the weekend

I really appreciate the encouraging comments on my last post about the race. Thanks everyone, for your support.

Well, I've pretty much decided to "do it for fun" or as a "training day". I'm not really too worried about injuring myself. There are people who will drag themselves across the finish line with a broken leg, but I really don't think I am one of those people. I'm more likely to stop and call a taxi. A mixed blessing, I guess. I would probably be faster and miss fewer workouts if I pushed harder. But, I haven't hurt myself either, and I've improved exponentially anyway.

Last week was a bit of a bust and I really did nothing all week. Party on Thursday. Exhausted on Friday. Slept late Saturday. Didn't do my usual Saturday morning run, but did go for a nice bike ride with Husband. About 20 miles, sticking to bits of the Mightyman Montauk course. Pretty damn convenient how it goes past our house. It was nice biking together, and I finally tried out my Camelback. I love it! I usually don't drink on bike rides until I am super thirsty because getting to the bottle seems like such a PIA. I think this was the first longer ride I've done where I actually WASN'T dehydrated at the finish. Definitely plan to wear in my upcoming race.

Now that we're a "biking family", Husband invested in a new bike, too. His is a little fancier than mine. I think we should name it "Giancarlo". (tried to upload a pic but it's not working for some reason. as you might guess, he's italian).

Sunday I ran a good chunk on the course, but quit a little early as I was having "gut issues". Egg wrap and a smoothie for breakfast - what was I thinking? Especially the fruity, yogurty smoothie. Definitely have to stick with my standy in future - whole wheat toast + peanut or almond butter. But I still went 10 miles, and finished strong - it was the middle where I was feeling a little ucky.

After the run, I went out in the lake to paddle around and hopefully desensitize myself about swimming. It was a little nippy out, and this Lake (different from the race course) has a channel out to the Atlantic and thus a slight current. Also a ton of clamshells on the bottom - I should have worn my reef booties. Anyway, I didn't wear my wetsuit because I was just going to take a little dip and swim out to a particular buoy and back - maybe 200 yards. I think my wetsuit is actually a security blanket for me in open water. I got a little freaked out, never made it to the buoy, turned around, and basically ran back to the house. Clearly, I have issues. Sigh.

Husband and I signed up for a Total Immersion workshop in November. Boy, am I hoping this will help me. I really want to be a good swimmer now.