Big Training Weeks and Miscellaneous Stuff

I'm IN IT--my term for training a lot, hard, and barely finding time to do other things besides work, train, eat, sleep, stretch, fix bottles, wash bottles, acquire food.

This week I'm doing FOUR brick workouts because next week I'll be in Colorado Springs on business, and I'm not taking a bike so I'll be running pretty much every day, pretty much A LOT. I am fortunate, though, in that there are a lot of people out there who run, so I have 3 running dates (out of 4 days) lined up. One of them is for this: http://www.inclineclub.com/ I'll be doing the Thursday workout, which is essentially running partway up Pike's Peak (and also down, I assume!). What the hell! I may die doing it, but it will be fun. My hotel is only 2 miles from the YMCA, so I'll be swimming in the morning and running either at lunch or after work. What's awesome is that I don't have to goad anyone into running--there are many volunteers! I just hope I don't hold any of these folks back. I get to meet a host of people that I've worked with but never met in person, so that will be fun, and I've got some nice lunch and dinner dates, too, including my favorite, SUSHI! It will be a nice change of scenery, and I guess that this will qualify as my "high altitude camp" for the year! I should finish out next week with over 40 miles of running, and I'll be home Friday night so I can get back on my horses Saturday and Sunday and still get in 7 hours of biking for the week (and knowing me like I do, probably more than that).

I am shocked at how quickly I transitioned from itty-bitty 12-hour training weeks to 17+ gonzo fucking shit! But I'm here, and it's going well. The only downside is that when I train this much, sleep tends to go down. Partly because the days are so long now and the sun comes up so early and that's pretty much my alarm clock (along with the birds singing, which I love). Partly because (put on your gross filter NOW) with all the training comes a revved up metabolism that wants to dispense with waste products EARLY and OFTEN. Aside from maybe the sun waking me up, I am waking up hungry and I have to crap NOW. Funny how I never see articles in the triathlon magazines about THAT part of Ironman training! I think I have just passed the point where my body actually doesn't have to shit every time I go for a run! Although it knows that it's OK if I have to, because the porta-potties have been placed at all the parks along my running routes, so I'm never that far from sweet relief! I swim M/W/F, and there have been a few times where I wake up, eat, go to the pool, I'm hungry while I swim and/or I have to get out to use the facilities, and we are not talking about #1 here. Thankfully, everything is pretty much "through the system" by mid-afternoon, and I can focus on just eating and working.

You KNOW the feeling when you are running--maybe you have to go, maybe not. But once you see that porta-potty, your brain is screaming LET'S GO RIGHT NOW and there is no stopping the urge at that point. During one run last week, I was on that program and there was someone in the porta-potty, and I was knocking on the door and admonishing him/her to hurry it up!

This spring it seems as if a switch has been flicked whenever I run off the bike. I mean I KNOW how to do it, and I'm running really well. Maybe because of doing back-to-back brick workouts for a few months late winter? Maybe because I've spent the last 2 years running just a whole lot? Whatever, it's nice when you experience breakthroughs. And wherever I go from my house, there are hills. I just have to decide whether I want to go out with or against the wind, and how steep I want to go. Plus I'm scared shitless that I am going to die next week in Colorado Springs, so I have been thinking about that when I want to slow down or walk during the brick runs. There's been a lot of "OH GOD OH GOD OH GOD OH GOD" during these runs lately (and I do say it or yell it out loud, and sometimes even F bombs while climbing hills), which is a combination of the usual it being a brick run which sucks in and of itself, I'm training a ton and my body would be happier in the horizontal position, I'm starving, I'm asking myself why am I doing this, and yet I keep going. I know I'm incredibly lean--I feel like I'm leaner than ever right now based on how my face looks--you know--the drawn cheeks that are sculpted from all the miles. But don't worry--my thunder thighs are not going anywhere!

Anyone with a gun is welcome to come over to my house and shoot all the rabbits that are multiplying in my white trash neighbors' yards. I expect some rabbits, but when people leave huge brush piles, they are just inviting more rabbits and way too much rabbit sex. Oh well, one of my good neighbors said he had one of the local red-tailed hawks munching a bunny in his front yard! I LOVE food chain action! It's part of nature. He commented that the burgeoning rabbit population would attract foxes and coyotes, to which I said, "Bring it on!" And then maybe the coyotes would also kill off the little rat dogs that are yipping constantly.

I only have to swim today!!!! Well, and maybe lift weights, because I haven't done any of that this week. We shall see about that!

Have a great weekend, and if I don't post next week, it's because I'm passed out on some mountain in Colorado!