Thursday, May 28, 2009

The Best Laid Plans and Revisions

I had the best laid plan in the world for this morning. I was going to rise at 4:30 am, eat, set the trainer up, do my 1.5 hour ride, run for 1/2 an hour and return just in time for the little ones to wake, sleepy eyed and adorable as they do each morning. It was going to be perfect timing.

Fate, it would seem, had other plans. I sometimes wonder what it is that attracts the god of mischief to my daily life. Of course, sometimes the mischief is fun... this morning was a mixed bag. I woke at 3:45 am to the feeling that someone was staring at me. Lo and behold, Ladybug was standing at the side of the bed staring at me through the darkness. I said her name and put my hand on her bottom and sure enough, pee! So, I was up and we went to the bathroom for her to potty and to change. Then she insisted she had to have pajama shorts - not pajama pants, mind you, but pajama shorts - all of which were in the chest of drawers in the bedroom she shares with her sleeping sister. Not wanting to wake said sister, I said no. This led to crying and wailing and perhaps even some gnashing of teeth, although I might have been the one gnashing the teeth, it's hard to tell it was so early. Being desirous of at least a few more moments of sleep, I caved. By this time, Mr. Darcy had woken up and was trying to calm Ladybug down also. Finally, quiet. And then I literally had the feeling that right as I was finally about to sleep again the alarm was going to go off. Just as I had the thought, the alarm went off.

Up again. This time getting ready, eating breakfast, setting up the trainer. Angelfish comes out looking worried and the moment she sees me, she lifts her arms up to be picked up. I pick her up and soothe her and bring her to the bathroom to use the potty. We talk a little and it turns out that she had a bad dream. I can't quite understand what she's trying to explain but evidently there was a bad dream involving the carpet. I take her to her bedroom and lay down with her for a bit, and she asks for a story. So I tell her a story about a guardian angel just for her that is friends with her Mommy and with God & who looks out for her. She starts to fall asleep. Then we hear Ladybug out of the bedroom with her Daddy in tow talking in a very loud voice. I jump up to get her away from the door but Angelfish stays in the bed, so I thought she was asleep. It's not even 5 am yet!

Ladybug is hungry because she heard me eating cereal, and "you should have closed the bedroom door all the way." To which I replied, "I'm up this early because you want me to have at least one day on the weekend off so there are no interruptions to family life. So be nice." Grumpiness abounds at that hour of the morning. I get on the bike at 4:47 am. (I should explain that our alarm clock is set 15-20 minutes ahead of the actual time to ensure we get where we need to go on time.) Ladybug eats her cereal, discovers my during training nutrition and tries to get me to eat some, and I tell her that I'm not going to eat any just yet because I haven't been on the bike very long. Then she wants to know if I'm almost done. I told her that I still have quite awhile to go. Mr. Darcy ushers her off to the bedroom again to try to get some sleep.

Not even 20 minutes pass and Angelfish appears again, but this time with a sly smile on her face. She asks where Ladybug is and I tell her that she's in the bedroom with Daddy because she couldn't' sleep and that she can go in there too. About 5 minutes later, Mr. Darcy appears and gets the "Sleeping Beauty" video. Evidently, the girls watch the video and Mr. Darcy tries to get some sleep. I'm still riding away on the trainer. All works out in the end, but what a fiasco. Angelfish and Ladybug never went back to sleep and Ladybug raised some more Cain at some point while I was still on the bike, but after inquiring if all was well, I was told it was under control.

The trainer included 1 leg drills. I was supposed to do 6, alternating legs each minute. I accidentally did 8 because I wasn't thinking about it and started minute 7 with the left leg and then it dawned on me 30 seconds in, at which point I decided I didn't want to be uneven. (Yes, Coach, I know you read my blog. Turns out yesterday was supposed to be 3x500 negative splits not 2x750, which I remembered wrong from my workouts and so I told on myself in my blog... my brain is not necessarily the best that early in the morning.) Whether 6 or 8, those suckers are hard! Much easier with the right leg than the left. By the end I was able to have a somewhat smooth minute on the right side, but not as much on the left side. Then the rest of the 1.5 hours on the trainer. Something about using the trainer is harder for me than riding on the road, and I certainly was rather sweaty by the end of it.

The 1/2 hour run was actually pretty good, but resulted in my becoming even more sweaty. I was completely drenched by the end of it, but felt good. I did about 2.4 miles in 30 minutes. Not a world record, but rather good for me especially after completing 1.5 hours on the bike just prior. I was pleased, and thrilled to find that I could have gone farther. (Despite the neighbor walking his dog who during my last 2 minutes of the run when I was supposed to be in a lower zone that I should keep up the pace - note to self, I need to get Coach or Mr. Darcy to help me set my heart rate monitor so I can actually train in the various heart rate zones. I told the neighbor I would run faster but it was the end of my 2 hour workout.)

I could use a good nap and some caffeine, and I'm really hungry at the moment, but other than that it all turned out nicely.

As for revisions, it has to do with my plotting for a European adventure. After looking at prices for airfare overseas (well, actually, the taxes and fees associated with overseas travel that turn a $298 airfare into $660), I am now plotting for a Northwestern US/Canadian adventure. Much less pricey (especially since it looks like we can get 3 of the 4 tickets for "free" via points and sky miles), and still something that sounds like fun. Not to mention the discovery of nonstop air travel from Orlando to Seattle, which settled some minds... although a decision has not yet been fully rendered. See Seattle, visit some family (if they're available) when we're there, and venture up to Vancouver as well. The ability to cross another state and a Canadian province off my list of places to go before I die to boot. There is hope.

Still waiting on the tri bike. Called the shop yesterday and they said they thought it would have arrived on Tuesday so they were hoping it would arrive yesterday and they'd call when it was in. No call. It will arrive eventually, I guess. I am just ever so excited.

In other exciting news, Ladybug kept her underpants dry all day yesterday! Day #2 in the victory of the unified forces against the potty training resistance. Let's hope we can go for more! The funny part is that Angelfish is 99.8% potty trained but we have to reward her as well for keeping it up because we can't chance her defection to the potty training resistance. The war of the bladders continues!

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