I'm a MANIAC!

I have been a MANIAC lately. It is only Wednesday and I have run 16.5 miles, swam 1/2 mile, and biked another 3.5 (after a little strength training and 15 minutes elliptical warm-up). What has gotten into me?

The Run:

Remember I told you about my skirt twin at the last 5k? Well, like any normal person stalker, after I looked up the results, I Facebooked her. And guess what? She accepted me as her friend! Yay! I was excited to meet a chick that could potential become a running partner. On Sunday, she FBed a question that I could NOT turn down responding to: "Great running weather - anyone up for 10 miles later?" And as you know Sunday's I am happily busy with church related things, so I responded, "Wish I could today!!!" which started us setting up a plan to run 10 miles on Monday (since she was off - yeah, some people actually have jobs).


Anyway, I met BigC and decided to show her a "trail" around Rockville. I should have mentioned that Sunday when she wanted to run, it was 50 degrees. By Monday afternoon, it was cold (like low 30s) and we would soon find out how windy it was out there. The trail was more than 10 miles, but we seemed eager. It was so much fun getting to know someone. Don't get me wrong, I love those quiet miles with Bob and TriGuy as we just listen to our breathing and footsteps, but we had a lot to cover... I barely knew how to pronounce her name and we had a lot of miles to figure it out. Running with BigC helped me realize that I am in no way a seasoned runner. She has 2 marathons and over a dozen half marathons under her belt. She is currently training for a 120 mile relay race in NO and two 1/2 marathons in the Spring. WOW!

I also should note that she told me her long run pace was around 9:20, well, she LIED! I think we clocked 4 miles under 9. Our average for 10.3 was 9:07. Not sure who pushed who, but it felt great. And maybe I haven't scared her off and she will want to run with me again. We did end up walking up a large hill because with the wind in our faces, we felt like we were standing still... so total mileage was (11.8).


I got home around 12pm... praying that BigC wasn't frightened away by my motor mouth and was still cold. I hoped in the shower and stayed there for 30 minutes. It felt great.


And I should have told you that on Sunday after I made plans to run with BigC, Bob texted me to see if I wanted to run on Monday as well. I couldn't turn him down, so I was dressed in my other cold gear outfit (although I could not find my other gloves, so I wore snotty gloves from my morning run) and met him at 2pm. We ran 6.2. It was warmer (at least the sun felt warmer), but the wind was still there. Our average pace was 9:28. Not bad.


I came home and opted for the 20 minute shower to warm up. It felt good to run 16.5 miles on a Monday.

The Swim:

Since 16.5 miles on Monday was A LOT - I decided to make Tuesday a swim day. My goal was to just swim for 30 minutes. I was feeling good and my breathing was good and I ended up swimming 36X50s. Most I did freestyle but I had to switch to breast stroke when I was tired. After a while during freestyle it seemed like I was swimming without even thinking - effortlessly - that was NICE! I did not even push off of the sides. TriGuy alerted me to the fact that in an open water swim, I would not get that extra push every 25m... which makes TONS of sense... but I never thought about it.


In the lane next to me,  was this chick who was older but apparently timing her splits (a dead giveaway was her staring at the clock and then taking off). Each time she did this, no matter how far ahead of me she was, I HAD to race her. Even though I beat her EVERY time, it stunk because I just hate to lose. It wasn't a race, but I was breathing so hard and I do not even think she noticed that I was racing her... which stinks even more. LOL! It felt good. I felt strong in the pool.

The Bike: 

Even though I swam I went to the gym for a little strength training. I did a warmup on 15 minutes on the elliptical, did some shoulders, a little core and then hit the bike to get a little more cardio. After 5 minutes, my legs were screaming... calves were tight. After 10 miles and 3.4 miles, I decided to give up. My legs were tired!

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Last night I could barely sleep due to cramps in my legs. I decided that today would just have to be a REST day and it has been. I did punish my abs/core for my legs restlessness last night and do you know what... it still hurts to laugh! I LOVE it.


Come back tomorrow for a little announcement. I know, you hate waiting.... well, you will just have to come back -- take a guess in the comments and if you get it right, I'll send you a little something!