It's race week, kids. Here are the facts.

It's race week, kids.  Kind of.  The half duathlon (10K/56 miles/10K) I have been training for and keep misspelling as "duathlong" is almost upon me.  Thereforeheretoforthwith, here are the facts of this race week:

1) Upper body is good to go as far as holding myself up on the bike for 3+ hours.

2) It wasn't even 6 AM when the picture above was taken, kids.  The clock and my tired eyes give that away.

3) The left butt injury is still whining and cranky, even though I've done all my running on the treadmill like a good little injured runner.

4) My visor is pretty freaking awesome at not only being awesome but also shielding me from the glow of my treadmill display...which will not show when I take a selfie, which makes me grumpy.

5) I got my bike all tuned up and ready to go for the race Saturday...and biking is pretty much the only time my left butt doesn't hurt.  So I got that going for me.

6) My biking fashion sense, however, is one thing that is definitely not going for me.  Nope.

7) And still speaking of biking, my only goal for this race is to hope for a 17 mph average.  

8) As for the runs...the pace will be dictated by my old friend left butt injury, how hot it is, and what kind of competition I have for my race distance.  Because the minute I find out that I have no competition (not a lot of people enter the duathlon races at this event), I get all sorts of race lazy.

9) If it's really hot I think I may lay down on the course and cry at some point.  But not too much crying, though...gotta stay hydrated.

10) Really, I just want to survive the race since it's the first time I've ever raced a duathlon at this distance.  And not cry.  And have my left butt be OK.  More updates as the week goes on, I promise.

Tomorrow's workout: Race week speed work...because that's always a good idea, kids.

Day 5, Week 3: I'm tired so all you get is some pics and a few words that may actually form sentences but there's no guarantee.

This morning I had 6 miles to nowhere on the treadmill, but only after the treadmill inspectors assured me I wouldn't die of boredom on the thing.

But I forgot they were cats, and that cats are evil liars.  Here's how the run really felt:

But my left butt felt just fine.  Just thought you'd like an update...and a little sass thrown your way from the treadmill.

SASS.  There it is.

That's all I have for you tonight.  It's been a long day and I'm all tapped out.  Well, maybe I still have some sass left.  

Tomorrow's workout: Weights are on the schedule...but my bike just got a tune up so I may have to ride in the dark tomorrow.

Day 4, Week 3: Things I think about when...

This morning some indoor cycling was had in front of the TV in my living room.

22 miles to nowhere.  NOWHERE

So what exactly does one think about during 22 miles of not moving forward at all?  Let us count those thoughts:

1) I just want to go back to bed.
2) This isn't the same as outside biking because I'm not screaming vulgarities at the wind.
3) Do they intentionally make stationary bike seats this uncomfortable so you'll get up out of the saddle?
4) I just want to go back to bed.
5) Should have turned down the AC before I started sweating all the water out of my body on this thing.
6) Am I going to have to get off this thing to make sure the hubbs gets out of bed on time?
7) Speaking of bed, wish I was there.
8) My left butt is feeling pretty good today...probably ruin that good feeling by running tomorrow though.
9) The male cat is in for a rude awakening if he tries to sniff the spinning wheel on this bike.
10) The female cat is smarter than the male cat. She's sleeping....like I should be.

Tomorrow's workout: 6 mile easy run on the treadmill instead of outside because....left butt injury.

Day 3, Week 3: A quick injury and workout update.

And now for a quick injury update:  Still injured.  Yep.  Most certainly.

Left butt is not cooperating when running outside.  It was so sore after the run I blogged about on my last post that I couldn't even bike ride on Saturday and had to....*gasp*....TAKE THE DAY OFF FROM WORKING OUT.

Told you I was injured.  Plus I have one heckuva itchy eczema outbreak from all the muddy water I encountered from the mud run last Saturday, so I pretty much want to scratch all the skin off my legs and arms.  Good times, kids (not really).  I want to show you pictures of the big angry red patch of itchy goodness on the back of my left leg but the hubbs said I couldn't buy any more running shoes if I posted those here.  He's such a funkiller.

Anyway, when I have been working out, what have I been doing?  Well...

Because I'm injured and it was pretty much flooding from the heavens on Sunday, I ran 13 miles on the treadmill in the hopes that my left butt wouldn't scream too loudly (it didn't):

Always have your cat check your treadmill for safety before
running 13 miles on it.

And I ran all 13 with uneven shorts because huge nasty eczema lesion
on the back of my leg.

The next day I did a little indoor cycling because Mother Nature is just so rainy these days:

And then after that same cycling I did some lifting of heavy things and then putting them back down over and over again:

Again...uneven shorts.  Damn you, eczema.

And, of course, I did more running this morning on the 'mill in the form of a 4 mile tempo run.  Because masochism.

My internal attitude about this run oozing out.

Left butt whined a little bit more this morning, and my legs were feeling pretty heavy, which is odd for a  mile tempo at 9:18 pace.  My brain keeps whispering the word "overtraining" in the back of my mind...but I'm ignoring it for now because I have training to do, dammit.  Can't be listening to those voices in my head all day, now can I?

Tomorrow's workout: Indoor cycling...but only because my real bike is getting a tune-up.

Day 5, Week 2: 4 AM Cause & Effect

Cause #1: I am employed.

Cause #2: I am employed at a place that requires me to be at work at 7:10 AM on Thursdays

Cause #3: I have an hour commute to said employment.

Effect #1: 4 AM running in mismatched running clothes for 5 miles.

Tomorrow's workouts: Lifting heavy things.

Day 3, Week 2: Some random pics just to say I blogged

My life.  It's passing like a whirlwind lately.  In fact, this post will be a whirlwind as well, as I only have time to post some pics about what I've been up to these pas few days.  Actual posts will be coming in the future, I swears. 

Well, as long as I don't fall asleep before I crack open the laptop.  Anyway, here are the pics!


I have been trying to lift heavy things around a cat...

I have been not wearing a shirt on the treadmill during speed work and kind of really not hating it even though my fat rolls have also been loosed...

And I did a Tough Mudder Saturday in which there was way more water than mud...

...spent a great 10 miles on course with some awesome fellow masochists...

...and totally had the same face on my face that I have at work most of the time.  I'm pretty sure that's not a good thing. (Hint:  I'm the one NOT smiling.)

Tomorrow's workout:  Indoor cycling because of some pesky thunderstorms a'comin.

Day 3, Week 1: Welcome to my day...again.

My morning started with a little treadmilling because it was raining outside at 5 AM.  During this treadmill adventure, I made a very important decision: to never wear a shirt whilst running on the treadmill ever again.  I give this decision a hearty thumbs up.

Nevermind that it's 5 AM; I GOTS NO SHIRT

Look Ma NO SHIRT

This decision came out of the fact that the shirt I had on was sticking to me like a second skin as the sweat poured out of me.  It was making me rather angry until I came to the stunning revelation that I could take my shirt off because the only people that could see me shirtless were the cats who were wandering dangerously close to the treadmill, and they weren't even really people (cats are demons, you know.  Well, my cats are, anyway).  So off went the shirt and I went on with the run. 

Speaking of that run, it was supposed to be 10-11 miles.  But it was all "1.75 miles warm up" and 1.5 miles cool down" and "3 x 2 Miles" and then I was all "GEEZ RUN PLAN APP WHY SO MUCH WARM UP AND COOL DOWN" and finally I went "BUH I need to get to work some time today" and ended up doing a 1.5 mile warm-up and then 2 of those 2 x 2 miles.  Which was fine with my left butt, which really didn't care for 2 mile repeats at all by the end.  But it held itself together for this last treadmill picture:

And then I went off to work, where it was my school district's first day with students.  So I reasoned that it was technically my first day of school, too...or my 4,181st day of work, depending on how you look at it and how good at math you are.  In my eyes, both are worth celebrating with an incredibly stupid pic.

You know what else is worth celebrating?  The end of this post.  I promise something more coherent tomorrow when I'm not trying to keep my eyelids open as I type.

Tomorrow's workout: Some bike riding in the dark! (If it's not raining)