I'm Ready For A Break

Last week was a busy week, and I'm ready for the Thanksgiving break!!!

I've been going to the chiropractor twice a week for the past month. Luckily he is 10 minutes from my house, but it still takes time to drive there, get adjusted and get home. I've had to push my workouts to later, which then means dinner is later. But, the good news is that I've gotten in some pretty normal workouts over the last week.

I'm an avid reader of the beginnertriathlete.com forum. One of the coaches who posts on there kind of put out a "challenge" to become a stronger cycler over the winter/off season/whatever you want to call it. I decided to follow along and do the workouts to see if it improves my cycling for next spring. I've got my road bike on the trainer upstairs, so I was set. The workouts started last week. Tuesday and Thursday I was able to get them done. There were some fast intervals in there and boy was I drenched with sweat when I was done. I think it's going to be good.

I also got in a couple of runs last week, but skipped Wednesday's workout to go help celebrate a milestone birthday of one of our cyclists with TNT. It was worth missing a workout for. Then Friday night, we headed out of town for a soccer tournament. We had about a 3 hour drive and stopped for dinner along the way, so needless to say I didn't get a workout in on Friday.

Saturday we got up at 6:00 so my son could eat breakfast and we could get to the fields by 8am. It was soooooo cold (in the high 30s at game time). I was layered in clothes and wrapped in a blanket and still cold. After the first game we went with several team members to eat a real breakfast (the hotel only had cereal and the boys were hungry after the game) and then back to the hotel where I managed to get in a 30 minute nap before it was time to head back to the fields. After the afternoon game, we headed back to the hotel for about 30 minutes and then headed for an early dinner before the 8pm game. I was cold all day long. They played much better in the third game, but it was too little too late and it wasn't enough to put them in the finals.

After the game we headed back to the hotel and I caught the last of the OU/Texas Tech football game. I'm an Aggie, so those two teams are in our conference and I was interested in the outcome.

Since our boys were not in the playoffs, it allowed us to "sleep in" Sunday morning. I can't really sleep late and was awake at 6:30. I thought about getting up and going to the hotel gym to run on the treadmill. And then I closed my eyes and thought some more. It was cold and I rarely ever get to stay in bed. And the kids were still asleep. And the bed won. When we finally got up, we ate breakfast and went to watch the other team in their 10am championship game. That was a great game that went into overtime and then into penalty kicks to decide the winner. When all was over we headed home, stopping along the way for a late lunch.

When we got home it was time to wash clothes, grocery shop, get the kids ready for school. And, the Ironman Arizona was Sunday, so I wanted to watch what I could on-line (an Ironman is a 2.4 mile swim, followed by a 112 mile bike, followed by a 26.2 mile run). I know I've said it before, but if you ever have a chance to watch part of a televised Ironman, you should. Especially the end as the final participants cross the line. Everyone starts at the same time and there is a 17 hour time limit for completing it. Everytime I watch, I want more and more to do one some day. I've done marathons, so I know I can cover the distance. I've done a century ride, so I'm good on the bike. And I feel fairly confident that I could swim the distance with the training. It's just putting them all three together and figuring out nutrition that's the hard part!!! I just need to find the right Ironman and the right time of year so that I can get in the HOURS and HOURS of training. I'm hoping to go volunteer at one next year and experience it in person.

And after reading on the beginnertriathlete.com forum some updates on how people were doing, I felt lazy for not heading to the gym Sunday morning, so I headed upstairs and did the cycling workout I needed to do. Then I watched some more Ironman before heading to bed.

Today was back to work for a short work week. Another chiro adjustment and a 5.5 mile run. We are staying home for Thanksgiving this year and we've decided we are not doing anything. I may not even get out of my pajamas. Unless the guilt gets the better part of me and I end up exercising. We'll see what happens.

Happy Thanksgiving to all, and safe travels for anyone traveling.