Training

I realized that there are a couple of races in the not so distant future that are on my probably-going-to-do list and if I wanted to actually do these I may just need to do some ‘real’ training. Like now. I swam Monday morning, although I didn't quite make it to Masters, but still did a Marty workout that consisted of 8x200 with a moderate 50 within each one.  I did my short run in the evening, with drills even! (Logan tried some out, too).  I rode the trainer yesterday evening – in our bedroom which actually really sucks because we only have super basic cable up there, so my viewing options consisted of the local news, every terrible judge show, Maury Povich or BBC news. I settled on BBC, then finished with America’s Funniest Home Videos.  Yargh. And then. THEN! I made it to Master’s this mornings, like only 5 min late – but that was the 5min I always stand on the edge trying to get myself into the cold water. 

Part of my motivation problem is I’ve been doing this for so long.  I know some people who are fairly new to triathlon and they are really fired up. Waking early every day, getting in tons of bike miles – that is awesome. But I did my first triathlon at 8. And got back into the sport (post high school/college) at 21. I’m turning 35 (what what?! I am HOW OLD?!) so that is quite a long time in this sport, and I just can’t get up for everything all the time. There are so many other things to do and I just can’t keep myself focused to be hardcore this year.  And that’s ok. And it is sometimes comical to see the same thing over and over – a lot has actually not changed since I got into the sport. For example, I happened into the Slowtwitch forum (a place it’s really better to just stay out of) and went into a thread that totally devolved into people belittling each other – just like it was 14 years ago. Same topics, different assholes.

But where would I be without this sport? I love it, I really do – I have met so many awesome people throughout the years - some of whom are my very closest friends.  This is just not the year that I’m going to be singularly focused on some arbitrary goal.  Although sometimes I do think about really trying to run fast again.  That could be fun.

Weekend Bust

We were driving to dinner on Wednesday with a quick detour to Inside-Out Sports so I could verify I did in fact get the right size running shoes when Logan started saying “Boo-boo. Boo-boo.” I wasn’t sure what exactly he was saying at the time and asked him, “Logan, did you  poo-poo?” which he indignantly replied, “No poo-poo!”  Upon parking at the store he vomited all over himself and the car seat. We then determined that he may have been telling us his belly had a boo-boo. Marty took over the cleaning part while I ran in to try on some other shoes.  When I returned, Logan had been stripped down to his diaper and Marty was handling all the barf covered clothes with only a mild look of disdain.  Fast forward a bit: more vomit, diarrhea, and lots of movies later, Logan seemed to be back to normal pretty quickly when it was all said and done. Although he didn’t have much of an appetite for several days (the kid honestly doesn’t have the biggest appetite to begin with).

Marty and I thought we had dodged a bullet and congratulated ourselves with how we handled it all.  Pat on the back here, hose it all off there, never gonna get rid of the pukey stink in the car seat, though! Febreze for the rest of our life.

We even jokey-joked with a fellow parent at the park on Friday evening about the incident and how surely we would’ve gotten it by now if we were going to get it.  Right? Right? (oh you all know the answer to THAT question!)

Poor Marty was scheduled to run a marathon Saturday morning near Richmond, and unbeknownst to me was battling his own stomach demons before he left the house prior to 5am.  It was around this time I woke up and thought, “something ain’t right.” 

Several hours of hell ensued. You all can infer whatever you want here and it would probably be correct.

I sent out an all-points bulletin to friends and babysitters because I was not in a place to be taking care of a child at this point. Unfortunately, no help was available so Logan watched copious amounts of tv and was fed whatever was within reach.  I could barely get off the couch to make it to the bathroom.  Marty raced home after his DNF and seemed to have a lesser version of the sickness than I had (although when push comes to shove he may think that I just don’t deal with it as well – I call bs and he’d better watch his mouth next time! I am a delicate flower).  But thank goodness that his immune system is stronger or his stomach is like steel (this is my theory) because he was able to get Logan out of the house to burn some energy off while I continued to lay on the couch and not move.

The next morning I felt better. I was able to eat a tiny bit of oatmeal without any adverse side effects and was ready to get out of the house so we all went to cheer on the runners at the Tobacco Road full and half marathons, where I joked that we were only able to cheer for half of the participants since the other half were all wearing headphones.  Remember when these used to be banned in races?

I was still feeling pretty weak throughout the day and my appetite was mostly non-existent. We visited our local brewery and after 2 sips of beer and a few nachos I realized I had made a mistake. Nothing entered my stomach after that.  Nothing left my stomach immediately either, so at least there was that.

Kids stomach bugs – the gift that keeps on giving.

Florida Camp

I took one for the team last week (Team Gaal, that is).  For the past 9 (?) years we have run a training camp in Florida in late Feb/early Mar. Initially they were held in Clermont, before we moved them to the west coast of Florida.  I had attended all but the one right after Logan was born, until this year.  I didn’t miss ALL of it, just most of it. With the new job and being in finance, it is very difficult to miss the first week of the month since it’s month-end close (and I haven’t accrued enough vacation). Here was my schedule:

Friday Feb-28: work from home in the morning, drive down to Jacksonville with Marty and Logan.  This ~7hr drive turned into a 9hr nightmare because of a gigantic backup just before the Florida state line. And we were so close to my sisters. That was painful.

Saturday Mar-1: Drive from Jacksonville to Orlando with Marty and Logan. Drop Logan off at Marty’s sister’s house so he can spend the week with his cousins, Aunt/Uncle and grandma. Continue driving (with a brief awesome lunch with dear friends in downtown). I-4 is a bigger mess than I remember.  And does Tampa ever NOT have a traffic jam. Sheesh.  Made it to Treasure Island around 5:30pm

Sunday Mar-2: This was an awesome day. 70 degrees, not a cloud in the sky. We rode in the morning, did a short transition run after, and then swam in the ocean in the afternoon. We ate a delicious dinner and then played games.  I wish every day could be like this :)

Monday Mar-3: early morning flight back to Raleigh. I came home to ice and sleet. Yay.

Tuesday Mar-4 through Friday Mar-7: work, work, work

Friday Mar-7: flew back down, I did have to continue working when I got there, but at least the latter half of the day was in a beach house looking at the Gulf of Mexico

Saturday Mar-8: Armadillo Run 5K.  I managed to win this despite not being in very good run shape. It helps that the course was pancake flat. Drive to Orlando, pick up Junior Awesome, drive to Jacksonville.

Sunday Mar-9: drive with Marty and Logan back to NC

As one can deduce, I was there for the long drives to help Marty with a 2 year old, with a little bit of training sprinkled in. It wasn’t all bad – I got to see my sister and her extremely cute baby, sister-in-law and nieces (and Logan had a great time with them all week), and got to enjoy some sun and beach.  Up here during the week was not terrible (although the weather left a little to be desired). It really flew by and I completely forgot what it was like to have absolutely no ‘other’ obligations.  Even our dog was away having fun with the Honnold’s. Work was busy so the days went by quickly, and I managed to go out with my girlfriends twice during the week.

I am feeling slightly more motivated, however, this is probably in direct correlation to the fact that my wetsuit felt more snug than it should’ve when I put it on.

Logan seemed to do great at his cousin’s house and loved trying to do everything they did.  When we went to pick him up he was napping so we waited until he woke up. He did a complete double-take when he realized it was us and wouldn’t stop hugging Marty and me.  Then he was extremely clingy the rest of the day (and the next day). It broke my heart a little.  I hope in his little mind he wasn’t thinking we had abandoned him. 

Logan's first lollipop. It ended a major meltdown.

Marty multitasking at camp

Jelly smile with family

"Cheese!" with a mouth full of pb&j

Nailed It!