Clan Lord Journal

As you may have noticed, I’ve halfway given up on the “log in to read my stuff” idea. So, if I have something I really need to vent about I’ll probably just leave it off the blog. I may do a whole slate wiping and start fresh, but who knows. I’ve got enough on my plate and lots of things on back burners waiting their turn. Blog cleanup is not high on the prio list right now.

Today marks the beginning of my 10th year of teaching at the school.  I’m very happy to still be there, and I’m hoping that this year will be another one for the record books. My high school chorus is already blowing me away with what they’re pulling off. I’m going to have to find something more challenging for them to chew on soon.

I’ve been up to my chin in Trooper alumni stuff, and I’m loving that just as much as teaching. I know, though, that once the school year gets going I’m going to have to be more careful with my time. But doing something for the corps is really important to me, so I’m working toward some pretty big goals, along with a few alum friends.

Gym time is going to have to be carefully orchestrated into my days now, but I’m determined to keep up the pace. I’m feeling strong and happy, and I need to keep it that way if I’m ever going to reach my weight loss goal as well as my fitness goals. Mini-triathlon…. maybe next year. Maybe.

I’m turning 42 in a few weeks. A lot of people kind of moan and groan about getting older. Not me. Life is good, I’m feeling strong, and I have lots of dreams still out there to tackle. It makes me smile.

Summer is coming to a close. The drum corps season is over, and it was one for the history books. Troopers came back into semifinals, Phantom Regiment took the title trophy and totally slaughtered the audience with their emotionally gripping Spartacus show (complete with four murders), and Carolina Crown busted into the top 3 club. If none of that means anything to you, then I need to work harder to get my readers hooked on drum corps.

I’m feeling the post-season let-down now, but the good news is that some of the best drum corps music of the season is now on my iPod thanks to the audio purchase downloads from DCI. They aren’t mastered at all, so the quality is a little low but I pay no mind right now. Being able to work out to the Bluecoats, Madison Scouts, Phantom, Troopers, etc. is highly motivating for me. Knowing that I get to run on the treadmill while Bluecoats play the big fanfare from Rocky with an amazing funk beat background makes me smile. A lot. I think it may freak out the other gym folks from time to time that I’m so smiley, not to mention that I air drum while running. They can get over it.

My trainer was a bit pissed at me. It seems I’m not good at staying within my target heart rate range during cardio. I know they use a formula to determine your “optimum” range, but141-145 just feels too much like a cakewalk to me. I much prefer about 10 beats higher for the longer sessions. I have to really watch it when I’m on the treadmill because I tend to get closer to 165-170 during the faster parts of corps shows. But it’s hard to feel that good and not go faster! Oh well. The good news is that my BMI and my weight are changing for the better so my target will go up eventually.

Doing the weight training and the core body work is also doing wonders for me. My posture is improved, range of motion and control in my shoulders has greatly increased (this has been an issue for many years), and I’m seeing more definition in certain areas. Inches are decreasing where I want them to decrease. (but never fast enough, heh)

The big test is coming up though: getting the gym time in during the school year. I may have to suck it up and get up at 3:00am or something crazy like that.

Beginnings: school year, of course. Am I ready? No. But I feel more ready than last year. Drum corps 2009 season for us Trooper alums starts now. We have a lot of work to do with fundraising and more, and we’re riding the wave of excitement from the 2008 season to keep our momentum up. I’m about to embark on my 42nd year of living on this earth, and I feel good with all that I’m doing.

The little precocious munchkin is 4.5 years old and too cute for her own good. We’ll try to get some pictures and maybe video up someday. We’ve been bad about that. Sorry! She starts her second year of kindergarten at our school in a couple of weeks. More on that another day. Speaking of the munchkin she just got up, so off I go.

Well, I’ve basically been doing two things for the last 2 weeks: geeking out on Troopers stuff and drum corps in general, and being sick. Luckily I’m over the being sick part. Geeking out on drum corps will ease up after August 7-9. (that’s the national finals competition)

Just before I headed out to Denver and Cheyenne on July 11 I came down with a nasty head cold, upper respiratory thing, whatever. It all sucked shit. But I still had a blast - and paid for it dearly. On Friday, July 11 the alums got to play part of the show with the corps. The music I had been practicing was no longer in the show (imagine my surprise! - well, not really. It happens all the time) so the kids who play the marimbas up front showed me some of the notes and I picked it up quickly. It was fun seeing their faces as I played the hardest part of their closer, at show tempo, almost flawlessly. Their instructor said something to the effect of “it took you guys how long to get that run, and she picks it up in about 3 minutes?” I do have about 20 years of musical advantage though, so I made sure they knew I had tricks up my sleeves. However, it was still pretty priceless. And I got some monster bruises from the cymbals I played for part of the show too! Yeah! It’s always fun to show off cymbal bites.

After we circled up with the corps and sang the corps song the alums departed for some grown up refreshment. We took most of the corps staff with us and we basically took over the bar at the local pizza/bar joint. And that’s when I lost my voice, pretty much for good.

The next morning the alums all headed down to Denver for the next official alum event - the Troop Whoop. A couple hundred alums and fans hung out in the parking lot of Invesco Field to reminisce about old times and cheer on the current crop of Troopers. Sadly, I was pretty much feeling like year-old gum stuck to the bottom of a marching shoe, so I don’t have much to say about it. Oh, I got a parking ticket when I went to check in at my hotel - and it was in a borrowed car, so that sucks. What is it with me and parking these days?!?!

After the show on Saturday night I was completely useless. Thank goodness for two things on Sunday: the hotel let me stay in my room later than checkout (late flight out), and Abby was staying at the grandparents until Monday. So, I lazed around the room, got to the airport, got home and crashed. It took me four more days to get my voice back, which was a good thing because that was the same day as the Houston show. Of course I basically lost my voice again in Houston, but what can you do?

Abby endured the Houston show much better than I expected. She did make it through all the performances, but by the end of the last one she was definitely in “too tired, way wired” mode. I expected her to fall asleep in the car to the hotel, but no dice. It took her a while to wind down and get to sleep, and getting up the next morning was no picnic. But we had a tight timeline so we made it work.

Friday morning after the Houston show I booked it home with Abby. She stayed home with Rich for two more days while I had my last hurrah geek-out with the Troopers. I headed to San Antonio late Friday morning and watched them practice, but the best part of the day was the dinner. I had wrangled enough donations from alums to get a catered barbeque dinner set up for the kids. They were in  heaven and I was so happy to have given them something to help them get pumped up for the first major regional of the season happening in the Alamodome the next day. The ice cream at the end of the evening rehearsal block didn’t hurt either.  After an exhausting whirlwind few days I was anxious to get to sleep.

HAHAHAHHAHAHA! Right! My old seat partner from my marching days and I were staying together, and did we sleep? NOOOO. We stayed up talking until 2:30am, and we got up at 7:00am to give the kids a send off to the show. We both showed our age the rest of the day, but we got through it. The show was great, the Troopers did very well and are making people take notice for once. I can’t say enough about their show and how they carry it.

Anyway, after the show in San Antonio I started the long drive home at about 12:30am. I probably should have stayed over in San An, but I really wanted to get home to my hubby and daughter and my own bed. And if I had stayed over in San An, Kimberly and I would have talked until god knows when, so all in all it was the right move.

So, I’m home, I’m healthy again (and finally back in the gym), and my drum corps geek-out is mostly online now. Thank goodness for the DCI Fan Network subscription, the Trooper chat line and Drum Corps Planet. (well, maybe not thank goodness, since I spend way too much time around those places late at night or when Abby is sleeping or I otherwise catch a free hour here and there…..)

Friday was a day off. (see inside for more details about how that went.)

Saturday - after dealing with the car issue (again, see inside) I eventually got to the gym.

Stability ball core routine 3x through: crunches (20), iso-plank (15 sec hold x10), bridges (4 sec hold x20)

Standing resistance 2x through routine: 20 chest presses, 20 rowing

Step-balance with weights, 10x each leg

30 minutes treadmill - jog/walk intervals

Total time at gym: 60 minutes

Skimped slightly on the time, but burned 350 calories on the elliptical in 30 minutes. (plus 5 minute cool down)

The new shoes came this afternoon, so I’ll be breaking them in on Friday!

Workout with Erin:

Crunches (20), plank (hold 15 seconds 3x), and bridges (hold 5 sec 20x) on stability ball; 3 times through sequence

Step up and balance with 5lb weights including bicep curl and shoulder press

Standing free motion machine: chest press (20x), rowing (20x); 3 times through sequence

Functional lunges; banded side-steps (20 x 2)

After all that I did 30 minutes on the recumbent bike while reading and then did lots of stretching and employed their bolster rolling technique to try to loosen up some major knots.

New shoes, hurry up!

Thursday’s plan: 45 minutes on elliptical or 45-60 minute cardio class.

45 minutes on treadmill with equal intervals of walking and jogging with minimal slope.

Having some pain issues with my heels and lower calves, very likely due to old shoes. New shoes are in transit with UPS and should be here soon. Can’t be soon enough! Ow.

Wednesday’s workout plan: 9am training session with Erin for 1 hour followed by 30 minutes easy cardio, hopefully on a bike so I can avoid more pain in the feet and legs.

….when the conservaborg is going to start blaming the residents along the Mississippi for their plight. I mean, when Katrina hit and the levees broke, those uneducated, immoral, “welfare-pampered blacks” in New Orleans were just asking for it, right? Come on conservaborg! Start turning on your own. (For the sake of Fair and Balanced, of course.)

I would post the picture here, but I don’t like how it looks when I resize it. It’s very band geeky. VERY. Enjoy. (and there’s an update inside about the AC fiasco)

Drum Corps International has finally done it. They made something that will now be my most dangerous time sink. O….M….G. (and yes, I paid the premium fee of $69 and there’s sooooooooo much more inside. Drooooooool….)