So.Much.Stuff

As Ironman Coeur D'Alene gets closer the long training weekends are returning. Unpacking the car this afternoon I was reminded of just how much stuff a day like today generates and how much planning goes into it!

On today's schedule was an hour swim, followed by a four and half hour endurance ride, followed by a brick run. Since my house is at least 45 minutes in city traffic before I can get anywhere decent enough to ride I take everything with me in the morning.

The list -

Swim - suit, towel, swim bag with all the gear, water.

Overnight oats to eat afterwards.

Bike - helmet, bike shoes, three different options for bottoms and tops because Mother Nature cannot make up her damn mind about what season we are in, three water bottles with Roctane mix, 4 gels, bike, heartrate monitor, Garmin.

Run - running tights, running shoes, hat.

After - recovery drink for after the run.

Now, granted, the amount of stuff I'll have to lug around will get a bit lighter as the weather becomes more predictable but what a pain in the neck!

In the end it all went pretty well today. The pool was quiet, except for the guy in the lane next to me had the loudest watch I've ever heard. It was constantly beeping and I could hear it when I was at the other end of the pool - weird! The ride was pretty quiet too which was probably as a result of all the people doing Easter Sunday things and not driving around the county in their cars. It also ended up being a beautifully sunny (but as usual for Essex county windy) day. The run was kind of a bummer. I was terribly overdressed and felt awful. My Garmin also crapped out on me just over half way into the 30 minutes making me have to finish by feel. No idea if I hit the paces I was supposed to.

When I got back to the car I had a message from my mom that she was making my favourite stuffed artichokes! I dragged my tired, sweaty self over to her house and had a delicious dinner, got some leftover artichokes for dinner tomorrow, and dragged myself home to unpack, get showered, and revive the old blog :) Tomorrow is Easter Monday and I have the day off as a holiday. God bless the government.

Happy Easter everyone!

And, She's Back

Well friends, I'm back. It's been two and a half years since my last post. Is it ironic that on Easter Sunday that last sentence sounded like the beginning of a Catholic confession? No? Anyway, yes, two and half years. Time flies and I'm constantly reminded of how true that saying, "The days are long but the years are short" is. In the time since I've been gone, in case any of my tens of followers are still out there and interested, there have been a handful of half-marathons, two(!) Ironman races, a few 70.3's, a broken finger from a crash that required surgery, some triumphs, more than a few disappointments, a new house, and a job change. The one constant has been triathlon. Other than a couple of scheduled rest weeks after Ironman racing, my training has continued as I'm always looking forward to the next race. This year the two biggies are Ironman Coeur d'Alene June 29th and Ironman Maryland, September 20th. Hopefully you'll follow me on my journey.