Just another week...

Nothing really exciting to report this week – we’re all (save Loretta and Layne) in taper-mode and just making sure we can push out the mileage during our 202 miles across the state of Arizona, next weekend.

I will likely blog again tomorrow – as I have a pretty exciting workout planned and will probably share it.  These 3 day weekends make it impossible for me to figure out when to blog.

So, after my awesome 11 mile trail run, last Sunday, Matt and I got out for a nice, easy ride on Monday.   The rain-gods were on our side, because 5 minutes after we completed the ride, it decided to rain for the next 12 hours.  Naturally, by Monday afternoon Matt was planning the rest of our workouts for the week – his email to me said:
~7.5 mile run tomorrow (Tuesday)
~Easy Ride on Wednesday
~Thursday off – (but Masters Swim for me)
~Friday Moderate to Tough ride out Pecos Road – 18-20 miles
~6 mile run on Saturday – not pushing it

This all sounded good to me, of course – so like clock-work, on Tuesday at 5am Matt showed up and we pushed out a nice 7.5 miler through the foothills of Ahwatukee.  It feels awesome to be able to complete this particular run in 1:05 minutes – when this time last year I was always hopeful I could pull a 1:14.  Its CRAZY to think I have cut more than a minute per mile off my time in ONE YEAR!  I am so happy about it, too.  The morning was strangely cold and humid – since it had rained the whole day prior.  This explains the surreal effect of our hot-heads and cold/humid air in our blog-shot.

That's some crazy steam/fog we're creating.

Tuesday night I was invited to do Trapeze again with my Doc!  Erica and I had a blast – but it wasn’t my best night.  While it wasn’t caught on camera, I had a moment on my 4th attempt and my left arm dropped off the bar while swinging and attempting to bring my legs up over the bar.  Panicked, I didn’t think to simply drop into the net.  No – it scared me into pulling myself back up (after flailing all over the place by one arm) and re-catching the bar with my left hand/arm.  No one believed I could do it – and honestly, I don’t remember much about it.  However, I do remember being so relieved that I was alive.  My doctor kept saying, “I got ya, Mer.  You’re fine.”  He did – and THIS is why we wear harnesses, my friends!  And, I got right back up to try again.

That night Matt emailed me and said he needed Wednesday off instead of Thursday – which was a HUGE relief for me.  My body ached from stiffening up in trapeze and I needed a day to allow my body to fully recover.

Matt and I got our signals crossed on Thursday morning and I thought we were going out for an easy 12-15 mile ride, but Matt had an entirely different plan and completely kicked my ass for about 6 of our 18 miles out Pecos Road.  I was swearing and yelling at him.  He was pretty spent on the way back to the Park ‘n Ride, so I was able to hand his ass back to him for a bit returning to our starting spot.  All’s fair. (smile)

After seeing this picture, I immediately called for a hair-cut appt.

And, like planned (on Thursday), I got that easy ride on Friday morning.  I wasn’t able to hit my Masters Swim class at all this week – which is HUGELY disappointing – so I will make sure I am there on Tuesday night.

Yesterday morning, Matt had an allergy attack (and maybe one beer too many at our work retreat the evening prior), so I went out for a 7.5 mile run alone.  It was the same route we did on Tuesday and I was a little disappointed that I finished a few seconds later than the prior run.  Admittedly, I had a pretty awesome head-wind while climbing up the longest stretch of elevation gain, but still. (Sad face) I had no one to talk to, so my pace should have been better, I would think.  Alas.

And, I took today off to get some much needed personal projects completed.  However, tomorrow is another story…

…stay tuned!