Long Run, but Beer!

Oh dear.

I've been quite remiss in blogging lately. It's just... ehh, no real excuse other than the obvious lack of time. I meant to, really! Some weeks are just better than others.

Last week was pretty uninteresting anyway. After a painful cross practice where I finally mastered dismounts, if nothing else, did some yoga, and hung out with the boys.

Thursday was another swim, 3300 yards with 10x100 fast. I'm not that fast... or rather, my "fast" 100 is the same pace as my "fast" 1000 meter. Hmm... Clearly something needs work! This was emphasized today when we did our 1000 meter TT swim to see what progress we had made. In my defense, I was tired from a nanny's worst nightmare, tired from weight lifting, had no one fast to swim next to, and was TTing for the first time doing flip turns. Excuses, excuses, excuses- I'm full of 'em today! It was 15:55 for 1000 m, which was OK, but only a 25 second improvement- nothign to write home about. But then again, my aerobic swim was there already, now I just have to a)learn to swim, and b)speed up past what my body likes. Still, it's an improvement and I should be happy.

Friday was more weights and some riding around New Brunswick, but nothing fancy. This was because I knew Saturday was coming.

Saturday: on schedule was a 22 miler. This would be THE farthest that I would ever have run, since during the marathon I had to stop at mile 14 because of cramping. Yeah, I finished the marathon, but not running the whole way. So 22 miles was pretty scary. Normally, I know people don't do that much before a marathon. But between my lack of good nutrition while running and my cramping issues in the past, it makes sense for me to be running that much. Plus, it's pretty fun, as it turns out.

Dad and I set out with a bike basket full- extra long sleeved and sleeveless shirts, wattle bottle, sports drink, 2 gus, camera, phone, and driver's license. And handkerchief- I was very stuffy that day!

We planned a 22 mile route that was pretty much totally flat and would hit bathrooms eveyr few miles. Perfect! Plus, at mile 18 we would loop past the car, so if I was hurting, we could call it a day. The miles ticked off fast and easily- 8 minute miles, sometimes 7:45-ish, not sure of exact numbers since Dad was keeping time and we didn't always have accurate mile markers. Maybe it was the conversation with Dad, maybe it was kowing that while I was running, people were racing in Kona, where I want to be, but it went by quickly and with no real issues. I finished with a sprint and a smile, and Dad and I put my license to good use by celebrating with a half pint of dark porter at the microbrewery that I used to work at.

It was great! All muscle soreness gone- maybe it was the break, maybe it was seeing people I worked with and really liked, seeing my old friend Tim, who got me more serious about biking, or maybe it was simply the alcohol content. But I have a new long run routine!

Sunday morning was crazy- I woke up in NO pain! Shocking, I know. I had to head to northern NJ to meet Jackie for a thirty mile ride through the Great Swamp and I was worried- she smokes me on the bike in every race, so I was scared about riding after such a long run. Luckily, my legs cooperated, and we had an awesome ride- the Great Swamp is beautiful and soooo full of bikers!- and chat. She's going to be a HUGE help for training for IMKY and she's awesome at pushing me to do more. She's mentioned a few races I should do next summer, so I'm working on compiling the list now- a couple half Ironmans for practice, but a few well-chosen short courses for fun and potential profit.

Now I just have to get fast...

More later as I try to figure out what to do about a tri bike and muse more about everything, including my babysitting insanity of last night (hint: emergency room involved. Nothing major, but nonethless...)
For now, it's off to Child Psych.