ugh...

Life is not hot or cold...black or white...on or off...but it does seem that I run that way with this here blog. Right now...i have too many thoughts running around in my little pea brain head so...to anyone listening...i'll just dump. We shall see how long that lasts.

Well...it's monday...and i wore compression socks to work (no...not as a fashion statement and yes they are black so they look like 'normal' socks under the trousers. I don't SPORT them like some wacky triathletes.) and one of my weekend activities involved taking an ice bath. Not usually a good sign. Blame the weights on friday...no i think blame the squats mainly.

But all this soreness made for an interesting weekend of training. And by interesting...i mean hard...mentally. Saturday the weather prescription was: 70% chance of rain. My original 4 hour bike was cancelled so I decided to deal with the rain during a run and push the ride to Sunday. Many accounts of Saturday's rain...and I think i made the right choice.

Saturday came and i felt like a complete rebel. I slept in...i drank some coffee...slowly...i soaked in the morning and puttered around the house enjoying a nice brekkie of coffee, french toast and fruit. The mornings exploits were seemingly scandalous compared to a normal Saturday early start. And then i realized: most people would do exactly this on a Saturday. I then realized: I wouldn't trade my Saturday morning rides, but occasionally it is nice to indulge in a 'normal' Saturday. Eventually i got out the door for an 8 mile run.

owch

slooooooooooooooooooooooooooowly i made my way along with some quads that hated me. But they didn't really hurt while running...they just made everything tired...slow...and tired.

Then sunday...lisa generously offered to ride with me on my long ride. Somehow google maps sucks...oh wait...somehow? yes...they just plain suck and told me it would be 15 miles from my house to point A...it was 7 miles...not 15. Which...now i was 16 miles short by the end of the ride since I was riding there and back to point A and then doing a loop off of point A. Double ugh...the ride itself was sorta a doozy. My body was achy, tired...but i pressed on. And near the end of it...what do I have to climb to get home? Torrey Pines. yowza. But before that I stopped to regroup with Lisa and looked at my watch: 2:58....nope I still needed some more time.

And then the negotiations set in: ugh..you're tired...do you really need to do 4 hours? We will get 3.5 i'm sure by the time I get home...legs hurt...body aches...really...what's 30 minutes??

I regrouped with Lisa and told her I needed some more time. She let me meander my way up the coast as she headed in. And then I was sent a small miracle mid-suffer fest. My friend mark.

I was stopped at a light when I hear someone say my name. I first think: who the heck would know me out here? And I look back...and my friend mark is there. Sigh...awesome. He distracted me for almost the whole distance I needed before I turned around. He truly was a Godsend when my little brain was just DONE and my body was screaming: ENOUGH.

Finally turned around and I swear the only reason I got home was part of it was down hill and there is that thing called gravity. The other portion...you know the part called Torrey Pines...well that was not fun...but I plowed up it and hung in there.

And then....more negotiations. I'm supposed to do 15x30 second pick ups with 30 sec recovery + 15 min cool down off the bike...so another total of 30 minutes of running...UGH...

just do 5...really...just do a few

then after 5...you can do 10 i know you can...

after 10...really...what's 5 more? You've come this far.

So i got all 15 done...but i wasn't finished at that point. Nope. Still had a weight workout to fit in later in the day.

Granted I got home, ice bathed, napped, ate, ate and ate some more...finally got to the gym with only 30 mins til close but i GOT to the gym. I seriously wanted to turn around half way TO the gym. AND i got a few lifts in to help with that anabolic response to help off set all that catabolic work i did this weekend. Maybe not the whole workout...but something is better than nothing.

you know what...i'm pretty proud of myself. I really was SO over the training pretty much all weekend...but i managed to get through. AND this morning...still feeling like lead and swimming like a rock...i got a good session of technique drills in (which are mentally challenging since they are so repetitive).

Major hurdles were jumped...yes max...there IS a steeple chase in ironman...i'm almost certain of it.