Dern

Shucks Dern It.   I didn't do it.  I didn't train today!  Well, first, let's back up to yesterday.  Yesterday I biked another 8-10 miles.  I'm totally guessing as to the mileage.  I biked for an hour.  Over LoTS of HiLLs.  Big ones.  Again.  After my tough workout Tuesday, I hopped on my bike yesterday, felt O.K., until I started up the first baby hill.  Aiiiyiiiiyaiiiii!  My legs burned something like crazy.  They weren't happy.  But I kept peddling and all went pretty well.  No wrecks, though I did STiLL struggle with the changing gears thing.  Sigh. Practice makes perfect.  Mediocrity should get me through the Iron Nut ;)  Ha.

Today y'all was a ReaLly long day.  I am traveling for work and I drove and drove from the crack of dawn this morning and I worked and I worked until I was kicked out of my working space and then I checked into the hotel.... and laid on the bed in corpse pose.... for a while.  I did manage to convince myself to throw out my yoga mat (which just so happened to be in my car along with everything else I could possibly need to workout) and do a very brief yoga workout.  I did a few sun salutations and twists and decided to go to the book store.

Working out tomorrow is going to prove to be a challenge too.  Maybe Saturday and Sunday I can manage to muster up the time/courage/energy.

See my car?  What more could you need?  Really.  This is embarrassing.

Doin' it!

Y'all, today was the Best workout I've had since I started training. My friend Shar (yes, we call her that. Just go with it) and I did my very first "brick workout." A brick workout is where you bike and then run; ideally a long bike ride and a run of any sorts. We took on the hills of Lebanon today and Ohh my!! First, we rode our bikes about 8 miles, give or take. Which isn't a whole lot of mileage, but we tackled some mad crazy hills. And I STILL cannot get the hang of changing gears! I'm working on it. Better than I used to be at least.

Shar is what I like to call... a sand bagger. I hopes she's reading this. Shar preps me for today's workout by saying "now don't laugh at me, I'm really slow." Y'all, I couldn't keep up with her on a bike going Downhill. True story. Sand Bagger.

Anyhow, after we got done biking those mad crazy hills, we ran them. Four miles on them y'all! That was the first time I've ran over 3.2 miles since November. And we rocked it.

All props to Sand Bagger Shar for today's workout. It was her idea and motivation. I showed up ready for a measly 3 mile run. She's awesome.

I did almost wreck today while trying to talk to a good look'n fella in a good look'n truck. Woops. I did almost get hit by a car while jogging my bike across the road chasing Shar. Told you I was a bad bike rider. Here's more proof. Pedal marks all over my legs. These are becoming a permanent fixture.

Toodles! Life is good y'all. Praises to the King.

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!