So Ready to be Done

Saturday: 40 miles (trainer), 3 mile run
Sunday: ~2700m swim, 9 mile run

After about 2 days straight, it has finally stopped raining. And although Colorado in general needed it, I did not. After all, I already take 2-3 showers a day...

On Friday I was just supposed to swim. Being that Wolfgang is out and being that it was raining, I had absolutely no problem skipping this workout. I was able to rationalize that walking the dogs in the rain was pretty close to swimming. Instead, I finished off the day, and the week, with pizza and watching the Olympics.

Because I did not have the foresight to check the weather frequently, I woke up to Saturday's rain thinking that the entire weekend was going to be like this. I had planned on driving out to Aurora to do my brick on the Harvest Moon course. It was bad enough to have to drive to Aurora, but driving to Aurora in the rain...no way. Unless I absolutely have to, I don't ride in the rain. The roads are slick and people are stupid. It's just not worth it. Not to mention that it was also pretty cold. Instead, I tried to talk myself into getting on the trainer. Again, let me stress how stupid I was in not checking the weather. Had I any idea that Sunday was supposed to be absolutely beautiful, I would have ridden on Sunday and this post would probably be called something like 'The Ride of My Life'. But no, it was nothing but rain in my mind.

I needed to do 2.5 hours on the trainer. It was early. It was cold. It was raining. The Olympics are on and I'm still several days behind. Given these conditions, is there nothing better to do? Um, yeah, about a million, including going back to bed or having a cup of coffee and curling up in front of the TV. I could not have been moving any slower. I took things in very small steps in the hopes to get motivated. I brought my bike upstairs. I took a little break. I set up the trainer. Another little break. Turned on the TV. Break. Got dressed. Break. And then the thought crept into my mind. I think I'm ready to be done. Maybe today is the day I should end my season. Life has been very hectic and it's been a very long season and I've done plenty of races. Maybe it's time to stop and rest before starting again with CDA training.

But somehow, somehow, I found myself climbing on the trainer. Somehow I found myself starting to pedal. Somehow I found myself starting to get lost in watching the Olympics. I'd love to say that somehow I found that 2.5 hours had passed, but time didn't go so quickly and I was more than aware of how much time I still needed to do. Eventually (and not somehow), I got through 2.5 hours. It took a bit longer than 2.5 hours due to my finding many reasons to get off and make minor adjustments. And I still had a 9 mile run awaiting me. But I found myself at least somewhat looking forward to this - at least it would get me outside. I finished the ride, changed, and headed out on the run. It had stopped raining at this point and I was way overdressed. In addition, I had absolutely no energy. I was having a hard time maintaining my regular eating routine while on the trainer, and I just hadn't eaten enough. About 2.5 miles into the run my blood sugar dropped and there was no way I was going to do 9 miles. It just wasn't going to happen since I clearly needed more calories than I was carrying with me. I staggered through another half mile and then walked home. I'd try again on Sunday...

I awoke Sunday morning to sunshine. I figured it was temporary since I was still under the impression that it was supposed to rain all day Sunday. As I headed over to the pool, I noticed that there were not many clouds in the sky. Hmmm, I wonder. Let's just say that I was not happy when I finally checked the weather. I thought I was ready for Jane's class. Ha! She changed my mind almost immediately - we were only doing 25s and I wasn't getting any rest. It was going to be a loooong class. I had to keep moving back until I was at the end. I was close to keeping up, which means that I was nowhere near the person in front of me, BUT I didn't get lapped. I started to feel a little better as class went on and finished with a very small sense of accomplishment. I had made it through the entire class after all.

I got home and ate. In my mind, it must have still been raining as I just could not seem to really wake up. I just felt really sluggish. I decided to lie down for a little before attempting my run. We had dinner plans for my sister's birthday so I couldn't waste too much time, but I figured it couldn't hurt. After about an hour I finally got up. I had to start the run soon or it just wasn't going to happen. It was probably about 2 or 2:30 when I finally left the house. I dressed more appropriately today and brought a little more food, just in case. I had 6 miles to do in Z3 and decided to start this after a mile so that I could get it out of the way. The run was about 200% better than yesterday and not just because I made it past mile 3. It really was nice outside. My legs finally felt like they had fully recovered and I breezed through the Z3 set. Before I knew it, I was back home with another long run under my belt (finally). Maybe I'm not quite ready to end the season...