Adjusted Reality

Training:

Last year, my marathon training cycle was 3 weeks.  I had 6 weeks between Kerrville 70.3 and the Rock and Roll San Antonio Marathon.  So, that really meant one week off, three weeks training, and two weeks taper.  If I picked the same race, I’d be heading into my last week of training again next week.  My thoughts are both a) I’m ready, bring it on, and b) thank the dear fluffy lord I have a few more weeks of mileage.

Yesterday, I ran 20 miles without stopping for the first time ever.  It’s not the first time I’ve traversed 20 miles on foot, in fact, it’s the third, but I finally was able to run it.  Frankly, pretty much every run over 13 miles for me has been a crap shoot for me.  I was almost convinced that I didn’t have it in me to be able to run 15+ miles without walk breaks.  Even just 3 weeks ago (was Kerrville ONLY 3 weeks ago…?), I had very little run confidence.

Two weeks of training later, 10 runs, 73 miles, and about 20 degrees cooler, and I’m pretty much on top of the world.  Instead of dreading shuffling through runs, I’ve gotten the run mojo back.  Doing speedwork again rocks my socks off.  Feeling turnover in my feet that’s faster than molasses, seeing paces that make me happier on the garmin, and being able to cover more miles without wanting to die is amazing.  I covered the easy 20 miler at a pace that was faster than my predicted marathon goal pace – so I’m going to have to revise that.  It’s crazy the difference these 2 weeks of training have made.

Also, let me plug ice baths here.  Ice baths may be intense, but they’re tolerable with booze.  Plus my legs feel a lot fresher and seem to be handling the miles better, so it’s worth it.

I’m scared to think about what’s happening to my swim and bike skills, but this is the first time since April, since I surprised myself by PRing at Austin 10/20, that I’ve felt good about my running.  This gorgeous weather is definitely helping the run love along as well.  I’m still waiting a bit to decide, but I’m having high hopes about what I’d like to do this winter training-wise.  I do have a few weeks of high (for me) mileage to get through first, so we’ll see.  I could learn to hate running again yet!

By the numbers…

Week 40

Monday: Run: Progression Run 3 mi 00:32 10:45 pace Weights: Gym 00:45
Tuesday: Run: Easy 3 3 mi 00:34 11:27 pace Run: Lunch Run – Double Run Tuesday 3.1 mi 00:37 11:54 pace
Wednesday: Bike: Spinny Spin – Green Lantern 12.45 mi 00:30 24.9mph pace
Thursday:  Run: Lunch Run 5 mi 00:57 11:22 pace Weights: Home 00:45
Friday: off
Saturday: Run: Long Run 18 mi 03:44 12:26 pace
Sunday: off

32 miles running, 1 cross train, 2 weights.  All according to plan.

Week 41

Monday: Run: 6x800s on the Treadmill 5 mi 00:51 10:15 pace Weights: Quickie 00:30
Tuesday: Run: Easy Run 1 – Morning 5 mi 01:04 12:48 pace Run: Easy Run 2 – Lunch 4.33 mi 00:52 12:07 pace
Wednesday: off
Thursday: Run: Didn’t Wanna Didn’t Wanna OMG… 6 mi 01:05 10:50 pace
Friday: off
Saturday: Run: Gorgeous Day, Happy Run 20 mi 03:54 11:41 pace
Sunday: Bike: Quick Spin 10.36 mi 00:30 20.7mph pace

40 miles, 1 cross training session, 1 weights session.  Skipped one weights session because my legs felt trashed Wednesday and never felt untrashed enough to make it up.  It’s lost to the ages, and that’s ok.

This coming week I am trying out back to back long runs Thursday and Friday (and taking the weekend a lot lighter – I have THREE halloween parties to attend…).  Looking forward to some happy running this week!

Food/Scale:

I’ve been eating what fitbit tells me (or trying to do so).  I wanted to eat the garmin after my 18 mile run, but fitbit said no, so I ate other stuff instead.  I haven’t really lost anything yet, but I know it takes my body about a month to really get with the program, so I’ll be patient.  I just know i have to keep tracking.  Tracking is the key this year to having taken off about 10 lbs, and not gaining it all back during heavy training.  I haven’t been counting DQ the last few weeks – I’ll get back to it – because I have made some less than wise choices (three deserts in one day what what?) nutritionally, but with running so much, I have more calories to play with, so I’m getting good food too.

I keep hearing about runners/triathletes going low carb during the day and only eating carbalicious things during/post intense workouts, and at night.  I’m not entirely sure how to feel about that… I feel like I earn my carbs by the way I plow through miles, and I also feel a lot better when I maintain a steady diet of about ~200g carbs per day (give or take 50).  However, quite a few credible sources swear by it, so maybe it’s something to consider at some point.  Not now.  I’m not ready to do a major upheaval of my diet right now, especially since my running is going really well, I don’t want to screw that up.

Since the fitbit interface is actually pretty amazing, here are my calories in/out for last two weeks:

Week 40:

Week 41:

This also very, very illuminating – it’s really hard to create a deficit and VERY VERY easy to eat back even 4 hours running without batting an eyelash.  In fact, the longer I’m running, the more likely I am to eat more percentage-wise.  It might also be that I usually cap off my longest run day with a lighter or off day, and have a few adult bevvies.  But that’s probably not it at all, right? 😛

Other stuff:

This summer, I started having half a starbucks mocha as wakeup juice/calories in the morning before races and long workouts – I found a case of peppermint mochas at Costco and I guess I will have to do a lot of long workouts before March (when they expire).  Soooooo good.

I made these pumpkin protein cookies.  The batter was amazing, the cookies right out of the oven… just ok.  I tend to like them better cold so they’re in the fridge.  Next time, I might try something similar, but raw?  Zliten loves them though!

Had fun watching Kona last Saturday.  How about that Rinny, huh?  Man, it was an intense day!  I enjoyed the heck out of watching the race start to finish (well, the pros, I couldn’t stay up til 5am to see the 17 hour finishers).  I love the spirit of that race and it’s amazing to watch triathletes conquer one of the toughest days of their lives.

I’ve got my costume all set besides one little thing I have to sew.  I’ll share with you soon, for now, it’s a surprise (if only because I don’t have a picture of it yet! :D) So I better get on it!  Off to be productive, see y’all soon!

Question of the week: Pumpkin spice – amazing or overrated?

Now that October is about half over, time to at least record these for posterity!

September Goals:

1. Shake off all the cobwebs in my brain.  Focus on the next two weeks of training, getting solid work done, and then let it go and taper and don’t get tempted to squeeze more in.  As of Sept 14, the hay is in the barn, and wherever I am, I am (and wherever that is, it’s WAY better off than I was going into BSLT in June).

Yep.  I did pretty good at not letting the taper crazies get the best of me even though I was pretty sure I was dying the last week.  I went in mentally strong and was ready to kick ass.

2. Race Kerrville the way it deserves to be raced.  Rock the swim and the bike with the new abilities you have gained this year, and draw strength of will from your running past and the longer runs you have completed in August and will in September.  Find your edge and keep going until you fall off.  Persevere.  Your body can keep going on that run as long as your brain can.  Kerrville is the race where I get comfy in the pain cave and either end up at the finish line or the med tent.

Well, I raced this hard and came up with a 29 minute PR.  No complaints.  However, just the work I’ve done in the last week makes me realize that I did not find my edge, I could have pulled a little more out on the run, and there’s more work to be done here.  I raced smart though, and I never gave up, so I’m proud of that.

3. Eat good food.  Eat enough to fuel the training, but not any more.  Realize that taper the second two weeks of the month means less calories needed.  Make good choices, but allow some times to go out to eat or eat cake pops and stuff.  Pie in the sky: weigh 169.something before Kerrville.  Realistic: maintain 173-176.  Do something between that.  Also, don’t stress too much about food this month beyond making sure the calories are in line – trying to get bad calories down to 10% made me a bitchy bitch.

I hit 172 this month.  Race day, I was probably sitting around 175-ish.  I ate decently, just as expected.  After the race I ate crap for a week, then ate good for a week, and landed back around 175-177.

4. Buy myself something with those 75$ gift certs so Zliten stops telling me useful things I can use them on.  Try not to buy a bunch of junk otherwise.

I bought a new pair of my favorite running tights and a purple hat and some crazy sunglasses.  DONE!

5.  Clean out rest of pantry.  Gold star if we go through and reorganize the tupperware section so we can fit all of it into the cabinet instead of it spilling out onto the counter.

Pantry done.  No gold star though.  Baby steps!

6. Continue working on 2014 plan for races.  Nothing needs to be decided this month, but work on getting ideas.

I really wanted to get through Kerrville and see how I felt.  I went through a period where I wanted to RUN ALL THE RUNNING RACES in spring.  Then I sort of had a reality check where I really like to have longer training blocks and not race every other weekend.  I also am not sure how much offseason I want and whether I want to focus on speed (sub 2 half marathon? sub 50-something 10k?) or distance (more marathons and a 50k?).

7. Finish book.  Start another.

I’ve forgotten which book I was on last month, but I didn’t read that much, so I am guessing I didn’t get through this.  Ah well, next month!  I’d like to get through this series this year.

8.  Make a new music playlist on the zune or 3.  Marathon training is coming up, which means lots of quality hours with the zune, unlike now, when it’s a treat the few hours a week I get to listen to the same playlist I’ve been using for 6 months.  That will get old if I don’t change it up.

I made a few new ones and added some music to my main one.  We’ll see how this goes (I just need to now not just automagically load up my main playlist each time).

9. I’m trying out probiotics and digestive enzymes on the recommendation of some research I’ve been doing.  My most recent “cleanse” (stomach flu) coupled with the fact that it’s one possible reason I might be holding onto some weight, and the fact that the vitamin store had a buy one get one half off sale makes me feel like I don’t have much to lose.  Keep on these for the 15 day supply you have, and if it’s awesome, go get more.  If it makes me ill, stop it.

This was AWESOME!  I was super regular and felt a lot less tummy bloat.  Right before Kerrville I stopped it and haven’t resumed, and though my weight hasn’t changed much, I feel like I’m way stopped up and my tummy is hanging out further.  Resuming for the rest of October!

10.  Lots of sleep.  Lots of relaxing.  If something is stressful, avoid if at all possible. I have no race in October so I can go be a spaz then if I have the energy to do so with marathon training.

Did my best, work didn’t help, and neither did everything falling apart the week of the race, but I think I was able to get some good quality chill time in.

11.  Gaming!  Gaming is high quality relaxing feet up type activity.  Let’s make some more progress in my game, play some Disney Infinity, etc etc.

Ehhh… a little bit.  Not much.  I really don’t know what happens during taper, when you halve (or less) your training hours, you would think you would have all this time, but not so much.

12.  Sometime before the end of the month, pull all the summer shirts/tech tees I haven’t worn lately and box them up or donate them (if I love but they don’t fit, box them up, if I just don’t love, send them onto someone who will love them).  Also, since I’ve lost about 15 lbs this year (yeah yeah yeah YEAH!), try on some of the stuff I have boxed up to see if I have gained more wardrobe!

I did this, however, since it was after a week of eating bad food and drinking beer, I just pulled the stuff that was only a little tight back into the mix.  We’ll see how that holds up.

13.  Find a day that I can justify the calories and eat the damn desert I got in August.

Oops. 😛  However, you can take solace in the fact that I ate many other deserts, I just forgot about this one.

October is half over, but, there is still time for goals!

1. Train smart.  Do your 5-6 runs per week and check the boxes.  Easy on the easy days.  Speedwork on the speedwork days.  Go into tempo days and focused long run days with a plan in mind and communicate that to Zliten ahead of time to not disrupt marital bliss.  If things start to fall apart, first drop back to easy, then drop mileage, then miss runs.  Missing runs = more bike, not buttsitting, unless the only option is buttsitting.

2. No getting sucked into racing anything this month. Use the money and the time to plan for next year’s race schedule.  Keep adding to the list of ALL THE RACES and try to consider what my goals are before signing up for a bunch of races that I have to try and train around.

3. Eat what fitbit tells me to.  It’s actually pretty magical, fitbit tracks my steps/activity, and translates that into calories.  I set my weight loss goals to the “pretty hard” setting (-750 calories per day, losing 1.5 lbs per week), and it changes my food goals throughout the day depending on my activity.  It has more than once made me get off my ass so I can eat more.   So, that being said… the goal would be at this point to get back into the low 170s by the end of the month.  I’ll be more specific next month.

4.  Also track food quality as a secondary measurement.  While keeping calories in check is what makes me lose weight (and I will overeat whether you give me carrots or chocolate after running, I have talent), keeping that DQ score up will make me feel better.

5.  Get the Halloween costume settled (almost there).  Sew the patch on the shirt.  Since you have to sew the patch on the shirt, also mend the items piling up on that table.

6. Probiotics and digestive enzymes for the rest of the month starting today.

7. Finish this book, start the next.

8. Stressing recovery.  Ice baths every week after 15+ miles.  Compression sox/sleeves the day before and after long runs if not during.  Stretching after weights sessions and after long run.  Shockies and foam rolling as necessary.

9.  Make progress on the story I’m supposed to be writing for our gaming session next month.   I’m going to run a game for the first time for people sometime soon and it’s scary!  I love telling stories for people in text, but I’m terrified (in a good way) of doing one interactively.

10.  Write stuff on the blog that’s not a status report.  I’ve found lately that I’ve thought of nifty things to write about and by the time I get to do them, I squeeze them into these long posts and don’t give the thoughts the time the deserve.  I still feel like it’s important for me to catalogue my weeks of training and eating for posterity, but I also feel like maybe I should spend some more time refinding my writing voice.  I used to be a decent writer!

11.  Quarterly maintenance – nails, toes, and brows.  I’m getting scruffy and since I live in Texas, sandal season doesn’t end for another month or two.  On the upside, my nails are in lovely shape since I cut them all down to nubs for wetsuit ease a few weeks ago, so they’re mostly all the same size (minus the index… always the index).

12.  While I’m not confident I’ll actually settle on a theme for my blog this month (and who knows, maybe I’ll keep switching it around!), I want to update my pages, especially my RACE RESULTS page, I haven’t done that since tri season.

13. Make some sort of healthy pumpkin spice desert thing.  Tis the season.  If I make it at home I’ll be less tempted to eat the pumpkin everything out there in the world.

What is your October goal?

So back in the day, I used to write a lot more thoughtful things than just race recaps and weekly status updates.  I actually used to have a writing style and have posts motivated by more than just “oh, it’s been a week, I should tell people what I’m up to”, or more accurately, I should write down what happened so in 3 years when I go… what was I doing October 10th 2013, I can have some sort of recollection.  For me, I remember (generally) the important stuff, but the details… well… the little plastic castle is a surprise every time.

For some reason, I stopped.  I wanted posts to be more thought out.  I felt like a few hundred words wasn’t enough, so it was like, 2k or bust.  The problem with this is I always forget the little nuggets I think of on a run on Thursday by the time I do a weekly recap.  For some reason, I was thinking this needed to be a 2014 resolution and I would start doing shorter, more frequent posts then, but then I realized, no time like the present.  So, if I can hack it (it, meaning, not being exceptionally wordy and also remembering to open the wordpress console more often), expect that.

So, with that out of the way, today’s thought…

I was lunch running (a 5 miler) with Zliten, and this week we have taken turns feeling crappy on runs, and this was his turn, I was feeling great. The schedule said 5 miles with last 3 at tempo.  I went out all happy puppy to try and catch the girls that were running only 2.5 and realized that was tempo pace, but it felt nice to be going fast, so I kept it up until I noticed I was pulling away and slowed it down to keep up with him and then I started feeling rough as he started feeling better.

We were chatting and I said the run was kinda not going the way I had planned (out too fast, now we were slowing and I felt bleh).  I told him, on the last downhill stretch (half to three quarters of a mile?), let’s pick up the pace.  He started running faster.  I lugged myself after him and complained that he was not listening.  He said that his brain must have heard hill (which we were on) and faster, so his legs started turning over.  I did my best to follow suit.

I got through the rest of the run and made it to the downhill stretch (which is conveniently after a steep uphill) feeling mehhhhh and wanted to just jog it in.  However, something in my brain just said “time to go faster” and my legs went with it.  10s, then even 9s, and I felt like I was flying and happy and peaceful and free, the kind of bliss you can only find in that spot where you’re going just hard enough to feel fast and badass, but not redlining.  The mind thinks it, and the body does it.  Novel concept!

It felt nice to have my brain and legs connect again.  They’ve really been out of sync since I got injured in April.  I haven’t felt fast or free or wonderful or speedy on a run, really, since then.  It’s been oppressive heat or long distances or after a long bike ride or just trying to slog through whatever miles I could.  Losing my base just as summer came on sucked, and it really made me limp along during tri season on the run leg, and it feels really, really good to see pieces of light in the corners of the universe that my run love might just be back.

I expect to see this feeling smashed to smithereens, as I’m heading out for a really long run Saturday and figure I’ll probably want to quit running forever after slogging through a upper teens amount of miles I don’t feel ready for (brain, not body), but for just one day, for one stretch, I felt like maybe I’ll be able to feel fast and competent at running again someday.

Who says that just because you’re not training, you’re not busy?  I am sooooo behind on the bloggage, but let me catch you up on the happs on Quixytown.

NOTE: I did change the blog around a bit because my old template broke.  Expect things to be a little topsy turvy changey until I really get some time to sit down and play with it but for now, it doesn’t offend me so it will stay.

Week 38: Taper Week + Kerrville

Monday, I was getting extremely psyched and ready for the race.  My body was feeling good for, like, the first time ever in a taper period.  I felt confident.  The dry run brick on Saturday went awesome.

Then, Tuesday morning, I went out for a 3 mile run in my new (same as I had been wearing, just without 450+ miles on them) shoes and LIMPED home after 1.7 that I had to intermittently walk/run due to my ankle flipping out.

It hurt up until Sunday morning so I shut down all running until the race.  I guess I am just not equipped to deal with myself fully healthy in taper.  Total ghost pain, no reason for it to be there, and ABSOLUTELY not reason for it to stick around and not get much better for FIVE DAYS and then magically disappear on race day.  And, I’m running just fine in my new shoes, no issues since.  *boggle*

I wetsuit swam one more time on Wednesday and things felt good.  I still have no reference on how much difference it made for me and not sure I will – I cut 10 mins off my swim time from last year, but most of that was probably me being better at swimming.  Oh well, I’m happy with purchasing it and definitely not going to miss out on any opportunity to wear it racing going forward!

I put in about 40 fast trainer miles in on Tuesday and Thursday with some (1/3 to 1/2) resistance to keep the legs loose.

By Friday, I was convinced I was dying because I was extremely tired, my aforementioned ankle pain, my throat was a little scratchy, and I had a toenail that was chipping.  It seemed to work out by Sunday though (silly taper madness).

Food:

I ate about 1700 – 1900 calories of good quality food Monday – Thursday, a little less on  Friday (1400 – didn’t really have much of an appetite), and did my normal pre race thing Saturday (sprouted grain english muffin, cream cheese, veggie sausage for breakfast, club sandwich, salad, and some fries for lunch, and mac and cheese and some carby snacks and fruit for dinner).  On Sunday, I was able to wake up and get a LOT of breakfast in my belly before the race (a starbucks mocha, two energy bars, and half a pack of chomps), and had an appetite really soon after the race, I ate a HUGE dinner and had some beers, unlike last time, where I just felt sick and could barely eat back any of the 5000 calories I had burnt.

Other stuff:

Had to take the other leezard (Lump, our schneider skink) to the vets because he was really lethargic and not eating.  Apparently, he was just stopped up, so we’ve had to give him special food and daily enemas (yep, leezard enimas) and laxatives.  He’s doing better now, and we see the vet for a follow up soon to make sure his belly is clear.  By doing an xray.  Which costs like 100 bucks per… good thing we love him.

I really pretty much spent the week in as much of a bubble, mentally and physically, as possible. It ended up working out well, so yay!

Week 39: The Aftermath and the Week of Yes

Let’s just get this out of the way: I didn’t train and I didn’t track.  I sat on my ass, drank every day, ate a lot of fried food and sweets, and thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it.

Aftermath:

I haven’t been this wasted after a race in a long time, but the good news is that it was all just major soreness, not injury pain.  Sunday, after the race, I felt pretty ok.  Monday, I was pretty sore.  Only after a significant dose of vodka did I ever believe my body wouldn’t hurt forever and ever.  Tuesday, my glute muscle decided to act up, so to the chiro I went.  She said it wasn’t that out of line, but it had probably happened on the bike and I had probably been carrying it for the whole 13.1 miles and that’s why it was super ouchy.  It took most of the week, but it got better.  Besides the glute issue, I probably would have been down to start training about Wednesday, but was happy to have the week off.

The Week of Yes:

Some magical fairy of scheduling decided to make a bunch of social events fall on this week, and after having to skip so many things, or leave early, or just drop by, I was like a kid in a candy store saying YES to things.  It was pretty much beer thirty whenever I wanted, so I indulged!

Monday, we ate burgers and drank champagne and really didn’t leave our house much or do much of anything once we got home from Kerrville.  It was lovely.

First up on Tuesday was a Yelp Elite party at Outback.  They were showing off a new bar menu (food and drinks), so they were bringing out healthy offerings such as rum punch, brisket bacon potato nachos, chicken and spinach flatbreads, and the like.  We ended up seeing some old friends that we hadn’t seen in a while, and making a few new ones.  It’s fun to talk to someone who wasn’t either wasn’t related to me or has known me for 5+ years, and isn’t a triathlete/runner/etc.  That doesn’t happen all that often in social situations nowadays and it was refreshing.

Wednesday, we stayed in.  We had to get the house clean for the cleaning people, which meant unpacking Kerrville.  I wanted to whine about it, but realized that no one would make pouty lips for me.  Woe is me, I have to unpack from the awesome weekend trip I went on because people are going to clean my house.  Yeah, I can’t really get a tear in my eye about it either.  I did have some wine though (hey, it was open from cooking), so it wasn’t all bad.

Thursday, we hosted game night.  Beer and snacks and friends and fun.  Giant robots, portals, and almost getting killed but being dragged to safety was the highlight of the evening.

Friday was our anniversary.  We did the iFly thing – indoor skydiving!  We got there early and got to watch everything from first timer little kids to a choreographed group of people doing tricks and flips (that’s THEM above, not us).  When it was our turn, I think we did pretty well.  I had one good stretch where I held position for a while and flew up and down by myself, but the instructor did have to catch me and right me a few times each session.  They offered more time for a pretty cheap price right then, but we were starving so we declined, but bought more time for later. If you want to see our sessions, here’s the video they took of us!

Then, adrenaline works up an appetite, so we had a HUGE anniversary dinner – beer, wings, salad, fish, and a to go pizookie at BJ’s Brewhouse.  We’ve spent a lot of money lately, so we did it on the cheap – we had giftcards for both.  I got Zliten a dehydrator and a red and green stuffed dragon, and he got me a cool owl duvet cover, a cushy red blanky for the couch, and a really nice new sheet set for us.

Saturday, I didn’t quite know what was going on with the whole no training thing, but I adjusted by sleeping in, eating a leisurely lunch out, grocery shopping, and cooking up some batch stuff for next week.

Homemade, healthy, organic “hamburger helper” cheesy mac… (corn/quinoa pasta, grass fed beef, organic beans, organic cheese, about the worst thing in here is 1 tsp of organic sugar, have to give props to the recipe I used to base it on here)

Meatball-ganoff.  Decently healthy chicken meatballs over ancient grain pasta and greens and made with lowfat organic sour cream, but I did just use the stroganoff sauce packet, which I’m sure was packed with MSG and other crap.  I’ll have to learn how to do that on my own, because that shit was awesome.

Then, we went to a friend’s birthday party at the bar.  We ended up sitting outside (they have a small inside and a HUGE patio), and it was the first cold night in a while (read: 60s and a little wind), and we were all freaking out over the temps.  I had a sweater and a jacket and everyone else was bundled up too.  Oh Austin, you make us such wusses in the cold.  It was fun to have a few pumpkin beers and catch up with people.  I had an AMAZING pumpkin mini-cupcake that was just to die for.  I did eat decently though and only had a veggie burger on a wheat bun and a side salad for dinner.

In the AM on Sunday, we got up and out to the IBM Classic Uptown 10k, as this was my friend M’s first 10k, and I’ve been branching out my newbie coaching skills from torturing just myself and my husband to torturing her as well!  She did great and hit her training solidly, so it was no surprise she smashed her goal of under 1 hour by 2.5 minutes.  So proud! We stomped around in silly hats and running tights with cowbells and cheered everyone on and had a great morning.

She even decided she liked it enough to sign up for a half marathon next year, so I didn’t even make her hate running!

That evening, we had our last hurrah, celebrating another friend’s birthday.  It was a beautiful sunset on the patio in perfect weather.  More beers, the BEST jalapeno poppers and fried pickles I’ve ever had (at least I just had a salad for dinner), and three hours of hanging with a lot of really great friends.

And then, just like that, Monday, my facebook and twitter feeds went from posts about all the crazy fun I was having and what sort of beer and food was in my face to dailymile workout crossposts.  And I’m ready for it.  A week off was what I needed, but all I needed.  This week will be Intro to Marathon Training 101 to get myself back into it, and the advanced course will start up the week after.  I am waiting to get a week of running and clean eating under me before I see what the scale says, but I can’t imagine I did SUCH damage in a week that another week or two won’t fix it.

I keep having a little bit of letdown about tri season being over, but marathon training is helping me get over it, and I may even have some super secret plans after that depending on where my head is at in a month or so and how much I hate running.

Question of the week: Do you miss the old layout or hated it and like the new one better?

Four years ago, we were doin’ this:

This fourth year of being hitched, we walked the plank together…

…celebrated finishing the Texas Tri series together…

…learned to Scuba together…

…spent at least a few days looking respectably swanky together…

…but mostly looking like our usual selves together…

…we spent lots of time out in the sun together…

…and oh yeah..

…we may have raced a few triathlons together…

I can’t wait to spend another year with this guy, being goofy together.

Tonight, we’re going to go flying, and then eat pizookies.  Happy 4th anniversary, love!