Juggling Workouts

Yesterday was a difficult day for me, but not in the emotional or physical sense.  I mean it was difficult because I had to accept that I wasn't going to be able to get in my two hour long run or my 45 minute bike.  Why was I unable to get my long run in?  Well, I had agreed about a month ago to volunteer for a somewhat local Olympic distance triathlon in exchange for a discounted entry to the the half iron distance tri I am doing on October 10th.  I left my house around 5:00AM and made it to the race site by 6:00AM to help them set up the finish line and post-race buffet.  After that I was out on the bike course handing out water and Gatorade to the racers.

I ended up staying at the race site until around 11:15AM and didn't get home until around 12:30PM.  Once home I made lunch for everyone, then promised my wife I would stick around and take care of the girls since they had been coop-ed up all day while I was gone.  My wife asked if I would take them out and get my oldest some new shoes, so off I went to endure one of my least favorite activities....shoe shopping for children. 

Once home from that we had a BBQ at my neighbors house that lasted until around 8:15PM, which was then followed by me getting my girls in the shower and then finally in bed by 9:00PM.  I considered going out for my run then, but thought better of it.  It was raining, pitch black and I was just plum tuckered out from being up since 4:30AM.  I fell asleep by 10:00PM.

So, that leaves me with having to use yesterday as my rest day and packing in a two hour run when I get home tonight and then a 45 minute ride.  I feel really badly for my wife, she has this boot on her foot and she isn't really allowed to do anything.  Even though she has crutches, she isn't supposed to be going out all that much.  Add to that the fact that she can't drive and she is just miserable. 

Oh, I should write about Saturday.  I had initially intended to go for my five hour bike ride before my daughters soccer game; that is until my wife reminded me that I had to take my youngest to dance class at 9:30AM.  Bike scrapped until the afternoon.  After dance, I had to get home and go to my oldest daughters soccer game at noon.  A little side note:  the girls played AWESOME!  They played better than I have ever seen them play.  My daughter scored a goal (she shot the ball, it hit the post, then hit the goalie, then went in).  Just a really good day for all of the girls on my team. 

After the game I had to run my oldest to a birthday party before I could head out for my ride.  Thank God my wife's parents came over to watch the soccer game and see the girls!  They were able to pick up my daughter from the birthday party so that I could get a jump start on my ride.  So at 2:10PM I headed out for my ride and it was a good one.  I ended up riding to Martinsville, NJ, where I lived from the time I was 5 years old up until my mid-20's.  I stopped in front of my old house (I think it is still the same mailbox and post in the picture to the right), about the halfway point of my ride.  I was amazed to see all of the evergreen trees that had been in front of the house no longer there.  It was really sad to see.  it was a great house and I know that my parents were really sad when they sold it.  I remember thinking when I was much younger that I would one day like to buy that house and raise my family in it.  It was a nice "ride" down memory lane. 

A couple notes about the ride:

• It was HOT, like 90F HOT.  I went through three 24 oz bottles of Gatorade in two hours and 15 minutes.  I stopped and refilled them all and they lasted me another two hours.
• I had to stop at HealthQuest to fill up my bottles with water because I had nothing left for the last hour of my ride.
• I packed a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for my ride.  I ate half around three hours in and it tasted so good and helped a ton.
• I felt like I finished really strong.  I think my average speed for the entire ride was around 19 MPH.  It was super hilly and the last six miles was in the dark so I was taking it easy.
• Total ride stats (from memory):  91 miles, 4:50, HR - way too high!

I opted to bag the 45 minute run off the bike because it was close to 8:00PM, my family was going to be home soon and I really needed to help my wife out. 

So, this past week was definitely a tough one from a trying to fit in workout perspective.  I anticipate this week being a bit easier as I am going to work from home for a few days.  There are eight weeks left until Ironman Arizona and this week was really my only abnormal week.  Someone reminded me the other day that most of us are not a professional athletes, we all have responsibilities outside of training (i.e. work, family, etc.) that sometimes come first.  This week taught me that.  With that said, I have spend the past nine months preparing for a race that is two months away.  The next five weeks is the when my training is going to ramp up significantly (18 to 20 hours of training each week), so I really need to stick to my training as closely as possible and make every session count.

Cheers!