Weekly Review through August 6

Reviewing fitness, farm, and life on the blog! 

View of one of our pastures with that big Montana sky! Also, can you spot Harvey? :)

Fitness
Now that the triathlon is behind me, it's time to focus on running again. I have a goal 10K race coming up at the end of August, and I'm shooting for a PR. This year, I'm adding a little mileage to my training leading up to the race as compared to past races. I found a training plan that encompasses long runs of 7 and 8 miles as part of a "Run Your Fastest" 10K plan, and also mixes in speedwork. I think this will help me feel less fatigued at the end of the race. Plus, by the time I get in a pre-race warmup and a cooldown afterwards, I'm usually up to 8 miles or so anyway, so it makes sense to train with that distance a few times to get my body used to it. I'm also doing more yoga again, which I love!

July 24-30
Sunday- rest.
Monday- 30 minutes yoga
Tuesday- 5.3 miles running

This run started with me hitching a ride with my husband in a semi truck!
I ran the 5.3 miles back to our house from here. 

Wednesday- 30 min yoga
Thursday- 5.7 miles treadmill interval run
Friday- rest
Saturday- 30 minutes yoga

July 31-August 6
Sunday- 6.3 mile run

Many of my runs are starting or ending at the harvest field lately.

Monday- rest
Tuesday- 4.2 mile treadmill speedwork
Wednesday- 30 minutes yoga
Thursday- rest
Friday- 45 minutes elliptical
Saturday- 7 mile run! Longest run I've ever done in my life!

Year-to-Date through August 6
Running: 358.15
Walking/Hiking: 93.6 miles 
Yoga: 1310 min 
CC-Ski: 500 min / 14.1 miles *Done for the season
Alpine Ski: 3 days *Done for the season
Mountain bike: 174.6
Swimming: 11500 yards

Farm
We have started harvest, which is our busiest time of the year on the farm. Looooong days are spent in the field. This year, Jeff and Tom started the harvest season out by helping some of our heighbors cut their winter wheat. Then, we began cutting our peas and barley. We should be done with barley tomorrow. Then, it seems like we might have a bit of a break before our spring wheat, which is the bulk of our crop, will be ready. Some of the specific tasks I have been helping with have included helping Jeff move and set up the auger, moving vehicles from one field to another, cleaning out grain bins, preparing lunches and dinners...other duties as assigned... I'm also continuing to try to keep the garden going. Right now, I'm harvesting zucchini, carrots and cucumbers while tomatoes and green beans are just coming on.

Barley is unloaded from the truck into the auger, and goes up into a grain bin.
#futurebeer

Life
I have some great news in this department- I have a job! I am going to be starting as the Elementary Secretary at North Star this school year! I'm so, so happy to be working at the school. I applied for the job in July, followed up on my application, and interviewed shortly after that. After the interview, I was offered the job and accepted. (Some people have asked me if I was just given the job- and that's not the case. I applied, just like anyone else would.) One thing I know is that I'm grateful and honored to officially join the North Star staff. In my previous job, I worked in the school, but I wasn't actually employed by the school. So, this will feel different. I'm most excited about interacting with students and staff on a daily basis. We have the BEST kids and staff at our school!

This is our cat, Quincy, who felt the need to "help" me repaint this table. One of my "holy crap summer is almost over!" projects. :)

What this means is that my summer is going to be over very shortly as I will be reporting to school on August 15! We will definitely still have harvest happening on our farm at that time, so it could be a little crazy/stressful at first balancing a new job with on-farm obligations. It will certainly be fun, though! Wish me luck! :)

Tri Tuesday- Only 2 Weeks Until MTWomensTri!

Wow, you guys... the race is coming up FAST!

www.mtwomenstri.com

I missed last week's Tri Tuesday post (and failed to do any other posts, besides!) but I'm here today with an update on my training. I've been sticking pretty close to my training plan, which included its toughest week of training last week and the week before. Now, I'm already beginning my taper as I lead up to Race Day on July 17! 

Brick workouts continue to be the most physically demanding. Yesterday, I had a really great confidence-boosting bike/run combo, however. Jeff had asked me to ride my bike over to our other farm yard to pick up a vehicle we had over there and drive it back home. Excited about the prospect of a not-often-used training route, I planned my brick to workout so that it would end at that yard. I biked ten miles of net uphill, trying to work my legs really hard, actually, so that I'd get the feeling of what it might be like on race day. Then, I stashed my bike by the side of the road and ran the last 2.5 miles to the yard to collect the vehicle. 

Again, I tried to push it pretty hard on the run. Typically, I ease up a bit on the run portion of a brick workout, but I wanted to see what my legs had in them. I was pleasantly surprised when I checked my Strava when I finished up and saw that my pace was very close to my normal 5K pace. I had expected it to be much slower. I am really happy with how I felt throughout the whole workout and how it seemed like my legs knew what to do and were flying on the run. 

The best part of this brick workout? Running by this patriotic barn on the 4th of July! 

I came back later, after retrieving the pickup and loading up my bike, for some photos...

Swimming workouts continue to go well, too. I've been working on increasing my yardage, and also on decreasing my 500 swim time. The first timed 500 I swam earlier this summer was 11:40 or so. Now, I'm down to 10:15. So, I've cut a lot of time, and I'm really happy with my progress there. I'd really like to be under 10 minutes on race day, but we'll see. I don't really know what to expect because the pool itself is completely different from any pool I've swam in before. All the same, the time estimate I entered for myself was 12 minutes, so I feel pretty confident I can be under that on race day. 

As far as gear goes, I'm pretty close to set. At a recent Bangs family reunion, one of Jeff's family members (who bikes A LOT) suggested I look into getting some skinnier tires for my mountain bike for race day. Great idea, and waaaaaay cheaper than buying a road bike or tri bike. Also, I had asked around and posted on Facebook looking for a road bike I could borrow and had no luck. So, the narrow tires mounted on my current bike might be the way to go. I could shave a little time off, anyway. I know my bike is a good bike, but it's not made for competitive road racing, and I think at this point the bike will be my weakest leg of the race because of this. So anyway, I should be able to take my bike in to the local bike shop in Havre and get this done later this week. Exciting!

At this point, I'm starting to get pretty excited about the race. I'm actually feeling less nervous now than I did a few weeks ago, and I think that's because I've felt strong during and after tough workouts, and it's building my confidence for race day. 

Tri Tuesday! 7 Weeks Until MTWomensTri!

Ok you guys... Track and school are done for the year, so now it's time to get down to business! Only about seven weeks until race day!

www.mtwomenstri.com

Last week was a good one in terms of training and sticking to the plan.

Plan was: 3 Runs, 1 Bike, Optional Swim, Optional Brick workout.

What I did was- Five runs, totaling 18.5 miles, and one bike ride of nine miles! Nailed it! I'm feeling pretty good, too!

Last week I also wanted to start using some of my new gear, especially my Tri shorts. THESE are the shorts I purchased. It was too cold for shorts on my bike ride last week, but I did wear them for a 3-mile run on the treadmill. They were really great! Felt like any other tight short, only the hem was super grippy, which meant they didn't ride up at. all. I wondered if the chamois panel (padding for bike riding) in the crotch would bother me while running and I'm happy to report that I didn't even notice it.

I also ordered a pair of seamless tight shorts from Oiselle because I had a coupon- the Long Flyte shorts. I've been wanting something just like this for biking and running for a long, long time. I'll write more about them next week. Spoiler Alert: I LOVE THESE SHORTS!

This week's goals:
Goal Numero Uno:  FOLLOW THE PLAN! The plan for this week includes a non-optional brick workout, and a non-optional swim workout. Yep. The word "optional" is no longer in the training plan from here on out. Time to hit the pool. I've got plans to go when I'm in Havre on Wednesday. Can't wait!

Goal Dos: Fuel. Again, begin experimenting with fuel and hydration. I'm not even really sure where to start. I have tried a few different gels and gus in the past and did not like them in the slightest, largely for the texture. I couldn't get the image of swallowing glue or boogers out of my head and it would make me gag. I'd really like something that resembles real food. I've heard about salted dates or apricots being good fuel, and honey, so I might try those out. Also, I am a fan of NUUN hydration. Probably should stock up! :) If anyone has any favorite fuels or hydration products for running or triathlon, please let me know!

Goal Tres: Bike Helmet. So, I do still need a little bit of gear. I need a bike helmet. I know, I know... I should already have one. But I don't. I can't compete in the Triathlon without one, so it's time to get that nailed down and start practicing with it.

At the time of writing this, I've already done my brick workout for this week! Stay tune for next week's Tri Tuesday post to read about it and everything else in my Tri training endeavors! :)

Tri Tuesday! 11 Weeks Until MTWomensTri!

Well, here I am at about eleven weeks from MTWomensTri!

www.mtwomenstri.com

Specific goals that I had for today were as follows:

1) Identify/create a training plan.

2) Buy a swimsuit.

Starting with Goal Number 1- Identifying a Training Plan.
I did a bunch of research on beginner, Sprint Triathlon training plans. One observation about tri training plans is that there are A LOT to choose from. Training plans vary greatly, as do the types of triathlons people train for. The most basic tris seem to be similar to what I'm doing- beginner-friendly, pool swim, sprint tris. Mine is 500 meter swim, 12 mile ride, 5K run. They range all the way up to Ironman distance, which is a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike ride, and a full marathon (26.2 mile) run! Holy cow.

In the end, I created my own training plan after looking through a lot of other sprint-tri plans. One good thing is that I already feel like I'm in really good shape for bike and run, as I can cover both of those distances without any problems. So, the biggest opportunities for me are in swim training and transition training.

With the swim, I do have a solid background in swimming, but I just haven't done much of it in recent years. I think swim conditioning will come quickly once I get into the pool. I found a lot of training plans that are geared toward beginners for sprint distance, but the biggest challenge was finding one that worked for my unique situation, specifically regarding swim training. The vast majority of plans had 2-3 days of pool workouts listed per week. Given my distance from the pool, realistically, I think I can plan on one pool workout each week and a second pool swim would be a bonus most weeks. Right now with track season, it would be a long shot for me to make it to the pool at all, so my swim workouts won't pick up until June, most likely.

Transitions are the term for when you transition from swim to bike, and then from bike to run. They're referred to as T1 and T2. Based on the research I've done, one of the best ways to train for transitions and also to work on overall conditioning are through what's called "Brick Workouts," or just "Bricks." Since I already feel comfortable in the run and bike distances, I'm not needing to build mileage at this time, like a lot of training plans do in the early stages, so I'm already going to add in bricks early on, specifically bike/run bricks.

Here's an outline of my training plan:
Week 1 (This week!) 3 runs, 1 bike workout
optional brick: 3x(4 mile bike, 1mile run)
swim if possible
**So far, I've done two runs this week. I just need one more run and a bike, or a brick, and I'll have this week accomplished!

Week 2 3 runs, 1 bike workout
optional brick: 5 mile bike at moderate effort and 3 mile run at 10 min/mile pace
swim if possible

Week 3 3 runs, 1 bike workout
optional brick: Ride 30-45 minutes, run 15 minutes
swim if possible

Week 4 3 runs, 1 bike
optional brick: 2x(6 mile bike, 1.5 mile run)
Swim if possible

Week 5 3 runs, 1 bike, 1 swim (no longer optional!)
brick: Ride 45 minutes, run 20 minutes

Week 6 3 runs, 1 bike, 1 swim
brick: 6 mile ride at moderate effort, 3 mile run at 10 min/mile pace

Week 7 3 runs, 1 bike, 1 swim
brick 1: 12 mile bike, 2 mile run
brick 2: 500 swim, 30-40 minute bike

Week 8 3 runs, 1-2 bike workouts, 1-2 swim workouts
brick 1: 3x(4 mile bike, 1 mile run)
brick 2: TIMED 500 swim, 45 minute ride

Week 9 3 runs, 1-2 bikes, 1-2 swims
brick 1: 12 mile bike, 5k run- practice T2
brick 2: TIMED 500 swim, 12 mile bike, 5K run
~or~
break it up as TIMED 500 swim, 6 mile bike - Practice T1 - (in morning) and 6 mile bike, 5K run in evening - Practice T2.

Week 10 3 runs, 1-2 bikes, 1-2 swims
brick 1: TIMED 500 swim, 8 mile bike - practice T1
brick 2: 8 mile bike, 2 mile run - practice T2

Week 11 3 runs, 1-2 bikes, 1-2 swims
brick 1: 500 swim, 6 mile bike - practice T1
brick 2: 30 minute bike, 15-20 min easy run - practice T2

July 17- RACE DAY!

Whew. Seems kinda crazy after typing it all out like that. With the "3 runs," I'm thinking that at least one of them will be a long run of distance 5-8 miles. Even throughout the tri training, I'd like to stay in shape to be able to complete a 10K race, and have a few planned in the interim anyway. Also, the brick workouts are not necessarily meant to be separate from the outline of "3 runs, 1-2 bike, 1-2 swim," but could replace those workouts. I'm not super rigid when it comes to training plans. I also find that I can't plan in advance that a certain day of the week is my "swim day," or "run day," as each week varies soooooo much on the farm. I'll just plan on a week by week basis, or try to, and figure out which day I'll do which activity as I go along.

Now, addressing Goal #2- find a swimsuit!
There are no stores within a two-hour drive of my house that sell competition or lap swimming swimsuits, so to the internet I go! I still haven't ordered a suit, but I plan to do that today. I'll probably pick a basic Speedo or TYR on sale from www.swimoutlet.com for my lap swimming workouts. I'm still deciding if I will want to race in my workout suit, or if I want to try something different. I'm sure I'll post more on that later! So, obviously no pool workout this week until my lap suit comes in. :)

Also, just for fun--  Here's a hilarious blog post for people who like to laugh and know very little about triathlons: http://www.oiselle.com/blog/fan-girls-guide-triathlon. I highly recommend reading this one!

Next week on Tri Tuesday, I'll hopefully be reporting about how the first week of training went, and all about my new swimsuit! See you next week!

Weekly Review January 10-16

Time for my second Weekly Review of the year! In case you missed the first one, you can check it out here: Weekly Review January 1-10.

Our "fat beef" started on their rations this week!

So, let's find out what happened this week in the realms of Fitness, Farm, and Life!

Fitness
Despite having some hip and knee pain this week, I still managed to stay on track with my #RunLoveChallenge. Wendie, my partner, nailed it this week, too! She really impresses me and motivates me. I mean, balancing two young children with a job and building up running distance... killer. I have no reason not to get my workouts in! Also, regarding the hip/knee pain, I really think it's just resulting from tightness, perhaps in the IT band. When I stretch it feels much, much better.

Oiselle sends out weekly challenges for everyone who's participating in the #RunLoveChallenge and this week it was to complete this Tough Love Challenge-- a core strength workout. I got that in on Monday. Exercises that focused on leg strength were much easier for me than those that worked on upper body and especially arms. I have a lot of room for improvement in the pushups department...but, oddly, I can plank like no problem. Static vs. dynamic movements perhaps? Either way, despite being good at planking and doing yoga several times a week, I think I'm going to try to work on getting better at simple pushups. Your job is to hold me to it! :)

Anyway, here's the breakdown for the week:
Sunday Run 3.75 miles on Dreadmill
Monday 20 min Tough Love Challenge core routine, plus 30 min yoga

I didn't have the medicine ball that the workout called for, so I used a water jug. 

Tuesday Complete rest. (busy day!)
Wednesday Run 2.7 miles-- ran "The Loop" after my haircut in town. 20 min stretching.
Thursday Walk 1.7 miles. 20 min stretching.
Friday Run 4.1 Miles (I met my weekly "long run" goal for #RunLoveChallenge today!) and 20 min stretching.

Victory photo after finishing my 4-miler.

The route for the 4-mile run wasn't challenging at all, but what made the run pretty tough was that it was cold, windy, and snowing.  The plan was to run out four miles and Jeff would pick me up on his way back from doing chores at another farm yard. I misjudged the wind when we made our plan, so I was running into it the whole time. I finished the run before Jeff was back, so I ended up walking almost another half-mile, too. I was so, so glad to see the pickup! I joked with my #RunLoveChallenge partner, Wendie, that I really wished someone had surprise-installed a hot tub at my house when I got home. Alas, no such luck! A hot shower did the trick, though. :)

Saturday 30 min walk (1 mile), 30 min yoga

I downloaded the Strava app this week and I'm really loving it. If you're on Strava, hit me up or let me know so I can find you!

My hip/knee tightness seems to be greatly alleviated with lots of dedicated stretching, so I'll be spending a lot of my free time while watching TV doing extra stretching. I need to be better about post-workout stretching anyway, so this will definitely provide more impetus for that!

I had a question recently on Instagram (@katie.r.bangs) about how I dress for cold weather running. For my 4-miler, when I left the house it was 25, windy, and snowing. I wore thick tights, knee-high ski socks, a thermal turtleneck, yellow medium-weight shirt over that, and a fleece jacket. I also had my earband, fleece hat, and gloves and ran with my hood up. I'll admit that I tend to layer way more than many runners, though, so you may not need as much as I wore.

2016 Year to Date, through 1/16/16
Walking: 110 min/5.1 miles
Yoga: 135 min
CC-Ski: 220 min 
Alpine Ski: 1 day
Running: 17.25 miles

Farm
Again, not a ton going on right now other than feeding cows daily, tax prep, and 2016 crop season planning. The highlight of the week was that we started feeding our "fat beef," which is the animals we finish ourselves for our own beef consumption. Right now, we have one and our neighbors have one and they're both housed in our corrals. They get all the hay they want plus a ration of chopped up feed barley. In the past, we've purchased feed, but this year Jeff and our neighbor DIYed it using barley that our neighbor grew. Once the cows reach the appropriate weight, they'll be butchered and our freezers will be full. This is local food, folks!

I had just fed them their evening ration. 

Life
At school we're reading a book called Mindset by Carol Dweck as a staff. It's about having a "fixed" mindset vs. having a "growth" mindset. It's sort of interesting. A person with a fixed mindset believes that they are what they are and they can't change. This person is constantly working to prove their abilities, and struggles when setbacks occurs. Someone with a growth mindset believes that they can constantly grow, change, and learn. They see "failure" as opportunity for growth. Think about people in your life-- which type of mindset do they have? What about you? Can you change your mindset? How does confidence work with both fixed and a growth mindset?

This was a graphic someone at school photocopied and shared with everyone. 

I liked this quote: ...believe that a person’s true potential is unknown (and unknowable); that it’s impossible to foresee what can be accomplished with years of passion, toil, and training. (p.21) I think that can be applied to just about any realm of life.

How was your week?! 

That's Abby and Bella in the back, after our run, and Princess Harvey rode in the cab.

Training Harvey to Hunt

Today, I have a special treat for all the dog-lovers out there! I'm excited to announce that I had the great honor of working with Jessie over at The Right Fits on a post about training my dog, Harvey, to hunt game birds. So, really, this post is for the hunters in my reading mix, too! Read below to get started, then click on over to The Right Fits to read the rest of the post on Jessie's blog! 

Photo taken shortly after we got Harvey, September 2010.

I still remember when Jeff announced to me that he knew what kind of puppy we’d be getting. At the time, we were engaged, but not living together, and talking on the phone daily.

He had been rattling on and on without much pause about this type of dog that I had never heard of before. He was excited to tell me that these dogs were energetic but snuggly and affectionate, very intelligent, and were excellent hunters. I could take him running with me if I wanted to, and on the farm where we’d be living he’d have plenty of free space, and Jeff would train him as a bird dog. He wasn’t going to be too big, and he was really clean—with short hair and a habit for licking and cleaning himself…. Jeff kept going naming all the virtues of this mysterious dog breed I had never heard of before.

“Wait—what kind of dog is it?” I had asked.

“A Vizsla!” 

We picked up Harvey as a puppy from a breeder in Iowa, while on a trip there to visit my family. This was about four years ago, in September. Harvey rode all the way home with us as a teeny tiny seven-week old pup with huge ears, blue eyes, and a cute little pot-belly. We loved him from the start. He would be our companion, best friend, running buddy, snuggle-man, and hunting guide from that day on.

For the REST of the story, click on over to THIS POST on The Right Fits! While you're at it, check out some of Jessie's other posts, too. She does a fantastic job! 

Harvey in a barley field, late this past summer.
Pretty handsome guy!

Want to read more about our hunting adventures? Here are a few links to past posts on hunting with Harvey that have appeared on PrairiePonderingsMT.

From October 10, 2011: http://prairieponderingsmt.blogspot.com/2011/10/hunting-on-hiline-part-ii-harvey-and.html

November 4, 2013: http://prairieponderingsmt.blogspot.com/2013/11/hunting-on-hiline-2013-vol-1.html

September 11, 2014: http://prairieponderingsmt.blogspot.com/2014/09/hunting-on-hiline-2014-volume-1-opening.html

Welcome to FUE!

Add Farmers Union Enterprises to the list of time commitments and interests Jeff and I now embrace.  Have you heard of Farmers Union Enterprises before? What about Farmers Union Industries? I myself had heard of Montana Farmers Union and National Farmers Union, but not of Farmers Union Enterprises or Industries.  MFU, NFU, and FUE… Lots of acronyms here, folks.

 

FUE grew out of collaboration between five states: Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. Originally, each of these five states’ Farmers Unions had put up some money to start a business that would benefit Farmers Union members in their states.  The original business was a rendering facility.  Now, there are several more businesses in industry and manufacturing that FUE is ultimately behind. Each involves agriculture.  Here is the website for Farmers Union Industries- http://fuillc.com/ Check out some of the businesses they have! Besides the rendering facility, there is also a metal works company and a great cat litter called Swheat Scoop (made from wheat by-products). 

Image source: www.walmartimages.com

 

FUE was also the brains and original funding behind two farm-to-table restaurants in the Washington D.C. area, Founding Farmers and Farmers and Fishers. 

Founding Farmers Restaurant

Farmers Fishers Bakers

Definitely going to have to try to get into one or both of those restaurants next time I am in DC!

 

Jeff and I are members of MFU as of December, so less than a year. I signed up at the Women’s Conference I attended last fall, although I think we were likely to join anyway, as we believe in the ideals Farmers Union embraces. Somehow we made an impression on the leaders of MFU, as we were asked to represent Montana in the Farmers Union Enterprises Leadership Program.

 

Farmers Union Enterprises at some point decided to begin a leadership training program dedicated to young couples and families.  Each year, there is one couple or family from each state selected to participate in the leadership program.  We are the new couple from Montana. It seems as though the commonalities among all the couples are a commitment to Farmers Union in their state, and some sort of demonstrated leadership potential.  The hope is that couples who complete the year-and-a-half of training will take on a leadership role of some sort in Farmers Union and/or in their local communities.  I think Farmers Union, in general, is seeing an aging population among its long-time leadership, so I think another purpose of the program we are in is to encourage younger membership and younger leaders to step up.

 

We will meet with the other four couples in the leadership program approximately once per quarter, usually corresponding with another Farmers Union meeting or convention in one of the five states.  We attend that function as part of the larger group of attendees, and then spend one or two days in intensive leadership training courses with our small group and our coordinator.  This time, we attended the MFU mid-year meeting in Bozeman, and then spent time training on time management, conflict resolution, and just getting to know each other.

 

There was also a great session in which the Farmers Union Presidents from each of our five states were present for a question and answer session.  We got to ask them about anything we wanted. Jeff got in a question about the prospect of the Farm Bill, and I got in a question on the outlook of women in leadership of Farmers Union. One thing is certain, the Farmers Union Presidents of Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, and Wisconsin each have a lot of personality! They were entertaining as well as very encouraging and interesting. It was clear that they are thrilled with the FUE leadership program we are in, which was a great affirmation.

 

Jeff and I are very excited to participate in FUE and feel honored to represent Montana for the next eighteen months or so.  The other couples and families we met all seemed like fantastic people with whom we had much in common.  We are really looking forward to getting to know each of them as time goes on, and hopefully establish some life-long connections throughout the Upper Midwest. I am also excited about learning more about Farmers Union—I did not grow up within the organization as Jeff did.  My early impressions are great- this is definitely an organization Jeff and I feel like we can support and be part of.  It’s very clear that their primary concern is family farm operations. 

 

I am planning to do a series of posts relating to Farmers Union, so stay tuned for more.  There will be at least one more post in which I’ll write more specifically about the conference we just attended in Bozeman, entitled, “From Seed to Table.”