Taking the Reins

Rushed home today to get in a quick run before turning back around and meeting my boss and team for dinner. I did a 20-minute run followed by 10 minutes of walking/cooling off, and I was pretty darn tired afterwards. My legs, recovering from sunburn, are now blistering and itchier than you can possibly imagine. Exercise only makes them worse. Instead of popping and drying out, my legs are staying moist and they blister and then return to normal, day in and day out. Just die already! I am sick of looking like a burn victim and being unable to shave. What are they going to say to me at swim practise on Wednesday when I show up looking like a Yeti?

Anyway, didn’t cover too much ground in my run. Maybe 2 miles? My knee is fighting me on this running thing– so much so that I had to drive with one hand while keeping ice on my knee with the other one on my way to dinner. I’m doing this triathlon, even if my knee is a messed up joint.

Sunday, I hit the pool for the first time in over a year. My first salt water pool, so that was pretty cool. Not sure if it’s because I’m more fit or because the salt water makes me more buoyant, but I did a continuous 800 meter swim after doing a couple hundred meters of warmup. Boy, was I impressed with myself! My time was appallingly slow, but when I e-mailed my coach, she was very encouraging. She said that I didn’t realize how fit and strong I really am and that many of my fellow Divas will never even see 20 minutes on their swim for the distance we’ll be swimming. She then assured me that mine will see marked improvement and that she can’t wait to continue training me to see where I go. Woohoo!! Now I just need to convince my knee to stay well-behaved.

I am signing up for the triathlon 2 weeks before the Pacific Coast as a warm-up. It’s in beautiful Santa Barbara, and it’s pretty quick and easy. 500 meter ocean swim, 6 mile bike, and 2 mile run. Right up my alley! I guess the waters are calm and the bike course is flat, so this will be a wonderful warm-up for my big race. Besides, hubby and I will get a weekend in Santa Barbara. What could be better?

Had a bad eating day. Everything I ordered got botched, but I was so mad I didn’t send anything back. I just shrugged my shoulders and ate, hoping all the calories I burned running adn swimming would be enough to counteract restaurant stupidity. Got a Greek salad with the dressing already mixed in, even though it has it on the side in the picture……then for dinner, ordered a lemon parmesan sole, butter sauce on the side. Shows up, and the damn thing looks like it’s caked in breadcrumbs, fried, and swimming in butter. BossMan paid a pretty penny for it, so I sucked it up and ate. It wasn’t worth it, though. Everything was unremarkable, which is a shame. Why don’t chefs realize that a lovely Dover Sole is very best when broiled and sprinkled with lemon? Why?!

Anyway, need to start over tomorrow. If my legs look better tomorrow, I may take a spin class. If not, I’ll call tomorrow my day off and wait for the swim on Wednesday. After all, we are tapering into our exercise regime…..must go slow!

So glad to have found you guys again. Keep commenting with your blog addresses so I can continue to check on you!