Longest Short Week

This has got to be the longest short work week ever. I can't even describe how happy I am that it's finally Friday. The stress, apprehension, anxiety, and mess of other emotions were enough to put me over the edge. But I made it!

It was REALLY nice to have a long weekend, but when all was said and done I really only had 3 days 'off'. Thursday teachers had to go into school for professional development. Not so bad actually. Friday I was able to enjoy some outdoor riding, which was shaky at first, and extremely slow, but proved to be nothing short of amazing. Saturday I had a wedding shower to attend. Sundayfunday was a wine tour with a gaggle of coworkers which was quite grand, and Monday I hunkered down and came to school to do work from 12-6:45. That was a long day.

I was really apprehensive last week for my 10k time trial on Thursday, and when it came down to it, I did really poorly. I know that my fitness isn't completely there yet, but I was hoping for something better than I had done. Now for an excuse : on Wednesday night I played a staff basketball game where I played at least 75% of the game. Lots of sprinting and lateral movements. It's safe to say that a triathlete/teacher is DEFINITELY not fit to be playing basketball. I have a shiner on my right knee to prove it. I'm also embarrassed to say that I used to be a basketball player in high school. Where did that go?!

Field Hockey kiddos

Sister love.

At least they think I have mad defense skills.

I pushed back my run on Thursday morning because it had snowed on Wednesday night and I was scared of the slush and injuring myself while trying to go fast. Plus I was sore. I finally went, cruised the first mile in 7:56? and told myself that it was easy. Then I slowly (err, quickly) struggled for the rest of my run to keep the pace down. It didn't work. I ended with an overall 8:17 pace, but totally blew up by the end with an 8:46 mile. I felt pathetic. And hungry.

Friday is always a swim day, but I woke up late (like, 11am late!) and outside was beautiful so I swapped Friday for Saturday and did my brick outside. THAT was a challenge and showed me how much I'm NOT doing when I'm on my trainer. I seriously need to get to work on that. The end of that ride also had me feeling pathetic. But I felt good from the run, so I guess that's one positive out of a string of negatives.

Saturday I swam, and swam....and swam. Fortunately I had a buddy with me so I wasn't lonely. Then I went and ate about a billion cookies at my best friend's wedding shower. It was delightful.

Sunday I ran for a bit early in the morning. Legs felt good, heart rate was pretty solid. Another positive. Then I went and drank wine all day long with the loveliest coworkers around. The day was bitterly cold, but after the first wine stop I didn't notice. And then I just napped on the bus between all the wine stops like a 4 year old kid (except kids don't drink wine....I hope).

Monday I ran again on tired legs, then swam at school, and then went upstairs to work for hours upon hours. It was about as fun as it sounds.

This week has been a lot to handle, but I'm happy it's time for the weekend. The training is going well, but unlike last year I'm not making the strides and jumps in my abilities. Rather, I see it more as a slow progression and build to where I was this point last year. Hopefully I'll pull through in time for Lake Placid.

In other exciting news, I'm going on some more wandering in May. I took the plunge and bought my ticket to California to visit the lovely Anabel and I couldn't be more excited. After some back and forth on Twitter-land we could have more than just the two of us! It's going to be like a party on two wheels. I can't wait. Still working on seeing Katie out in Boulder, and that would be the cherry on top if that can go through too.

Friday morning run

Justification for the early morning wake up

Just got to keep busy busy.