It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Andy Williams was right when he sang, "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year," but he missed the hidden verse in that song that talks about the fact that you drive around in a daze because you're trying to tie up loose ends, win a Wii on e-bay, pray that your flight doesn't get bumped, hope your clients understand that you're going to be gone for five days, hungover from the weekend's Christmas parties, bloated because these many cookies and carbs should never be consumed by one individual and stressed out because in-laws are coming to visit, you have to pack winter Ohio clothes (not easy when you live in Texas) and you're supposed to knock out a 14 hour training week complete with a 65 mile bike ride.

It's the most wonderful time of the year, indeed.

Through it all, I'm loving life and looking forward to the holidays with my family and friends in Columbus. My training is going remarkably well right now and this is the exciting time that the training is paying off in a big way. Katy and I were talking about the progress we are making. Her run splits are just off the charts good right now and my swim times are making huge strides. Put it this way, a few months back, my 100m splits were avg between 2:20-2:30. Last week, I did 6 of them between 1:53-1:58. Even my Barton Springs open water swims are coming together as I'm able to relax a bit more in the water.

It's the most wonderful time of the year, indeed.

Last week, thankfully, was a "recovery" week and I took two complete days off from workouts. Of course, that made for a long weekend complete with a pseudo-Olympic Tri on Sunday morning.

Friday: I was going to do my long swim that day, but I got a tetanus shot in the morning which rendered my arm useless for a couple of days. Nothing like an injection of poison directly into the muscle to show you the meaning of pain.

Saturday: 40 mile ride on the trainer (2 hrs and 31 min of stationary cycling on my vuh-jay-jay) Some of the group decided to brave the 25-30 per hour wind gusts and ride outside. I wussed out from the get go. I felt guilty at first, but that all dissapated once the group returned after an hour because the winds were just too bad. I think my bike set-up is almost finished complete with new Durace Pedals, new cleats and a new Garmin cadence sensor. (For non-cyclists, it's just a bunch of expensive crap used to convinvce yourself that you are going faster)

Sunday: This is the day that truly proves that I am a studette! We were out late the night before and returned home from various parties around 1:00am...totally late for this couple. Well, since I hadn't done my Barton Springs Swim yet, my goal was to get up and be at the pool by 7:00am so that I could swim 2000m before my 8:30 1-hour trainer ride, which preceeded our 11-mile run. So yes, I had self-contracted to do an unofficial triathlon on Sunday on roughly five hours of sleep and poor nutrition.

Well, can I just say it was one of the best workouts I've ever done?? First of all, it was 32 degrees when I stood outside of the 68 degree water of Barton Springs on Sunday morning. The sun was just coming up and there was steam coming from the water. Truly, it was one of the most beautiful sights I've seen....almost too beautiful to get in the water! I was one of 3 people that morning who braved the freezing cold and had one of the best swims. Why? Because I didn't have a watch to get my splits. I ended up doing 5 laps for 2000m. Completely relaxed about 90% of the time. I don't know what my times were and I don't care. It felt good and I hope to replicate at least some of that for IM.

I got to the T3 Training Center around 8:15 and several of us hopped on our bikes/trainers for a 1-hour spin class. It was a nice combination of high cadence work and heavy gears. My legs were feeling sore from the previous day's 2 1/2 hour excursion, but I muddled through. After that hour was up, we laced up and began our 10 mile run (which ended up being 11 miles). My legs felt surprisingly strong considering Sunmart was just a week earlier. I am noticing some pains in my feet and lower legs that I just have to continue to monitor. I ended that run in 1 hr 31 minutes for an avg pace of 8:16. Awesome considering I really didn't overexert myself. It was a slightly uncomfortable pace, if you will.

After my pseudo-tri, I hopped in my car and went and got my nails done so that I could actually feel "girly" for a couple of hours! It was a much-needed break from the training and craziness.

This is also a nutty week filled with more running, biking, swimming and gluttony! Happy Holidays and safe travels to all this holiday season.

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year, indeed.