A Lot to be Thankful for..

A year ago, if you would've told me that sushi and crab legs would ever be on the same buffet line as turkey and stuffing, I would've laughed in your face. However, the Four Seasons Thanksgiving Brunch proved me wrong and had the above combinations, plus soups, salads, potatoes, seafood and other enticing traditional AND non-traditional dishes!  I certainly hope everyone stuffed themselves as much as I did (thereby alleviating some guilt that accompanied my post meal coma).

I've really pushed and tested myself physically this week and really felt the strain of a lot of hard workouts back to back. A quick recap:

Monday 11/19:  17 mile grueling trail run at Bastrop State Park

Tuesday 11/20:  Swim Class AM/ Core :30/Trainer Spin Class PM (all coached by T3)

My legs and glutes were pretty sore from the run the day before so all of these workouts were incredibly challenging and I really felt like I was pushing myself harder than I should have. During one moment during the spin class, a girl got off her bike to take a break and I remember feeling so jealous! I met Shawn for sushi afterwards and my hair was literally drenched. I would've taken a shower, but I was running late. Ironically, he thought I DID take a shower, but didn't dry my hair.

Wednesday 11/21: Here's the workout I regret. Skud and I went to Gazelles for 400m repeats on the track. My body was beat up and incredibly tight from the previous days training. From the get go, my heart rate was elevated, which is one sign of fatigue and over-training.  Our times were nothing I haven't nailed before with a little less effort.  (1:34-1:36 range) The goal was 20 repeats with 1:00 rest in between. We got to 10 and I just had to call it a day. There is absolutely no way I had 10 more repeats in my legs. No way sirreee... pretty demoralizing since it's not supposed to be the kind of workout to wipe you out completely.  In hindsight, I should've just made it a recovery run day, but I'm bound and determined to get to Gazelles at least once a week.

Thursday, 11/22: Turkey Trot!!  Wow...what a difference a year makes. The weather was cold and windy this year, but the crowds were as excited as ever about this annual tradition.  I did spend about 10 minutes leading stretches and marches with the crowd, but as always, only about the first two rows of people were even paying attention. I felt like a flight attendant giving the old seat belt/passenger safety lecture! It was fun just being a part of the crowd for the first time in several years. I didn't have to worry about the weather, the port-a-potties, not having enough tshirts and the huge accident on I-35 that kept several hundred people from making it to the race.

I treated this day as another long training run of 11 miles, so I ran from home down to the start line, for 3 miles of warm up on this cool day. Then, I ran the race for fun without a timing chip (this event gives you a choice of being timed or untimed) and finished the day with the 3 mile cool-down back to the house. While I wasn't out to race or win, I was pleased with how I paced the race:

Mile 1: 8:44

Mile 2: 7:39

Mile 3: 7:27

Mile 4: 7:11

Mile 5: 7:04

I definitely could've gone faster from the get-go, but my body was sending signals that were loud and clear.  Of course, the 11 mile run made the Thanksgiving Day feast a little more bearable.

Friday, 11/23: Ahhh...sleeping in. What a concept. It felt great letting my body just rest for however long it wanted to. However, because of the rainy and cold weather forecast this weekend, I committed to doing my long ride on Friday with Katy. I can't deny that I had NO DESIRE to do this ride. It meant wearing tights, 3 shirts, 2 pairs of socks, gloves and ear warmers in the cold and wind. We had several "What the hell are we doing" moments and the weather wasn't even that bad. Yes, it was cold and yes, it was windy, but it wasn't horrendous. My performance, however, was.  The lack of energy finally caught up with my legs and I struggled through most of the ride. Fortunately for me, a couple of the other riders were also riding my pace so I didn't totally feel like I was holding the group back. However, the other 3 cut their ride off at 30 miles, which meant Katy and I still had 20 more to go...ugh...I know if she would've said, "let's quit," I would've totally said, "OK." However, we're both in this Ironman Training Hell together and we've vowed to support each other through the ups and downs. She wasn't quitting so neither was I. It was rough, but we finished and hi-fived each other for our efforts.  I could barely move after the ride mostly because my toes and feet were numb from the cold. Mental note: buy shoe covers for my cleats. It's going to be a long winter.

Saturday, 11/24: My plan was to go to T3 Swim class, but it was pouring down rain when my alarm sounded at 6:15am. I was set to go to the gym instead, but the rain subsided slightly so I decided to go to workout. Not surprisingly, I was one of only about 6 people who showed up. Too bad it doesn't count for any extra credit!  We got about 45 minutes of swimming in when Chrissie pulled us because of lightening. I took that as a sign from above to give it a break today.

I'm planning a longer run on Sunday again with Amy so we'll see how the weather holds up for us.