Multitasking Makes You Dumber

While reading one of the blogs I subscribe to via Bloglines, I came across the following exerpt from the Atlantic Monthly:

Multitasking messes with the brain in several ways. At the most basic level, the mental balancing acts that it requires — the constant switching and pivoting — energize regions of the brain that specialize in visual processing and physical coordination and simultaneously appear to shortchange some of the higher areas related to memory and learning. We concentrate on the act of concentration at the expense of whatever it is that we’re supposed to be concentrating on… studies find that multitasking boosts the level of stress-related hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline and wears down our systems through biochemical friction, prematurely aging us. In the short term, the confusion, fatigue, and chaos merely hamper our ability to focus and analyze, but in the long term, they may cause it to atrophy.

(from BadLanguage)

I was reading this at work while I ate lunch, read emails and gave my leg an ice massage. I thought I was getting smarter and more capable of handling everything, but actually I am turning my mind into mush.

My schedule is so crazy I'm surprised my mind isn't mush already. I couldn't run at lunch today so I decided I'd run before work. This means I have to get up at 5:00 a.m. In order to avoid any excuses and be most efficient, I slept in my running clothes! Everything but my shoes. My husband chuckled as I got into bed, but I knew he was really just jealous he didn't have a reason to sleep in his running clothes.

And I have found out that the stick straight fine hair that I have had since I was born is now wavy. It really makes it easier to style, and takes less time so I am experimenting with it. I think pregnancy hormones just made my hair wavy - I just say my kids curled my hair (they haven't turned it grey yet).

I don't know what to do with this new hair. I've been blowdrying it straight but didn't know what to do to make it wavy without looking crazy. I'm pretty clueless when it comes to girly things like hair and makeup. I don't even wear makeup. And I try really hard to style my hair but usually no matter what I do it ends up looking the same - it just hangs straight and frizzy at the sides of my head without any style at all. Ponytails are all I have.

Considering this ineptitude, yesterday I finally consulted with curly-haired women at work who are experts at this sort of thing. I purchased "anti-frizz" serum and mousse and they gave me a styling tutorial (I had been putting on too little serum and at the wrong time!). Today everyone commented on how curly my hair is now. I guess I did it right! It's kind of cool, considering when I was in high school I permed my hair to get it to look this way.

This blog entry is sort of stream of consciousness in that it jumps from subject to subject. See - I am losing it. My brain is starting to atrophy! I can't concentrate. AHHH!

Cause Running Makes You Smarter

The next time someone asks why I run, I'll tell them because running makes me smarter. Ha!

The answers to the Spongebob Squarepants website games are:

1. Pyramid = Q*bert
2. Patty Panic = Burgertime -I LOVED this game - we didn't have Intellivision but the kids I babysat did so when ever they went to bed I would play and play and play.
3. Sea Monster Smoosh = Dig Dug - We played this one in the grocery store while my mom shopped. I was so afraid she'd leave without me, though, that every once in a while I'd leave to go find her. Then I think we actually got the Atari verison of this.

Lately I've heard so much about the Wii I've wondered whether we should get one. My son's friend has one and that's all he wants to do - play Pokemon on the Wii.

I don't think it will happen, though. For one thing, I remember sitting for hours in front of the tube playing Atari until my wrists and thumbs throbbed and my eyes watered. I played Ms. PacMan and Kaboom constantly. I LOVED Kaboom, too. But the thing that really floors me is the price of this system - at least $300 and right now because it's so in demand you won't find it for less than $400! Games for this run about $50.00 a piece! For $80 I get an annual membership to COSI - free admission all year. For $70 I get a zoo membership - free admission all year and free parking - and Fluffy! I don't think I'm spending $500 to stay in the house and play games on my TV. Nor do I want to encourage my kids to do this either.

Next time my son asks to get the Wii or to watch TV, I'll tell him to go out and get some real exercise (maybe even running) - it will make him smarter!

Light at the End of the Tunnel

Is that a light at the end of the tunnel? Is the sun parting the clouds? Did I run 3.1 miles and NOT hobble home and wince with each step????

It was 11 degress with the wind chill but I was quite warm. I had on two long sleeve technical running shirts and my new MIT jacket, with running shorts and my running pants. I had on my head band and my MIT hat. Pretty toasty! Probably too many clothes for any more than a 3 mile run.

My legs are sore but not like they usually are. And the worst thing I felt running was some fatigue. Eating two helpings of chili beforehand didn't help either. Chili burps are not very good when you are running.

I won't dare say I'm healed - but I am becoming cautiously optimistic that my shin splints will be defeated! YEAH!

Stay warm!

What do you do when it's -15 degrees?

Why, you run 20 miles, right? That's what my husband did! Actually he ran 13 miles outside, stopping temporarily back at the house for a new water bottle when the one he was carrying froze shut. The last 7 miles had to be on the treadmill. No sweat!

Now we are in hibernation mode. We built a fire, and I made cookies (YES I MADE COOKIES!) with my two year old and they actually came out ok. My husband's making his world famous pizza and we have football on the TV.

My son played computer games. We have resisted buying Wii or XBox or anything like that, but my six year old is glued to the computer because there are lots of games available. I love the Spongebob Squarepants website because it has a bunch of games that are modeled after games we played when we were kids.

Can you guess which games these are modeled after?

1. Pyramid = ?
2. Patty Panic = ?
3. Sea Monster Smoosh = ?

BRRRR

Wind chills approach -15 degrees tonight. BRRRR!

Wimped Out

Ok so I wimped out and ran on the treadmill this morning. 3 measly miles. Then later in the morning someone posted this article on our running forum so now I feel really guilty. Oh well. Maybe it will be 8 degrees on Monday when I'm off....

Walk a Mile in Her Shoes

They are here! I picked up my new orthotics on Thursday and tried them out. Joe, the physical therapist I have been seeing, is very confident that the orthotics will help reduce, and potentially eliminate, my shin splints. I am very excited but do not want to get too optimistic yet. It is very hard to tell right now if they are working. Joe's instructions were to try running in them tomorrow but don't do 15 miles. I just laughed. The instructions that came with them said walk in them an hour the first day and then add an hour each day. I ran in them yesterday for 2 miles and it felt pretty good. But then my legs were sore afterwards, as usual. Unfortunately I forgot to wear them today as today is a rest day, but I will get to try them out again tomorrow on my "long" run which will only be 3 or 4 miles. Joe said the pain should start to gradually diminish. I really really hope so!

I'm getting a little nervous looking at the weather forecast for tomorrow. At 9:00 am it will be 24 degrees but feel like 9 degrees! And the temperature will be getting colder during the day! This will be the coldest temperature for me for a run. Our motivational email from our MIT coach was to just come out and give it a try; the first mile will be hard but we should be warm after that. I wonder how cold it has to be for my music player to stop working!!!

One of my MIT friends ran her first marathon at Disney last weekend. I'm so proud of her, and inspired to keep training and hoping that I can conquer the pain enough to consider doing the Columbus marathon this year.

Something Funky This Way Comes

The rest of the city is watching THE GAME, including my husband, so I'm going to sit down and write something witty. Well, I can promise I'll write something. Here goes.

I typically run at lunch at the gym. I work downtown, and this gym is pretty popular among the beautiful people and the gym rats. I'm there so often I am pretty sure I am a gym rat too.

While running on the treadmill last week amidst a number of other people running on treadmills all around me, I smelled something. Something funky. I thought that someone around me had a pretty bad case of funk. Fortunately, I was almost done so I didn't have to smell it for long.

The next day I ran at lunch again. Lots of people were running. And AGAIN I smelled something. What was going on here? What were the chances that I was running next to the same person again? I hadn't really noticed who was around me; I just jumped up on the treadmill and started going. After a few minutes, I considered something - what WERE the chances that the person with the funk was running next to me a second day in a row? Then I thought, "honey, that's you with the funk!" How embarrassing!

Apparently the wicking material in running clothes retains the smell after awhile. My problem is that after I run, I just throw my sweaty clothes in my bag and they sit in there and fester for four hours or so until I go home. Ick. Even after a good wash the smell is still there. And I have to confess sometimes I'm so lazy I don't take my gym bag home and instead wear the same clothes the next day. My husband, the marathoner, the BOSTON marathoner, doesn't seem to have this problem (which I totally don't get - guys smell, not girls!). He claims letting the clothes dry immediately after wearing them reduces the chance of lingering funk.

I really can't lay out my running clothes all over my office. My co-workers would LOVE that. So my husband and I searched the blogs for some alternative remedies. There are some sports washes specially designed for wicking fabric, but they can get very expensive. Right now, I'm trying my tried and true vinegar, my version of duct tape (vinegar does everything!).

So far, the funk has left, and I am relieved. I think my fellow gym rats are, too.

This one goes up to 11

Two of my 3 miles today were under 11 minutes per mile (10:41 and 10:17!). Whoo hoo! Then I looked at the person on the treadmill next to me and she was going at about 8 and 1/2 minutes per mile. Ugh.

My husband shared a number of marathon statistics with me. The one I liked the best was this one:

In 2007, the average finishing time for men slowed to 4:29:52 from 4:26:39, while women slowed from 4:59:19 to 4:59:28.

These average times are around the time I would get if I doubled my half marathon time...and I were to sustain that pace for 26.2 miles, which is asking a lot. But still - I'm just thinking there's a chance.....

The Requisite Resolutions

Happy New Year!

It's 2008 - a new year and new resolutions to try to keep. I failed in my last year's resolution - start financial planning for college and retirement - but I should be able to get it going this year. I think the only resolution I have ever kept was two years ago when I swore I'd lose 30 pounds. It was three months after my son was born. I joined a gym in late December, joined 2 "Biggest Loser" office competitions (and won), and ran my first race on Thanksgiving. I have always had a difficult time trying to maintain a healthy weight (even this holiday season when I stopped running and started eating cookies I gained enough pounds that my clothes no longer fit very well) and so I'm always dumbfounded when I think of the one resolution I finally managed to keep. I've had this resolution before. Only this time, I found something I loved that helped to motivate me to keep going. I ran a total of 540 miles this year.

My two resolutions for this year are:

1. Conquer my shin splints, and

2. Get up enough courage to run a marathon.

#1 is a prerequiste to keeping #2.

I'm on my way with #1. I bought some new running shoes (the Mizuno Wave Nirvanas 3) that were on sale (the new models are coming out soon) and I was saving them for when my current shoes bit the dust. I have only logged about 220 miles in my current shoes but I wore them when I wasn't running because of the support so I might have almost 300 miles on them. Running shoes should be replaced at 300 - 500 miles. After my first two Saturday MIT runs, I decided to wear my new shoes outside where I usually need extra cushioning. WOW can I feel the difference! The pain after running isn't EXCRUCIATING anymore. It's merely painful. (Sad, really, that this is progress....) I did another Saturday MIT run and felt great. I still wear my old shoes on the treadmill where I don't need as much cushioning and it seems to be working fine.

Mind you I'm not logging big miles yet. This is also part of the plan. I'm hoping my muscles finally start to adapt. Between this and the orthotics I should be getting soon, I'm hoping I'll have these shin splints beat!

I had a lot of really grand ideas to write about as well (the Christmas season, precious moments with my kids, etc.) but like my niece Emma, I'm pooped too. The holiday season came by quickly, but it wore me out, and frankly, I'm glad it's over.

Here's to a healthy and happy 2008!