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.

Here are the facts. And some pics.

Fact #1: I did Cathe's Total Body Giant Sets today and I was reunited with my precious barbell.

Large dog just doesn't understand our
relationship.

Fact #2: I totally threw out a bicep shot for no reason at all other than I had nothing better to do.

Please note animals overrunning my
workout area.

Fact #3: I worked out while dinner was in the slow cooker and it was kind of torture smelling the goodness that was my pulled barbecue chicken while suffering through oh so many one-legged squats.

Pulled BBQ Chicken and Mashed Cauliflower FTW

Fact #4: Small dog is not a fan of post-workout selfies.  In case you wanted to take one with him.  Just an FYI.

No more facts - just stupid learnings:

• I missed all these Cathe workouts while training for that duathlon.  And I'm sure my barbell missed me.
• I have never eaten mashed cauliflower before...and it was good.  Probably because there was bacon in it.
• Animals in my workout area.  The struggle is real.
• Small dog can sure throw that eyeball attitude around.
• I need more barbell in my life.

Tomorrow's workout: 4 easy miles that the app is calling a "long run."  Pfffft.

My strength training workout this morning: Here are the facts.

Here are the facts:

• I did Cathe's Lift It, HiiT It: Chest, Triceps, & Shoulders workout this morning, which is the sister workout to the back, biceps, and shoulders workout I did two days ago.
• This workout is set up exactly the same as the previous workout: Three sets of three exercises per body part, with a "finisher" exercise after each set of three for what can only be torture
• Well, there are finisher moves unless you pick a premix that excludes them, like I did (I had abs after each body part)
• So many chest presses.  So, so many.  WHY CATHE

I just...no more chest presses.

• But so, so much barbell.  Awesome.

• The shoulder exercises were much, much tougher than the sister workout.  Like "lift this heavy barbell over your head many many times" hard.
• When I went to do planks after the last set of triceps exercises, my arm was all "NOPE not going to be straight for you AT ALL"
• I still enjoyed the workout.  Except for the chest presses.

Learnings below:

• I don't have a ton of time to post to today, so you just get bullet points galore with some stupid pictures.
• I want to include these workouts in my marathon training cycle, but I also want to do total body two days a week.  I'm still working it all out.
• Oh, I'm going to run a little too in my next training cycle.  In case you think I forgot about that.
• Chest presses are better than push-ups.  But only by a little.
• Did you find the cat in that last picture?  I bet you did.

Tomorrow's workout: Some running.  Hoping for four miles with large dog if it's warm enough.