39 Days

I really enjoyed the rest day on friday. It was so nice. Kelley's mom wanted to keep the kids for the weekend, so they went to the mountains. They had a blast seeing the Cherokee Indian dancers, playing in the stream next to their house, and just enjoying fall in the mountains. Kelley and I enjoyed the peace and quiet, just laying around watching movies all weekend.

Well, when I wasn't out Ironman training.

Friday's rest day = I didn't leave the house at all. Didn't drive anywhere, didn't check the mail, didn't even take out the trash. No exterior doors were opened. I did some yoga from netflix on demand but that was it. Another benefit of working from home is that you don't have to go outside when you don't want to.

Saturday was rainy and pretty cold for down here.. I didn't really feel like doing much. But I knew I needed to go outside sometime. Still, rainy + cold + college football on saturday = 15 mile treadmill run at the gym while I'm watching football. I switched it up and did the long run on saturday to save the bike ride for sunday when it was supposed to be warmer and not raining.

The Clemson Tigers pulled out a great win over Florida State! They moved from #21 to #13 in the national rankings thanks to the win, and while it was a quality win I kind of feel like a few of the scoring drives were given to the tigers by penalties. The quarterbacks and receivers did put on an amazing show, no doubt. But the Tigers do this every year. Start out 4-0 or 5-0, then lose to someone unranked like Wake Forest. NC State is stinking it up this year, so it's still good to see Clemson put up some wins. Now if they can just get past VA Tech next weekend....

Sunday I did actually get Roberta out on the roads around Jordan Lake. It kind of felt.... weird. I think Roberta is due for some shop time before IMFL. The cable that runs to the rear brake needs to be replaced I think, and the rear brake kept shifting over while I was riding so it was rubbing against the back tire. I don't need any extra resistance. I think the same thing was happening during my recent half iron race. Both times the bike just felt kind of sluggish, like something was keeping me from rolling at normal speed and easy cadence. Plus there was lots of extra squeaks and noises.

So I clocked 54 miles around the lake sunday afternoon, there were plenty of clouds out but it never really got over 75 degrees and never really rained. Perfect conditions for a nice ride. I saw a green snake on the road, and a hawk flying around with a fish in its claws. That was really cool. I also saw my friends Scottie and Jenny out on the roads too, they are also both training for IMFL. Very cool. The hills around the lake and the extra resistance really took a lot out of my legs. I didn't bring any gels and just went with plenty of liquid nutrition, and I think I was a bit under fueled.

Today starts week 9 of 12 in the Ironman Build phase of the training plan. 4 weeks of build and two weeks of taper. Only 39 days until Ironman. It's coming up quickly, but I feel like I'm ready. What I'm not ready for is the next 4 weekends of these crazy insane long workouts. Nobody said it was going to be easy, and they were all right! 39 days left.

Have a great week! Hope your weekend was as much fun as that one was. Big congrats to Karen who rocked Ironman 70.3 Augusta this weekend.

Update: ZOMG I read it wrong. There's only 39 days, and I initially wrote the post out thinking it was 49 days. Wow this is really coming up quicker than I can read.

Update #2: Kelley was featured on Girl With the Red Hair as the Featured Career today for being a Stay at Home Mom (SAHM). Very cool, thanks Amber!