A Good Week, So Far

Even though I'm still having trouble getting enough sleep a few nights a week, it's not stopping me from doing anything.

Spring is HERE! I've been out early in the morning (well, once the sun's up) cleaning up my flower beds, and boy are things growing a lot this week! My front yard is almost officially ready for viewing--I just need to add the gazing ball back to its pedestal and use Roundup on my white trash neighbor's invasive sweet pea vines. In the back yard, I only need to cut down one more 5x8 foot area of perennial stems, and then we are good to go! Daffodils are blooming, and the hyacinths have swollen blooms that will perfume my front yard along the sidewalk within the next week. I received the seeds I ordered, but they can't be planted until late April or early May, depending on when we are about to receive our last frost. I just love this time of year when you have spring bulbs blooming, yet the trees haven't leafed out. I really love when the leaves are just appearing and they are a "young" green color, the forsythia bushes are blooming, and then you get magnolia trees blooming, and it's just beautiful.

I swam 3 times this week, and today, although I didn't sleep well last night, I am seeing my speed beginning to return! I'm so excited--me and my massage therapist have honed in on the offending muscles in my upper left back, and so far my left arm continues to be able to extend fully and PULL like it knows how! I told my coach about this, and that I am planning on a 1:10 swim split at IMLP, and this time I FUCKING MEAN IT! I definitely have the power--I know my upper body has developed a bit from my extra strength training and I'm lifting heavier on my lats and pecs, so now I'll just begin inching back up to a solid 10-11,000 yards a week and that should do it.

My house looks like a Fedex bomb went off in it--I received some Clif Nectar Bars I ordered (to replace the errant cereal they sent last week but that I ate half of anyway--the reason I don't eat cereal is that when I buy it I will pretty much eat an entire box in one or two sittings), I got my Ergomo 2 days ago (and of course, I lovingly fondled the carbon cranks), and today I got a box of Kona coffee and my other bike parts. Lots of gifts for me!

When the bike parts arrived, I was so happy, because now that I've taken them to the bike shop, we are ready for assembly to begin. I met the Sidi representative at the shop today, and he's a really nice man. This guy reps for Sidi, Colnago, Pinarello and all this high-end bike stuff. He told me my wheels (Fulcrum Racing Red) would provide a nice, stiff ride, and of course, I used the opportunity to reel off a line I've been saving up: "Well, you know, I definitely like a very stiff ride myself." Can you say 3 men turning a bit red in the face? It was fun.

I also ordered some more fabric--I spent some time browsing and found something for my Dad--he had asked me if I had any more shark fabric, and I said no, but I found something he will REALLY like as a shirt--it has classical composer busts all over it. Since he doesn't read my blog, no worries, he won't see this--but I know he will absolutely love receiving something I have made for him (as do most people). That's the cool thing about sewing--you can pretty much find something that fits people you know to a T. I also found some Star Trek and Star Wars fabric that I bought to make some pillows for my nerdly brother, Tom. I know he'll appreciate that. And then a few more things I can't talk about yet...it's all good!

I bought a new trainer for my Bitch. The old Blackburn is about dead and not calibrated well for me, and the Cycleops is made for someone much bigger than me (anyone want to buy my Cycleops? I'll sell it for $200 plus shipping--it cost close to $300 and has barely been used). I got another Blackburn, and I hope this one does the trick.

I'm looking forward to trying out the new trainer tomorrow, as it's supposed to be rainy here. And then Sunday, I'm looking forward to a nice long run on a trail that I dearly love, and I'll be cooking up some great Italian stuff again.

I'm still on target for 13.5 hours of training this week, and considering everything else that I'm getting done, this has been a wonderful week so far. My LBSG said he can get me decals from any image I can make, so that's my next project (until the fabric arrives!).

I located a new Fractal generating program (Google Fractint) that is AWESOME, and also some great tessellation websites (see my sidebar under "Mental Stuff"), that I highly recommend you visit if you are at all into M. C. Escher, my favorite artist.

And then another thing I need to do is acquire tickets for The Barber of Seville which will be performed by the Lyric Opera here in Chicago next year. OMG I looked at how much tickets are and yikes! But it will be worth it, PROVIDED I can get tickets when they go on sale in August. We shall see...who knows...maybe I'll be viewing opera at La Scala sometime in 2008!

Life is good!

Weekly Workout Totals 3/19/2007-3/25/2007 and Free at Last!

Thank God those indoor tri races are over!

Yes, I raced yesterday, and no I didn't take first place. Just call me Avis! On the plus side, though, I found out SBH is a track coach, so I am honored to lose to a "runner." I did have a good swim and of course, won the bike. My run sucked for whatever reason, I don't know, but I gave it my all. SBH and I did a great job of beating almost the entire 40-49 age group, though. I saw a friend of mine, Lori (sorry no blog for her), who is about my size, looking fit as hell. She's a great athlete, and smokes me easily, but she's younger than me, so no worries.

I ended up getting about :45 of massage yesterday, which any way you look at it, is a wonderful gift! I had Ken work on my upper back before I raced, and then he gave me at least :30 afterwards. We talked about food (he used to be a chef), exercise, music and other stuff. Ken commented to me that everyone he works on after these races has stringy, tough muscles except for me, so apparently all my stretching and massage is doing what it's supposed to do.

It was in the mid-70's here yesterday, so all of us racing were thinking, "What the fuck are we doing working out indoors?" So I thought how nice it would be to run outdoors afterwards. Bad idea. After the last 3 races I ran on the treadmill afterwards. After 1 hour on the road yesterday, my knees were so beat up that I decided it was enough! On the plus side, though, I got the beginnings of a suntan. I pretty much brown up if I just LOOK at the sun. I enjoyed that 1 hour run so much, though--here I had numbers on an arm and a leg, and I am sure that perplexed the hell out of onlookers.

Because of the thrashing my legs took yesterday, I'm going to take a day off from running and instead get back on my swimmng. I'm excited to see what I can do now that we're working out those trigger points on, under and around my left scapula. I should hit around 13.5 hours this week, and next week I'll add about another hour, and then before you know it I'll be riding a lot more outdoors on La gazza ladra!

Ciao!


Weekly Totals 03/19/2007-03/25/2007
Swim: 5225 yards (2.97 miles) in 1.82 hours; 15% of weekly workout time; approx. 636 calories burned
Bike: Approx. 92.34 miles in 5.27 hours; 42% of weekly workout time; approx. 2415 calories burned
Run: Approx. 25.95 miles in 3.92 hours; 31% of weekly workout time; approx. 1782 calories burned
Strength: 1.45 hours; 12% of weekly workout time; approx. 363 calories burned
All Sports: Approx. 121.26 miles in 12.46 hours; approx. 5196 calories burned
Sleep: 8.29 hours avg./night
Stretching: 2.55 hours. Massage: 2.25 hours