lazy week

my original plan to jump immediately into marathon training post-bassman was discouraged by various veteran triathletes who recommended a period of “rest” in between. Rest? What is that? I argued with cm that swimming and running slowly was considered “active rest” but she did not buy my excuse and in fact caught me doing such “active rest” at the pool on Tuesday.

I joined sb, fb, Claudia and bob at the pool on Monday and, after chatting excitedly about the race for about 10 minutes, proceeded to feel my legs deteriorating throughout the short swim. I thought to myself that Monday would be considered my “rest” day and a massage would take care of everything. The next day, I was enjoying myself immensely at the pool doing lap after lap of technique workouts that I had put off during the season until I saw fb’s shadow over the edge of the pool. She had brought a stack of triathlon magazines and instructed me to read them, take a walk or a nap if I felt like working out, but did acquiesce to letting me swim 10 more minutes (which turned into 15…but she was gone). Wednesday was a day of easy biking on the trainer while watching reviews of the presidential debate from the night before, then a highly enjoyable slow jog. My brothers and sister-in-law then flew to Dallas to visit my parents and surprise my mom for her 29th-plus-x birthday, so it was 60 mins easy jog on both Thursday and Friday. After finding myself antsy and munching a little too generously on these off days, I was eagerly anticipating my long run on Saturday which I was “allowed” to do so long as I rested completely on Sunday. After consulting with maggs, Gatorade bob, maija and sb who all suggested not suddenly increasing mileage and subbing short runs for swims and bikes, I decided it may not be a bad idea to follow someone’s advice once in a while, especially if I ask for it! So my long run would be 2:20, which I believe is an “average” run for A.

Saturday’s long run was definitely a huge lesson in the need to hydrate during a run. Out of sheer laziness, I did not bring a water bottle or money, thinking that the weather was not too warm so I would not sweat much, anyway. The run was gorgeous save the first and last 30 minutes that felt like jogging down Route 1 (wide streets, plenty of cars, not much scenery and on the dirty side). I had been reading up on Hal Higdon’s marathon training guide, which suggested that if you normally find yourself with extra energy at the end of the run, try to increase your pace every third. Everything was going as expected until the last 45 minutes on a very long uphill slope, when I felt my heart rate beating faster than it usually would for a long run although I felt like my feet were slowing down. I stopped at the 2:20 mark although I did not reach my starting point, walked for about 1 minute and then got annoyed at myself so tried to sprint home. When I got home, I gulped down 2 glasses of water and lay on the floor, my heart rate still going at about 150 to 160 although I wasn’t moving. What was going on? I was lightheaded and feeling a little sick but felt better as I stayed hydrated throughout the day. Silly e, has to learn from experience most of the time.
Good thing that I conveniently scheduled a long-run to be on the same day that my family wanted to go trail-walking and shopping. My anonymous big brother severely kicked my butt in an impromptu sprint on the trail and to the car; in fact, he beat me, got into the car and picked me up! This was rather humbling for the overly competitive younger sister who has never beat her big brother in a race. My adorable younger brother, inspired, challenged me to a 1/3-mile sprint race a few hours later, and I am not one to say no to many challenges that require physical activity. He would have won if the distance was shorter but was baffled afterwards that he had lost to a girl. After all of this time on my feet, a rest day on Sunday is a treat!

Also, huge congratulations to Maggs Morriss who did an amazing job at Ironman Kona yesterday! Way to go, hope you got yourself a huge carrot cake (not just a slice) and I’m excited to see you at lake placid!