Triathlon - 13 days Till...

Less than two weeks remain before my big event, and I’ve decided it’s high time to start recording some of my thoughts, seeing as I’m not sure if I’ll do one of these again (at this distance) and anyway, like anything else, there’s no time like the first time.

Also, for these last two weeks, I am ditching audio devices during my training, since I won’t be allowed to use them during the race. This gives me an exorbitant amount of think time during which, left to my own devices, I might create a plot to take over the world or something. And if said plot was hatched and proved successful, I doubt I’d really WANT the world once I had it….in which case I’d have to hand it over to my parents. And they’re too busy taking care of my dog and finding homes for various stray cats I send them to worry about running a world.

So…better I use that time to reflect on my training thus far.

Today, during my swim, I was thinking about how I even made it to this point. In September of last year, I was huffing and puffing after swimming just ONE LENGTH (that’s 25 yards, or one trip across the short part of an Olympic-size pool). Now I’m swimming the whole 1.2 miles (which is about 76 lengths….yikes!) in about 43 minutes, and contemplating how I can get it down to 40 minutes by race day.

What’s nuts is, swimming was the event I was most concerned about going into this. In August and September, I was getting into the pool, doing a few laps in horribly incorrect form, and thinking I just “wasn’t a swimmer.”

Thank God I mentioned to Jamela that I was thinking of training for a triathlon. The stellar teacher / opera singer / kindest person I know also just HAPPENS to be an experienced swimmer who has TRAINED PEOPLE FOR TRIATHLONS. You know, like, in her spare time. (What??)

So, she volunteered to help me out. We started meeting on Mondays and Wednesdays at 8 p.m. at the Tulane Reily Center, and kept up our tradition for a long time. We’d swim first, and run afterwards.

I remember when I first felt like “a swimmer” was after our first swim lesson, Oct. 26th, when I learned the correct way to breathe and proper form with my stroke.

Because I was SO WORRIED about the swim, I’ve devoted the most attention to that event. I don’t think I’ve missed a single swim workout in my 20-week training plan. And now, I do believe it’s my strongest event (knock on wood). My new swim challenge is the dreaded open water swim, during which I’m convinced I’m going to be attacked by school of hungry piranhas, or the giant alligator from Placid Lake.

I’m hoping my healthy fear of nature will help me get to that 40-minute mark.

Peace,

HH

Final Project

To Whom It May Concern,

My final project is posted at http://grace2411.edublogs.org/. Please let me know if you need anything else. Enjoy!!

The Convenience of Diigo

I am thoroughly enjoying using Diigo for educational purposes. I don't think I will really get into sharing my articles and comments until I have more friends on there, and figure out how to use it so that only they can see my comments. But I love setting it to private and using the highlight, bookmark and comments features to read online for my classes.

Recently, I found another very useful function for Diigo, and that is having it aid me in my study of the Spanish language. I am trying to brush up on my skills in time for a job interview, and am meeting with a friend each week to discuss an article (in Spanish) that we have both read. I am using the Diigo comment tool to translate any words in the passage I don't know. That way, when I reread the text, I don't have to rely on the translation, but can refer to it if needed. It is so convenient, and I can't wait to learn more Spanish using Diigo. Has anyone else found that Diigo has aided them in other ways? Are there other cool features I should know about?

Tweaked Alligators video

Ok, I couldn't resist.  This activity is just so much more appealing right now than writing a paper.  I synced up the pictures with the audio, filled in the blank spaces by adding some pics, etc.  Enjoy.

Alligators

I decided I didn't want to videotape myself explaining how to do something, so instead I used the iMovie application on my Mac to piece together a "how-to" using pictures saved on my computer.  I know from my blog it looks like I'm obsessed with water creatures, and I guess I kind of am, but honestly I just had so many pictures from this cajun swamp tour that this was the easiest thing to do. 

I'm hoping I will have time to rework this before Tuesday, so think of this as a preview or rough draft.

I would love suggestions, such as, do you think I should put cajun zydeco music in the background, or would that be inappropriate given the morbid nature of alligator attacks?  People from where I live are very used to the presence of alligators and sharks, and honestly make sort of a joke of it, but I wouldn't want to offend anyone who has lost a loved one to an animal attack.

I just think it is a little boring and needs something extra, but I can't think of what I could do to save time and headache.  I don't mind putting the extra time in for this project, but I am trying to learn about practical ways I can use technology like this in my classroom, and practical means it can't be that complicated or time-consuming.

I've had a lot of trouble uploading this video onto the page, but I don't know how to do it in format other than Quicktime.

Anyway, if you have comments, questions, or suggestions, let me know. Thanks for viewing!

Of Audacity and Time Capsules

I attended Bart's session on Audacity the other day, and as soon as I have half a second to play with it, I'm going to use it for a recording my friends and I made five years ago about where we saw ourselves in five years.  Being from the South, I'm pretty sure a couple of us said we'd be engaged or married, which is funny because none of us are, nor thinking that it would be such a good idea now!  I'm really looking forward to listening.  Has anyone else done a sort of "time capsule" or written a letter to yourself?  One of my professors my senior year of college always has her classes write letters to themselves, and then she sends them in five years.  I still have two years longer to wait for that one.  I'm sure it will be equally hilarious.  

Anyway, I guess I've gotten way off the topic of Audacity, but has anyone used it yet?  Can you think of any practical uses for it besides the one I named above?  (I'm having lots of fun making the artists in my iTunes sing like chipmunks, but this can hardly count as practical).

This was just so awesome to me when I went to the Georgia Aquarium - I've never seen one of these things in real life before.  If you're ever in Atlanta, you should definitely check out the aquarium!

I know a Beluga Whale is not class related, but I guess I'm showing proficiency w/ the technology anyway.....

Office Mac Notebook

I have had so much fun showing all of my friends how to use the Notebook feature in Microsoft Word.  I can't believe I never knew about it - as a student reporter it really would have come in handy!  At least I can use it now to take notes during SGA meetings and classes if need be.  I am excited about learning more about Audacity from Bart (I guess we're still having that meeting - haven't heard differently). Anyway, I will post more after completing this week's readings.  Happy blogging!

Welcome

Hello and welcome to my blog.  I'm looking forward to keeping this up for T560 and beyond.  Talk to you soon!