Time to play catch-up

These past seven days have completely gotten away from me. Between the babysitter shuffle, late shifts and unanticipated doubles, I've been able to do a whole lot of nothing. But as I go through round 32 of babysitter interviews this week, I think I'll be back on my normal routine... whatever that is.

Times have really changed since I was 18 and trying to pick up extra cash with my own babysitting gigs. I was not, by any means, a perfect kid and the jobs I accepted were as heavily influenced by how well my clients stocked their refridgerators as it was by how well their children behaved. And honestly, if a babysitter came into my home just to eat popcorn while the Little Miss watches "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse," I'd probably be fine with that so long as everyone was safe and happy.

One thing I never did was call out from a job. I think I completely blanked on a babysitting job when I was 13. Much later in life, when I was 22, I responded to an ad looking for a part-time sitter, received her address with a date and time and showed up to a completely empty house. Other than those two times, I have always been there for whoever needed me. Sometimes in tears (when I had to drive around downtown Albany, NY for half an hour in a oil-burning, overheating, clunky p.o.s. car whose engine was about to fall out the bottom trying to find a parking spot near this one family's home), but I was there.

So I don't get calling in. For anything. If you have a job, even if it's "just" a babysitting job, you are there and on time. Hence the reason we are now seeking sitter #4. This time, I'm being especially picky:

• No sorority girls. No more of this rush week BS. If you're in a sorority, great. Don't take a job just to call out for several shifts at a time because of sorority crap. Lots of people go to school and work but if you don't really need your job, please don't waste someone's time by acting like you're employable.
• Decent grammar and spelling are a must. I'm not looking for perfection, but if someone means to say "you" and instead types "u", I will not hire her. Same for "cuz" "wanna" "gonna" and my BIGGEST peeve ever: The use of "is" when the appropriate word is "are" (and vice versa).
• The applicant must actually read my job posting. Seems like a no-brainer but I've already received more replies than not from people who clearly did not check the days I indicated I needed care for. An example of this is that I posted I needed someone for Wednesdays, Thursday evenings, and/or Fridays. One of my responses was from a woman who told me she was available Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays until 2:00 PM. *facepalm*

I hope this will all prove to be good practice for when I do own a business and have to deal with the hiring process.

In exercise news, I have only run about 30 miles of my goal of 100 for a month. Logging the miles hasn't been as easy as I'd hoped because my app doesn't always find a signal, so it will tell me I completed 1.38 miles in 1:50:00. I wish this challenge somehow included indoor miles and time spent indoor cycling, too, but even if I don't reach 100 miles outside, I've been pushing it with my workouts and feeling good. I taught two spin classes last week, one of them being on a Friday. I forgot how much I love doing a spin class on Friday evenings- such a great way to end the week and start the weekend!

Lastly, for the 2nd time my entry was drawn in the lottery for the Peachtree Road Race! It's a fast but incredibly steamy 10K race that also happens to be the biggest 10K in the world. I hope to improve on my 48:43 from last year by building my strength to better power through the initial downhill portion of the race and to make sure I'm good and acclimated to hot hilly runs to get through the rest.

Looking forward to any summer races?

What's your biggest deal-breaker when it comes to hiring someone?

Tuesday Night Spin - There's something in the air...

There's something in the air around here, and I don't think it's love. Wait, it is love. Tree love...

Get a room, trees.

It's like thousands of people have been walking around banging erasers together, creating a plume of yellow dust that cakes everything it comes into contact with. My recent runs have ended with my mouth and lungs coated with this crap and everywhere I go someone asks, "Are you OK?? Have you been crying?"

No, Ma'am. These are tears of joy.

Someone asked if I was running the Georgia Marathon or Half Marathon on St. Patrick's day. I laughed. Willingly choke on tree sex while running for almost four hours? Not right now, thanks.

Other than my 31-day running goal I actually don't have anything major on the horizon and with temperatures breaking records along with the pollen count, I hesitate to undertake any kind of major mileage. My foot is still being an ornery little ____, reminding me of its less than stellar physical condition and I don't know that I can see anyone for it without a referral.

So I'm setting my sights on the fall or winter for my next big race and I might actually make it a full marathon. I'd like to do better with maintaining my average mileage throughout the summer and be able to start logging longer runs once we break through the hottest part of the next season.

In the meantime, I still look forward to teaching my classes even when the weather is nice enough that I should be riding outside. Fortunately, I'm not the only one whining about aching sinuses or itchy eyes so hopefully we'll have a good turnout tonight. I put together a selection of songs I like to blast in my car with my windows open during that brief stretch of time (about 3 weeks) between needing to rely on heat or air conditioning to be comfortable. Seriously, it was in the 40's just a couple weeks ago. Now, it's 81.

Anyway, this week's list is full of turn-up-the-volume-worthy songs and a healthy dose of climbs. Pollen might be all that's in the air around Atlanta but there is a little love in my playlist. As in, I love my climbs and I am sharing that love with you. Watch out for songs 5-8: There's a nice 15-minute endurance challenge that, if you push through without slowing down for a break, will burn 46,234 calories. Or, something like that.

Spring Fever Spin

"Curbside Prophet" Jason Mraz - warm up, flat road, alternate legs for 30s. each.

"Are You Gonna Be My Girl" Jet - add a gear, continued warm-up going through all 3 positions (pos1 on verse, 2 on bridge, 3 on chorus). Add one more gear half-way through the song if you aren't starting to break a sweat.

"Sugar We're Going Down" Fallout Boy - first light climb, add 2 gears on the chorus and pick up the pace in pos3, take one off and sit for the next verse. Repeat this pattern (+2, -1) adding a little more toward the end if you're not at medium-high resistance.

"Brasileira" Veron & Praia Del Sol - two sets of runs; first on a semi-flat road (don't be afraid to add a gear or two to make it harder) while seated for 1 min, recover, then add another gear or two and take it up to pos3 to run for one more minute. This is the first effort to really get the heart rate up so try to push it up to the 80-90% range.

"Uprising" Muse - first big climb; start at medium resistance at what will feel like a slow and easy cadence (on the beat). Same as the first climb we'll add 2 gears and stand and climb on the chorus, take just one off for the verse when we sit. As it gets harder try to stay on the pace!

"Perfect Situation" Weezer - dial the resistance back to medium for isolation drills; we'll start seated, take it up to a light jog in pos2 for the bridge and on the chorus attempt to take out the bounce (moving just the legs, not the upper body). Don't do this if you have knee issues or are new to indoor cycling.

"Dream On" Aerosmith - still holding at medium resistance, we're going to climb to the max, adding resistance every 45s or so until the need overtakes us to stand up in pos3 to finish the climb.

"I Wanna Be Sedated" Ramones - time to flatten out and flush out those legs, but do NOT let that heart rate come down! You have to hold on and push through these sprints to earn your break!

"The Golden Age" Asteroid Galaxy Tour - alternating riding in the seat and out of the saddle (in pos2 or pos3, whatever you want) between the chorus and verses with light resistance, allowing the HR to come down a little. Keep it at a moderate pace, though!

"Bright Lights" Matchbox Twenty - I've wanted to use this song for a long time but can't find my CD for the life of me so today I finally caved and purchased this track in the meantime until the album shows up somewhere. We're going to climb one last time, starting seated at medium resistance and standing up in pos3 and adding one gear for the chorus. Leave it on when you sit and keep up your pace as you push up over this last, not quite as steep, bump.

"All My Life" Foo Fighters - Flat road (or a little more for control & a challenge), sprint on the chorus. The goal is to get that HR up to 90% of your max or - if you don't wear a monitor - breathing hard and not wanting to attempt to talk.

"Starlight" Muse & "#34" Dave Matthews Band - cool down and stretch.
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Happy Spring!

What's your favorite song/artist to blast when driving around town?
I like to turn heads, so it might be "Baby Got Back" as I rock it in my swagger wagon.

(For the record, I don't actually drive a minivan... I drive an actual wagon. Don't hate.)

Three Things Thursday

1. Miles

I have only clocked 15 of my 100 miles, but I'm slowly making my way there. The weather has been a little whacky lately -  45° and raining one day, 75° the next - just in time for me to have committed to trying to log all of my foot miles outdoors. Aside from risking ruining my phone (which has the Strava app) in a surprise deluge, I'm glad the 100-mile challenge is forcing me outside. I'm pretty happy to run just about anywhere, so treadmill miles don't bother me at all, but for this month's miles to "count" they have to be measured via GPS and uploaded to my online profile. Unless I want to run nowhere for 45 minutes, I have to get outside rain, wind or shine. This means getting back to running with my daughter a bit more which has actually been quite fun. Don't get me wrong, she's the best kid ever, I just haven't always looked forward to pushing her chunky toddler butt up hills. As far as how she handles being strapped into the stroller; as long as there's a fun destination or nice scenery, she's a great running partner. The runs are tougher, sure, but it's also nice to relax and back off the pace so that I can chat with her and answer all of her questions about the world around us.

2. Mindfullness



My biggest pet peeve this week is stupid questions. Despite what your benevolent 2nd-grade teacher told you, some questions ARE stupid. When asked, certain questions don't just reflect a lack of knowledge, they indicate that no thoughts are processed before the speaker's mouth has opened. Here are a few:

• "Did you do/take care of ___? Are you sure?" asked in a accusing manner, to make the person in question feel as though her answer won't be trusted, anyway. In a situation such as, say, working in a restaurant, accusatory-sounding questions like this one are especially unappreciated by me because it feels like an assumption has been made that I won't do what I'm supposed to unless there's someone tailing me going "Are you gonna do this? You got that? What about this over here?"
• Any question about a food's origin beyond the state and farming method. I get that you want to know your filet was once a happy cow, roaming free in the North Georgia mountains before he was electrocuted. But I don't know his name or where his favorite patch of grass was. There's no such thing as a conscious carnivore, although many will continue to try as if caring deeply about the animal on their plate makes it any less medium-rare.
• People who ask my child if she wants something right in front of me before asking me first. This is usually only an issue in grocery stores that give stuff away, and while I'm not a strict mom who never lets her kid have any fun ever, I'd appreciate you clearing it with me before you try to give her a cookie/balloon/crack-on-a-stick (lollipop).

3. A Massive 10K

The lottery opened today for biggest 10K in the country so I'm crossing my fingers that I get in again! The race takes place on the Fourth of July and it's massive. I've never run shoulder-to-shoulder and heel-to-toe like that before but I'm looking forward to hopefully doing it again and improving my time. My first attempt was definitely not the fastest I've ever run 6.2 miles but heat and humidity are definitely a factor. Being quick enough to be in the first start wave is a huge advantage, as there is still shade and just a hint of a breeze between the buildings in Midtown, but regardless of what you do you'll still be sweating before you pass the first mile marker. Fortunately, the weather is warming up just in time to start getting used to runs in the heat. I ran 6 miles with the Little Miss in her jogging stroller and was dripping buckets thanks to some post-storm humidity. Time to acclimate!

If you had to pick an extreme, would you rather run really hot or really cold?

Been asked any stupid questions lately?