Last night I fell asleep on the couch at 6:30 p.m., woke up at 7:00 p.m. to watch the season premier of Walking Dead, then went to bed for real at 8:30 and slept until 7:00 a.m. (dreaming about zombies being decapitated). That is 10.5 hours of sleep. I don’t know if I’ve slept that much at one time since I was an infant suckling at my mom’s breast (that’s a lie, I was formula fed).
I don’t know why I’m so tired. Possible reasons:
- Flying across country on flights packed with screaming babies and grumpy/coughing passengers (did you know Frontier now charges you for that half glass of soda or weak coffee that used to be free? Yep, now it’s $1.99. What is this world coming to? I swear next thing they will be charging you to take a dump at 35,000 feet. Yes, I do poop on the plane)
- Eating and drinking like I am in college again (I don’t think a bottle of wine a night and Lays potato chips are part of my fueling plan, but oh well)
- Getting no sleep like I am in college again.
- Putting in my last higher volume training week for IMFL (about 14 hours)
With only 20 days to go until Mike Reilly says “Beth Risdon You are an Ironman!” (and he WILL say that), I am officially in taper mode, although this still means 10+ hours of training this week.
Last week was decent for training, but I had to kick ass to fit in my long rides before leaving for Virginia on Thursday. Here’s how it shook out:
Monday: Swim 4,000 yards
Tuesday: Bike 35 miles, run 6 miles
Wednesday: Bike 100 miles (~ 6 hours). My jacket was stolen on this ride. I’ll tell you more later.
Thursday: Travel/rest
Friday: Swim 3,000 yards, run 7 miles (Virginia)
Saturday: Run 7 miles (Virginia)
Sunday: Travel/rest
Totals Hours: 13 hours, 39 minutes
Total Miles: 161
Swim: 7,000 yards (~4 miles)
Bike: 135 miles
Run: 20 miles
Total workouts: 7
In my most humblest of opinions, there is really no excuse to not train/workout when you are traveling. You have to stretch out of your comfort zone a bit and figure things out, but it is not that much of an obstacle unless you make it that way.
This weekend we went to our alma mater, James Madison University, for a little reunion of sorts. I found a Wellness Center in Harrisonburg and did my swimming there. It ended up being amazing because it was a saltwater pool, which I had never swam in before. It was exactly like swimming in the Gulf of Mexico, only without waves, jellyfish, sharks and 2,000 other people kicking, scratching and punching you.
As for my runs, Ken and I just asked around and explored a bit. The runs were in the rain and on some busier roads than we would have liked, but they were still gorgeous and let us see some areas we wouldn't have otherwise.
I have been out of college for 24 years (gasp). When I go back, I look at the students and think they don’t know how lucky they are – what an amazing time in life! Here are some fun pictures from the weekend:
Here is the girl I LOVE to pieces and don’t get to see near enough. She lives in Richmond, kind of far from Colorado. We do, however, talk almost everyday on the phone. AND, she will be at IMFL to cheer me on.
Here are me and Clair making a Glenn sandwich. Glenn is a dear friend and a superstar at JMU. He built the stadium and lots of other buildings on campus.
I wanted to show you my freshman year dorm room. When I first got to college they put in my study lounge for three weeks due to overcrowding. Sucked. I then moved to the top floor of this building in the right hand corner.
It’s so funny how Ken and I both went to JMU (he’s a year older), but we did not meet until after college. We were destined to meet.
Marching Royal Dukes! They will be in the Macy’s parade on Thanksgiving.
And, I found my favorite running shirt of all time:
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If you went to college, where did you go and when's the last time you’ve been back to visit? Before this weekend, we hadn’t been back in five years.
Do you like flying or hate it? I hate it, but it gets me where I want to go and I’ll never let my fear of it keep me from traveling.
Where’d you meet your spouse? We met in Richmond in 1992. To be specific, it was in the backseat of a car.
SUAR
