Med City Marathon Race Report

Oh my. This was less a race and more a survival test. With the mercury climbing over 85 with humidity making it even hotter, a PR for 26.2 miles was not even a consideration within minutes of starting this slog fest. So whereas I usually expound on my personal reflections during the run in race report posts, today there is not much to say beyond I knew I needed to finish and I got it done. And that's that. But this would be a short blog post if that were really all I said, now wouldn't it....

In truth though, I didn't enjoy a minute of this race. It was really, really hard. And I place the blame for this squarely on the shoulder of Mr Sun whom I may or may not have given the bird a few times during the race.

But, in all seriousness, the Med City Marathon itself is a great race. The course was really nice and varied. The first 6 miles were rolling hills out in the country starting in the town of Byron. The 7th mile was a straight downhill (which was definitely the most tolerable mile of the race!). Miles 8-12 meandered on a local bike path through many green areas and well-kept neighborhoods. Already by mile 0.5 I had established that my race goal was going to be simply surviving a crash course in heat tolerance. As I've mentioned before, I'm NOT a good warm weather runner. I'll take a long run in 20 degrees before a long run in 70 degrees so 85 was absolutely out of my comfort zone. And since it's so early in the year, I have not adapted to the heat at all, not even a little. So I thought, once I survived this (and I had no question I'd survive, just that it wouldn't be pretty) maybe the rest of the summer would be a bit smoother.

Mile 0.5 is a bit early to give up on having a good race though so I tried to stay optimistic and chugged along doing my best to ignore my Garmin. However, with each passing mile, I felt worse and worse and when things still hadn't turned around my mile 9, I decided to pull it back a bit. I ran with Adam from 9-12 which made things a little better. But when he broke off at mile 12 to finish the last 1.1 of his half, I couldn't find a way to put a positive spin on the fact that I still had 14.2 to go. UGH!!!

Bottom line is, I got through it. I finished in one of my worst times to date (4:40:26), but I finished. And despite my slow time, I feel like I earned my medal. I did work hard, harder than in previous races, certainly harder than my PR race at Rockford (4:05:18) roughly 1 year ago. Starting at mile 14 I did a 0.75 mile run, 0.25 mile speed walk plan. Luckily I walk relatively quickly - b/t 12-13 min/mile pace according to the Garmin. I was able to keep a 9:30-10 minute running pace when I was running. The last 3 miles were a total blurry disaster, I don't remember much besides trying my best to keep running to the finish.

Both during and after this race, I certainly entertained some discouraging thoughts such as maybe I'm not as in good of shape as I thought, maybe a sub-4 marathon is not possible for me at all, maybe I'm just a wimp. But I tried my best to push these out of my mind and instead focused on how I can improve things for the future. Like doing more training in the heat. Yeah, that was a real pleasant thought while running in the heat. Ug.

Today, when I was out for my daily mile in the oh-so-pleasant 60 degree weather (WHERE WAS THIS SUNDAY????), running felt easy, free and wonderful. And I realized there are many dimensions to "perceived effort" and "suffering". There's muscle/joint pain, there's shortness of breath, there's mental fatigue. I had none of those during my 1 miler today and I really didn't have much of those during the marathon. But during Med City I felt something else. Some intangible difficulty that I believe was the perception of my body fighting to cool down. We all know it is physically more difficult to run in heat, even if one stays hydrated. This is a known physiologic fact. But I learned Sunday this is not necessarily perceived as shortness of breath or pain, rather - for me at least- it's a nondescript sensation of things being  harder than they should be. That's why I plan to continue to firmly place the blame for my "bad race" on the heat. At the same time, I'll work to improve my performance in the heat by training hot so this doesn't happen again.

My 11th marathon, 0.1 mile from the FINISH!!

On the upside, the crowd support was AMAZING! Considering the size of the town (only 106,000) the number of people out to support runners on the course was incredible! There was water every mile and kindly locals with buckets of ice just about every mile as well. They did such a great job of trying to mitigate the weather. On some of the country roads there were up to 50 spectators at a time with candy, ice, signs, so wonderful. I gave a bunch of small children high fives because they were just so darn enthusiastic....I'm waiting for the head cold that surely will result from that:) (Kids=germ farms)

Despite the distance from Chicago (6 hours), this race was easy-peasy logistics wise and can certainly be done in a two-day weekend. Getting to the town was easy. Getting our packets from the civic center was easy (free 15 minute parking hurray!), there's a decent Italian restaurant (Victoria's) just steps from our hotel (the Marriott), our hotel was 3 blocks from the start, the start line shuttles were well run and easy, the finish had tons of food. Everything was simple.

I highly recommend this race. The average high temperature this weekend of the year is usually in the high 60s, so most years this is a pleasant race. I'd do it again myself if I didn't have 43 other states to run marathons in in the next 17 years!!

11th marathon, 7th state. Done and done.

Scary, Gimpy, Taper Week Run

Eek! Went for what was supposed to be an easy taper week run but half-way through I had weird right calf/behind the knee pain. I'm not going to lie- it freaked me out. Taper week can be a little scary between avoiding injury and avoiding the dreaded cold. My husband's been sick and I have been avoiding him like the plague. Thank goodness he's getting better because he's going to come to Rochester with me and run the 1/2 marathon, which makes the whole race experience so much more fun. Even better is the fact that the 1/2 and full participants run together for the first 12 miles- great fun!

So needless to say this leg tweak freaked me out so I did some walking. Each time I retried the leg it still felt funny so I bagged the run early. Hopefully I can convince Adam to a some quick calf massage tonight and all will be well tomorrow. Keep your fingers crossed for me!!

Barrel Aged Mini Putting

In addition to being 'build up ridiculous hype about NATO' week last week here in Chicago, it was also the start of Craft Beer Week. As a result there were many different events over the weekend involving, well, craft beer. Adam obviously has a role in all this, as does Goose Island, and part of their contribution was to hold a weekend event at the brewery. To mix things up a bit (how may nights can one sit in a bar before it gets old? wait, don't answer that) the brewers got creative and decided to create a 9 hole mini-putt course in the barrel warehouse of the brewery.

Course under construction

Goose Island is one of the first breweries to be involved in barrel aging beer. Perhaps their most famous barrel aged beer is their Bourbon County Stout, aged in Bourbon barrels. They also have many beers aged in wine barrels such as Sofie, Juliet, Madame Rose and Lolita. This is still a pretty unique concept in beer making, though is certainly being adopted more frequently because it results in such delicious, rich flavors full of depth and surprises. So showcasing their barrel aging with a fun event such as beer tasting and mini-putting was a great idea.

Adam going for par.

Friday night was family and friends night (the main event that folks paid to attend was Sunday) so I joined Adam in a round. The course was really neat. It was all handmade by the brewing staff with materials in the brewery- barrels, malt, PVC piping, you name it, they used it. There were water traps and sand (malt) traps. And, to increase the chances of good putting, there were plenty of barrels on which to place your beer as you putt:)

Score cards were made for the occasion.

Malt traps in the corners.

Tough green.

Triathon Training Week One: Gotta Start Somewhere

I'm starting to wrap my mind around actually doing the Chicago Triathlon this year. For the past two years, I spectated. I think this might be the year to do it. This was my first week of training with the possibility of an Olympic Distance triathlon in my near future. How did I do? Well, you gotta start somewhere.....


As I mentioned last week, I'm following the "Essential Week-by-Week Training Guide" put out by Triathlete Magazine and Matt Fitzgerald. I started with the Level 1 Half Ironman program. As you can see below I wasn't entirely successful: 


Plan/Completed
Running: 30 min run w/ fartleks (done), 35 min run (done), 40 min run (done)  3 for 3
Biking: 45 min w/ intervals (done), 60 min (done), 60 min (NOT done)  2 of 3
Swimming: 1200 yd swim (300 yd done), 1200 yard (NOT done), 1500 yard (NOT done) 1/4 of 3


Hmm...not really surprising. I'm a runner, so I got those runs in no problem. Biking is not hard for me to do (slowly), but I don't find it nearly as fun or rewarding as running. Swimming is my weakest area by far, I've never been a regular swimmer, it involves entirely different clothing than biking and running and it's HARD. But I completed only 300 yd out of a goal of 3900 yd? Clearly I was set up to fail.


So, I've re-assed my training plan and decided that I need to upgrade the runs because I really think 3 short runs a week is not enough for my runner spirit, and downgrade the swimming to something more realistic. I'm shooting for an Olympic distance race in August so there's really no need to unrealistically attempt Half Ironman swimming distances. So going forward, I'll use a hybrid of 3 plans: Level 1 Ironman for running, Level 1 Half-Iron man for biking, and Level 1 Olympic for swimming. Keeping the slightly more challenging/time consuming biking plan makes sense- since a disproportionate amount of Ironman is on the bike, I might as well starting getting used to it. 


Now next week is actually taper week for the Med City Marathon on Sunday so I'm making modifications with that in mind....


Plan:
Monday: 800 yd swim, 45 min spin w/ intervals
Tuesday: 45 minute run
Wednesday: 800 yd swim, 60 minute spin
Thursday: 30 min run w/ strides (2 x 20 sec w/ 40s RI) or 60 minute spin
Friday: 30 min run w/ strides (2 x 20 sec w 40s RI) or relaxed mile 
Saturday: 1 mile run
Sunday: Med Ctiy Marathon


Happy Weekend to all!

NATO-pocalypse in Chicago

There's been so much hubbubaloo about NATO being in Chicago, I thought the non-Chicagoans might appreciate to hear exactly how much turmoil has been exacted on my daily life by the comings and goings of these numerous dignitaries and the trail of protestors they leave in their wake.

On Thursday and Friday I started to notice a distinct hum that rose above the low grade din of Lake Shore Drive. The hum can only be described as bumblecopters. So many helicopters that it sounded like a swarm of very loud bees. Constant. Sometimes louder, sometimes quieter, but always present. Occasionally, a lone copter would make its way over the lake like a lone bee buzzing my ear but soon it would fade back into the general swarm. The humming persists as I write this post Sunday afternoon.



The first thing I noticed Saturday morning was the quiet. And then the birds chirping! I usually cannot hear the birds over the sounds of Lake Shore but because much of South Lake Shore was closed the traffic was minimal. Almost like Bike the Drive day. Or Snowpocalypse of February 2011. So quiet and lovely. All politics aside I say "hooray for NATO" if it brings me some urban quiet!

After days of discussion and warnings of the dreaded protestors (we were told to bring a phone cord, change of clothes and our medications to work in case the protestors barred us in the hospital and a patient who is also a cop told me they'd already confiscated a bin of human feces protestors were collecting to throw at people- what, are we monkeys now?), I spotted one in the flesh in my building on the way to work Saturday morning. Well, I was on the way to work. From my limited understanding of the Occupy so called movement, many of those folks quit their real jobs and now consider protesting their job, so it's up for discussion whether he was going to 'work' as well. But regardless of ones beliefs on that subject, his protest sign I found confusing. It was a pink cardboard cut out of a machine gun with flowers sticking out of the barrel (similar to the one above, but picture flowers too). Huh? I'd consider myself a good feminist but even I must admit that pink and flowers do not indicate a strong message of any kind.....


Next, I realized this NATO business has been a great opportunity to employ people who really want a job where they get to spend 90% of the time sitting around doing nothing. I appreciate that you need a lot of people sitting around doing nothing so there is enough people power for the few times where they need to do something (cops, traffic directors) but man, there are a LOT of people in the city today getting paid to stand around. A LOT. The Occupy so called movement people should be absolutely tickled by the number of folks employed to make this NATO conference happen!

As you may have heard, the museum campus was closed as was part of the lake front path. Quite a production with fences and city trucks blocking the way.  On my run today near one of these blockades (in the clean air, again thanks to closing LSD), I saw a chalk sign that said 'Chicago Police State' and folks were lining up to take a picture next to it. Now I realize it's eerie and frustrating to not be able to move freely about our city since NATO is here. It did weird me out a bit and made me reflect on the people who truly are limited in their movements in their towns due to politics or violence. And I know the cop presence is upsetting to some people. I will be the first to admit that there are cops that are shady and that people are, on occasion (too often), mistreated by Chicago cops. Some of the power trips cops go on can be annoying on a day-to-day basis as well. But, people, let's be honest. The cops are out in force to keep us all safe! There are a few bad eggs in every profession, but the cops are not our enemies! Yes, maybe they overspent on riot gear, yes maybe they all aren't as emotionally mature as one would like someone with a gun to be. But to refer to a few closed streets and crowds of cops trying to protect citizens and private property as a police state is ridiculous and belittles the struggles faced by those in true police states. Even those who think the worst of our cops must admit that their cop-like counterparts in corrupt or poor or desperate or war-torn countries are not comparable. Come on!


I will say, though, that talking about the NATO summit has resulted in many random conversations with my neighbors with whom I don't usually speak. So, that's a plus. As is the quiet, the lack of tourists (no offense), and the utter lack of air pollution. Do I want NATO here every weekend? No, but once in a while, we can and should make some sacrifices so the leaders of countries around the world can talk together. Even if we don't agree with them, even if we accomplish nothing, there is something valuable just in having the talks.

You Are Not Paying Us to Steer!

As you may recall from past 'Medical Madness' posts, in academic medicine we spend most of the morning going from patient room to patient room on "rounds". This is when we talk about each patient and make decisions about the plan going forward. As you can imagine, there is a lot of information we'd like at our fingertips as we discuss the more complicated cases. Labs, imaging, pathology, medical history in the case of the "bad historian"(**see below)...we really need a computer with us at all times.

Enter COWs. Computers On Wheels.

Since we are constantly on our feet we must push our computers (i.e. peripheral brains) around with us. Some places such as my alma mater, University of Chicago, are giving physicians their own iPads and I'm sure this will be the wave of the future, but for now, enter the COW:

Much like their bovine counterparts, these cows are far from perfect. They occasionally make loud incessant beeps, similar to, but more ear-piercing than, a more traditional 'moo'. Their tails (i.e. cords) can get in the way and drag behind them in a disorganized fashion. If they aren't given enough food (i.e. electric charge) they will die. And, like our farmyard friends, they can be very stubborn and difficult to move. They always seem to have a bum wheel- kinda like that grocery cart you don't want w/ the wheel that spins in circles. It can require the full attention of a highly trained medical professional to not crash these guys into the wall, our patients and each other.

Lately, our main COW has had a mean veer to the left. We take turns pushing it. We call her the Core Workout. And like most things in life, it's all fun and games until someone gets their foot rolled over...which happens...frequently.

A few weeks ago as my friend and esteemed colleague Dr Shah was pushing ole Core Workout, she had to make a right turn which is next to impossible with this particular COW. Just as she tries to make the corner a lovely elderly patient comes barreling around the corner with her IV pole getting in her daily laps for exercise. Rather than risk hitting said patient Dr. Shah aborts mission and lets the COW veer left....directly into the wall. As the patient walks by, she apologizes for the near collision. The nice lady with her IV pole with her chemo, smiles sweetly and forgivingly to Dr Shah and says "It's okay dear. We all have our problems."

Dr Shah's problem:

(Disclaimer- no physicians, patients, or computers were harmed in this re-enactment.)

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(**More medical madness style details the "bad historian". The "bad historian" is the patient who has no idea what their medical problems are or often whey they are even in the hospital. This doesn't happen as often in Oncology as it does in General Medicine, but from time to time you will come across a patient who has no idea if/what chemo they've had in the past, when they were diagnosed, etc. And there are plenty of patients who will insist, absolutely insist, that they do not have high blood pressure, only to find that they take 3 or 4 anti-hypertensive (blood pressure controlling) meds. Hmmm....For the laypeople in my audience, I implore you to make a list of your medical problems and medications to carry with you at all times. It makes us that much harder to help you if you don't!

The "bad historian" is different, but often related to, the "pan-positive review of systems" patient. The "review of systems" is the part of history taking when we ask various relevant questions that may pertain to the patient's chief complaint. For example, if someone presents with shortness of breath (which we abbreviate SOB....don't be offended, we are not calling our patients bad names.....unless we say "that sob is SOB",  just kidding of course), we will ask questions like

"have you had fevers" - might point to infection
"have you had a cough"- might point to infection or chronic lung disease
"have you had chest pain"- might point to blood clot in the lungs or heart disease
"have you had leg swelling"- again, blood clot or heart disease

We also ask about every other body system just to be sure we don't miss anything. We ask about vision, hearing, headaches, abdominal pain, constipation, diarrhea, urinary symptoms, rashes, joint pain etc, etc, etc. This line of questioning is of various utility depending on the patient. The "pan-positive review of systems" patient says yes to EVERY SINGLE QUESTION thus making the entire evaluation completely useless. Like the "bad historian" this patient has a lack of insight into what is going on in their bodies (or too much insight) which makes it a bit more difficult to hone in on the primary problem. It's important for the team to be aware that a patient is either a "bad historian" or has a "pan-positive review of systems" otherwise things they say may be given too much weight to the detriment of good clinical decision making. And when you run into these problems it is even more important to have a COW to look up the facts!

Chicago Spring Half Marathon Race Report

Yesterday, Adam and I ran the Chicago Spring Half Marathon. The start and finish of the race are literally steps from our apartment so it's super convenient for us! In past years, the race fell on the same day as the Rockford Marathon/Half so we've not been able to run it. Too many races, too little time!

The race headquarters is in the Lakeshore East park which is this hidden gem of a park in our neighborhood. Here's the view of it from our side window:

There's a playground, waterfalls, a dog park, tons of trees and flowers. There's a coffee-shop, grocery store, steak house and brand new brunch place. Despite being steps from Navy Pier and Millennium Park, it is mostly locals in this quiet, well-kept park. I almost don't want to post about it because the secret might get out but I assume (hope) most of my readers are the kinds of folks who will keep our park nice:)

The race started on a good foot (pun intended). Mild breeze, 60 degree temps. The southern sky looked mighty threatening but we all discussed how surely the weather would stay south of us and we'd be just fine. Ah, runners' eternal optimism. My goal was to PR. I generally try not to have super ambitious goals on race day because I psych myself out too easily, but seeing as a PR for me would be "simply" running all sub-9 minute miles, I thought it was perfectly realistic and shouldn't cause undue stress.

Here's a picture of the park through my Sunday happy
hour wine glass;) I love the refection of the buildings in my
New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc.

I say "simply" only because at my last half marathon, the Chicago Monster Dash in October 2011, I ran my first (official) sub-2 half with negative splits and overall 9:03 pace and was less well trained than I am now. Running a half-marathon is never "simple". I just knew that my goal was doable if I worked hard.

The first 2 miles were great (8:22, 8:23). I was flying and felt good. I knew that I probably was running faster than I should be, but I'm of the mind that for a marathoner, a half-marathon is a "short" race so I shouldn't worry about crashing and burning, I should just RUN! My natural tendency is to leave way too much left in the tank anyway, so holding back in "short" races just doesn't make sense. Despite the run being on the lakefront path, it wasn't too crowded.

I started breathing a bit more heavily than I'd like around mile 3 so I slowed the pace to catch my breath. Miles three and four went okay (8:50, 8:34) but I wouldn't say I was enjoying myself. Too many miles still ahead. Around mile four Adam caught up to me which was both a nice distraction and a bit demoralizing since he was just using this as a long run rather than a race since he hasn't been training. Adam holds the Nelson Lilly family record in the half marathon which he set at the Illinois Half Marathon in 2011 (1:54:14!!) which I'll freely admit, I'd LOVE to beat! I'm not very competitive in my daily life but for some reason I want to be the faster runner in our marriage. Silly, but true!

I trudged along until the turn-around at 6.5 (8:25, 8:59). Since it was an out-and-back we got to watch the winners. The male leader was cruising, looking great, even smiling a bit. The female leader looked good as well. She had an amazingly short stride. I'm definitely a believer in the short stride, fast turnover physiologic philosophy of running.

It started raining around mile 4 which was okay. I welcomed the distraction. Thunder and lightning? All the better! Until we turned around and headed north at 6.5. Then, the rain water which hitherto had been nice and cooling, became painful. Yes, physically painful. It wasn't hail, exactly, but the drops of water were so sharp and the wind so fierce that it hurt my eyes and face as it hit me. I resorted to keeping one eye open at at time because the water literally stung my eyeballs.

Miles 7 to 11 were ho-hum (8:47, 9:28, 8:57, 9:24, 9:17). I wasn't totally dying. I wasn't totally miserable. But I wasn't enjoying myself and there was no race day magic. Could I have run faster? Probably. Could I have run slower? Definitely.   Did I have multiple moments where I thought I should phone it in? For sure. But I figured I'd be just as wet and miserable if I ran slowly....actually more so because it would take that much longer to get to the finish.

I did come up with a new mantra, though. At the 8 mile mark I became very confused by the race clock. It said 1:10 so I couldn't figure out for the life of me how I had been running so hard for so long but still didn't have a comfortable time cushion to ensure I'd get a sub-2 hour marathon. Spend some time in my water logged brain:

 "5 miles left......10 minute miles.....5 x 10 is 50 minutes. But what about that 0.1 mile at the end? Why don't I have a cushion? Oh, wait, I'm not supposed to run 10 minute miles anymore, I'm supposed to run faster....Why do I have to run faster? Cuz I'm a better runner than I used to be?.....I don't feel like a better runner. I feel wet and semi-blinded by the rain. And I sure can't do math that involves numbers more complicated than 10. Like 9:30 minute miles x 5 miles. What's that?....Oh forget it. No math, just run."


And no math, just run is what I did. I did what I could and I ended up with a respectable 1:56:44 (final miles: 9:11, 8:58). A PR. Sub-9 minute miles! (8:54.27 min/miles).

I still have a ways to go to beat that Adam, though:)

The post race was quite respectable with hot pancakes, eggs and potatoes in addition the usual gatorade, water and fruit. I'd recommend this race. I'm not sure how many runners there ended up being but it was definitely less crowded than the other Chicago 1/2's I've done in the past (Monster, Rock and Roll, Chicago Half).

All in all a good day, and merely steps from our front door:)

With the finish line in sight.....time for a new goal!

Seven weeks left! Only 49 days until I can start a normal life schedule with most of my weekends off, the ability to work-out without my pager in tow, and the ability to sleep through a night without being paged! Can you believe it? I can. It's been a long 4 years. This post, however, is not about the fact that I am nearly done with my first year of fellowship and about to start the more reasonable, controlled, independently driven schedule of a 2nd year fellow. It's about what I'm going to do with some of that new free time. It's time to start thinking about the Ironman.

When it comes to exercise, I have no shortage of goals. Some I succeed at every day (run at least 1 mile daily), some I am working towards at a turtle's pace (qualify for Boston) and some are in the back of my mind but I've made no outward moves to achieve (finish an Ironman). And there are others, like numbers of work-outs a week, number of marathons in new states a year, improvement in strength, etc, etc that I variably work towards with mixed success. But the Ironman goal has never really gotten much attention. Until now.

After years of ridiculous work-weeks, the next two years I will have fabulous amounts of flexibility in my job. Of course I'll work hard. It's not like I'm working part-time or something (wow, that could be great though). But I'll have some control over when I go to work and when I go home which is a crazy new concept for me.

So it's now or never.

When I started running, I went from couch potato to marathoner. There's something really tempting about the idea of jumping straight into full Ironman training. However, since I just learned to swim with my face under water last year and I don't even own a road bike, I don't think going straight from marathoner to Ironman is a good plan. I'll need an intermediary step, like a shorter Triathlon, just to make sure I a) don't drown, b) am willing to spend money on a road bike and c) don't spend hundreds of dollars on a race that I can't finish. Cuz if I do drown it will have been an absolute shame to have spent money on a bike and a race that I won't finish:)

Last week was kinda sorta supposed to be my first triathlon training week but I didn't get any swims in so I'm going to officially declare this week the first week. I figure if I make a big show about it, blog post and all, I'll be more likely to succeed.

I'm using this book that showed up in our apartment. I think Adam borrowed it from a friend. It's not like me to start a new training schedule without purchasing a new training book all my own, but heck, it's here in front of me so I might as well use it.

I'm following the Level 1 Half-Ironman program to start. I'm in marathon shape and have 2 marathons in the next five weeks so it's strange to see such short running segments. They call running for 35 minutes a training run? So short! So I'll be making some modifications, doing more running that I'm "supposed" to. I'm not sure I'll ever be able to view myself as a triathlete rather than a marathoner who is doing a triathlon!

This weeks plan:
Monday: 1200 yd swim in AM (ha! I think the longest I've ever swam is 200 yes so this seems unlikely!), 45 min cycle (6:30 PM Equinox spinning)
Tuesday: 30 min run w/ 6 x 30 sec fartleks in AM
Wednesday: 60 min cycle (6:30 AM Equinox spinning), 1200 yd swim in PM
Thursday: 5:45 PM Shockwave class @ Equinox
Friday: 35 minute run PM
Saturday: 60 minute cycle, 1500 yd swim
Sunday: 40 minute run

Yikes. That sounds super ambitious. Next up, making my menu for the week to fuel me through this madness!