To start the vacation...

I got up at an ungodly hour to (gasp) run hills. Yes, it is official. I am definitely crazy. I woke up at 4 am, thinking it was 4:45 and that I'd overslept. I didn't realize that it was only 4 am though until I was fully dressed, body glide applied, and in the kitchen getting my breakfast. What can you do at that point but just stay up.

So I ate said breakfast, got my camelbak and nutrition ready, gathered keys, money, ID and the cellphone, and checked my email and looked at Facebook. Then about 4:55 am, I headed out the front door to wait on the porch for Ryan since we were carpooling. I'm a bit of a talker (if you hadn't guessed that already) so I sometimes feel badly for Ryan when we carpool. I talk and talk the poor guys ears off. He's a good listener and always has good things to say too, but I know he's not a morning person and yet I can't control my talking. I'd like to blame it on not getting out that much during the work week and the fact that I work from home, but realistically I talked alot when in the office environment too.

We had to drive about an hour to get where we were meeting up for our 6 mile run that was going to include hill repeats. This is Florida so I didn't think they would be all that bad. Hard of course because the term "hill repeats" literally makes me think that Coach is thinking up new and fun ways to torture us along the way to the Ironman 70.3, even if I know (deep down somewhere) that they are good for us. Hill repeats at 6 am when I've had a hard week and accidentally woken up 1/2 an hour earlier than necessasry is an even more special form of torture.

Little did I know that the hill we were going to repeat was essentially a 45 degree incline (if not more) in a neighborhood in Clermont. I didn't know Florida grew hills like that. And unluckily, I forgot my recoverite at home. Yeah. Not good.

We ran about 1.5 miles out to the hill and when I looked at it, it reminded me of San Francisco. As irony would have it, we were doing this work out with Coach's San Francisco marathon team for Team in Training. Then it we did the hill repeats. The hill itself was a quarter of a mile straight up and then another quarter of a mile straight down. 4 repeats. I got about 1/3 of the way up the 1st time, and about 1/2 way up the 2nd-4th times before I had to walk, and then I would run again when I could part way up the hill (nearer the top, of course). Basically, my heart was pounding, I was out of breath, and my old friend nerve pain had returned. My HR monitor says that at one point my heart rate reached 221. Uh, yeah. Total freak out when I saw that one. Not sure that's what the cardiologist would have envisioned for me. My "max out" rate is 185. Luckily, even with the 221, my average was about 148. I'm certain that this torture was actually good for me.

There was walking involved, as well as sitting and waiting for people to complete their 4 repeats before we jogged the 1.5 miles back to the parking lot. I did what I could with my nerve pain and thought to myself that I hoped we do this again in a few weeks so that I could try to get better at it. And that's when I knew that I must have not been getting enough oxygen to the brain during it all... I was wanting more. Not that day mind you. I may have been able to do it once or twice more, but I definitely didn't want to... especially if I planned on walking later in the day (like I need to for errands).

I ended up walking most of the 1.5 miles back. The nerve pain was a little not so fun after sitting (even though I stretched), but it was ok when I walked. But the mileage got done. Coach ordered us all to have an ice bath, so I took one. Not nearly as cold as I thought it would have been, but I may have had the water a little to hot to begin with before I added the ice. The girls joined me, which was pretty funny. Luckily it was after all of the ice had melted. 20 lbs of ice, plus what we had in the freezer. They were mermaids with me in the "mermaid pool." Talk about happy times.

I'm a bit stiff and have a feeling I may be sore in the morning, but (gasp) hill repeats while torture are rather satisfying once they're done. Yup, I'm certifiable. I don't know who it is that has taken over my brain but they, ahem, almost like running. Quite frightening, and crazy in deed.