Monday Blahs

So I'm working on MLK day here in the stupid racist south. Actually, that's not a stereotype I want to promote. I am fiercely anti-racist, and most people here (at least the under-70 crowd) is also strongly diversified. But it sucks that larger companies, government offices, schools, etc all get the day off and the small company I work for remains open for business. I've got a bad case of the monday blah's and BPD (Bipolar Posting Disorder) and not having consumed enough caffine yet, so I'm just all over the place today.

Only 4 more weeks until marathon time. The remaining saturday long runs are 22, 12, 8, and 26.2 miles. It's going to be here before you know it. And I gots me some healin to do. Since the trashtastic thursday night run, I've been fighting some left shin & ankle pain, and right knee instability. It's more discomfort than pain, really. And it's kind of fun to watch the right knee wobble when I try to walk down stairs. No falling yet, though. It's my own dumbass fault too. I wore a pair of shoes that I know I shouldn't have worn for that run. Those shoes are bound for a recycle program now.

So this past saturday was supposed to be 12 miles. Wifey ran it without any problems. I decided that it would be more comfortable to go without impact. 12 miles would normally be around 120 - 140 minutes, so I did one hour on the stationary bike (16.2 miles, 560 calories) followed immediately by one hour on the elliptical (7.5 miles, 760 calories). I might should have done another 20 mins on the elliptical, but I knew wifey was ready to go to dinner at the time so I got out of there. It was a really good workout. But mentally, I couldn't help feeling defeated because it wasn't the 12 mile run it was supposed to be.

But really, put things into perspective. Before the Greenville Sprint tri in august, my longest brick workout was 15 miles on the stationary bike followed by 3.2 miles on the treadmill. That took about an hour and half, and at the end of it I was soaring with confidence. I knew then that I was going to be able to complete my first tri and it was going to be fun. I mean I felt like I could conquor the world. The other workout that I did a few times when I had time was 30 mins on the elliptical, 30 mins on the bike, and 30 mins on the treadmill back to back to back. Every time I did that, it was really cool and I felt great, like I was really going long.

So with perspective, saturday's brick was pretty cool. I stayed aerobic and hydrated and got a great workout in. I might also stay with the no impact stuff until the 22 miler on saturday. My folks are keeping the girls saturday night so we can run and rest with no other responsibilities. I'm also going to try and see my chiropractor again this week as well. That will really help. This is the longest I've gone without an adjustment in the last 3 years.

And I think I'm going to start with the master's swim program this week as well. I got an email back from the coach saying I should just show up for a few practices and bring the forms then. So that sounds easy enough. Oh wait, don't skip over this part of the email:

Come and try a few practices. Morning schedule is Monday, Tuesday, Thursday 5:30-7:00 am; Saturday 7:00-8:30 am.

Well shit, that's not quite as easy as I hoped. I've been sleeping in until 8 or 9 am every day. I haven't had to set an alarm in years, and for some reason when we're on daylight savings time I normally wake up between 5:30 and 6 am. When we're not on dst like now, it's normally between 7:30 and 9 am. why is that? it makes no sense to me. I guess we'll see if I can get there in time tomorrow. OMG I am actually going to try and be somewhere at 5:30 a-freakin-m? I must be really desparate to get back in the pool.

So enjoy your holiday. I'll be going crazy here in South Carolina. Call or skype anytime, I need some procrastination motivation today.