Wha' Happened?

I just woke up. It was shortly after midnight. I'm next to a big dog, still wearing just my bike shorts and a Livestrong T-shirt. My wife probably caught me mumbling something about "vgexport" in my sleep. How'd I get here? Let's back track.

I'd love to say this was the direct result of a week's worth of non-stop ironman training. No holds barred, stick to the schedule, form perfect, another notch in my belt toward September. In fact it was almost the exact opposite. It all started Monday, with a great swim and an unscheduled, somewhat heavy legged run. Without making excuses, that run bled into my next morning's zeal for an immediate very hard brick. No worries, I'll do it at night. That run, ended up taking my week apart.

Most of the week I could blame on work, and more work, and even more work. When I wasn't sleeping I was working this week (and maybe a few hours in the middle of both). This is not a rant about work, only about my ability to organize my time as such. There will be longer work weeks. It's the gig. It pays for such things as crazy endurance races like Ironman. I blame that extra Monday night run. It was just begging me to take it and throw the week off balance.

After Monday, sans an real excuses, there are a bunch of big, ugly zeros in my training calendar. This weekend I worked a good 18 hours (mostly straight, without enough time to do my 3:30 bike on my one break). Then I ended up w/ 3 hours of sleep Sat morning. Nothing that one can take and turn into a good 3-5 hour ride as makeup. No gas. No mental anything. Just TV fuzz in the head.

Three to five naps on Sunday left me more rested, but still out of it.. I gathered enough gumption to head out on the fixed gear for an easy 25 miler. An hour and a half later, I was cold and tired. We made dinner. Then I went to lie down for a second while my wife read the kids books. The next thing I knew, it was midnight.

Deep breath. A glass of milk and some water. A quick blog update then shower, and back to bed. It is Monday, and I start fresh. Let's see if I can get last week's good swim back.

Rest of the week update:

• I got my confirmation letter for the super cool MACC fund ride pre-party.
• Put road tires on the fixed gear bike. My son helped. Ya know, in case I get crazy and take it to the 100 miler ride last minute.
  
• Healing vibes for DZ's Dad.
• And let us not forget why the world is right.. A brand spankin' new, hand made, custom bike was born.

As I look out over the coming weeks. I see some homework. Some 3-4 hour bike rides, back to back on the weekends.. Hopefully many well rested ones. I'm sure I will look at my mountain bike longingly at least once.. Good times are a coming. In spite of this week, things are looking up training-wise. And I refuse to give up my mantra. This IS my year. See you all out there.