I Was Born This Way: relaxation isn't my thing

What. You don't think I know who Lady Gaga is? Just because I'm old doesn't mean I am totally living in the past. I actually think that chick can sing, even if she steals some songs from Madonna, like "I Was Born this Way" which is a pretty good running/jogging/dancin' tune.

So my 70.3 was over on April 10. You would think I would be slurping up the easy days off this month afterwards, reveling in coming home to dinner on time, sleeping in on Sundays rather than getting up at 5 or 6 to crank out a long run, working in the yard on Sat afternoons rather than going for a 3 hour bike.

Well, I am. Sort of. A little bit. I'm also restless and bored and SO looking forward to starting training again on Sunday for my first full marathon, as well as continuing to train for shorter triathlons along with Patient Spouse, who has now elected to kick it into his own higher gear of training. I miss some of the push and pull of hard working out. If I wasn't Born this Way, I have apparently now Become This Way, which isn't nearly as interesting a song title.

Since the 70.3, I have probably worked out 2-4 days each week at my own pace, often without wearing a watch. I went for an 1100 yard swim Wed the 13th, took a gentle 3 mile run on Tuesday the 19th (this was kind of a check up run; wanted to see if anything hurt or fell off; fortunately, nothing did either way), went for another 1100 yard swim on the and added 4 sprint 25's to the end just for grins; went for a 5 mile easy run (no watch) on Good Friday morning, joined Patient Spouse for a quick 14 mile bike ride on Sunday after church, and last night joined Patient Spouse in a fairly easy interval run for an hour (10 minute warm up, 2 minutes hard and 2 minutes walk for 5 times, then 1 minute hard, 1 minute easy jog, 2 minute walk for 5 times, then a 10 minute cool down jog). Tonight I plan to go to spin class for about 45 minutes and tomorrow night another swim....but I WILL take Thursday, Friday, and Saturday off, unless I decide to get up Friday morning for a quick 4 mile easy run.

On Sunday, Coach Claire comes back to me with a Plan for (a) getting across that marathon finish line and (b) helping me shave some time off my sprint triathlon times. Patient Spouse and I met with her this past Saturday to get some pointers on our swim form and our running form. She gave me excellent tips on my arm position during the pull portion of the swim (they are too straight) and also during my run (doing too much crossover in my arm swings).

I'm also focusing a bit on some strength training; doing planks and pushups more than before since I have the time and it doesn't take long to toss down the mat and do these at home.

Our next race is in June; there is a sprint tri in McKinney and although it will be warmish here in June (like, in the upper 90's), I think we can manage to get through it without wilting too badly. I'd like to see myself hit the podium on one of these sprint tris one day, but I may have to wait until next year when I gracefully edge into the 55-60 age group. Right now I'm competing against 49 year olds which is tough, but then again, I'm pretty tough too. You just never know.

Patient Spouse may also be hearing the siren call of his own 70.3 goal. If so, next year, we'll be gearing up for another one; perhaps Austin or Florida in fall of 2012!