Long Tired Weekend

It is Monday morning and I am tired. This weekend I stuck the letter of my training program and actually added a couple extra sentences to ensure that I am read for my sprint triathlon in two weeks. I put in a solid swim on Saturday, ran a horrible run on Saturday evening, biked a tough route on Sunday and did a solid 3 mile run off immediately following my ride. Add to that a spouse imposed 1/2 - 1 mile walk about an hour after my work out and you get a very tired camper. I should probably break down the weekend a bit better than I have.

Saturday
It was a nice day, a bit cloudy but no rain. I made it to the pool around 12:45pm (after dropping my oldest daughter off at a friends birthday party) and thought something along the lines of a 2,000 yd swim would help me regain some of my lost swim fitness of this past week where I was only able to get into the pool once. I did an easy but somewhat quick (for me) warm-up of 500 yds and then decided to swim 5 x 200 with a 1 min. rest between. I felt surprisingly good, and I really tried to concentrate on my form. It helped that there were two dudes swimming in the lanes next to me that were just flying through the water. After the 200s, I did 200 yds of stroke work where I used a pull buoy and focused on my reach and follow though with my arms. Then came an easy 300 yd cool down.

I was about to get out of the pool then, but I wanted to try and see how fast I could swim 50 yds. I hit the start on my watch and off I flew, swimming strong and hard. I felt like I was just flying through the water and when I hit the wall it was....a pathetic 52 seconds. I decided to give it another try, this time I was going to try and swim smoother and not try to power through the water. I ended up swimming it in 53 seconds...I guess swimming is all about technique and not about power. I have a lot to learn about swimming. Total swim: 2,100 yds - 40:24. Time to pick up my daughter from her party.

Let me state here that I do not nap. Maybe once every few months will I crash out on the sofa in the middle of the day. Not that I don't enjoy a good afternoon siesta, I just feel like it is a waste of time. With that said I crashed out on my couch at 3:30pm and woke up groggy and still exhausted at 4:30pm. The swim wiped me out. Problem was that I still had to get a 8 mile run in and I was in no condition to do it after the nap. I thought about bagging it. I tried to rationalize how it wouldn't do me any good to train when so exhausted. Heck, even my Garmin was telling me I shouldn't run (the battery was dead). I was convinced it would be better to just get some rest.

Well, 6:00pm and I am sweating and miserable. I am moving at a snails pace cursing myself for being how I am. Any normal person would have stayed home and enjoyed time with their family. No, not me, I am an idiot who despite my best efforts could not talk himself out of participating in my own personal death march. Yeah, I was out running what was going to end up being one of the more difficult runs I have done over the past six months. It took me 1:15 to run the 8.5 miles that I would end up doing (8:49/mile). Yeah, an extra 1/2 mile, like I needed that. The good thing is that I did it and I am better of for it!

Sunday
I was hoping to sleep in a bit, maybe make it to 7:30am. I don't know why I even considered this as a possibility. I have a six year old daughter that has a clear understanding of weekdays versus weekends. She knows that "Tom & Jerry" are on TV only on Saturday and Sunday morning. Needless to say I was awoken at 7am and instructed to please turn on her favorite show. FYI, my wife and other daughter didn't wake up until 8:15am...DAMN!

After some putzing around I finally threw on my biking gear and headed out for my ride to the hills of NJ. I managed a very up and down 42 miles (click for route and elevation) and despite my weak 17.6 mph average, I was happy with my performance. I did get a bit wiped toward the end of the ride, the result of losing a water bottle around mile 22 (cage broke with out me knowing it, thus tossing my bottle in the process). I managed to ride hard the last 5 miles or so, up from the Delaware River, as I chased another cyclist.

Immediately after finishing my ride, I changed into my running gear and headed out for a 3 mile run which I did in 26:15 (8:45/mile). I wasn't looking to break any speed records, I just wanted to get the mileage in and be done with my exercise for the day.

The rest of the day was spent just chilling out and watching the girls play. I really wanted to head over to the pool to relax, but it wasn't in the cards. I ended up getting to bed around midnight, thanks to a night with co-workers and kids. I really need to get more sleep going forward....or take more naps!!!