A Swim, Peace with my Bike Trainer, and Other News

A Swim
Yesterday I really needed my swim.  I made the horrifying mistake of allowing the girls to stay home from daycare while I worked.  Why I thought this was going to be a good thing, I'm not really sure.  I mean yes, my kids are super cute and it was a really rainy yucky day, and all they wanted to do was be snuggly with me and I with them.  But reminder to self - I had to work.  And work I did.  They played, colored, came in and chatted (which was fun at first and then problematic), I printed out Easter themed coloring sheets that it took them all of 5 minutes to color 8 of them, they made a mess, I made them clean it up while having to give 2 time outs for failure to listen and for sassing me, and then gave them lunch, and made them take naps in 2 separate rooms.  Luckily, they were pretty long naps.  Of course, I had to tell them that if they got out of bed they'd  be taken straight to daycare and if one got out of bed and the other didn't the one that got out would be taken to daycare while the other stayed home.  They're 3 3/4.  They can't be left to their own devices or you get holes in your wall because they think it's fun to kick over the formal dining room chairs while laying down under the formal dining room.  Red wall with while dry wall hanging out is not good.  That's all I can say. 

But once they woke from their nap and I had peace to actually get all my projects for the day done, we were back to peace.  Along with the realization that I was rather stupid while being overly big hearted because it was wholly frustrating, the girls really didn't spend time with me (although they definitely had a great time with each other), but in the end it turned out okay.  I've even given Mr. Darcy permission to tell me I'm an idiot if I ever suggest it again.  I do have to say though, that I had a great time before I started working, the 1st 2 1/2 hours of working when they were making artwork to hang in my office and coloring and telling me stories, and then once I was done working.

So when it was time for swim practice, I was ready to go.  We started a little early and did crunches and lower ab leg lifts.  Evidently I was a bit crooked on my leg lifts because I must have been favoring my right leg without knowing it.  But I did my best.  Then we hit the pool.  I had a great swim.  I was reaching and rotating and just in a nice zone.  For the main part of the swim, we did 3x500m with the last 25 m as a sprint on each and a 30 second recovery between each.  It was great!  Unfortunately, I'm definitely off somehow though because I'd hit the lane rope every now and then.  And after practice my lower back was not very happy with me, but at least I didn't feel it in my legs.

On the ride home, the moon was amazing.  It looked HUGE!  To the point that I brought the girls out to see it when I got home. 

Peace with My Bike Trainer
This morning, I made peace with my bike trainer.  It's true.  Granted, to do this I took some of your advice and leave my road bike permanently attached to it so I don't have to go through the trauma process of putting my bike on the trainer.  But peace has been made.

This morning, Mr. Darcy helped me bring the bike and its trainer into the house from the garage.  As soon as he and the little Ladies were out the door, I turned on an episode of "What Not to Wear" (a female bodybuilder who either wore "scandalous" evening attire or gym clothes all the time) and got on the trainer for my slightly over an hour ride.  A 10 minute warm up, a 10 minute 95-100 rpm ride, 4x 2 minutes of single leg pedaling with a 10 minute recovery and then 2 x 5 minutes of standing and pedaling in my hardest gear with a 5 minute recovery in between, and then final recovery of another 5 minutes.  My back and right leg IT band weren't overly fond of the right legged one leg pedal (and by the 4th 2 minute set, were saying some things that were not very nice), but it was good for me.  At least my IT band didn't speak up until the 4th one.  My left side was fine, although ironically the 1st 2 minute set was the hardest for it, and then the rest were great.  Standing and  pedaling is tough for me.  It makes me a little nervous generally, but not today.  I just cranked it to the big chain ring and the 2nd or 3rd to biggest (I'm not sure which) gear and pedaled.  Sure it was a little slow, but it was getting done and it wasn't the easiest thing.  My back was a little annoyed, but it wasn't shouting profanities at me like it did with the one right leg pedaling. 

I felt good at the end of my hour and a fraction on the bike.  Like I might have even been able to do more.  My back is a little stiff but it's not anything I can't handle.  It felt good to ride and I wanted to ride some more, but for that pesky thing called work.  I even patted my bike whilst on the trainer and said "good ride."  And that's when I knew... I had made peace with my former nemesis, the bike trainer.  That's not to say I wouldn't rather be riding out in the sun with the wind in the bits of hair that stick out from my bike helmet.  I much prefer riding in the great outdoors, but it is to say that the bike trainer is now my happy 2nd instead of my dreaded foe.

Other News.
I head to the chiropractor at the end of the work day today.  I hope he doesn't reiterate his speech about how I really shouldn't run because I have less space between one of my lower vertebrae than I should and that is why I get nerve pain and such because over time the running aggravates my disk and it "swells."  The 1st time he gave me that speech was during my 70.3 training.  With 1 month left to race day, I wasn't exactly going to just give up on running.  Then it came again after the 70.3, and he finally told me to just come in when I had pain because he couldn't "fix" anything.  And then I've been pain free running for a good while.  Of course, that might have had something to do with being in the off-season... and once the 1/2 Marathon was over my back issues returned.  Probably because I didn't really train the week my Aunt passed between her coma, my stomach virus and then her passing, it gave my back the chance to think and rebel.  But hopefully, my back and I will be friends again after today's adjustment (or at least soon).

And on a completely different subject, I'm really excited because last night I got a call from the Community Team of Junior League and they asked (I had filled out a interest survey saying I would like to do this) if I would like to be the Co-Chair of the HIP Kids Program at the Callahan Center.  I said yes and am really excited!  HIP (Healthy, Independant, and Playful) Kids is a program that will help feed about 90 children at the Callahan Center daily with fruits and veggies daily and twice a month with back packs of food to take home to their families.  Plus, we're going to have 9 enrichment programs with about 30 kids about nutrition, cooking, etc. and quarterly programs where we not only have the kids but also their parents for a cooked dinner and speakers about health, nutrition, exercise, etc. So I am super excited!