What a week!

It all started last saturday with a long 2:30 ride on my trainer. It was a cold, rainy day and having 2:30 on tap for a bike ride I decided to stay indoors. The key here was the entertainment playing on my little TV. Lord of the rings: The two towers carried me through and made the workout fly by.

Having a couple of bad days during the previous week, I had to move my long run from friday to sunday (forgoeing my rest day). Sunday we got up to a torrential downpour that forced me to do the run idoors on the treadmill. I ran for 1:10 and then decided to take the "speed" intervals that were built into the run outside. It was about 32 degrees and it had stopped raining for a bit. My neighborhood is a 1 mile loop and I figured I could run the last 35 minutes of the prescribed time outside. I changed my shorts for my tights and long sleeves and out I went. It was cold but not too bad, until I made the last turn of the loop, heading to the stretch that would bring me past home. The wind was so hard that i could barely move. I did one loop and called it a day. I emailed Liz telling her I am not as tough as I thought I was: YET.

Sunday evening started snowing, which is kind of a big event here in the south. We got about 4 inches and of course everything was closed on monday, because the city does not have the infrastructure to plow the streets and all. I ended up working from home and enjoying the snow day with Megan playing outside making snow angels. I had long ride again on tap for monday morning. 2 hours. It worked perfectly because I did not have to get up extra early to fit it in before work. So the snow day was kind of welcome. It allowed me to not only work from home, but get a few extra hours of zzz's.

During that long rida I also had the company of the Lord of the Rings. The Return of the King this time. Have I mentioned that I LOVE those movies? I have read the books 3 times. Definitely one of my all time favorites.

Tuesday went on fine. I did my run after work and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I think after that the week fell apart. On wednesday I had a stiff neck; I tried swimming and it HURT. So after toughing it out for the warmup I called it a day and went to work. When I got home I got on my trainer and felt completely weak. I had to inhale 1/2 a clif bar to feel like I had some kind of energy. Liz emailed me reminding me that I need to EAT; which I have been doing, so I do not know what went wrong. Thursday I woke up with a nasty migraine. It lasted all day. I even took my migraine medicine but that did not help. Of course I went to work and had a busy day. People told me I should have taken the day off, but I have a couple of trips planned for the year (including the family vacation to Disney World) and I want to save my PTO days for those occasions. There was definitely no training on thursday, my head could not take it.

Then on Friday I had a do-over of Wednesday's swim and that did not go so well. Let's say it was frustrating and not a good experience. Work was work and I still had a headache... Kind of a leftover from the prior's day migraine.

Saturday came, and I had a 5k on tap. The goal for this race was to get out there, find the hurt and learn to deal with it. Secretly I had a pace goal/finish time; but Liz not to focus on that; to work the mental aspect of the race. It was a company sponsored event, so I had to wear a t-shirt with the company's logo. Cotton. Not my first choice, but it served the purpose. I am not going to do a race report, but I will say that I was able to accomplish everything I had set out to. I even PR'd by about 20 seconds; running faster than at my peak last year. Definitely a good feeling; and something I needed after the awful week I had.

I emailed with Liz about this and told her it was reassuring that even though I feel slow during some of my training runs; I am capable to put out some nice speed on race day. The pace I ran was not in my real of possiblity a couple of years ago. Heck, even last year I didn't think I could run as fast as I did yesterday! To this day, it still boggles my mind. But you know what? I'll take it!

Buddies and workouts

Sunday morning and I sit here with my daughter the early riser. Now, I can understand the need for me to get up at 6 am to eat breakfast 2 hours prior to my 2 hour brick; but her?? She was up at 6:30. Ready to kick start her day with some hot milk and a waffle.

I had every intention of doing my brick yesterday but I woke up with a fairly bad migraine. I took over the counter medicine for it right away, but it did not help. After a couple of hours it had gotten so bad that I went to bed and took the prescription medicine. I try to stay away from it. I am not a fan of ingesting drugs if it can be avoided; but I do not think I had an option yesterday.

After laying down with my eyes closed for what seemed an eternity, the migraine finally started to subside. What a relief!!! Unfortunately it was already 4 PM and my body was wiped out! I took the rest of the day easier and after emailing coach I postponed the workout until today.

This past week was interesting to say the least. Work was hectic, busy and gave me my fair share of headaches; the weather was crazy (we even got snowed/iced in one day); and the workouts were pretty intense.

At work, since the merger is complete we were assigned a person from Corporate Finance to help us navigate throught the systems and such. They call this person our "buddy". Well, I am going to say that the word is indeed small. Of all the people up in corporate finance, i get paired with a guy, who not only is extremely helpful and patient; but who also likes soccer, my favorite sport to watch (he is also a fan of my Argentine Team); loves running and shares my sense of humor.

We work together quite well, share some jokes, talk smack and get the job done. Our small firm has been so focused on all the things we are having to do differently since the merger that most of the people have forgotten that the company that acquired us is working quite hard at making us feel comfortable as well. And we are a tough crowd to please. I have sat on countless conference calls where the air can be cut with a knife and the people are mostly on edge looking for ways to "attack" the other side. I have been that way for quite a while; but lately have been trying to cut people slack and put myself in their shoes. So I have been making a point of giving credit to people where credit is due. Since my "buddy" helped me tremendously I made sure that his boss knew how pleased I was with his help. It is only fair.

Training has been going well. I have managed to pretty much get ALL my sessions in; with the exception of one strength training routine, which might get squeezed in today while Megan takes her nap. Most of them have been indoors,, not only because it has been pretty cold outside, but also because I am making a point about staying safe. I do not want to run by myself outside at 5 am when it is dark and there is no one near by. The other night I went for a run after work, and it was starting to get dark; so even though I was in a very transited area I ran with my pepper spray in had; sans music.

We have started base training, so long runs have started, along with long bike rides and countless yards at the pool. The swimming is coming along, I think I might have discovered how to properly swim (yes it took me only 4 years ;-) ); and I will be working on that in the coming weeks. Next week I have a long swim that calls for 2x1000 continuous.... Should be interesting.

I have always loved biking, so I have no problem with spending time in the saddle. Even if it is indoors. Husband bought me the complete series of one of my favorite short lived Vampire shows and I have been watching those episodes each time I get on my bike. The new Tacx computer has proved to be awesome, the feedback I get from it is fantastic and it also offers much more resistance than my regular trainer; which makes more even more entertaining training sessions.

I think my running legs are finally starting to come back. I still feel slow, but as the year progresses and the sun starts coming out earlier and earlier, I will be able to run outside more and more; and that is the key to improve my running (I don't do as good on the 'mill).

So after a rough couple of weeks, I think I am finally able to gather myself, lift my head up and look ahead. For the next few weeks the road looks promising and challenging and I can't wait to get started.