Pallas Athena

People have had lots of thoughts flying around as of late relating to the current downturn of the U.S. economy, and now the world economy as well. Although I keep hearing from folks that it is a good thing that I am in nursing, we know economic downturns as well as others. Harry Truman once said “It’s a recession when your neighbor loses his job; it’s a depression when you lose yours.” Some of us lose our jobs quickly, for some it happens gradually over time. We are all beginning to feel the pinch, and I am not convinced that nursing is a recession proof profession. This is a capitalist society (I'm not knocking it), so no career is recession proof! Nurses have been laid off in mass numbers in the past. I graduated in 1993, and had been promised a job at our local hospital a year before graduation. Six months before graduation, they cut forty registered nurse positions. The new proposal? I would work 40%, and be the first to accept low census days. For anyone unfamiliar wi...

Today was a train inside day. Overall, went great. I really felt strong on the run after biking. Did a lot of incline work, and there was a lot of pedal left. It was like I was Grace Jones in Conan the Destroyer. Kicking ass. The incline on the treadmill was set in a range of 3.0-8.0 on the incline. And it felt like I was crawling. About time. I haven't been feeling strong for awhile now, and I know it is because of the time off from running to recuperate the foot. It still talks back, but it is crunch time. Tuning out, unless it gets louder. Kids did some of their boo bags tonight. It is so funny watching them drop the bags of candy, and run like hell. One of Chey's friends is the math teacher's daughter. He stood on the front steps and yelled to his daughter that someone left candy. Chey was hiding behind his tree out front, and he said someone must have ran pretty fast. Not really-she was standing there sweating bullets. Too crazy. Yeah, teaching my kids ...

I had a new swim suit. Like it is 3 weeks old. It was dark blue and had some ugly red flowers on it. It didn't matter, it was for swimming not fashion. Today, I went swimming at Princeton. Mike was on a mission to go shopping and I will not interfere with that! So he dropped me off and went about his business. The water seemed really "heavy" , like it was easy to catch or something. What little got in my mouth tasted terrible. Well, an hour and a half later I had my answer. I was sitting in the steam room when I noticed that the swimsuit had turned to a very faded light blue and the flowers are now pink. Apparently, Princeton has taken issue with all the nasty stank people who refuse to shower after a workout before they jump in the pool. "Hey, let's just bleach them dirty slimeballs!" Now, my suit looks like it has been used daily for months. I will look like a real swimmer in it now!

Awesome riding with Mike on Friday. We got 15 miles in; good power work but the scenery was even better. What a great break from the train drain. In the last 3 miles, I took a fall and bent the brake bar on the right. Guess you cannot replace the break lever without replacing the shifter. The shifter cannot be purchased without the left one as well. UGH! So, the set is $50.00 for the two. I checked several places in Madison. It was tough to decide to put that kind of money into my bike. It is a Trek 4100. One of the most poorly balanced mountain bikes on the market. The components suck on it too. But, it did only cost 350 new. Mike had the same bike as I, but his kept repeatedly busting. He had to have the bottom bracket changed out, bent a rim, deraliur gave out during the Ore to Shore Mountain Bike Epic. Over the past year, I have been able to hear my bracket clicking as well. This is how his started. Now he has a Specialized Stump Jumper, and he loves it. Savannah h...

I am over trained right now. Took 2 weeks to admit it to myself. Hill climbing SUCKS right now. In fact, anything that requires power sucks right now. The lactic burn will not quit. My averages are down, too. Mood is gone to crap. I don't really care if I eat or not either. Arizona is 7 weeks away. The way I see it, I need a week off, a sort of reset if you will. I think I need to do this, although I'm not really wanting to. Last year I ignored the signs, and it cost me the month of January in training time. Seems you just keep skimming down your reserves until there is nothing left. The crappy part is that I could so easily have competed in IM WI this year. I was ready. Now, it is like trying to maintain a peak for forever. Yesterday was the Tyranena Oktoberfest Ride. It was a really good time, and the weather was great for it. I rode with Jeff, Kerry and Dave. We stopped for a woman who fell and did a nasty dislocate of her left arm. As I'm whinning inter...