A Bit Behind

This week has been kind of crazy at work. 16 hours monday, 14 hours tuesday, 11 hours wednesday and (thank God) only 8 hours today. So 49 hours in 4 days and half a day tomorrow is enough to put anyone behind. And I'm exhausted. And that left no time for exercise! This is less than ideal but it's only temporary. We were wrapping up a big project.

Last week I had one day to workout that didn't hurt after the century ride. Tomorrow I'm having a mole cut off of my back that means no exercise for 2 weeks! This is also less than ideal but temporary. I'm really not happy about it. This is the kind of chain of events that usually leads to me starting back smoking again. Even after 2+ years, the temptation is incredible! The lack of consistent exercise compounds the desire.

At least I got in some AM yoga and a great lunch swim (60 laps). Tomorrow after the surgery I'm heading back to Greenville to visit with my folks for the weekend, and I'm meeting Kelley and the kids there. It's the first time in a long time that I'm really looking forward to being in Greenville. I miss my parents and morgan terribly, and while it was a pain having to drive back there every freakin weekend until the house sold, at least I got to see everyone regularly.

Also this weekend is Mother's Day. Happy mother's day to all you moms! I can't wait to go see my mom tomorrow. Also yesterday was Morgan's 30th birthday. So we've got to celebrate a bit. Also next week is my dad's birthday and my brother Michael's wedding anniversary. May is a popular month!

So I can't workout for 2 weeks. Guess what happens exactly 2 weeks from tomorrow? We're closing on the new house and moving in. So my last two weeks of freedom still have to be restricted. gaaaa. Still it will be nice to get settled into the new place and act like a real family again. Actually living with the wife and kids seems like such a foreign concept now after almost 8 months apart. It's going to be nice.

April Totals:

Swim: 4 miles, 5 swims, 1 triathlon
Bike: 280 miles, 8 rides, 1 century, 1 triathlon
Run: 15.2 miles, 4 runs, 1 triathlon
Strength: 5 workouts
Yoga: 5 sessions

I put some serious distance on this month. 280 miles on the bike? I know some folks will do that in a week, but that's a ton of mileage for me. yes it includes the 102 mile Tarwheel Century ride. But even without that, 172 miles is still a huge month on the bike. Wow. What's surprising is the number of workouts. 5 swims? 8 rides? 4 runs? That's only 17 tri workouts, and I am supposed to hit 9 of those every week. It looks low because of the taper, race, recover cycle. I really do feel good about the month. I tapered a few days before the triathlon. The week between the tri and the century was spent with a cold, and the week after the century was certainly in recovery. So that's really 2 and a half weeks out of the month when I couldn't workout. And CJ plus stress minus workouts equals nicotine cravings and heavy ones. It's not a good time to take two weeks off.

There is one thing I'm going to have to do. That's get over the hatred of open water swimming. I'm going to add a few events to fill out the summer/fall race lineup. Remember this is Ironman prep year. I've already done a marathon and a century ride. The only distance left is the 2.4 mile open water swim.

Here comes the OWS. The Jordan Lake Open Water Challenge is a 1 mile open water swim locally here on June 13th. Supposedly I do a mile in the pool every wednesday, so I should be well prepared for this. Open water is a totally different feel than in the pool, so I'm curious what a timed swim-only event will feel like and how hard I can push myself. I'm only mildly concerned about the distance or conditions, as Jordan Lake is a fantastic place to swim.

Then comes the BIG DEUCE. It's a 2 mile open water swim also in Jordan Lake July 24th. This is the big dog. I've never come anywhere close to swimming 2 miles before. So if I can get trained up for this one (and yes there is plenty of time for that after we get moved into the new house) it will be the last step in Ironman prep. Yes I would love to do a fall marathon and century ride too, but that may not be in the cards. But if I can drop that deuce then Ironman is a sure go.

SetupEvents is running a triathlon at Jordan Lake on October 2nd. That may be too soon after the half ironman in september to do a sprint, but it could be a fun one if the half ironman doesn't happen. The race organizers are still getting the permits set for the half ironman.

I think I'm going to finish things off this year with an oly. I know I said I wasn't going to do an oly this year, but hey it looks appealing. Pinehurst (where they play the US Open golf championship sometimes) is only about an hour away from here, and SetupEvents is putting on the Pinehurst Triathlon again. The thought of 900 triathletes invading golf country is just too appealing. It's in October, and I love to race in October. Actually I love doing anything outside in october. So that will end up giving me four triathlons this year, which is the goal. 1 half ironman, 1 oly and 2 sprints. I'm getting really excited! Again not a good reason to take 2 weeks off.

IT'S TOO FREAKING HOT HERE!! I know we get a lot of summer here in the south. But come on, really? Already? It was 95 outside the whole time I was driving back to Raleigh last Sunday. Spring is gone. Summer is here. Summer will not go away here until November. I already miss the high's in the 60's and 70's. They weren't here for very long. The one bright side - this heat is conducive to open water swimming. There's a group that hits an OWS every wednesday night that I might start hitting. I did it once last year with Calyx and Donna. It would be nice to make it a regular thing. There's also a master's team that meets at an outdoor pool that I'm looking into. Long distance swims and conquering the open water are going to take more than the 25 yard pool at the gym can really provide.

Allright, that's enough verbal flatulence from me. I'll blog as soon as I have something decent to report. Have a great weekend! Big congrats to Ryan for making Kona again - can't believe he won his age group with a 10+ hour ironman. You know that was a tough course. And he even hit 58 mph on the bike! And big ups to Amanda who recently hit her weight watchers goal weight after losing 107 lbs! Now she's running half marathons.