Monday Happened Again

52 times a year.  It happens.  Monday comes.  I'm just glad to check another one off the calendar.  But Mondays don't always bring good news you see.  I know you know.  I went to one of those specialty running/walking shoe stores today to have them recommend a shoe for me.  I told them what I wore, told them about the pain when I run, showed them my foot where it's still swollen from NOVEMBER, let them watch me walk around a bit.... and the fella says, "Well, I think you're definitely in the right shoe for you."  *Cough.Cough*  Dude, I just told you my feet hurt like crazy when I run.  I just SHOWED you the swollen spots on my foot that have been swollen for Six MONTHS!  Dude!  Then he says, "yeah, those swollen places don't look good."  Sheeeez.  Ya know, they don't dang feel too good either.  Grrr.  So I'm in the right shoe.....  I guess my next stop is the podiatrist.  When I get up the nerve to go.  Once these blisters get in bearable running condition, I'll try again with my "newer" shoes and old shoes and keep on until I give in and see what this podiatrist business is all about.

Today I biked 14 miles.  My main focus today was getting through my workout and not hating life.  It was a close call when I got here.

But I went Full Steam ahead!  Not gonna let those hills get me down, oh no.  I've got to keep on moving.  (You're welcome.)  And I conquered them.  No wrecks and no stops.  I just kept on peddling and peddling and peddling.  And felt super accomplished when I climbed those hills!

I've had a hard time enjoying life lately.  And rather than be one of those awesome people that like to give life a big punch in the face and kick butt along the road to awesomeness, I just want to sleep.  A lot.  Sleep has ALWAYS been my drug of choice.  I just love it y'all.  But, as I said Saturday, my focus this week is to enjoy my workouts.  To breath peace and joy and love and count my blessings during each workout.  And who Wouldn't want to do just that when this is your training ground??

Yep, that's where I ride my bike.  It's sooo lovely.  Today, I did enjoy my ride.  And when I got that phone call with crappy subject matter during my ride, I looked around and said, "it doesn't matter."  What matters is that you have people that love you and a God above that has great things planned for you.

Today I read a parable about a man in a village that kept having bad things happen to him.  After each increasingly bad event, he would go to the elder in the village and say, "this is the worst thing that can happen to me."  The elder would say each time, "Maybe so.  Maybe not."  The moral to the story was that each time something bad happened and the man thought it was the worst thing that could ever happen to him, something good came of it.  Each time.  I made me a sticky note and put it on my computer.  It says, "Maybe so.  Maybe not."

On my drive home from this nofunday Monday, I saw TWO rainbows.  Not a double rainbow.  But two, separate rainbows.  Do you know the meaning of rainbows?  God placed a rainbow in the sky as a promise that he would never again flood the earth.  It's God's promise to us.  God holds promises for me.  For ME!  And for you.  For Us.  And I plan on cashing in on those promises as soon as He'll let me.  :)

Thank you God for the blessings I forget to count and for the blessings I don't deserve.  Amen.

Dual or Duel

Yesterday, for the first time, I did two "events" in the same day. First, I swam 1300 yards. For the first time yet, I swam half a mile (or 875 yards) without stopping. Normally, my swim workouts are a mixture of laps on intervals and shorter sets such as swimming 200 yards four times with 20 second rests in between. I usually warm up with a 250 or 500 yard swim. Yesterday, I hopped right in and swam 875 yards before finishing the workout with some sets of 100's. It took me 13 minutes to swim half a mile. So now I have a pretty good idea of how I expect to perform on the big day.

After my swim I went on over to the trail and did a 10 mile ride on my bike. All went pretty well. My feet are still too sore to run but my blisters are making progress.

It was a day of a mini dual-Athlon but it was also an internal duel. It's just so hard to get going sometimes. There's other distractions I would much rather focus on. I need to learn not to feed the duel and use my training as time of internal peace and clarity. That's what I'll work on this week. Everything's a process, eah?

Update

Two days off. Blisters not doing well and consequently neither is my training. Yikes. Blisters hurt much worse than I recall blisters ever hurting before.

Busted

It busted. Big time. The big blister that is. I went to do my workout tonight in the hotel gym. Lifted just a few weights and hopped on the treadmill for a 3 mile run. A mile and a half in the blister on my left foot started hurting real bad. I thought, well, it either busted or is just hurting really bad. But Surely I can make it to 2 miles..... Nope. I made it another quarter mile and decided I must stop before I turn my ankle by running on the side of my foot. Ohh it hurt. But I wasn't ready to completely give up so I did some squats and a few more weights before I hobbled off to my room to check out the damage. Y'all, it was yuck. It had busted and worse yet, the bluster pad that was supposed to be so great had peeled the skin off. Yuck! The blister on my right foot was oozing too. I know. So pretty.

So, do you know how bad it hurts when WaTeR gets in an open blister?? 'Cause then I had to shower. It hurt so bad my foot just went numb. And then I showered with my foot in the side of the wall, standing on one leg, for the rest of my shower.

Soooo busted.

Yazooo!

Y'all, blisters are no better. One of them is worse. For real. Yesterday I ran 5k that had several hills. I had to make a loop 3 times. The second time 'round I had to stop halfway up the Very long hill and walk a bit. The third time round I talked myself into pushing through. After my run, I went directly do.not.pass.go.do.not.collect.$200 to the pharmacy to find blister pads. See exhibit A.

Today I biked 10 miles and kept it in high gear. Literally. I biked on the trail today which is pretty flat. It's ever-so-slightly downhill one way and slightly uphill on the way back. So because I was only doing 10 miles I wanted to be sure and make it a tough 10 miles. This was the first time I've been on the bike in 3 weeks. And let me just say y'all, I don't know how dudes ride bikes. And that's all I'm gonna say about that. Yo.

So I've made it through 2 days of this very crazy work week and managed to work out both days so far. Here's hoping for the same good results the rest of the week! And better blister-healing too!

BLisTeRed

I'm blistered :(  Goofball me, went out of town this weekend and forgot..... my socks.  SOCKS!  When I looked in my bag this morning and couldn't find my socks, I thought, "oh well.  I'll just run without socks.  It's no big deal."  Mika Brzezinski (co-host of the greatest morning news show ever, Morning Joe) runs without socks all the time!  She claims socks are an "unnecessary step."  Ewww.  They are very necessary to me.  However, until today, I didn't realize how necessary!

I've got one of those of both feet, same spot, same size.  Unfortunately, this ain't my first rodeo.  Once in college, I had a blister 5 times the size of these on one foot.  For me, I have come to learn that the best way to deal with blisters on the bottom of my feet, is to pop them, carefully.  I am NOT giving out medical advice here and don't really recommend popping blisters!  But I have to.  I can't help it.  I was Very VeRy careful in this process because the last thing I want is infected or raw feet.  I used a little sterilized needle and poked a tiny hole in one little spot.  And used lots of peroxide.  Hopefully, in a day or two I'll be left with some dead skin instead of blisters that hurt and feel uncomfortable and will eventually end up popping themselves most likely during a run.

However, I RocKed it on the treadmill this morning!  And to that, I owe all to my weekend travel buddy and increasingly sweeter sweetheart.  There was about a 60% chance that I was gonna putz out and skip working out today.  And would you know, that my incredibly supportive main squeeze (who has no desire to workout himself) pulled me down to the gym and walked on the treadmill next to me while I ran.  Y'all, that's awesome.  And of course, because I wanted to impress him so, I ran like a mad woman.  Ohhhh yeah. Well, I hope it worked at least.

I'm in for a crazy work week so wish me luck with my training this week!  Hugs!

On the Road

Friday! Finally! And what a C.R.A.Z.Y. Day! Seriously insane at work. But I like busy days for the most part. MUCH better than dull days. However, the best intended plans are no match for days like today. I was soooo gonna get a quick bike ride or run in before I left for the weekend at 5:00 sharp (or before.... Shhh). I was gonna. And then the day exploded, at about 8:30 this morning and never ran out of dynamite.

Thus, no workout today. I finally left work at a "sharp" 6:30. Crap. But alas, I'm on the road for some fun and R&R this weekend. But I DO plan to run in the morning!

Yesterday I got a really great swim in. I swam 2000 yds hard core. It was excellent. And now I'm getting carsick so toodles! Happy Friday!!