That’s right.  It’s officially “countdown to Spain” time and I have t-minus 4 weeks and counting.  Holy hell!

 

TheCountdown

 

My “kit” or official Team USA uniform arrived!  I literally jumped out of my car (don’t worry I put it in park first) when I saw the package on my doorstep.  I ran back into the car, tearing the package apart as I went, and proudly showed the kids what mommy just got in the mail.  Since they can’t read, it was a less then stellar reaction.  Miles actually said “Aw, I thought it was something for us.”  Sigh.

Of course, that didn’t stop me from letting my frozen waffles thaw in the trunk of my car (along with the rest of my groceries) as I went upstairs to try it on, and then proceeded to parade around the house for my kids in it.  I then texted everyone who cares, a picture of it, which involved lots of emoticons and exclamation points!!!

And then, it was back to work:

WEEK OF APRIL 28, 2014

RUNNING: I had an excellent week of running but fewer miles since I’m doing more brick and speed training. I also had to run on the indoor track (with gloves on because it was so f**king cold!) to do my mile repeats.  I was nervous going into that session since I had 3 x 1 miles at 6:00/min pace with only a 200m (or half the track) jog in-between repeats.  I was able to kill the splits but, I did feel a little pukey during the last two.  Overall mileage: 20 miles

CYCLING: I spent (what seemed like) endless hours in what I will now refer to as “the pain cave:”

So many hours spent in a concrete box, pedaling to nowhere, is not good for the soul!

So many hours spent in a concrete box, pedaling to nowhere, is not good for the soul!

I biked up on that stage a total of 3.5 hours this week (80 miles!) on Tuesday and Thursday alone.  Thursday was tough since I pushed my legs in Power Sculpt the night before.  Why?  I’m the instructor – I could do ALL upper body if I wanted to!?  I will never learn this lesson.  Needless to say, my legs thought I was joking when I hit the bike on Thursday morning for another two hours.  My “set-up” is also getting ridiculous – two water bottles, energy chews, two towels, my phone, my iPod and luckily, my friend Barb brought me the cutest shirt so I was able to change out of the sweaty mess I created in the first hour – before I started teaching class:

IMG_3594

On Saturday, I headed out to bike the course (and meet up with Coach Rocket Scientist) of the upcoming Duathlon on May 18th.  It was the first time I was able to run and ride in my new outfit:

I'm not a Rocket Scientist, but my coach is!  Me and CRS (Becky!)

I’m not a Rocket Scientist, but my coach is! Me and CRS (Becky!)

I’m not sure if the cyclists in Glastonbury are extra nice, or because it was such a beautiful day but, I actually got off-the-handlebar waves from other bikers out that day!  Maybe they read my blog about Can’t We Just All Get Along? Maybe it was the uniform? Whatever the case, it was great.

CROSS-TRAINING: I think I’m going to take up swimming after all this biking and running nonsense is over with.  I am loving my pool workouts.  I’m sure it’s just because it’s a beautiful alternative to all the pounding on my body and mind that I’m usually doing, but I’m really finding a groove in the water. This week I did sets of 100, 200, 100, 200, 100 x 2 with 30 seconds in between sets and it was lovely.  I hit the hot tub afterward too.  The only thing missing was my full body massage…but that comes next week!

RACING: I have an update to the post about my 5K The Hard Way.  The winner, (Miss Hanson Brooks Speed Queen) apparently read my post and sent me the nicest email, which explained a lot of the situation. My faith in runners has been restored!  Now I only have to turn 40 so I age out of her group (she’s 32)!  She also noted that the 5K was about 3.25, making it 40-60 seconds extra, and therefore my time closer to a sub 19! Yeah, I pretty much love this girl now.

FUEL: During my time in the pain cave, I was able to try out some new energy chews from my Runnerbox and I loved them!  The ProBar Bolt Organic Energy Chews (orange flavored, in case you need that kind of detail) were tasty, easily digestible and gave me just the energy surge I needed so I didn’t keel over during hour two of spinning.  I will definitely be ordering more of these!

*I got the ProBar chews in my Runnerbox, that I paid for, so there’s no compensation for anything going on here.  Just the truth!

ProBarBolt

THINGS I LOVE: America.  Seriously.  I’ve never thought that much about this country (which is kind of sad) until I was able to have the opportunity to represent it, and see my name emblazoned on lycra with the words “USA” below it.  I’m feeling very patriotic these days.  I’m also getting nervous about being in Spain, not speaking the language and having my 5 year-old twins there.  I’m also thinking I’m going to be missing America a lot more when I’m flying over the Atlantic for 9 hours.  In case you didn’t know – I suck at flying.

THINGS I DON’T LOVE AS MUCH:  Thieves! Someone stole my iPod out of the pain cave at the YMCA.  Apparently I was too delirious to remember to put it in my bag after class, and I didn’t realize it until three days later.  To whoever stole it – you know that “C” in YMCA stands for Christian, right?  According to the Christians, you’re going to hell for that so, if I were you, I would confess your sin and then repent by giving it back unless you want to spend eternity in a fiery hole.  I will not comment as to whether or not I will be there.

I guess it's my fault.  I forgot my sign that day.

I guess it’s my fault. I forgot my sign that day.

MUSIC: I wouldn’t know since I had to run 10.25 miles on Sunday with zero music.  See above.

TV: Revenge and Hannibal knocked it out of the park this week!  I actually technically haven’t seen the end of Hannibal, since I fell asleep on the couch (loser!) but my husband said it was amazing.  We also watched American Hustle and it was one of the best movies I’ve seen in a long time! Yes, I realize it came out about a year ago but, I only get to see non-Pixar movies when they make their way to pay-TV (loser!).

READING: You know I only highlight fitbie.com articles here when I’m really excited about them.  This one was so fun to write and I wish I had this idea about 8 years ago – 7 Fit Bachelorette Destinations for the Active Bride-To-Be  Since I’m reaching that age where my friends are now getting divorced, I’m hoping to be able to do this for one of them on their second marriage.

RANDOM THOUGHT OF THE WEEK: The opposite of “drunk dialing” should have a name. Example: Calling another mom at 8am on a Sunday only to realize that by some miracle, her kids are still sleeping and therefore, so is she. #FriendFail

[Tweet “The Countdown to #Spain has begun! #TeamUSA @USAtriathlon Food, fuel, running and cycling with one goal.”]

How was your week?  Anything big coming up?

Have you ever had something stolen from you?

What was your favorite “fuel” this week?

 

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