Somehow, several days passed me right by without blogging, and what busy days they were!
Friday I had planned to do another Open Water Swim, but wouldn’t you know it the wind kicked up again and I just didn’t have it in me to face that choppy water. So I busted out 1200 meters in the pool and went about my day. Can I tell you how awesome it feels to say that? Like 1200 meters is no big deal?!? On my homemade training plan, I built up my swim distance very, very slowly in anticipation of dreading every swim day and feeling nothing but panic in the water. On the plan, I was supposed to swim 500 meters on Friday and I went more than twice that distance! Of all the fitness gains I’ve made in the last few years, I think this is the one of which I am the most proud.
What did I do with the rest of my day? Well, thank you for asking, because I made this:
I’m no Martha Stewart, but I think it looks good in low resolution.
My son’s birthday is next month, but we have such a hard time getting kids to attend his parties in the middle of summer, so I’ve moved his celebration up a month for the last two years. It works out great, you know, except that part where I have five screaming boys in my house for a sleepover…but I’ll get to that in a minute.
Saturday I went out for a bike/run brick. After last week’s race distance brick, I cut back a little on the bike and the run to a 12 and 2. It was windy again and I struggled a little mentally to keep focused (I knew those screaming boys were in my near future and I admit, my brain was nagging me about all the little details I hadn’t finished for the party). My bike route was uneventful, which is a good thing. It was nice and early so I had very little traffic but somehow I still managed to hit every single red light on the route, can you believe it? I chose a running route that takes me on a hard-packed dirt trail for almost a mile, as practice for my tri which has similar conditions. The tricky path (don’t get me wrong, it’s not very technical, I just mean that it’s not a paved street) definitely slowed my pace, but it was exciting to do something so different. A workout for my brain and my body, trying to figure out every footfall. Between the wind on the bike and the slower pace on the trail, I was convinced that the numbers would look like a crappy workout, but my final stats were still very respectable: 12.2 miles on the bike @17.8 mph, 2.07 miles on foot @8:17/mi.
By mid-day Saturday, the screaming boys had invaded. For many long hours I endured (without the help of The Hubs, because he was at work) the Nerf wars, the Super Smash Brothers Brawls, the water gun fights in the pool, Guitar Hero (the Metallica version, which is even louder), more Nerf wars and then, finally, the snoring of little boys. It will come as little surprise to you that, even though I was scheduled for a day off today and even though it was Father’s Day, this morning I laced up my shoes and left the screaming boys to my husband so I could steal away for a quick 3-miler!
And, wow, it was really quick: 3.14 miles @ a 7:36 pace! I guess I had a little steam to run off, huh??
Well, thankfully, the screaming boys were gone by mid-morning and after I Lysol-ed every hard surface in the house I got on with the business of spoiling my husband for Father’s Day. Somehow this “spoiling” involved me spending lots of time catching up on every else’s blogs and I am officially JEALOUS of all the racers this weekend – Whitney and Average A and Kristen and MissZippy and ROJ and ajh and Julie and Cynthia. I haven’t raced since March and I am absolutely itching to toe the line! Not to worry, though, I have two races in the next three weeks, so I’ll get my fix soon enough.
In the meantime, happy training to us all!
ajh says
All those boys would send me for a relief fun too! The cake looked great. Iliked the low resolution comment. I would say the same about the cakes I made when my kids were little. They loved them which is what mattered.
I am not used to the running/stopping at stoplights thing. That is hard.
Heather says
That cake looks awesome, I am impressed!
I chickened out on my OWS this weekend too . . . my friend who was going to go with me backed out and I was too scaredy cat to go it alone. 🙂
Meg says
I totally agree with you, I haven’t raced since April and I’m dying to do something!
Loved you cake, you are M.S., totally!
Finally, you are a stud swimmer. I am totally inspired. Since I’m new to swimming, I’m totally interested in what you’re doing. Well done!
Tricia says
awesome cake!
Julie says
Thanks for the race mention:) You need to sign up for one and just do it! We have similar race PRs but you kicked my butt in the half! You are about a minute and a half faster than me. I hope that I can do as good as you in my upcoming full!
Nice job on your speedy 3 miler! I love the cake too:)
gmontalvo13 says
what an awesome cake! i love it! i watch a lot of the cake shows and you could totally be featured! i actually tried making a fondant cake a few months ago- it’s not easy!
wow, what a great pace! keep up the good work!
MCM Mama says
Great cake! Screaming boys scare me, so we’ve not done any parties longer than two hours yet. ;o)
Nice job on the swimming and the brick and the super speedy Sunday run!