Christmas Whirlwind

Well hello there!

Tri-Dummy asked me if I was going to post anything about the fantastic gifts I received from my husband for Christmas. Somehow, he is maybe the best gift buyer ever! I never have to tell him directly, and he always gets me the perfect thing(s). So, by request...

What could possibly be in the bags?!


Oooo! How about brand new xc skis, boots, bindings, and poles!


Up close and personal




Now if only there was some fresh snow I would be set.

He also bought me a few things that go together to make one big present. See if you can figure it out!

A new flight of stairs...


A new mailbox...


A new garage door...


A new fireplace (with random junk on the mantle)...


A sweet new fancy tub...


as well as a stellar shower (currently minus a door)...


A deck and backyard for the doggies.


Yup... you guessed it. We bought a house.

And the first thing you see when you come up from the basement...

Mr KT's sign that has hung in every place he has ever lived. Just keep in mind that rules were made to be broken although he does firmly believe in this one!

We closed on the 27th of December. I didn't want to say anything about it until it was final just in case that would have jinxed us. We have spent the last 4 days moving in. Mr KT has been unbelievably awesome. I think he was trying to prevent a meltdown which he definitely did! When he moved to Omaha and into the tiny apartment I had been living in during PT school, I was grouchy for a whole week (seriously, just ask him). I was glad to have him there for sure, but it was a big change. Then we moved into a rental house a year later and it was hot and I was starting a brand new job, and we got two 8 week old puppies all within a two day span of time. I just get tired faster than he does and as much as it pains me to say it, I think that it takes more out of my female body to do all that lifting than it does his boy self. Dang that testosterone again. Anywho, he did a good majority of the packing and actual moving of boxes and furniture, he and his brother and my dad moved the items between houses and he has been a man on a mission about getting things unpacked and put away. I asked him why he was being so nice to me and he told me that he knew change was hard for me and that he was just trying to stay organized because he knew that was something that would help. Wow. First of all... he was right. Second of all... yes, the initial change is hard for me but I tend to adapt quickly so it isn't really a problem for too long (except that week when he moved in for some reason).

So, here we are. I love my skis (real present), I love my new house (not really a present but totally awesome) and I am excited to say that Mr KT designated one of the extra bedrooms my "tri room" which is even cooler. I now have absolutely no excuse for not getting on the trainer this winter.

So hopefully this explains why the posts were fewer this last week. Also, I have been reading all your blogs but just haven't had the energy to comment. Am starting to pick that back up so look out!

Happy 2008 everybody!

Anyone else...

...feel like they spent their holidays doing this?



Specifically, #3, 4, and 6?

Bricko was into everything. At my mother-in-law's, he managed to get a big bite out of a christmas tree shaped brownie with bright green frosting complete with M&Ms. My husband wrestled most of that out of his mouth but he smells like frosting for 2 days. He was into the tree at our house, sniffing around at the ornaments and the pretend pinecones. At my parents house, gift wrap was the item of interest. He "helped" Mr KT unwrap all of his presents.



And then he took a nap.

Merry Christmas from the Collins'

This year.


Last year.


Merry Christmas to all!

Hope that your days are filled with family, friends, and joy this holiday season.

Should have taken a recovery day

Well folks, after my hard swim yesterday I went back for more punishment today after work.

500 warm up
3x200 on the 3:10 (This was supposed to happen 2x thru but we opted for a straight 600 on the same interval.) Worked out just fine. That was a 1:34 per 100 yds. Nice.
100 ez
400 IM kick
200 warm down

2400 in an hour or so.

The good news... I got thru the workout.
The bad news... My arms were like lead after the warm up.

So it goes.

Note to self: maybe should have taken the day off swimming.

Ewww... there goes lunch!

Went to Master's tonight to get one of my two swim workouts in this week. It was fast 50's night apparently.

700 warm up
3 x (5x50) - odds fast, evens ez within set
set 1: fly
set 2: back
set 3: free (I did my fast 50s on :35, :37, :33!!)

goofy kick set: 50s starting on the 1:05 and then +:03 sec, -:03 sec. I got all confused and ended up dropping the rest and just decreasing by :03 each 50. I got down to 45 sec (approx 400 yds)

250 warm down

7 minutes treading in deep: :30 with 10 lb brick, drop to bottom, :30 hands out of water, retrieve brick, repeat

12x50 off the blocks, at least two of each stroke, 25 all out, 25 ez. Leave when the person in front of you touches opposite wall (3 in our lane).

200 warm down

Total 2900 yds +7 minutes of treading

Now, fun day at practice but I'll let you ponder for a second where the title of this post came from.

...




...


Notice how we go from a nice easy warm up heartrate to fast 50s of fly. Yeah after 3 hard, fast 50s of fly I wasn't feeling so hot. Then to go from a fast 50 of fly to a fast 50 of backstroke, where you have to flip over, that about did it. After the 5x50 back was finished I felt better but yuck.

My swim buddy told me that if I puked due to the workout, he would give me $100. Nice... but not worth it today. Ask me again tomorrow.

Lost and Found

You all will be glad to know that I found my digital camera. It was in the water bottle pocket of my Mountain Smith "work" bag. That was maybe the most exciting part of my day. Well... that or when the middle school boy body checked me from behind. All in a day's work.

This week is crazy busy with all the meetings for kiddos. I am squeezing in workouts as best I can. I did about 25 minutes of abs this morning and am already feeling that. Definitely gonna feel it in the morning. I had to move the swim that I had scheduled for this afternoon to tomorrow. No big deal. My husband acquired tickets to a Creighton basketball game. We had a good time. Go CU!

Holiday Lights Fun Run

You know what? I have no idea how far I ran tonight. This is very unusual for me. I like to know the details. I do know that I ran 29 minutes. That is all I know. The run was supposed to be either a 2 miler or a 4 miler but due to icy sidewalks and deep drifts we improvised. We literally followed the lights around downtown. If it looked pretty that is the way we ran. And you know what? It was fun.





I actually took Kona with me. I know that is often a no-no in a group run but she hadn't had a run today and she was chock full of energy. I would have had to run with her when I got home. Anywho, she did great. She ran right next to me (on a very short lead), she didn't make too many sudden lateral movements and she sat whenever we stopped, just like she is supposed too. I think she might have been showing off. We ran towards at back of the very small pack so as not to be in anyone's way. It was a rather slow run but felt great to be out and looking at the lights and the Old Market at night. We even ran by the horse drawn carriage. What a beautiful night for a run.

P.S. Apparently Kona had been good for so long that she could stand it no longer. On the ride home in the car she chewed up the little pad that was on the bottom of her crate. Oh well, could have been worse. I figured that was coming at some point. =0) And I should have known something was going on, she was awful quiet back there.

P.P.S. I didn't take any of the photos as I still can't find my stupid camera but these are actually pictures of the area we ran in. Hope that will suffice.

Snowy Saturday

I just got back from xc skiing. I drove over to the local golf course and skied for about 40 minutes. It was really dark and under the canopy of the trees the snow didn't light up or have any sparkle from the moon. The nice thing about the cover of night... there is a much lower chance that anyone else will see you fall. Which I still do occassionally, mostly when I am moving slowly and my ski tips cross or something ridiculous like that. I only fell on one of the steeper downhills that I took.

Anyway, it was super nice skiing on the golf course instead of the side streets in the neighborhood. I plan on doing it again tomorrow after church and maybe a couple of trips down the big hill that I do hill reapeats on, on my sled with one of the babies running along beside.

Today was a really nice, snowy day. I ran this am with Kona will my husband ran with Brick. The snow was coming down and the wind was blowing and on the way home I kept getting snow flakes in my eyeballs. Kona loves the snow and was bounding along as best she could with her leash on. Mr KT and Brick showed back up just after Kona and I and they both had ice coated beards. (I would have taken a picture but I currently can't find my camera. Awesome.)

Then... it was time for cookie day. My dad, husband and uncle frosted maybe 5 dozen gingerbread and sugar cut-outs while my aunt, mom and I stirred, mixed, measured and baked. We made about 2-3 dozen of at least 6 other kinds. That is over 20 dozen cookies. Yeah, I'm not going to lie, we went through three pounds of butter. Land O Lakes loves us.

So there is your Saturday update. I think I am going to go look for my digital camera!

Later all

You should not ski on antiques...

... they might be worth something.

So as you know (or don't know) last winter I acquired a really old pair of cross country skis.

These are seriously the boots.

No, this is not a joke. I am not kidding, I repeat, not kidding. It feels like the sole is made of concrete and the minute the leather gets wet, look out! Now before I go any further, I have to say that I was given these skis last year for free. Can't argue with that. I had really wanted to try xc skiing and see if I liked it and there is no better way than for free. I used them everytime it snowed last year and have gone out once this year.

I love to ski, but they are just not working for me. I am hoping to get a new pair but I have no idea what to get. (Blink, I am looking for your help/advice on this one.)

The details you should know...
I live in Nebraska where we get some snow. There are no mountains (obviously) or XC ski trails but it is definitely hilly. I also live basically across the street from a golf course and could definitely ski there.

I need some advice, y'all. Someone on Triscoop mentioned that if the snow was hard pack, skate style would be awesome on a golf course but I don't even know what actual hard pack snow looks like. Yikes, how ignorant can one be? :) I also don't know what size or anything like that. I think that Canfield's in Omaha might be able to help with some of that. I don't know of any place else that sells the stuff in town. Someone else on Triscoop told me to go to our local ski shop and I laughed out loud. Somebody forgot to mention to that friend that this is lame-ass Nebraska (but I am not bitter). You have to create fun here. So, we xc ski where we can. We trail run and mtb on the same three trails over and over and we take trips. =0)

Back on track.

So, I am not an "advanced" XC skier. I have one season under my belt with antique skis, that have to be waxed, skiing along on the side streets on suburban Nebraska. What would you all suggest? I desperately am calling on the blog world to give suggestions. Thanks you guys!

Happenings

I have not been all too motivated lately.
I have my reasons.
Moving on.

I had great plans for my training last week and then I only followed through on about 3/4s of them. This is very un-KT-like. I like to have a plan, I like for it to be written down and then I like to see it carried through. Apparently none of this was enough to get me on my bike/trainer last week.

Now for the paradigm shift. Snow. It has been snowing and sleeting since Saturday. Mr KT (who desperately needs a new name on this blog) and I went to Kansas City to see the Trans Siberian Orchestra with three of my friends from physical therapy school and their husbands. He was a little hesitant back in October when I asked if he would want to go see this show. He, of course, kind of wrinkled up his nose and shook his head when he heard the word "orchestra". Really, as any 80's hair band lovin', Camero drivin', thrift store t-shirt wearin', ex-college football playin' 26 year old guy would do.

And then I played a snippet from one of their songs and explained that really, it was more of a loud Christmas rock concert/laser light show. That did it. He was in. It was a good show. A bit on the long side if you asked us and I forgot my ear plugs. (I wear them to every concert I go to.) I spent the second half of the show plugging my ears but I still loved it. There was a baby sitting behind me on his mother's lap. He really did pretty well but as a pediatric therapist I was really worried about the poor kiddos' sensory system. If I was over stimulated as any normal person would have been, what about the little under-developed system of a toddler? He did alright and his mom apologized after the show (as he was totally nursing in the middle of the Sprint Center!). She said, "after all, he is only 17 months". In my tiny,little, mean, horrible mind, I thought to myself, "then get a baby-sitter". But I kept it all to myself, smiled and walked away.


The girls, getting all dolled up to go to dinner and a concert in KC!
Lisa, Stacia, KT, Tessa


Mr KT, sporting the longer hair. There have been inklings that he is not going to cut it until June.

So, we had a nice weekend.


When we got home, Kona, who was exhausted from the journey, curled up on the couch to wait for Santa.

The triathlon/training part of this post comes now. So if that is what you read for... wake up.

The last two weeks have been hit or miss, 5-7 hours of training a week. But then...

Sunday night we took the babies for a walk in the snow.
Monday morning, Kona and I ran 3 miles in the snow at a reasonable (for slippery conditions) pace.
Monday night, I swam. I felt super and had a really good workout.
Tuesday morning, I XC skied about 2 miles. It felt good to get out and work. I was hot even though it was only 14 degrees.

So, I feel like I am ready to get into the swing of things. I am setting aside time do do core work, in addition to the weights I already lift, three times a week.

Tis the season!

Sad day in Omaha

A 19 year old male opened fire today at a mall in Omaha, NE. He killed himself but only after killing 9 other people. My thoughts and prayers go out to the families of both the victims and the suspect. This young man will not "be famous" and he did NOT "go out in style" as he had hoped.

Runnin', runnin'

Kona and I had a nice.super.slow.easy.comfortable.lazy.lovely run this evening. I am guessing it was about 45 degrees out and completely dark. Beautiful, in fact I was a bit over dressed. I took my gloves off halfway through! Kona and I meandered through the neighborhoods and looked at the lights and then ran the big hill in the park to head back towards home.

I have to say that I am a morning person overall. I love to run early in the morning when it is still dark out. There is a certain quiet beauty about the early morning. It is almost like a secret, something people don't know about. They are snuggled up in their beds (which is also a nice place to be) or pouring caffeine into their systems trying to wake up all those cells. It is a darkness that is trying to let go as opposed to the evening darkness that is just going to get darker. I almost forget what being out in that nighttime darkness is like. This time of year, I prefer the evening runs. It gets dark so early (officially 4:55 pm here today) that after work you can throw on the running tights and a favorite stocking hat and head out to look at the lights on foot. I base my running schedule each week around the 10 day forecast on www.weather.com. If there is going to be snow overnight, I run in the morning first thing. I love it when the snow is clean in front of me and all that can be seen behind in the moonlight are my footprints with a set of little doggy prints beside.

I wish I could take a picture of that but it never turns out the same as it looks in real life. If there is going to be a really nice day, I try to sneak in a run after work to catch the tail end of the warmer temperature. I just love to be out there running. I love all kinds of weather, each has its own adventure.

However, today's adventure was not weather related. Today as I was running down the street of a very nice neighborhood, I noticed lots of trailer trucks, lights, cords, people, and yes even fake snow. I am thinking that they may have been shooting some sort of movie or commercial or something at this house. It looked beautiful. There were wreaths in every single window with tiny white lights and red bows. (And these are not little houses, there were A LOT of windows to decorate.) I just kept running as I passed and was glad that they had a nice night to do something like that and that it wasn't the sub-zero, Arctic weather that we get here in Nebraska.

So... see, it does pay off to slide off the couch, lace up the shoes and get out the door.

GO RUN. OUTSIDE. TREADMILLS ARE FOR WIMPS!

Beginning of the week

Sunday and Monday went just as planned. I had a great run Sunday morning with both dogs and then in the afternoon lifted weights (legs) and did Pilates. Today I had sore quads, gluts, calves, and between my shoulder blades (from something in Pilates, I am sure). Feels good.

This morning I got in a nice session of yoga and this afternoon swam 2650 yds. Felt pretty good other than my calves were sore with every flutter kick. =0) Self inflicted according to my coach.

Now, tomorrow, I was going to run in the am and lift weights (arms) in the p.m. Unfortunately, a last minute, early IEP meeting has thwarted those plans so I am going to do both in the afternoon. No big deal. Maybe it will be a smidge warmer for the run that way. =0) I am not going to hold my breath on that though.

So there is the update. Hope you all are having a nice week.

An actual post about training

Last week was a little on the lazy side.

I ran 3 times for a total of 1 hr 40 min
Walked 2 times for 20 minutes each with the dogs
Biked on the trainer once for 45 min
Swam 1 time for an hour
Lifted weights 1 wimpy time for 25 minutes
and had 1 official rest day.


YIKES! That was a total of about 4 hours. Okay, this week, back in gear.

So here is the plan. I will update each day this week just like I always do on the left side on my blog. The plan is

Sunday
AM: Run 2.5 miles before church (20 mins)
PM: Pilates (40 mins)
PM: Lift legs (30 mins)
Monday
AM: Yoga (40 minutes)
PM: Swim 3000-3500 yds (1.25 hrs)
Tuesday
AM: Run 3.5 miles (30 mins)
PM: Lift arms - (30 mins)
Wednesday
AM: Pilates (40 mins)
PM:Swim 2500-3000 yds (1.25 hrs)
Thursday
AM: Run 2.5 miles (20 mins)
PM: Ride bike - indoor trainer (1 hr)
Friday
AM: Run 3.5 miles (30 min)
PM: rest (travelling)
Saturday
rest day (traveling)

This would be a little over 8 hours which is significantly more respectable.

Note: Last week during my lone swim workout, I found that we have moved from fly lessons to breast stroke lessons. I think that the reasoning behind all this stroke work is due to a Master's meet coming up in February. There may be talk amogst my coach and pool buddy that I should swim in one of the events. I am not yet convinced but it is still a ways off so we will see I guess. Anywho, I now know how to do a "legal" lap of breast stroke so at least I won't be DQ'd. Hopefully. =0)

More later...

Still not sure...

...what I am going to race next season. I have had a lot of people suggest I start going long (after I get the nutrition figured out!) I like the idea of a HIM and am really contemplating trying to get into the San Diego Triathlon Challenge.

I also really want to concentrate on speed. Like I said before, I have a buddy who is offering to help on the running end of that and my Master's coach will be all over the swim but now I am just looking for some advice as far as training for speed on my bike is concerned.

The question that I just keep wondering is can you work on speed while trying to go a little longer?

The good news is that the half in San Diego isn't until October. This is WAY after all the races in the Midwest have been completed due to weather challenges. So... I really think that I could do it and am getting psyched up just thinking about it. Am I being crazy? Is all the ice outside on the streets, power lines, and every.single.blade.of.grass also covering up the neurons in my brain? =0)


On that note... it was a busy day at our house on Saturday as we cleaned like crazy and put up the Christmas tree.
It was cold and we had a "wintry mix" from the time we got up until about 2:00 pm. This included the ice you saw in the photo above. Brick and Kona really wanted to go out but they would get outside, realize how cold it was and turn around and want back in.


They have been taught by the psychologist in the house (not me) to ring the bells when they want in or out. This is a pretty good solution. They typically nudge them with their faces gently except when they really want in or out NOW, then they smack them really hard with their paws. It is pretty funny but gets old fast.

And yes, those are leftover bells from our wedding 2 1/2 years ago. =0)

Just like most doggies, Brick and Kona LOVE ice. While Bricko was outside on Saturday, he figured out that all the stuff hanging from the deck and the branches was ice. It was hilarious to watch him running all over trying to eat it all. Wish I could have videotaped that.



And, at the end of a long, busy day of begging to be let out, checking out every inch of the Christmas tree, and eating a glaciers worth of ice, Brick is curled up on a warm lap.



Sorry about the numerous pictures of the "babies". Training has been a bit on the slow side but I am ready to pick it all back up. More on that next time.

Yay... I know!

Your eyes do not deceive you, my friends, that is the first snow we have had here in Omaha. It fell during the day on Wednesday and although it was not enough to break out the sleds or the cross country skis it was really pretty. It was cold enough that it stayed on the ground for a couple of days and never casued the streets to get messy. Love that! It definitely made the 5 mile run on Thanksgiving morning wonderful. Did, I mention, YAY!

Do you mind the cool weather?

The temperature is dropping, and that is fine with me. I love summer but I also love winter, spring and fall. This time of year, the weather is brisk (although it was 70 degrees yesterday). Today it was 39 degrees when I got home from the pool. Wet hair and 39 degrees = cold! It is also getting dark at about 2 pm in the afternoon and it has totally messed up the "babies" routine. Brick thinks it would be super to eat dinner at 4:30 pm and then go to bed around 5:30. That would be fine if it didn't mean that he was ready to get up at 4:30 am. I like to run early in the morning but not that early! I have been giving them a snack at 5:00 pm to tide them over till dinner. Here is Brick working on a hickory smoked bone filled with peanut butter. (An ideal doggy recovery food.)





On a non-triathlon related note...




Mr KT raked the entire yard and swept off the driveway about 4 pm on Saturday.
These pictures were taken on Sunday morning. Yeah, and our leaves are falling on our neighbor's yards on both side. Good thing we rent, right?

I need a thing...

I sorta feel like this is the first time in my life where I have spare time. Triathlon season is over. I am supposed to be going lighter on the training. I am not in school, I am not studying for anything. I am not planning anything or really have any projects going. What am I supposed to be doing?

I have been thinking about things I would like to do... my scattered brain needs to see them written down, so that is what I am going to do. In future posts I am going to write about ways to put these thoughts into actions. Feel free to skip this stuff if you aren't interested. I won't be offended.

#1. I want to get more involved with the Challenged Athletes Foundation (CAF). Sarah Reinertsen is my most favorite triathlete of all time. She is fast, ripped, and has her priorities in the right place. Fantastic. CAF has helped her and she is giving back. This is a cause I wholeheartedly believe in.

#2. I want to learn to play my guitar better.

#3. I want to do more art. Photography, painting, drawing, creating... I have not done as much of this since I graduated from undergrad. I feel like all my creativity is being squelched.

#4. I want to run faster. Period.

#5. I want to get back into rock climbing. I miss it a ton. Again, something I haven't done much of since undergrad.

#6. I want to do a little bit of traveling. I am a Midwestern girl, really haven't been out of the Midwest other than a foray to Arizona for half a year.

Now... time to get this stuff going!

Run, Bike, Decorate

Had a nice easy 4 mile run this morning with Kona and then a moderate 1 hour ride this evening with Mr KT. In between I did some shopping with my momma. This evening after I went to say happy birthday to a friend of mine I finished decorating some Turkey Cookies. Sounds strange I know, but look how cute they turned out.





My mom sent me this recipe and I just had to make them. They almost turned out like the picture. Not bad. I did change a few things... like I made the sugar cookies from scratch because the pre-made ones are yucky. I also made my own chocolate frosting. Yum, yum.

Shield your eyes...

I totally skipped out on my swim tonight so that I could lift weights.

I feel extremely guilty about this but oh well. It was worth it. You should see me. I am ripped.



EWWWWWWWWWWWW! But not that ripped. Wish this guy would have been around when I was taking anatomy. Who needs to dissect a cadaver when you can see it all through the skin.