On Tuesday, I was able to run and lift.  On Wednesday, I swam.  On Thursday, I ran and lifted.  Today, I did yoga.  Tomorrow, I’ll be biking at least 60 miles.  On Sunday, I will run seven miles in the morning and bike about 25 or 30 miles in the afternoon.  I’m so thankful that I feel well again.

The joy of being healthy is dampened a bit by news that Jeanie broke her wrist today.  Our race is five weeks away.  That’s not a lot of time.  I’m hopeful that she’ll find quick recovery and be back up and running in no time at all.  I firmly believe that even if she did nothing for the next five weeks, she’s got the fitness and training behind her to up and do an Ironman.  She’s so diligent.  I wish I had more of her diligence in me.

I was startled a bit by my obvious lack of diligence today.  I went to yoga tonight.  I had made the commitment to myself to put yoga back into my schedule, and tonight was the first time in a couple of weeks that I went.  I got there right as class was starting and positioned myself in the available corner, right next to a mirror.  And I was horrified at what I saw.  Everything about me just looked…big.  You can’t hide much in yoga. And you’re supposed to look at yourself in the mirror throughout. I knew I’d put on some weight in the last months, but seeing myself up close and personal like that was painful. 

When I did my food allergy test a couple of years ago, I was told to stay away from wheat and cheeses, except for feta.  I did that for a couple of months and lost a bunch of weight with no effort at all.  I think it’s time to pick that plan back up and stick with it.  I find that how I eat has much more impact on my body than how much training I do.  I train a lot.  I always have.  But I’m at my best when I’m both training a lot and being careful, even drastic, about my food choices.  It’s time to be drastic.

I think I’ll be well by tomorrow.  I almost went swimming this morning but decided that one more day of rest might do my body good, so I slept in.  And though I’ve coughed a bit, I’m generally better.  I think my sinuses are cleared, and I’m hopeful that tomorrow I will feel…normal.  Assuming I do, I will run and lift.  The thought of a two hour workout makes me giddy.  Downright giddy.

Today was one of those days that I would not have and could not have planned.  I had planned to spend the day doing a practice half ironman.  Instead, because I was sick, I spent the day at home.  As it turns out, I seem to have made great strides geting my personal life in order and getting some much needed rest.  I slept in, caught up on magazines, wrote a speech for Toastmasters, took a nap, did my laundry, baked brownies for a potluck, hung out with Mom and Armineh, prepared my area contest materials, watched a movie, and did my taxes.  I also got to love on the cats.  A lot.  It was a lovely day of being at home and getting things done that needed doing.  I suddenly feel on top of things, which is odd for me.  I’m usually about three steps behind.

I don’t remember the last time I spent a full day at home.  Why is that?  Why do I feel the need to book myself up relentlessly?  Why isn’t time at home a regular part of my weekly schedule? Maybe it should be.  Maybe a day like today where I can rest and catch up on home stuff should be a regular part of my schedule every week or couple of weeks.  Can I convince myself to make such a thing a regular life event for me?  It’s worth a try.  I feel fresh right now – fresh and ready to see tomorrow come.  I haven’t felt that way in…I don’t know how long.  Maybe since the night we flew home from Coeur d’Alene?

I had been planning to do the B&B 70.3 today.  It was going to be my trial run half ironman to gauge how ready I am for St. George.  Two things interfered: my health and the weather.  Actually, the interference was primarily my health.  If I felt well, I could have moved the event indoors, but I’ve been advised to limit my exercise to leisurely walking until whatever I have clears.  I’m hopeful that I’ll wake up tomorrow to find it miraculously gone.

Once it clears, I’m going to be a bike fiend.  I’ll be doing spin classes, riding my trainer and hitting the road every chance I get for a couple of weeks.    I need to build my body and my confidence back up.  This forced break from training has rattled me a bit.  I think I can recover from it though.  I just need to feel better first.

I was looking at my finisher’s photo from Coeur d’Alene yesterday.  I showed it to a friend of mine and was reminded of that feeling of being accomplished in a radical way.  Although I feel uncertain right now about St. George, I’m excited to get back to feeling ready and to putting out the kind of energy that day requires.  I’m ready to feel accomplished again.  That’s the carrot in my Ironman training – the feeling at the finish.  That carrot is both chocolate covered and coated with diamonds, if you know what I mean.  I can’t wait.

It’s painful to do nothing for five days.  The last hard workout I did was on Thursday.  I ran and did a solid lifting session that left me sore on Friday.  But Friday, I woke up sick, and I’ve been sick since.  I was hopeful that I’d kick the crud today so that I could swim tomorrow, but the crud’s winning.  I think part of my problem is that I’ve been stressed at work.  Stress brings my defenses down.  I don’t sleep as well.  My body suffers.  I need improvement.  Now.

The good news is that I really miss the training.  I’m hungry to get back to it.  Sometimes when I take a break, I love the lifestyle of not training.  I get used to the extra time in my schedule, and it’s hard to put training back in to my days.  This time, I’m missing the physical activity and I am anxious to gt myself working out again.  With any luck, the crud will go away over night, I’ll take one more day off, and I’ll be back to normal workout mode by Thursday.  From my fingertips to God’s ears…

I said my B&B 70.3 would be this weekend, but it’s actually next weekend.  I have a regular training weekend this weekend.  The half is on March 20.  I’m not sure how it’ll work exactly, but I’m confident Jeanie will have her act together for us.  She’ll have the course planned out. She’s wonderfully organized that way.

After being tired, I’ve now had two days off.  I took Monday off because I knew my body was tired.  Then I ended up having an early conference call this morning, so I skipped my run and lifting session today.  Tomorrow, I need to swim.  My body is craving it now.  Two days is too much. 

I did a two and a half hour ride in the hill country today.  It’s a course I’ve ridden a number of times, but today I felt every single hill.  I think my legs are worn.  I’m hopeful that my legs were tired because I ran late yesterday afternoon.  I usually run in the mornings, which gives me almost 24 hours of recovery time before the next workout, but because of a day-long meeting, I had to make a scheduling adjustment. 

Though it may have affected my workout today, yesterday’s run felt great.  I did 7 miles in an hour and twenty minutes.  I ran the Mopac to 35 loop on Lady Bird Lake.  It felt effortless, which is rare for me when I’m running.  I know I pushed myself, but my body was happy the whole time.  That’s a great feeling.

This was a lighter weekend.  Next weekend, I’m doing a half iron distance training workout with Jeanie.  We’re reviving the B&B 70.3, which Jeanie sweetly named after Bread and Butter.  I’m not sure where we’ll swim, bike or run, but we’ll figure it out.  After the half iron distance on Saturday, I plan to run on Sunday.  That’ll be a challenge for my legs, but I’m looking forward to it.  The weekend will be a test of where I am right now.  May 1 is closer than we think!

It started with running and lifting.  It ended with yoga.  In between, I felt physically well.  My body felt worked but not exhausted.  Now, having cleaned up, I’m resting on my bed with the TV on, and I feel exceptionally well.  I love days like this.  I love working myself hard. 

Also, not that it’s terribly relevant to working hard, but there was a very handsome guy in front of me at yoga today.  He was tall and broad, so I had little view of the mirror, which meant that I focused on the freckles on his back much of the time. The freckles and the muscles. I’m not complaining.  It was a lovely view.  He even had pretty feet.  No joke.  6:30 on Thursday at BYD downtown.  I may have to check that class out again soon…