Packing a Diaper Bag and Getting Out of the House with a Newborn Might Be Easier.

Until I started training for triathlons-- or really that one sprint I did last year and the half iron man I am going to do-- I thought the biggest organizational challenge I had faced was getting out of the house with a newborn and 2 year old.

Inevitably something was always forgotten.Every morning was a mad dash around the house where I would change newborn diapers and outfits and put shoes on a 2 year old at least 3 times before I finally made it to the car.

Pretty much by the time Beau came a long I had figured out to just kept most essentials in my car. But even with that step taken care of getting 2 little kids out of the house and to the car was such a challenge that sometimes when I finally made it to the car and had everyone buckled in I would start crying. Tears of relief and also tears of frustration that something so seemingly simple could be so unbelievably hard.

Boy, I am glad that we are past that. But you know me. Apparently I like to make things hard in my life. Remember. I'm the person who finally got both kids out of diapers and immediately went and got a puppy.

At any rate I am not naturally the most organized of people. I am definitely not a list maker. I've tried all that but I feel like I am wasting time sitting down to make the list. Carmella though, every time I forget something, is there with her commentary of; "You know Mommy, you really should make a list. Then you won't forget stuff all the time."

7 years old and she already has the world figured out.

Carmella though, unlike me, is a list girl. She makes bazillions of list. She always has a notebook and is out there scribbling her lists. List of what they will do this week on what days. List of friends and all the people she knows. List of stuff she can do, wants to do, has done etc. Carmella is a list maker. I am not.

Though she is right. I probably should start making them. I should make them so that when I plan a big swim, bike, run training day I won't do dumb things like forget my running shoes. See the biggest challenge of training for half iron man so far (for me) isn't juggling the run, bike, or swim or the bigger training volume or avoiding injury. It is remembering all the crap that I need to run, bike, or swim.

So the kids are back in school and I hit the training hard this week. I really had a fantastic week volume wise. I wish I had the stamina and the time to train like this every week. But since I also have to do things like clean my house, do laundry, have energy to play with my kids and do the admin stuff for the business I can't train like this every week. And if tried to I think the only other activities I would get in would be eating and sleeping. Actually, maybe just sleeping.

Sunday: 43 mile bike ride with Steph, Leslie and David in Roswell. Legs were toast from the previous day's 21.5 mile run.

Monday: Celebrated kids back in school with an easy run of 5 miles on the Leita Thompson trail with Lola and then hit the pool for a 3000 yd straight swim. Nothing spectacular. 1:38 100yd avg. Hope to swim a bit faster at the HIM.


Tuesday: I tricked Neal into riding with me. I told him it would be close to 40 but it ended up being just over 57 miles. And it was hilly. We did most of the Roswell Mile High route. I think the ride is called that because it is over a mile of climbing. We also did some of the Steph and Nat easy Roswell ride. I tried to cut out one big hill but mistakenly turned down a road with an even bigger hill and Neal was like this one is worse! Oh well. We are stronger for it, right? He was great company.

After Neal and I parted ways I ran a 4 mile brick at an 8 min mile pace.

Wednesday: I planned this week to do a marathon cut back week in regards to the long run. I still wanted something longish so it had to be today. I wasn't so keen on running but I made myself suck it up. Wasn't the best but wasn't the worst and it was quite hilly: 16.6 miles at an 8:53 min mile pace. Eh.

Thursday: Easy day. No watch day. Run according to feel day. 7 miles on the Leita Thompson trail with Lola. I actually felt great. Had a really great run. Spent the rest of the day cleaning the house. Vacuuming up dog hair with the shop vac. I count that has a workout you know.

Friday: Little big day training. Suppose to be dress rehearsal, nutrition testing and figuring out my endurance. I had organized most of my stuff the night before and had plenty of time in the morning to get the rest of my crap together. I set up my little transition station on the passenger side of my car and tried to think of everything:
Goggles? Check!
Cap? Check!
Water bottles, Luna bottle, Gu, Cliff bars etc . . . Check!
Bike shoes? Check!
Favorite socks? Check!
Helmet? Check!
Gloves? Check!
Sunscreen? Check!
Glasses? Check!
Bike pump?
Id? Check!
Cell phone? Check!
Garmin? Check!
Change of clothes? Check!
Running shoes? Oops! whawhawhaaaa Game over.

I am such a bonehead.

I drove to the La Fitness near my house and swam a mile in 28 minutes. Little disappointed that my Zoot tri top has a bit of drag. Not sure what, if anything, I am going to do about that. I didn't have any chafing issues and other than the drag in the pool the outfit worked great. Sugoi tri shorts and Zoot tank, for the record. Very comfortable with great strategic pockets.

Transition was about 8 minutes.What? That's fast right?

Seriously, I had to walk from the gym pool all the way to end of the parking lot, pump up my tires and put on all my bike gear. Pretty sure I will be a lot faster in a tri. I mean, geez, at least I hope I am faster.

It was then that I realized I had forgotten my running shoes. It wasn't a huge deal. Just meant I had to drive home to get them and would have to run from there. So that kinda f'd up my bike run transition. Decided then that I would punish myself by running 3 extra miles.

I rode over to meet Doug. To my surprise he had organized my bike route. He's not controlling at all. Really. I didn't care. I was happy have one aspect of my day not to worry about. And, I was just happy to have the company. Ride was 36.3 miles at 15.8 mph. Again, I really hope I am A LOT faster in the HIM. I can only be so fast on the swim and the run. Bike kinda eats up most of the time so I need to try to work a little harder there otherwise I'll be out there for 2 days.

Doug and I parted ways and I drove home to my house. Changed into my shoes and hit the road for the run. I did not love this run. I had major GI issues and had to stop around 5 miles to use the bathroom. This is a huge problem. I NEVER have GI issues like that. I am hoping it is a fluke. I will not be happy if I have to stop during the HIM portion of the run. I will say that it was 87 degrees during the run and maybe I didn't have enough electrolytes. Or maybe it was the Cliff bar on the bike. I am thinking I will try some salt tabs and more Gu instead of a Cliff bar.

The run worked out to be 9.6 miles at an 8:38 pace. I know the South Carolina course will not be nearly as hilly as this run and hopefully it won't be as hot so I should be faster. Unless there are GI issues.

So it wasn't a perfect training day but that's okay. That is why it is called training. As I always say: better to struggle in training than in a race. I'll take everyday in training to suck if I can have a perfect race.

Saturday: 10 mile run on the Green way (read flat) trail: 7:49 avg pace. Good run. It was hot too. Amazing how just taking away either heat or hills makes a difference for me.

Week's Totals:
Run: 52 miles
Bike: 136 miles
Swim: 4,750 yds (not quite 3 miles)
190 miles for the week.

Oh, number of ice baths: Three. Funny how ice baths in the summer are so much pleasurable than in the winter.