Not Sick--Just Trying to Kill Myself

I was right on Sunday. I had a virus, but it is gone.

So I'm getting ready for a weekend of NothingNess x 3, and um...there is no taper involved. Taper-schmaper. Who needs 'em? I'm simply playing it by ear and doing what I think I can. Yes, I have a training schedule, but it was written by ME so it has a high probability of making me blow myself up, so I'm constantly reevaluating.

I started out Sunday evening by looking at the weather forecast. I am so fucking tired of running on the treadmill, but I'm also pretty wimpy when it comes to cold. 40's is OK for outdoor runs usually, but 50's is better. Plus there's the acclimation to the fucking pavement, and trying to become "unscared" of cars again. As each year goes by, I notice the progressively worsening habits of many drivers. It used to be people used turn signals (or as I call them, "blinkers"). Apparently, they have become optional. This year I'm noticing that stop signs have also become optional. Even when I'm in my car, I don't trust that someone won't just blow through an intersection without looking both ways.

Aaaaaaaaaanyway...back to the weather. I figured for my 2 weekday runs I want to run outside, so I decided I'm running Monday and Wednesday and biking Tuesday and Thursday. I'm keeping my swims on Monday and Wednesday. By the way, the pool was niiiiiiiiiiice and cool again on Monday. Sadly, no scenery, but very nice for swimming.

I managed to sleep well Sunday night after my brick festival, and even though I got 9 big ones, I could feel the fatigue on Monday morning. Still, gotta swim--it will help me either recover or dig myself a hole--I really don't care which. Did that bitchin' 30x50 (odds hard; evens easy) with 10" rest workout, and my arms were screamin' MOMMA (not really--they were actually saying what the hell motherfucker why don't you just stop already), and actually did OK even though I was tired to begin with.

When it came time to run I knew a track workout would not work--legs too tired from Sunday--but odds are if I ran outside I'd go at or close to tempo pace. Given that, how long did I want to run? Well, I still want some decent volume this week, so at first I was like OK, 1 hour, but then it wasn't much farther to a landmark which out and back would give me 7.5 miles, so I decided to do that. It's a fairly hilly run, so my legs are toast, I haven't done much road running yet, it's not very warm (it was like 32 when I ran), and so what the hell. I slowed down on the way home a little, but well, I just didn't care. 1:07. I was cold the entire time, but I looked like I meant business--I was sporting my new sushi-print toque and my Cateye sunglasses, along with my Finisher jacked from IMLP 2007. While I typically don't wear all the Ironman crap frequently, there are times when I feel like it will give me a mental boost, and I needed it yesterday.

I stretched really well last night, since as the evening wore on, I knew I was on the verge of shelling myself. So this morning I decided, what the hell, may as well lift before I start work. So I did. 1 hour LARGE. I mean, since I do it at home, I'm cramming a lot into an hour, and I still have about 10 minutes to finish up tomorrow. I kinda had some DOMS going on from Monday's run, and I just added to it, since I wanted to get legs done today.

Well, then I needed to bike in the middle of the day. DOMS is really settling in big time now, and I'm thinking can I even manage a respectable workout on the bike? What the hell, it's only pain, right? My power may be down a bit, but what the hell. Since I had finished lifting, I am just wanting to eat everything in the house, but I was a good girl and had a glass of egg protein, 2 bananas and a slice of cheese (fat-free) in between lifting and biking. Healthy crap.

Gatorade on the bike and we get going. Mid-day news on for a few minutes, followed by some Teletubbies, and then my warmup is over and I fire up Ironman 2004 (the year I did it) on the VCR, just so I have a timing device staring me in the face so I don't need to have my head in my lap looking at the Ergomo screen. While doing my intervals, I had to rest a few seconds here and there because, well, my legs were toast. But I still got in a TSS of 104 in 1:20, which was plenty enough intensity for the day. I ate a Lean Cuisine and drank Endurox R4, and I'm wishing I had some chips in the house (I decided not to buy any last week) because I'm STARVING. But I'll be OK. I'm sorta trying to not go too nuts on carbs (I MUST HAVE a ROTISSERIE CHICKEN FOR DINNER) as a sort of modified carb loading thing for the weekend.

Tomorrow I swim and run (probably just an hour if I can be sane enough to limit myself) easy, finish up my lifting, and then Thursday is another trainer ride, which I should cut down to maybe 1:05 to 1:10, with just a few "bursts of flavor." And then Friday I do a sprint NothingMan. I'm going to do the whole thing at the Y because otherwise I'd spend more time transitioning than racing! And I don't really want to change clothes during it so I'll probably slap on a tri suit and freak everyone out at the Y when they see me on the stationary bike and treadmill in a swimsuit. Saturday is the day I double down and do 2 Olympics back to back.

Ah...the life of a Crackhead!

Tune in tomorrow to see if I'm surviving my training.