The Weekend Report

This weekend was a busy one... but then nothing is new on that front. But here's how it went.

Friday
Friday evening I picked the girls up from daycare and cooked us a psuedo stirfry... without all the salty goodness of soy sauce.  I didn't want to be swollen up for Saturday morning's workout.  Steak with broccoli, carrots and watercress, and long grain rice.  It turned out well.  Even the girls ate one carrot and one bite of broccoli.  Of course, they were each being bribed with a thin mint and a carmel delite, but it was still a moment of epic proportions - my children ate a tiny bit of vegetables!  These children like V-8, but refuse vegetables.  I'm not opposed to giving them V-8 if that's how I have to get them to get some vegetables in, but still.  Non-liquid veggies, I wanted to dance and sing but knew that would be over the top.

Then we watched a little of the Olympics and Ladybug and I played with toys while Angelfish and Mr. Darcy watched more Olympics.  Angelfish eventually wandered in and played with us too.  I asked her where Mr. Darcy was and she said, "sleeping. shhh..."  At the girls' bedtime, I tried to wake him and he was out.  Completely and utterly.  I guess playing X-Box until the wee hours on a regular basis can do that to a man.  So the girls and I did bedtime together, which I must say was a nice bit of alone time with my little ladies.

Then I packed up the car with the bike, etc. for Saturday morning's workout.

Saturday
Up at 6 am, I dressed, had some breakfast, printed out directions and headed out the door.  We were in Winter Garden, which is a bit of a hike from the house (45 minutes driving at a bit over the speed limit).  Had our nutrition clinic, bought a Nathan running water bottle (I may review this on Thursday) and some more body glide (my friend), and then hit our workout.  We did a 2 mile run followed by an 18 mile bike.

The 2 miler was awesome.  I did it in a hair over 23 minutes, which included me talking to 3 of my mentees about their fundraising, some ideas for them, etc.  I did the first mile in 11 minutes flat all while talking and not being out of breath.  Of course, I realized that I didn't do my 5/1's, so on the way back, I did 5/1's which is why the pace slowed a little bit.  On the short stuff it slows me but on the long stuff it helps me go faster.  It's a quandry. 

Then the 18 mile bike ride.  Coach told me not to overdo it because I had an 11 mile run on tap for the next day.  I tried to follow her advice, but my body wanted to ride.  I felt awesome on the bike and was having a great ride - at least once I realized the reason I was having a bit of a difficult time with one of the hills was because I was in the big ring.  Crazy kid.  And then, I couldn't remember if I had to push down or pull up to switch to the small ring.  Yeah, a few months off of riding - not to mention last season pretty much always riding in the small ring - is not necessarily a good thing when you're new to cycling.  But, I figured it out and worked it. 

I have to say part of it is because it's nice not to be the last person all the time like last year.  Of course, these TNT'ers pretty much smoke me on the run.  The large majority of them are hard core runners - marathons and such are nothing to them.  It was awesome to be able to ride on the way back leaving last (other than Coach and Co-Coach) and end up finishing 2nd.  Of course, I kind of paid for it too.

Later on Saturday (despite wearing my compression sleeves), my muscles got stiff and hurt.  No matter how much I stretched.  By Sunday morning, I was tight as can be.  My muscles between my shoulder blades and lower back were tight too because I spent most of my 18 miles in aero... and it's been awhile since I spent almost all of 18 miles in aero.

Sunday
Sunday I woke at 7 am after having insomnia (which is almost a nightly occurence at this point - I just make myself stay in bed with my eyes closed for it now because I've found it lets me fall asleep faster - and it's not insomnia because I'm thinking of things it's just this thing where I wake up and can't fall back asleep for a bit that I wish would go away), put on my clothes (including my new running shorts, which I also hope to review for Thursday), had a small breakfast and headed out.  I had hoped to be up and running by 6 am, but that's okay I needed some sleep too.

As I headed out the door around 7:15ish, the girls woke up and I directed them to the bedroom where Mr. Darcy was sleeping. I knew if I didn't I'd be not hitting the run until much later.

So out I went.  I knew I was going to run the closed road near the house because there would be no cars and it's barely under 10 miles for the entire loop.  For some reason I was thinking to myself that the distance to the loop was only about 1.1 miles.  As I was running, I passed the Y's tri group gathering for their long run and bumped into Training Buddy.  We chatted for a minute and then I ran off. 

As I got closer to the closed road, I started thinking that it was taking me an awfully long time to get to the closed road even with stopping to talk to Training Buddy for about 1 1/2 minutes.  24: 31 to be exact.  And I know I don't do 24 minute miles even when walking.  But I told myself not to worry about it, I was going slower like Coach told me to do for this run (although she also told me to do negative splits, which I think I did, but I can't be 100% certain because I forgot that I usually do the closed road on the bike and I had no way to tell where the mile markers were out there... maybe if I'm a good girl Santa will bring me a Garmin for Christmas), Mr. Darcy hadn't fueled me with an argument, and just to do the 5/1's and keep trucking. 

I'm finally hitting the turn around, which should be a mile farther than 1/2 way in the 11 mile run and I'm thinking, I know my stiff today but I can't be going this slow and it hits me.  It's not 1.1 miles to the closed loop the way I went... it's 2.1 miles.  So, I'm not at 6 miles, I'm at 7 at this point and by the time I get back to the start of the closed road, it's going to be 12.1 miles and then I have 2.1 miles to get home.  I decide that I will definitely walk the last 2.1 miles home, which I had planned on doing when I thought it was 1.1 miles so that I wouldn't run more than I was supposed to.  But I'd run the 12.1 because well, I couldn't figure out where the 1 mile mark would be.

I picked up the pace at this point too, and the muscle that hurt last week started hurting again.  But not as bad as last week, so I just kept going.  Amazingly my calves had stopped hurting somewhere around the 3.5 to 4 mile point, so that was good.  I startled 2 young deer while I was running and they froze in the brush.  Absolutely beautiful animals.  I think I also surprised some workers laying sod at one point on the side of the road.  But it was mutual - I didn't expect to see them and they didn't expect to see me. 

It was a gorgeous day - blue skies, warm, and the small lakes were so still that they were the perfect mirror reflections of the trees and sky above. And all I was thinking about was doing the math for run 5 and then walk 1.  I don't notice distance or even really true time that way.  I did pay attention to time a little bit because Coach wanted me to eat at least 2 gels on the run, and I was taking a sip or two out of my new running bottle almost every time I walked.

At 2:26:31, I finished my 12.1 miles.  As I started to walk home, I saw a truck and thought "that looks like Training Buddy's truck," but decided to keep on moving because the truck was on.  I didn't feel scared though like I do when things have been sketchy, so I wasn't worried.  It turned out that it was Training Buddy.  He, knowing that I sometimes have back issues and such and that I hadn't run that long in a bit and that I was running the closed road by myself, had come to wait on me to make sure I was okay.  Training Buddy is awesome and I have to say that I really miss training with him and getting to see him and Mrs. Training Buddy.  So it was wonderful to see him... and he gave me a ride home and we chatted.  So my 11 miler didn't turn into the 14 miler like it threatened... only a 12.1 miler instead.

I got home and tried to stretch a bit, talked to my Dad on the phone, played with the girls, got a shower in, stretched some more, put on my compression sleeves, ate lunch with the fam, and then headed out to dress shop with my new friend M.  The Blue Note Ball is this coming Saturday, and I needed a cocktail dress.  M. showed me what she was wearing (it's beautiful), and then we headed out. 

We went to Dress Barn, which I while I hate the name of the store, I really like the clothes and the prices.  I think it was record time for finding a dress.  I found a cute black dress (even though I originally had said I didn't want to wear black) after trying on some other dresses that were cute but didn't quite grab me, I had a 20% off coupon, and paid.  We laughed that it was so short of a time and then decided to go to a movie.

We saw "Valentine's Day" which I thought was going to be complete fluff... and that's pretty much what we were going for.  We figured we should see a chick flick since neither of our husbands ever want to see that sort of movie.  And "When in Rome" wasn't playing again until 4 pm.  "Valentine's Day" was actually pretty well put together and everything interconnected (most of it was a little predictable but that's okay), and it was really funny in laugh out loud sorts of ways without being overly mushy.  It was a nice surprise.

My legs were stiff as all get out when we got up from the movie, so after getting some groceries on the way home (including subs for Mr. Darcy and I for dinner), I stretched some more.  I finally broke down and took 2 advil before bed when stretching and Mr. Darcy rubbing very hard on my muscle didn't quite work.  It was nice to hear Mr. Darcy say he missed me on Sunday too.  I had a fun time with M, but I missed spending time with the loved ones too.

My mission is now is to call Fleet Feet and make sure they have the Trigger Point leg rollers I want in stock, and then get my butt there to buy them.  My realization is that I am in serious need of a massage but the leg rollers will do that same trick - and it will be less expensive and more beneficial for me to buy them in the long run.

Monday (and beyond)
This morning I am a little stiff, but have stretched, and my side leg muscle hurts.  I need to call the nutritionist who evidently called yesterday while I was out.  This week should be a little slower (I hope) than last.  I have a TNT swim tonight, a Junior League meeting Tuesday night, TNT Recommitment Thursday night, and then a block buster Saturday.  Saturday is going to be a round of musical chairs - in the morning, I have TNT practice, Mr. Darcy has a fraternity alumni association field day at 11 am, the girls have a birthday party at 3 pm, and the baby sitter arrives at 5 pm so that we can get out to the Blue Note Ball, which starts at 6 pm.  I doubt we'll be 100% on time to the Blue Note Ball, but I'd like to get there by 6:30 if possible.  To make Saturday work, let's hope there are no monkey wrenches in the works!  I have a feeling I'll be taking the girls to the party on my own and then Mr. Darcy will meet us there.  I will leave around 4 to come home and start getting ready (the party is about 1/2 an hour from the house), and he'll bring them home and get ready too.

As the wonderpets would say, "What's going to work? Team work!"

I'm looking forward to tonight's swim.  I always like a nice swim when my muscles are tight!  This week starts a "taper" of sorts for the Princess 1/2 Marathon, so we'll see what Coach has in store for me... and now, "hi ho hi ho it's off to work I go!"

Happy Monday!  I hope your weekend was a good one!