April 15, 2016

Spring is here -- sort of!


My HPS buddy Simon said on his own blog that if someone goes silent for awhile, it usually means one of two things. Either things are going badly, or things are ticking along great and they're just super busy training. In my case, I have to claim a little of the former. I'm not sure if I was trying to ramp up too quickly, or if it was just a case of stress or bad luck, but I spent a good portion of last month feeling... well, generally crappy. Fatigue, sore neck, sudden inability to hit my heart rate targets on the trainer, general cruddiness. Tack on a little impostor syndrome, doubting that I actually belong on the OTC high-performance squad. Thankfully, I also had a family vacation to Florida last month. I bagged my initial plans to swim like a freak and put down killer run volume while on holiday. Instead, I ran an easy 5k every 2 or 3 days. Went for a leisurely rollerblade a couple of times. Did quite a bit of walking. No biking or swimming at all. For the first week, the fatigue was joined by swollen glands, night time cough, sore throat, and sinus pressure, in sequence. Nothing horrible, just general un-wellness. Then by day 8 or 9, I felt better. Just in time to go home! Still, I was thankful for the perfectly-timed dose of warm weather, sunshine, and rest.

Gettin' er done on semi-frozen sidewalks

The spring weather at home has been slow to materialize, with only a few warm days teasing us before Mother Nature laughed "just kidding!" and dumped another solid helping of snow. I'd also say "warm" is a little relative... the roads were dry and clean enough to take my bike out for the first outdoor ride of the season. But my apparel included chemical hand and foot warmers, and Saran Wrap over my feet to keep the wind out where the toe covers didn't reach.

April 6th -- Canada geese wondering whose idiot decision it was to lead the flock back north

My pace cyclist with her game face on
I think we may have finally turned the corner, though -- here is a shot from yesterday's lunchtime ride. A leisurely exploration of the surrounding area, without my Garmin, was the perfect way to welcome spring for real. On the race front, my first of the season is coming up on Mother's Day -- the Sporting Life 10k. My goals are to chase my PB, enjoy my first race with my husband, and get tuned up for the upcoming tri season.

April 14th -- This is more like it

One more fun thing of late, is that nuun has the 2016 'team nuun' athletes up on their site. Including me -- whoa! Check it out...

Crazy, right? My oldest daughter thinks I'm cool!