all over the place

“I could go running and racing and dancing and chasing and leaping and bounding hair flying heart pounding and splashing and reeling and finally feeling… now's when my life begins!”

Yeah, that line from my girl, Rapunzel, pretty much describes this past week of training.  Honestly, it’s a fairly accurate picture of any given week in my life, which is why I love Rapunzel—she’s all over the place with energy and excitement about what’s ahead! 

That’s me—all over the place! 

The weekend after finishing the half marathon, I ran an 8K and a really short (1/8 mile) Kilt Run with a friend, and then enjoyed some short easy running days.  Recovering, I was.  Losing focus, I was.   I truly enjoy running, but my life is filled with a wide range of possible distractions and I quickly realised I need a goal, a target to shoot for, or all the other things creep in and take over and I start to get squirrely. 

I really wasn’t sure what I wanted to do next, but going through the mail that piled up while I was out of town, I found this postcard.

I have a bunch of friends who've said they want to start running, so this looked perfect for us.  There are about a dozen of us registered, and everyone is rocking their training!  I’m really looking forward to crossing that finish line with all these amazing women!

  

I was also looking at a few different races trying to decide what was next for me—another half?  a full marathon?  A friend found a Diva Half Marathon in Myrtle Beach that promised to be a fun moms’ weekend, but the timing and travel were going to be tricky for me.  Then, in the midst of this interminable NC winter, we were blessed with a pretty Saturday and my daughter suggested a bike ride.  

I posted this photo on Facebook, and a friend asked if there was a triathlon in my future.  

www.ramblinroseevents.com

My wheels started turning, and within 24 hours, I was registered and studying training plans! 

Then, I came across this:

I love the medal, I love that is says “Raleigh Rocks,” the timing works well with my triathlon, it’s local, and a friend’s band is going to playing along the race route.  Could it BE any more perfect??? 

So, yes, 3 events happening in the next several weeks.  Overlapping training schedules, and just to keep it interesting, let’s throw in some swimming and biking.  Crazy!  Just the way I like it!

This was last week’s challenge:

Triathlon Training

swim 55 minutes (25 + 30)

bike 75 minutes (30 + 45)

run 55 minutes (25 + 30)

one day= swim 25, bike 30,

two rest days

PLUS, Half Marathon Training

long run = 14 miles (before I start to taper)

Triathlon training calls for one swim/bike day.  I also did a run/bike day so that I could do my long run on its own, and have two rest days afterward.  It made for a crazy week for me, taking off Wednesday and Thursday.  I usually get a little nuts after one day of not running, but that 14 mile run was clearly the mega-dose of vitamin D (it was an absolutely gorgeous day!) and endorphins I needed to survive a mid-week 2-day rest.  I also do some kind of yoga every day—either an hour-long class or just 20 minutes at home. 

It was all good until Friday. I had coffee with a dear friend. She’s a teacher at a year-round school, and I only get to see her 4 times a year—during her school breaks.  Coffee lasted 6 hours.  (no joke)  It was lovely.  It was also a really chilly day, and when I started thinking about running, I also started negotiating with myself.  This is what I do when it’s cold.  I come up with all sorts of very reasonable arguments and alternate running plans.  But on a Friday afternoon, when I still had some swimming and biking to fit in, there was no time for Plan B.  (And the forecast for the weekend wasn’t promising, either!)

Some days, I need to put my inner voice on mute, lace up my shoes, put in my headphones and GO. 

As I was negotiating with myself, I thought about January, and how happy I would have been to run on a 50 degree day in January.  This particular January, I would have been happy just to be able to get out and run, regardless of the weather.  I missed a lot of running days in January.  But I didn’t have to miss this day.  I went, and I’m so glad I did.  Because as it turned out, it was beautiful.