Saturday, Easter and a Small (Guilty) Spring Break

Before we get to Easter, I have to tell you about Saturday. Saturday... Google gives bad directions, but luckily I had the foresight to turn around at a certain point. Saturday morning, our children decided that they wanted to get up at 5 am. At least Ladybug did, and she then woke up her sister and then they wandered into our room to wake us up. This was supposed to be a morning that I got to "sleep in" because even with an hour drive to get to my training session I didn't have to be up until 6:15 am instead of my usual 5:30 am. Angelfish wanted to go back to sleep... Ladybug wanted breakfast. So, I got dressed and gave her breakfast and then laid on the sofa. She joined me for a few minutes until I needed to leave to get teammate Ryan on the way to training.

First set of Google directions, good. Got to Ryan's house (not far from ours) with no problems. Getting to Lake Louisa was a bit ... different. 2nd set of Google directions, bad. It was foggy for one, but the directions were wierd. It had us turn down a little side street and then another that had no signage so we had to guess to turn left where we did. Then it told us to turn onto Lake Louisa Road and make another left somewhere. Let's just say that does not take you to Lake Louisa State Park, although you do get a view of the lake as you drive by. Finally, I told Ryan I was turning around. He called Coach and told her we got a little lost but were on our way and she told us that we had just needed to keep going straight instead of turning where we did. (Thankfully we never saw what we thought was Missy's car turn onto Lake Louisa and after 15 minutes I decided that was good enough of a reason to turn around... that and we were seeing signs for other Lakes in the Clermont area. The spidey sense was tingling.) But there was a line to get into the park, so we ended up being "on time" anyway.

First was a lake swim followed by about a 20 mile bike ride. (Note to self remember to check on magnet for bike computer as it was acting wonkey Saturday - my favorite was when it said my cadence was zero but that I was going 20 mph on a downhill while I was pedaling my butt off. 2nd favorite - cadence of 25 while going 18 mph and pedaling to the point my quads were aching.) I have to say, I hate lakes. They smell, they are brown and your clothing is brown when you leave them and you smell. This time I was not frightened and was smart enough to realize that the water was very cold so I needed to acclimate by sinking down into the water slowly and getting my chest used to the temperature before I started to swim. The tight chest sensation was adverted this way, letting me swim as though I was in a disgusting swimming pool and letting me focus on the buoys. The buoys actually made me smile. They were little kids pool floats - fish primarily - anchored to the lake bottom. Brightly colored but small, made sighting pretty interesting. But, I seemed to do pretty well and swam pretty straight. I was able to pass people without too much effort during the 45 minute swim because they were not sticking close to the buoys like I was. But that was to my advantage because I was able to get on the bike before them.... which I need to do. 3 of them caught me (and these guys are fast on the bike, so I expected it), but not until the 2nd lap... and then I later learned that your aren't supposed to coast on the downhills but pedal so to use the momentum to help with the up hills and keep you going fast. So we will try it for next time. And I have vowed to go to Sports Authority at the very least (if I can't get out to a bike shop) this week and get a camelbak because I'm sure I'd do better on the bike if I was drinking something (yes, Coach if you're reading this, I know you are going to kill me. But, hey. I did well for not having any liquids until after I finished didn't I?). I'd really like to get to a bike shop though because I need Chamois Butter and a trainer too. I'd love to get that done before I leave on my work trip Wednesday because then I can ensure my ride on Thursday will get done if I have a trainer sitting in my house waiting for me since I'll be in Columbus, Ohio that morning when I normally do my ride. (Another note to self - check to see if the hotel has an indoor pool for my swim workout.)

But the Saturday workout was great. I felt pretty good while doing it all. The swim wasn't bad, and the bike was good - even with all of the hills and no Chamois Butter and no hydration. When I got home, my parents had gone out to the store so I gave the girls & Mr. Darcy kisses and jumped in the shower because I smelled like a dirty, wet goat. By the time I finished my parents were back and we started our visit.

Easter was very nice. No temper tantrums save 1 or 2 at the end of the day. Angelgish kept her underpants dry and even took herself to the potty without any assistance on one occasion. Ladybug had 2 accidents, but it was better than the 5 the day before.

The night before the Easter bunny and her crew put together Easter baskets and put out the eggs for the egg hunt (courtesy of Nanna and Poppop). The girls got up on Easter around 7 am, but Nanna read them stories and took them to use the potty before we even knew that anyone was up when I woke up around 7:30 am. I was tired. The egg hunt was great and the girls loved their stickers, erasers and what not. Then breakfast and artwork, reading books, eating homemade chocolates from Nanna and playing afterwards. A walk with the family stopping to throw the frisbee around before walking to the pool where the girls put their feet in and we wandered around talking to other people at the pool (the girls were chatty) and then back to the house. Ham, potatoes, green beans, and Mango key lime pie for dinner. Parents left to head back home; we tried to get the girls down for nap and Mommy fell asleep to the point that I slept for 2 hours or so. Then we went back to the pool and the girls swam and we helped them swim. Back home for ham sandwiches for "dinner." Then off to bed for the girls. I laid in bed reading my Triathlete magazine and feeling a bit guilty for not running my 4 miles (thus the spring break) that Sunday. I even contemplated running it this morning despite having swim practice this evening. But then I realized I needed to focus on work and my blog entry and just chaulk it up to needing the sleep more than the run yesterday.

But I'm still feeling guilty about it. I just have to make sure I get in all my workouts this week so the guilt of not running the 4 miles will subside. I know I needed that nap - I never nap - but I probably needed the 4 mile run to mitigate all the food I ate (including that 1 beer I had). It is what it is and there are only so many hours in the day. I will regroup and focus.

So, I'm off to work.