HAPPY MONDAY!

HAPPY MONDAY!!!! I am starting this week with a positive mental attitude. It is not coming naturally, but I am forcing it. I am actually in a sort of slump, but I am forcing myself to start positive. Despite my training being rough this week, my slump actually has has nothing to do with training and more to do with some stuff in the rest of my life. In reality, all I feel like doing is working out and sleeping.

My weekend was so-so. I started off by getting up early Saturday and going to registration for the karate class i teach on Saturdays. I also did some make up belt tests for kids who were sick on test day. This put me in a decent mood as I really love some of the kids. One of my favorites came by with her dad and after they registered the hung out for a few minutes. This child is 6 years old and just got her green belt (aka has completed two semesters) she is about knee high to me and I'm quite sure she could take on kids twice her age. It's not because she is tough, but she puts 100% effort behind everything she learns. Although, I hate having to get up early on a Saturday I am glad to be working with these kids and this is the spending money I get for racing.

Afterward, jonesing for a bike ride I headed over to a local trail with my mountain bike. Our local state park has 3 separate mountain bike loops totaling 18 miles. I rode an alternate version of one of the loops and totaled 8.5 miles in what seemed like a blink of an eye. The trails were different than I remembered, but they flowed well. It took me a few minutes to re-acclimate to riding the mtb, it felt like I was pedaling a bounce house. I did fall one time early in the ride. When I climb hills with roots  I have a bad habit of death gripping the bars and leaning back or standing. I hit a large root, the front wheel bounced and since i was already pulling up the bike just kept coming. No biggie, I am well adjusted to falling on my mtb (not the road bike so much, however).

The trail ride was really just a ploy to kill time while waiting for the service on my road bike to be completed. When I dropped the bike off on Thursday for a tune up and to have my bars replaced, they asked me what time I wanted to pick it up and since i was going to be in town to teach karate that morning (my karate class and the bike shop are 30 minutes away). I told them lunch time would be great. The guy told me that it probably wouldn't be ready at noon due to the lunch time retail rush, but they could have it at three. When I arrived at 2:45 they told me they hadn't touched it yet. They might be able to have it done by the end of the day today or Sunday, but would most definitely by the end of the day Monday. This upset me a great bit, because that means that I wasted time today just milling around for 4 hours ( I still would have gone for the mtb ride, but it would have been on the way home), I will have to waste gas to come back, and in order to pick my bike up during their weekday shop hours I have to take off at least on hour early. Not to mention this messes with my training schedule. Although for some reason I felt I should be angry, i wasn't- it felt more like I had been hurt by a trusted friend. I told CB and she got angry- that's why I keep her around. I do plan to email the shop owner and let him know my concerns.

Sunday was kind of similar ups and downs. I had a good swim, but was nervous about my first long run (14 miles) since easter. My shoes are not built for long runs and ever since my knee injury long runs make me nervous. I still dedicated myself to it. I ended up doing a walk 30 second, run 3:30. Even with the walking I ended up keeping an 10:30 pace. This is slower than prescribed, but my pace dropped drastically in the last 30 minutes as my feet and hips got tired. Cold bath when I was done had me feeling good to go again. I was happy since I got in one way or another, the only tough thing about it was being bored out of my mind. This week the plans calls for a 15 miler and i am going to increase my run time and decrease my rest time, not exactly the real run walk training plan but I am just trying to get back to running 10+ non-stop again.

How was your weekend?