Happy 4th of July! So, it's Sunday morning at 8:00am. (yup, I am on the train, heading into the city). What will you be doing next weekend at this time? Me.....probably an hour into my 4 hour bike ride and as Ariane put it, our 6 hour race. I always thought of the race in mileage. Thinking of it as 6 hours of racing makes me think what the f#ck am I doing.
I feel a little normal this weekend. It is the first time in a long time that my weekend is not planned around training but just hanging out and relaxing. I will admit, I am getting in some running and biking but nothing too hard or long. I started to take it easy last Monday, just a few bike rides and runs and trying to get more sleep. Only two early mornings last week and I got in one massive rest.
Unfortunately, while working out slowed down, work picked up and I was there late almost every night last week. Its not too bad but I get thrown off on my routine. I tried to bring dinner each day so that I would not eat crap but when its late and your cranky, the kitchen snacks look so good!! And lately they have been putting out Cornnuts which may be one of my all time favorite snacks. I just avoided the kitchen floors. The only good thing about working late was that I was sitting with my R&D guys (getting to play with Linux...which normally I am not allowed to do!) on the 27th floor, at a window seat. I had an awesome view of the 59th Street Bridge and the park to my left. Any stress went away each time I looked out.
After the long week we got out early on Friday. I resisted the little urge to go for a run and instead did something I have not done since last summer. I sat on my porch by myself, with a glass of wine and my book. It was the first time in forever that I stopped and did nothing except relax. I am a little embarassed to say it was the first non nutrition or exercise book I have opened in a long time. I used to go through a book a week.
Anyway, I read for about 20 minutes, finished my wine (it was hot!) and I was out. I slept for about 3 hours on my porch. Amazing what a glass of wine will do to you. I woke up, grabbed a light dinner and then was back out. I woke up at 8 yesterday morning, getting 12 hours of sleep. That is almost 2-3 days worth of sleep.
My plans yesterday did get swayed a little with prepping for my race. I took my bike to Campmor to get looked at 9:30. I thought I would have more than enough time to get on the 11:30 train to meet my friends in the city at 1:00. I ended up being there for an hour and half though part of the time I was talking to the bike guys. I am at Campmor about once a week and they all know me by name. I walked out of there with not only a fixed up bike but learned how to make my Droid run faster, a gps unit to look at, and a new bike ride through Alpine......oh and a new pair of sandles :-)
So, I ended up on the 12:30 train and took the subway/walked to Red Hook rather than take the ferry. It was fine being late since the first stop was the Lobster pound and I am still on my no meat/fish kick. The Brooklyn Ice House was next door so while everyone finished up, a few of us went over to have a drink. For me, I was super pysched because they had my Abita beer. And yes....i had one, I am beginning to carb load or at least that is what I used as my excuse. The rest of the day was great, just walked around, went to the ball fields, relaxed, and had fun.
Today's a run in the park and Coney Island. Never been so it should be fun. Tomorrow is my first bike ride with the Bloomberg Triathlon team. I finally met a few folks as crazy as me. We are meeting at 6:00am to ride. Then its off to Cornwall for a hike and 4th of July Festivities.
I am hoping that keeping myself busy will keep my mind off the race. Each time I do, my stomach flips....I am so nervous. I expect this to increase as I get closer as always. Especially since I wont have hard or long workouts to help calm me, I will have to learn how to deal.
So if you see me this week, I am apologizing now for how grumpy or spastic I may be. If Red Bank was any indication of how I will be....just letting you know, I was all over the place then and this is twice as big.
