It's Ordered

What Gets You Excited?

Eight years ago - about this time of the year - I watched an Xterra World competition on TV and had tears running down my face at awe of the athletes and said to my self, "Self, you are going to learn how to swim and compete in Xterras." Yup, I couldn't swim, but I learned, and did a couple Xterras over the years.

This morning, I got that same damn feeling as 8 years ago listening to "Hey Soul Sister" by Train. I simply LOVE the song, and the ukulele in the song is oh-so-sweet and toe tapping. At first I thought it was a mandolin, but found out its the uke and now I want to learn to play one! Ain't that just a tub of shit? Rick's just rolling his eyes and telling me I'm thinking too much (I should be resting my brain for a change, not making it work even harder). So now I'm on a bit of a quest to figure out 1) if I can even play a string instrument (Donna played a violin! maybe we can jam if she gets a fiddle and I learn the mandolin... teeheeee) and 2) how much is a mandolin gonna set me back and 3) where can I get some lessons or can I teach myself, and 4) maybe I'd rather do the banjo that my momma wanted me to learn when I was about 10 years old, or 5) maybe I should stick with what I have under the bed at home -- an accordion and an oboe.

So for those like me that weren't quite sure of the difference between a mandolin and a ukulele, here's an explanation.

A Mandolin has the same tuning as a Violin, (G-D-A-E) and the strings are doubled. It is played with a plectrum (pick) and has steel strings. A Ukulele is sort of a Nashville tuning version of the guitar in a different key. It has a single string for each note and those strings are Vinyl. the Mandolin has more range and is quite a bit louder than the Ukulele, but the Uke has a remarkable history for reaching beyond it's apparent limitations. It's difficult to find a really good Ukulele since there are so many "beginner models" (Not to mention toy versions) out there. I've seen very few that I couldn't get at least some music out of, but the better instruments are so much easier to become competent with. The main consideration is the type of music you want to play. If you are into folk, novelty, and specialty music, then the Ukulele is a perfect fit. If you are into bluegrass, classical, some forms of ragtime, or even Folk Rock, the bell like tones of the Mandolin may be your cup of tea.

Only a Foot of Snow

"Only" a foot? Actually, we're feeling pretty darn lucky to get that much. It's been a while since the Lykens valley got a decent snowfall. We went the entire winter last year without having a need to plow our driveway. Yesterday's foot was a welcome sight indeed. Cross country skiing out our backdoor is the best. You can see from the pictures we are completely surrounded by farmland and it's the best for X-country skiing - espcially when the snowmobilers groomed some nice paths for us to follow. Rick was making me break trail until we found the snowmobile tracks. Breaking trail in a foot of soft snow sucks -- except for the good workout you get. And from the looks of the long-range forecast, the snow will be here for at least two weeks. Ain't gonna get out on the bike in the woods any time soon. It was a beauty of day, and a beauty of a snowstorm.

Thinking About the Season

Lots of thought has been going into the upcoming season since I missed so much last year: How much time can I commit to training? Exactly what do I want to do? How many races can I afford this year? Can I balance it all with hubby, kayaking, and the gardens. Wouldn't it be grand to not plan and just go ride? No worries of cash in the pockets, property maintenance, and pleasing the spouse -- just ride your friggin bike? Those of you that do that are very, very lucky campers. (Tomi McMillar!) Well I'm not as lucky, and DO want to keep it all balanced so I think I came up with a plan that matches the budget and the spouse's plans for kayak trips. The focus will be long endurance mountain biking with some Adventure tris and Cap City in September and October. With the exception of October, I'm planning on one race a month to stay in the budget. Now most folks will say you have to ride a lot of hours to do long endurance rides. True. But I found a good training strategy on Ultracycling.com that matched my balance needs and the long hours are compacted into one really long ride per week. The training looks like this: two higher intensity rides during the week for an hour or two, and a long, steady ride (not slow - steady which means constant steady heart-rate riding. No lollygagging, taking breaks, drinking a beer, etc.) once a weekend increasing by 10% every other weekend up to 75% of my goal two weeks prior to the ride. On the off weekends, do fast-paced tempo rides for 3ish hours. It's perfect! One ride a weekend allows the other day for kayaking/gardens/hubby stuff not to mention riding every other day or two allows plenty of time for recovering old bones and muscles. And the timing of 10% increase works out perfect for Zach's Michaux Mash (I think I'm fit enough to do that one now), the Michaux 40-miler (weather permitting), the MonTour 75 miler (always wanted to do that one), and after all that, I'll be ready for Big Bear 24 hour in June and will continue with another 40 miler of Michaux in July (maybe - or maybe I'll just ride for free on Rattling Creek for 40 miles) and then Rattling Creek 50 miler in August. From there, I'll see if I want to focus more on the fun Adventure tris for the remainder of the year or think about the Ironcross. Not sure yet on that. I love it when a plan comes together! Yeh baby.... now how the hell can I drop 5-7 very stubborn pounds?

A Nine Degree Weekend

Rumor has it Fit Chick was riding Michaux this weekend prepping for the Michaux Mash. I hope she blogs about it. But holy hell how do those people ride bikes in temps like that!? Fitty wrote about riding in sub-zero temps and wind. She called it character building. Well folks, my character can't be built in temps below 32 unless there's a foot or so of fluffy powder to shoosh in. But on the bike outside in less than 32 degrees? No can do. But I CAN build character on a trainer in the warmth of basement. I learned it from Laub a couple years ago when I wanted to get better and faster on the bike (but found out the faster didn't happen, but I COULD go longer). So this wonderful nine-degree weekend was perfect to sit my arse on a bike seat that never moved for 3.50 hrs. Yup... that's my character being built. It gave my pre-frontal cortex some exercise too. :)

A New Muscle to Exercise

Did you know the brain has muscles and if you wanna lose weight, exercise more, or whatever, you have to exercise your prefrontal cortex. And just how do you exercise your brain? No, it’s not by using it – it’s by NOT using it as much. What a revelation. I’ve been having issues the past month or so with eating. I can’t stop! The bottomless pit opens and no amount of food will fill it. I have zilch willpower and just keep shoveling it in. Luckily, the scale has been holding its own because I try to workout to compensate for the extra calories. But this is NOT what I wanted – the scale is supposed to be going down. So I google “willpower” this morning and I find this very interesting article on brain overload and how it affects willpower. Here’s a quote from the article.

The brain area largely responsible for willpower, the prefrontal cortex, is located just behind the forehead. While this bit of tissue has greatly expanded during human evolution, it probably hasn't expanded enough. That's because the prefrontal cortex has many other things to worry about besides New Year's resolutions. For instance, scientists have discovered that this chunk of cortex is also in charge of keeping us focused, handling short-term memory and solving abstract problems. Asking it to lose weight is often asking it to do one thing too many.

Ironically, I’ve been super-busy at work and have taken on several new responsibilities that keep me hopping and require me to remember and gather a ton of information. Some days, I leave work mentally exhausted. After reading this article, I believe there’s some truth to the saying “working too hard.” My brain is working too hard and its overloaded and under-exercised! So the next time your boss sees you sitting and staring at a blank wall, tell them, “I’m exercising boss.” What a great excuse to sit and stare.

Brainy Ideas

My mind LOVES to wonder. Sometimes I swear there are little elves in there running around building more cells just to make me use them and mess up my head even more than it is normally. My wheels hardly ever stop turning... should I do this, should I do that, why can't I lose weight, what if I eat this way and not that, what about this food, what will dropping 5 pounds do for my climbing, why are races too expensive, will they give me a discount since I don't drink beer (and hubby doesn't either so I can't get it and give it to him), when is my new biking gear coming, should I take my bike in for a tune-up, should I take a couple bikes in for a couple tune-ups, hubby will balk at the price of a tune-up, how many days should I take off work to ride/work in the garden, can I balance it all, I wanna be the most fit 50-year old I possibly can be, that means riding like a crazy woman, I wanna race, I don't wanna race, yes I do. When will this stop!?!??!? Will drinking cure this all? Here's yet another crazy thought... I'm bitching about prices of races and go to check out the River town Race Series prices and find them affordable (and they have category in EVERY race for a 50 year old woman!) but ALSO find even more races I want to do! What the hell is up with that? I enjoy doing the adventure tris (paddling instead of swimming), hubby approves of them (because I use the boat!) and I find one only 45 minutes from home! It's in another part of Weiser State Forest - the Roaring Creek tract - that is northeast of me near Mount Carmel. Just a leisurely ride in the car on a couple back roads and I'm there. Of course I'm doing it! Click on SACH Roaring Creek Tri for info. It's Oct 24. And I'd like to do the Chili Challenge on Oct 16 too. Very fun. Oh, and while I'm at it, why not the Humdinger on March 7? It's only 7 miles of mountain running. Ha! There go those crazy little guys in my head futzing things up! Oh the torture.