Tag Archives: ice hockey

Having it All vs. Doing it All

I’ve never no-showed a race.  In fact, I rarely ever no-show anything at all.  If I say I will do something, I do it.  If I say I will be somewhere, I’m there.  If I register for it, I show up and run.  Until this weekend.  A few months ago I registered for the Get in Gear 10k.  Later my husband let me know that our 8 year old would have a hockey tournament – we just didn’t know what time of day.  A couple weeks ago, in looking at my training plan realized that it called for an 8 mile run that day.  It doesn’t take a genius to realize that 6 miles is not quite 8 miles.  I decided to change my distance for Get in Gear to the half marathon.  A few days ago we found out my son had two big tournament games the day of Get in Gear (yesterday).  One at 8:15 am and another at 1:15 pm.  The race was scheduled for 9:00 am.  No way to do both.  I would be lying if I said I didn’t even consider skipping the hockey tournament.  It was extremely tempting.  I really enjoy race days, they are the best.  Sitting in a cold ice arena for hours is not always super fun.  It crossed my mind but in the end I knew I needed to be there for him.  When there’s a conflict – the Mom card trumps all.  I got my first Did Not Start (or DNS in the running world).  Kind of a bummer but I don’t regret it.  I didn’t skip it because I forgot or slept late or was feeling lazy.  I skipped it because my guy needed me.  And he did.  The first game of the tournament was a shut out, 0 to 10.  The second was another loss at 1 to 10.  He was super disapointed and I would have felt even worse if I hadn’t been there to give hugs and encouragement.

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Sometimes having it all doesn’t mean doing it all.  Sometimes the kitchen doesn’t get cleaned.  Sometimes that last minute email gets answered the next day.  Sometimes grad homework is turned in at the last minute (like this week!).  And sometimes a DNS happens.  That’s life as a parent.  We sacrifice our own wants for our kids’ well being and happiness and it’s okay (and encouraged!) to give ourselves room to do that guilt free.

But it doesn’t have to be a total sacrifice.  I skipped the race and am very glad I did.  I gave up the half marathon but didn’t give up my training.  It would have been easy to just say ‘oh well, that’s that, wasn’t meant to be’.  But I still had those 8 miles on my training 8 mile trail trainingplan so I cranked out them out on some trials.  (This trail stuff is growing on me although we ran into several harmless but startling snakes which I didn’t appreciate.)  Had a great workout with a good friend in spite of the scheduling issues.

Sidebar: Looking for some feedback!  I have been watching YouTube videos lately for running, workout and training tips.  Playing around with the idea of doing some video blogging of my own.  Thoughts?  Good idea?  Silly idea?  Have you tried it or have any tips?  Would welcome any comments. 🙂

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Blocking the Goalie

When our kids are little, what they should and shouldn’t do is obvious.  Do eat vegetables, do not put a fork in an electrical socket, do practice piano, don’t punch your brother, the list goes on.  But I’m learning the older they get the lines are becoming more blurred.  My 8 year old wants to play goal tender.  He has had a few opportunities to try it and says he loves it.  He’s had a few good games and honestly did a great job.  He blocked some great shots and did a nice job paying attention during the lulls.  I can tell he really enjoys the glory that comes with it too.  The end of the game where all the kids pile on and give him hugs and leading the pack down the “good game” handshake line.

However, I would rather he didn’t.  Is it dangerous?  Waiting for high speed pucks to fly at him from all angles – yes, probably a little.  But considering the mountains of padding that make up goalie gear, it’s not exactly fork-in-socket dangerous.  He is very sensitive and takes things personally.  He puts a lot of pressure on himself and wants to do everything well.  My fear is the focus on this key position could cause him emotional distress.  What happens when the team isn’t winning and it’s up to him to make sure the other team doesn’t score?  What if he’s off his game and there’s negative focus?  How would he handle that?  I also know that he won’t get as much exercise in the net as he would in a skating position.  Goalie gear is also uber expensive but that is the least of my concerns.10010733_10205650449957390_1000019861101380376_o

It would be easy to discourage him from playing goalie or to make the parental decision and just say no.  But some things need to be learned for yourself.  It’s a hard lesson but one he needs to find out on his own.  This is a tough exercise for a parent as well.  How will I handle teenage years when he has friends I don’t like or wants to pursue a major I don’t approve of in college?  What if he brings a girl home I find annoying and repulsive?  He’s turning into his own person and I know I need to give him the opportunity to explore (and possibly fail) on his own.  This week he has been talking to his friends about goalie in the locker room and is pretty stoked about the potential of playing as goalie.  My husband and I will continue to have some real conversations with him but in my opinion he needs the room to be him.

Who knows, maybe if I give him this one he’ll only bring home smart, pretty, funny, appreciative girls who think I’m awesome. 🙂  Hey, a mom can hope right?

A Weekend of Fun & Games

Weekends full of errands, hockey, date nights, and homework are so much fun.  But what’s more fun?  Slow relaxing weekends full of nothing.  They are like gold these days.  I was sick all last week.  Thought I was coming out of it on Wednesday only to find myself worse on Thursday.  Decided not to work out on Thursday and instead spent the extra time finishing my homework for the week.  For Friday’s exercise I just did weight lifting without pushing too hard.  Focused on a balanced full body work out since I didn’t do much the rest of the week.

wpid-wp-1424052909292.jpegSaturday was Valentine’s day.  It was also 0 degrees out with a wind chill of -25ish so all of the kids’ outdoor hockey practices and games for Saturday were cancelled.  I didn’t clean or catch up on projects around the house, I didn’t have to work on homework, I didn’t work out (nope, not at all).  I just enjoyed not being sick and not having an agenda.  I usually love being busy and having a list of things to accomplish but yesterday we all literally just did nothing.  We went to IHOP in the morning, we played video games (Sims

Got this water bottle from Target. Love it. Doesn't leak, holds 32 oz, easy to wash, $7.

Got this water bottle from Target this weekend. Love it. Doesn’t leak, holds 32 oz, easy to wash, $7.

4 for me!), we had Jimmy John’s for dinner, we napped.  It was amazing.  Today I got in a short run (first one in about a week), did some laundry, turned in my homework, focused on drinking extra water.  We went out for lunch, had some fun at the arcade, picked up some cupcakes.  Later in the evening we all went to our 8 year old’s hockey game followed by dinner at Pizza Ranch.

So happy for the time at home with family.  Sometimes it’s just nice to do nothing at all.  I’m now feeling fully refreshed and ready to kick butt in the gym this week! 🙂

When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Smoothies

Yesterday I was sick as a dog.  Picture death warmed over.  I’ll spare you the details.  Let’s just say I was super sick.  Got some work done in the morning then spent the rest of the day trying to recuperate.  Yesterday was also Hubby’s birthday – I felt terrible that we couldn’t have the celebration he deserves.  (Sorry Honey, I will make it up to you!)

Despite still feeling nowhere near 100% today, after not working out at all yesterday I resolved to at least get myself back in gear today.  Got my gym bag ready, packed a healthy lunch and a bunch of Dayquil gel tabs.  As I’m at work on conference call #1, it starts sleeting.  Yuck.  As I’m on conference call #2 it starts snowing.  By the time I’m off conference call #2 it’s snowing… snowing hard.  Several projects and another conference call down and I realize it’s stopped snowing all together.  Yes!  Going to the gym on the lunch hour will be that much simpler.  I’ll get to the gym, get in that workout I should have yesterday, get a quick shower, post workout smoothie and back to work – easy peasy.  Popped another couple Dayquil, grabbed a few tissues and was out the door.

I would like to say I pranced to my car but it was more like a lumbering shuffle.  Turned on the car and started dusting off the snow only to discover a layer of ice.   A thick layer of ice (remember that sleet?).  So I started scraping, and scraping and scraping.  By the time I was done I was covered in sweat, dizzy and nauseous beyond belief.  At this point I felt like clearing the car was the workout.  But I wanted to get that workout darn it!  I didn’t come out to the parking lot just to dig out my car and go back inside!  I told myself I had to at least drive the short distance to the gym and scan my key tag to get my check-in for the day.  If I felt up to it by the time I got there, I’d do the workout.  If I was still feeling like crap I would reward my puny efforts with my smoothie anyway and go back to work.

So what happened?  I finished the work out.  I hit a PR on my bench press of 50 lbs!  (Let’s not get too excited folks, the 2.5 lb plates were about the size of my hand – and I have small hands – but they were plates none the less.)  After that I pretty much phoned in the rest of it because I wasn’t feeling great but a half assed workout is better than none at all.  A little exercise did rejuvenate me and that post workout protein smoothie tasted all the better because of it.

Got to scrape the car again before heading back to work.

After work I had to scrape the car again.  Oh joy.

Went to my 8 year old’s hockey game.  They lost but he skated hard and played well.

Then I got to scrape the car again.  Yippee.

Home now, and the car is in the garage.  No more scraping for me today.  I think I may have earned myself another smoothie. 🙂

First NHL Game!

wpid-wp-1421803889577.jpegWe had such a great time taking the boys to the see the Minnesota Wild play at the Xcel Energy center last night.  We got to St. Paul around 5:30 PM for the 7:00 game.  Our 6 year old had a little too much smoothie from Caribou on our way so we spent a frantic first five minutes looking for a bathroom.  Once we found one, let me tell you I’ve never seen that kid run so fast!

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It turns out the Xcel doesn’t open their doors for the game until 5:45 so we waited to get in for a few minutes.  Once we were in the boys immediately wanted to go see the ice.  One of the security guards noticed how excited the kids were and asked if it was their first wpid-wp-1421803830740.jpegNHL game.  We of course said yes and he told that we take them to guest services for a free puck to mark the occasion.  How cool!  Virtually no line at guest services and they were so nice.

We spent the rest of the game walking around, eating game food (“trickle fries”, fried pickles were awesome!) and taking pictures with the mascot, Nordy.  We purchased tickets for this particular game through the boys’ youth hockey association so there were lots of kids they knew in our section.  The boys had a blast chatting and cheering with their friends and team mates all night.

I only wish the Wild would have scored more!  The Wild lost to the Columbus Blue Jackets 3-1.  Oh well.  Something tells me there will be more Wild games in our future.wpid-wp-1421803917358.jpeg

Measly Mileage

Type the word measly into google and here’s what you get: paltry, meager, scanty, miserable, inadequate, insufficient.  This perfectly describes my running mileage this past week.  Reviewing my mapmyrun app I put in about 5 miles.  That’s generous, let me rephrase: barely 5 miles.  5 miles on a goal of 15-20 is not so hot.  Rest assured though, I was not napping all week!

Here’s what did happen while I wasn’t running those additional 10+ miles:

  1. Started my finance class.  Put in at least 15 hours on this class this
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    Hubs watching our 8 year old’s game with our 6 year old.

    week just reading and putting together my outline.  I still have a little less than half the paper left to write later tonight/tomorrow.

  2. Started my new weight lifting routine.  Managed to get every work out in.  Had to cut the last workout of the week short because my 8 year old had a stomach flu so I couldn’t go to the gym as planned and I don’t have all of the equipment at home.  So I got in what I could and called it good.
  3. It was our first week on a new initiative at work.  Crazy busy with lots of new meetings and activity.  Definitely well over the 40 this week but am very excited about this project.
  4. I did get my 2 HIIT sessions in without issue – yay!  Felt good to meet with my trainer again.
  5. Went to 5 hockey games for my kiddos.
  6. Went to my monthly book club meeting with my girlfriends, went to my husband’s company party and we also had date night tonight at the Minnesota Wild Game.  (Yes, the fun stuff counts too!)
Date night!

Date night!

Here’s the good news.  I still have 8 months or so before the actual marathon.  5 miles is better than none and next week will be better. 🙂

New Year, New Class, New Gym Schedule

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The lawn mowing sneakers.

So excited to start some new things this week!  I started a new strength training routine this week called Simply Shredded.  (Here’s a link to the program website: http://www.simplyshredded.com/the-ultimate-female-training-guide.html)  I’ve also just updated my site with a new Training page that outlines my training routine.  I’ve been mostly winging it thus far so I’m looking forward to working through an actual program.  I also got some new lifting shoes!  And by “got some” I mean found in my closet and by “new lifting shoes” I mean my super old canvas lawn mowing sneakers.  My awesome and super supportive SIL suggested using a flat shoe for lifting and man have they made a difference!  Squats are much easier in these shoes than they were in my running shoes.

It’s also back to school week!  My Higher Education Finance class starts this week.  Finance is not my strong suit but anything is better than Statistics II (the course I just finished before the holiday break) so I plan to learn as much as I can and enjoy it.  Friends and family say “I don’t know how you do it” in reference to the busy lifestyle my husband and I lead.  Here’s the big secret: enjoy it!

This is yesterday: Got up early (only snoozed twice!), got myself and the kids ready and out the door, full busy Monday at work (hit the gym on the lunch hour), left work to pick up the kids (hubby beat me home and had started dinner – yay!), ate dinner/packed

Waiting for Dad to get forgotten the jersey.

Waiting for Dad to bring the forgotten jersey.

the car for hockey, watched my eldest’s game (was a nail biter, they lost 7-8!), pack gear back in the car, drive home, boys were showered and in bed by about 9:30, hubby left for his hockey game and I hit the treadmill for some speed work, took a quick shower, logged into my grad course by 10:30, reviewed what was due for the week, prepped my gym bag and snacks for the next day, watched an episode of Downton Abbey and hit the sack.

It was a pretty typical day.  Not without some hiccups.  I spilled the gallon of water I usually take to work and we forgot jerseys for the game, but it was overall a good day.  If I felt like any of this were drudgery, “work”, or if I hated it, I’d be a miserable person.  But I don’t.  I love my husband, I love my kids, I love my job, I enjoy working out.  Now I just need to take the next 8 weeks and learn to love finance. 🙂

Advice for the Soft Spoken Sports Mom

I didn’t play sports as a kid.  I didn’t watch sports as a kid.  I was very happy to sketch, play piano, read, write and dance.  By nature I’m a relatively quiet person.  That being said, I’ve taught large college lectures to auditoriums of 300 and can give presentations to upper executive management at work with ease.  I can raise my voice when I have to (don’t my kids know it!) but being vocal isn’t necessarily my favorite activity.

IMG_0491This has all worked out just fine for most of my life.  However, I’ve learned when you’ve got your precious little athlete out on the ice (field, court, etc.) making the big play with hands in the air they don’t want to turn to their parent in the stands to see them mildly clapping with a proud smile.  They want standing!  They want jumping!  They want, you guessed it – yelling.  And lots of it.  I think to most this may sound like no big deal but if you’ve never played the sport they’re playing, don’t know the rules, and are afraid of shouting something ridiculous, here are some tips I’ve learned by watching other parents over the years of hockey and other sports games.

 

 Things you can shout pretty much 100% of the time, to any player, for any reason:
“Skate!” (or “Run!”)
“Go (enter kid’s name here)!”
“Keep your eye on the puck!” (ball, frisbee, target, birdie, golden snitch etc.)

 Things you can shout when there are a bunch of players near your goal:
“Defense!”
“Go defense!”

 When your kid’s team scores:
“Way to go (team name or jersey color)!”
“Nice one (enter kid’s name)!”

 When the other team scores:
“Let’s get it back (your kid’s team name or jersey color)!”
“That’s okay (your kid’s team name or jersey color)!”
“Let’s go (your kid’s team name or jersey color)!”

 

10294249_10203661037903332_7509179253222779903_nCheer for the other kids too!  If you don’t know the names of the other players, and their jerseys only have a number or last name, bring the team roster to games.  Odds are your coach or team manager has sent this out via email, or could give you a copy. Nothing helps give you more parental respect than being able to cheer on other kids by name too.  Plus it helps to support the team and you’ll be able to talk about the game more with your kiddo later (“nice work with that assist from Johnny today!”).

At the end of the day, don’t worry about saying something weird or cheering incorrectly. I’ve learned the hard way that yelling nothing at all actually looks sillier than yelling the wrong thing.