case this is all getting too rose-colored and sappy for you, my mom visited this week with her (admittedly totally adorable) new dog and it peed and pooped in several places on our lovely sea foam green carpets (no, I didn't choose them). So I spent a goodly amount of time today scrubbing poop stains. Then again, such is the life of a mom, but my youngest has been out of diapers for a couple of years now so I'm quite out of practice.
***I had a small personal triumph today. I returned all of the library items that were due today, marking over 2 months with no fines on my card. Ice is forming in Hell as we speak.
***We went to see Winged Migration last night with the kiddos. It's really quite good. Sort of like an extended National Geographic program with stunning photography. Unfortunately, they include some fairly graphic shots of things like cute fuzzy baby penguins being ripped to shreds by hungry sea birds with bloody beaks. My son was in tears and pronounced the whole movie "too sad". Fortunately, my daughter fell asleep before the chick-shredding began or she would've undoubtably been in tears as well. Mind you, both of these kids can watch the Orcs in Lord of the Rings without batting an eye, but real-life stuff, especially having to do with animals just does them in.
Friday, August 22, 2003
Big Birthday Changes
This weekend will be Mackenzie's 7th birthday party. So many things for him are changing fast right now. I can really see evidence of the big change from external to internal that occurs around 7. Up until recently, it was like he was still a part of me. His thoughts were known to me, there was still something tying us very close together. While I believe that we will always be close, I can see that the immediateness of our relationship is going away. Now there are things he keeps to himself instead of sharing, even if he is very upset. I know it's a natural part of growing up, but it's amazing and also bittersweet to see it happening so fast.
I think the funniest side-effect of the upcoming birthday is in the effect in his imaginative world. He doesn't just play with his Legos and Bionicles, he has invented an entire universe for them. They are all very nervous about the idea that he might get some Rahkshi (sp?) for his birthday, which are apparently evil bionicles with slugs in their brains. So in the past two weeks, the preparations have been strenuous. The leader of his Lego people has been drilling his troops and building machines and fortifications. The bionicles went out into the yard and dug a hole, then reinforced it with rocks and a wooden roof, so they would have a hiding place from the Rahkshi. There are daily discussions about strategies and plans. Usually, when he is talking to me, he's talking as one of his characters, either a Lego person or a Bionicle. They all have names and jobs and personalities that he has invented, and some of them have been around for years now. I wonder how many more years this kind of amazing fantasy world will exist for him. Each passing year will bring him closer and closer to reality, but right now it is so cool to watch it all unfold and to be a part of it. "Advisor to Bionicles in the Rahkshi Wars": who knew that motherhood would confer such lofty jobs upon me?
This weekend will be Mackenzie's 7th birthday party. So many things for him are changing fast right now. I can really see evidence of the big change from external to internal that occurs around 7. Up until recently, it was like he was still a part of me. His thoughts were known to me, there was still something tying us very close together. While I believe that we will always be close, I can see that the immediateness of our relationship is going away. Now there are things he keeps to himself instead of sharing, even if he is very upset. I know it's a natural part of growing up, but it's amazing and also bittersweet to see it happening so fast.
I think the funniest side-effect of the upcoming birthday is in the effect in his imaginative world. He doesn't just play with his Legos and Bionicles, he has invented an entire universe for them. They are all very nervous about the idea that he might get some Rahkshi (sp?) for his birthday, which are apparently evil bionicles with slugs in their brains. So in the past two weeks, the preparations have been strenuous. The leader of his Lego people has been drilling his troops and building machines and fortifications. The bionicles went out into the yard and dug a hole, then reinforced it with rocks and a wooden roof, so they would have a hiding place from the Rahkshi. There are daily discussions about strategies and plans. Usually, when he is talking to me, he's talking as one of his characters, either a Lego person or a Bionicle. They all have names and jobs and personalities that he has invented, and some of them have been around for years now. I wonder how many more years this kind of amazing fantasy world will exist for him. Each passing year will bring him closer and closer to reality, but right now it is so cool to watch it all unfold and to be a part of it. "Advisor to Bionicles in the Rahkshi Wars": who knew that motherhood would confer such lofty jobs upon me?
Monday, August 18, 2003
Unschooling and Reading
Even though we've been at this Unschooling thing for quite some time now, and I've been reading about it for years, it is still occasionally mind-blowing when I see how simply and how well it works. Especially given the messages that we're constantly being bombarded with from our common culture and educational systems. Messages that say you cannot learn something unless it is formally taught, or even worse that there is only one way to learn it.
So the big thing this week is that Mackenzie (6 y.o. DS) can READ. I mean really read. He sat down and read me a 34-page storybook that, while not super-complex, was way above the Hop On Pop stuff that he would struggle through earlier this year. But I know that most 6 year olds learn how to read, that's not really all that amazing to most folks. The interesting part of it for me is that he couldn't do this just a few months ago (he was still at the painfully-sounding-it-out Dr. Seuss level) and since then I have done nothing to teach him. Absolutely nothing. Actually, I think he probably has learned the most from playing Pokemon cards with his friends. He has to be able to figure out the names on the cards and the Pokemon's attacks in order to play (incidentlally, he also picked up double-digit addition and multiplication from playing Pokemon, but that's another story). So, fast-forward a few months to now, he picks up a book and can read it. If he had been in first grade in school this past year, a year in which his brain was not yet ready to grasp the concepts of reading, he might already be feeling the effects of being labeled a "slow" or "behind" reader. His self-image of his own learning abilities might be irrevocably altered (as his father's were, since he read later than the average child). Instead, reading for him is a huge joy, with none of the emotional baggage of knowing whether he was "early" or "late" attached to it.
In that moment where we were sitting on the couch, and he was fluently reading to me what he could not have read just a few short months ago, I experienced a moment of profound gratefulness for finding this unschooling path so early in my children's lives. I'm very glad to be able to give them this gift, a gift that is essentially just time and faith that they will learn when they are ready. This morning, he got up and immediately went to get a book to read to himself. A whole new world has been opened to him.
Even though we've been at this Unschooling thing for quite some time now, and I've been reading about it for years, it is still occasionally mind-blowing when I see how simply and how well it works. Especially given the messages that we're constantly being bombarded with from our common culture and educational systems. Messages that say you cannot learn something unless it is formally taught, or even worse that there is only one way to learn it.
So the big thing this week is that Mackenzie (6 y.o. DS) can READ. I mean really read. He sat down and read me a 34-page storybook that, while not super-complex, was way above the Hop On Pop stuff that he would struggle through earlier this year. But I know that most 6 year olds learn how to read, that's not really all that amazing to most folks. The interesting part of it for me is that he couldn't do this just a few months ago (he was still at the painfully-sounding-it-out Dr. Seuss level) and since then I have done nothing to teach him. Absolutely nothing. Actually, I think he probably has learned the most from playing Pokemon cards with his friends. He has to be able to figure out the names on the cards and the Pokemon's attacks in order to play (incidentlally, he also picked up double-digit addition and multiplication from playing Pokemon, but that's another story). So, fast-forward a few months to now, he picks up a book and can read it. If he had been in first grade in school this past year, a year in which his brain was not yet ready to grasp the concepts of reading, he might already be feeling the effects of being labeled a "slow" or "behind" reader. His self-image of his own learning abilities might be irrevocably altered (as his father's were, since he read later than the average child). Instead, reading for him is a huge joy, with none of the emotional baggage of knowing whether he was "early" or "late" attached to it.
In that moment where we were sitting on the couch, and he was fluently reading to me what he could not have read just a few short months ago, I experienced a moment of profound gratefulness for finding this unschooling path so early in my children's lives. I'm very glad to be able to give them this gift, a gift that is essentially just time and faith that they will learn when they are ready. This morning, he got up and immediately went to get a book to read to himself. A whole new world has been opened to him.
Friday, August 15, 2003
But the good news was the race
All bitching about the camping experience aside, I had a very good race with a few small exceptions. Although it had been horrifically hot in the preceding weeks (up into the 100's), race day was a much nicer 80-something. That was a blessing because I remember the run course as being particularly exposed (which it was) with no shade. I haven't done the Blue Lake Olympic distance Tri sinceabout 1989, if I remember right, but I still remember how hot the run course was, and the finish line pictures of me that year show my face completely red and overheated. So I was grateful for the mild weather.
Swim
The swim was brilliant. I started on the outside, near some people who looked relatively fast. One of them was a relay swimmer, and she turned out to be a good stroke of luck. She was swimming at about my maximum one mile pace, and so I hung out on her feet and drafted for almost the entire course. We quickly dropped everyone else behind us, and eventually started passing people from the waves ahead. Occasionally, I'd drop to the side of her draft and confirm that we were on the pace I wanted, it always feels a bit slow when you're drafting. 23:09 isn't the fastest mile I've ever swam, but it was a reasonable time for this course.
T1
First transition: smooth, but not exactly speedy. I'm not enamored of the new place that Blue Lake has set up their transition area. A lot longer run with your bike through the grass than there used to be. Plenty of time for my cleats to get clogged up with grass and gravel. Guess I should try putting them on the bike again and running barefoot, but I've never gotten the hang of that one.
Bike
The bike course started out well, though I could tell that there was already wind on the course. The first leg started out downwind, so I got a bit of a break at the first, but when we turned back into the wind, I slowed down to a hard-kept 20 mph. Halfway into the 2nd out-and-back leg though, I had a technical problem. At first from the sound, I thought I had a flat. A huge rush of disappointment washed over me as I slowed to a stop. But neither of my tires felt soft, so I got back onto the bike. Heard the strange sound again, got off again. After some investigation, turns out that a candy wrapper had gone up my tire and wedged between the brake pads and the wheel. Strange! Got that out and back onto the bike again, but while I was grounded at the side of the road, numerous people were passing me by. Bummer! Set off to chase them down. Many miles later, I finally get to turn downwind again. Bliss! I'm cooking along now at 24+ mph and starting to feel like Lance Armstrong (okay, so he's way faster than that with no tailwind, but still...). The rest of the bike felt strong, but the 2+ minutes of downtime really hurt. 1:08:46 was the bike time for 24.8 miles. My pace on my computer was closer to 23 mph though, and just under 1:06 for the bike course (the computer doesn't show the stopped time, while my official bike time does). Disappointed with the technical problem, but overall I'm very happy about my bicycling itself and the new bike is brilliant!
T2
Blast it. Get confused after grabbing my hat and race number belt. Run wrong direction (have to admit, the course markings inside the transition area are not great, but I forgot to ask someone ahead of time which way the run exited. Note to self to remember that next time). Race officials hollering at me to turn around, which I do. Not a lot of time lost, but that was a dumb mistake.
Run
Ah, my Achilles Heel. I hate the run. Hate it, Hate it, Hate it. Necessary evil to compete in triathlons. But this wasn't the worst run I've ever had. Actually, had another stroke of great luck here. Just outside T2, I met up with another Clydesdale-ish runner who turned out to be a very nice guy. We ran together the whole way and I'm sure my run would've been slower without him. He was very encouraging, especially in the end when I started to flag. He distracted me from my usual triathlon running strategy of fantasizing that I had long skinny legs like all the people passing me. 55:19, for the run, or just under a 9 minute pace. This is actually not bad for me for a 6 mile run these days, although 15 years ago I had it pared down under 50 minutes, that was as fast as I ever got.
Overall
My overall time was very positive. I'd really wanted to go under 2:40, and I ended up at 2:31:53, including my @#@! technical on the bike course. That was definitely good enough to win the Athena division (this was the first time I've entered as an Athena, maybe I'll write more about that later), and put me into the top 20 women overall. That's pretty decent for my first Olympic distance triathlon in over a decade. I tend to kick booty in the Sprint distance races, and do moderately well at Olympic, so this was a reasonably good finish. Overall, I'm happy. I know I've got a lot of work to do on the run, but I was as fast as I knew my training could currently take me, and the swim and bike courses (except for the candy wrapper) were great.
All bitching about the camping experience aside, I had a very good race with a few small exceptions. Although it had been horrifically hot in the preceding weeks (up into the 100's), race day was a much nicer 80-something. That was a blessing because I remember the run course as being particularly exposed (which it was) with no shade. I haven't done the Blue Lake Olympic distance Tri sinceabout 1989, if I remember right, but I still remember how hot the run course was, and the finish line pictures of me that year show my face completely red and overheated. So I was grateful for the mild weather.
Swim
The swim was brilliant. I started on the outside, near some people who looked relatively fast. One of them was a relay swimmer, and she turned out to be a good stroke of luck. She was swimming at about my maximum one mile pace, and so I hung out on her feet and drafted for almost the entire course. We quickly dropped everyone else behind us, and eventually started passing people from the waves ahead. Occasionally, I'd drop to the side of her draft and confirm that we were on the pace I wanted, it always feels a bit slow when you're drafting. 23:09 isn't the fastest mile I've ever swam, but it was a reasonable time for this course.
T1
First transition: smooth, but not exactly speedy. I'm not enamored of the new place that Blue Lake has set up their transition area. A lot longer run with your bike through the grass than there used to be. Plenty of time for my cleats to get clogged up with grass and gravel. Guess I should try putting them on the bike again and running barefoot, but I've never gotten the hang of that one.
Bike
The bike course started out well, though I could tell that there was already wind on the course. The first leg started out downwind, so I got a bit of a break at the first, but when we turned back into the wind, I slowed down to a hard-kept 20 mph. Halfway into the 2nd out-and-back leg though, I had a technical problem. At first from the sound, I thought I had a flat. A huge rush of disappointment washed over me as I slowed to a stop. But neither of my tires felt soft, so I got back onto the bike. Heard the strange sound again, got off again. After some investigation, turns out that a candy wrapper had gone up my tire and wedged between the brake pads and the wheel. Strange! Got that out and back onto the bike again, but while I was grounded at the side of the road, numerous people were passing me by. Bummer! Set off to chase them down. Many miles later, I finally get to turn downwind again. Bliss! I'm cooking along now at 24+ mph and starting to feel like Lance Armstrong (okay, so he's way faster than that with no tailwind, but still...). The rest of the bike felt strong, but the 2+ minutes of downtime really hurt. 1:08:46 was the bike time for 24.8 miles. My pace on my computer was closer to 23 mph though, and just under 1:06 for the bike course (the computer doesn't show the stopped time, while my official bike time does). Disappointed with the technical problem, but overall I'm very happy about my bicycling itself and the new bike is brilliant!
T2
Blast it. Get confused after grabbing my hat and race number belt. Run wrong direction (have to admit, the course markings inside the transition area are not great, but I forgot to ask someone ahead of time which way the run exited. Note to self to remember that next time). Race officials hollering at me to turn around, which I do. Not a lot of time lost, but that was a dumb mistake.
Run
Ah, my Achilles Heel. I hate the run. Hate it, Hate it, Hate it. Necessary evil to compete in triathlons. But this wasn't the worst run I've ever had. Actually, had another stroke of great luck here. Just outside T2, I met up with another Clydesdale-ish runner who turned out to be a very nice guy. We ran together the whole way and I'm sure my run would've been slower without him. He was very encouraging, especially in the end when I started to flag. He distracted me from my usual triathlon running strategy of fantasizing that I had long skinny legs like all the people passing me. 55:19, for the run, or just under a 9 minute pace. This is actually not bad for me for a 6 mile run these days, although 15 years ago I had it pared down under 50 minutes, that was as fast as I ever got.
Overall
My overall time was very positive. I'd really wanted to go under 2:40, and I ended up at 2:31:53, including my @#@! technical on the bike course. That was definitely good enough to win the Athena division (this was the first time I've entered as an Athena, maybe I'll write more about that later), and put me into the top 20 women overall. That's pretty decent for my first Olympic distance triathlon in over a decade. I tend to kick booty in the Sprint distance races, and do moderately well at Olympic, so this was a reasonably good finish. Overall, I'm happy. I know I've got a lot of work to do on the run, but I was as fast as I knew my training could currently take me, and the swim and bike courses (except for the candy wrapper) were great.
REALLY remind me never to do this again
If I ever think of camping the night before a triathlon again, I hope I remember this experience. In a short-sighted cost-saving measure, we decided to camp out at a local campground the night before my race. Unfortunately, so did the entire Portland metro area, or at least their biggest party animals and irresponsible parents. Why on earth would you want your kids up at 1:00 in the morning running around a campground, let alone encourage this behavior? Is there any good reason to give children caffeinated and sugared drinks to wash down their twinkies at 10:00 at night? And why do people go camping out in a beautiful forest just so they can blast their music at a thousand decibels? I'd be tempted to say that I'm just getting old, but even when I was young enough to really enjoy a good rolicking drunken party, I didn't do it 3 yards from someone else's tent in the middle of a campground.
Next time, I want a soft motel bed and if I'm lucky, a hot tub to boot. I'll save camping for times that we take the kids and get away to the Forest Service campgrounds, where we've never had trouble. I don't think most of the party animals care to be without running water and electricity, so we'll save camping for more remote areas.
If I ever think of camping the night before a triathlon again, I hope I remember this experience. In a short-sighted cost-saving measure, we decided to camp out at a local campground the night before my race. Unfortunately, so did the entire Portland metro area, or at least their biggest party animals and irresponsible parents. Why on earth would you want your kids up at 1:00 in the morning running around a campground, let alone encourage this behavior? Is there any good reason to give children caffeinated and sugared drinks to wash down their twinkies at 10:00 at night? And why do people go camping out in a beautiful forest just so they can blast their music at a thousand decibels? I'd be tempted to say that I'm just getting old, but even when I was young enough to really enjoy a good rolicking drunken party, I didn't do it 3 yards from someone else's tent in the middle of a campground.
Next time, I want a soft motel bed and if I'm lucky, a hot tub to boot. I'll save camping for times that we take the kids and get away to the Forest Service campgrounds, where we've never had trouble. I don't think most of the party animals care to be without running water and electricity, so we'll save camping for more remote areas.
Tuesday, July 29, 2003
Remind me not to do this again
One of my good friends is leaving town so a bunch of us went out to a bar last night to send her off in style. Now, there was a time when I could put away my fair share of alcohol, but apparently that time is long since gone. We spent 4 hours there, ate quite a bit of appetizers, and since I'm trying to hydrate well for my race this weekend, I drank about a pitcher of water by myself. All to no avail. By the time I started biking home at the eminently reasonable hour of 10 pm, I was feeling rotten to the core. I thought you weren't supposed to be hung over until the morning after, but I guess that is no longer the case. My hangover started at about 10:01.
I've been musing on this interesting dichotomy all week. Last week was the first peak of my workout season, so I put in a lot of mileage and intensity in training. Correspondingly, I needed to take in a lot of calories to fuel all of that. Ordinarily, this would seem to be a truly enjoyable proposition, but I've been noticing something strange. The more I exercise, the harder I go, the hungrier that I am, but the less "bad" food I am capable of eating. I had even gotten myself a pint of Ben & Jerry's, a rare treat, for this week when I knew I'd be eating a lot. It lasted me the entire week! A few years ago, that would've been unheard of, but I just didn't reallywant to eat ice cream. And when I started eating it, the pleasure wore off quickly and I found myself putting the rest of the pint back in the freezer, over and over. Likewise, the bag of chips that DH bought at the store have been languishing in my cupboard, untouched. Last night was the first departure from what has been a remarkably long bout of very healthy eating, and now I'm paying the piper. Who knows, maybe my body is finally getting wiser as it gets older. All I know is that when I can pick up a piece of chocolate and not even want to eat it, it's a very weird feeling!
One of my good friends is leaving town so a bunch of us went out to a bar last night to send her off in style. Now, there was a time when I could put away my fair share of alcohol, but apparently that time is long since gone. We spent 4 hours there, ate quite a bit of appetizers, and since I'm trying to hydrate well for my race this weekend, I drank about a pitcher of water by myself. All to no avail. By the time I started biking home at the eminently reasonable hour of 10 pm, I was feeling rotten to the core. I thought you weren't supposed to be hung over until the morning after, but I guess that is no longer the case. My hangover started at about 10:01.
I've been musing on this interesting dichotomy all week. Last week was the first peak of my workout season, so I put in a lot of mileage and intensity in training. Correspondingly, I needed to take in a lot of calories to fuel all of that. Ordinarily, this would seem to be a truly enjoyable proposition, but I've been noticing something strange. The more I exercise, the harder I go, the hungrier that I am, but the less "bad" food I am capable of eating. I had even gotten myself a pint of Ben & Jerry's, a rare treat, for this week when I knew I'd be eating a lot. It lasted me the entire week! A few years ago, that would've been unheard of, but I just didn't really
