Week in Review

There is just something about the early morning, the hour before 5am, that draws me in. Perhaps it is the quiet, perhaps it is the white fluffy snow quietly resting outside of my home office window. Whatever it is I have always been in tune with the early mornings.

It gives me the chance to set the foundation for the day. Four mornings a week I am up at 4:30 either preparing for yoga classes at 6 or swim practices at 5:45. Weekends I sleep in a bit more, as weekends are light in both workout and life. We used to really jam pack weekends, but I have recently given that up, opting for the slow lane as a family. Yesterday turned into a day long game of hide and seek, and it was wonderful.

I became ill with gastroenteritis this week, on my birthday of all days. The past three days since I am slowly getting better. Vomiting ceased by Saturday. I was able to get in light workouts. This morning I feel I am at 90%. Saturday's run was tough, I felt pretty weak. Amazing how a little GI bug can bring superman down.

Swim: I actually had a terrific swim week. Pull week at Masters and some time alone at the Y for an extra swim.

Bike: Got sick on my long bike, the GI bug came to play. Low bike mileage this week. The new computrainer arrives either Friday or Monday.

Run: Good runs, aside from feeling week on Saturday. I opted out of the long run today, will just do an hour. I need to feel good this week.

Nutrition: Pounds fell during GI illness, but I felt weak, which isn't good. I was unable to eat birthday cake, and have had a hard time in general eating, as my stomach immediately becomes upset. That shall pass though.

Strength / Yoga: all going fine.

As bad as I thought this week would be, it really was not. I did change some things around within my program so that I have my hands on the reigns. It's funny, for me Ironman is such a personal journey that I feel I need to be the sailor of the ship. It's my ship. The wonderful thing is that the week is laid out, I have people (Including Doug) that I am checking in with, and going forward I know the Grand Plan.

Coming up, this week is Epic Week, in terms of the weekend activities. (Didn't I just say weekends are slow?). Normal training through the week, but with an increase of frequency on the bike and the run. I know that to find my run I need to run 5 times a week. That is now happening.

This Saturday I am taking part in 2 interesting distance events. Saturday at 2pm is the Cast A Shadow 6 hour snowshoe race. Train-This is bringing 3 teams of 3 people. You have 6 hours to see who can run the most laps. You can only run one lap at a time, and each lap takes about an hour to complete (it is roughly 6 miles). Depending on the snow the laps could be faster or slower. The terrain at Mendon Ponds Park..... well we can say Mendon makes Lake Placid look flat. I assembled a great A team, with 3 fast runners (including a rare winter appearance by my husband). Our subsequent B and C teams, we are in it for the training.

Special rules apply to this race, depending on whether the Ground Hog sees his shadow or not. Beginning at 2pm much of this race is done in the dark of night. With snow covered trails it is beautiful!

At the end of the race Saturday night I will travel to Buffalo to my parent's house, to sleep for a few hours. At 5am I will join the Buffalo Triathlon Club's 24 hour spin a thon, which will have already been in progress since 12 noon Saturday. I will ride for 5 hours and teach an hour. You can ride spin bikes, bring your bike and trainer, whatever you want. A few years back when I did this we rode Sat and Sunday, and slept at the gym!

This is to benefit the American Cancer Society, and is well organized. The hard part is staying away from the luscious food. I am using it for the long ride and to practice some new nutrition, all while raising money for a good cause.

That shall complete at noon, then it will be to my parents for a birthday celebration with my family. Back home to Rochester in the evening will find me at the Train-This Super Bowl Party, hosted by Kevin & Kitima. I look forward to going in my comfy clothes, camping out on a couch, and being fed water and some dish called "White Trash".

This will be the busiest weekend I have had in ages, but filled with endurance fun, Birthday Cake, and the Superbowl, how can one resist?

:-) Mary Eggers