Normal

So after Rev3 Florida, my coach presented me with the biggest challenge yet. He told me to be "normal" for 7-10 days. Normal!? For the seven days I managed to do nothing. By Thursday I was itching to swim or hit up a yoga class but I convinced myself I could wait a few more days. For the first seven days I did a whole lot of nothing and I can tell you first hand I did not like it. Several days I stayed late at work to finish up a couple of cases. Staying late at work, meeee? Ugh. On the days I did not stay late I ended up sitting in rush hour traffic at prime time when I could run the three miles home faster than I could drive. A couple of mornings I actually dried my hair with a blow drier and even styled it if you call brushing it into place "styled." I did more cooking at home having prepared breakfast, lunch, and dinner for the week in advance saving my meals out for more "special" occasions. I casually stopped into a store after work to buy shoes, twice! And to top it all off I even did a shot of Tequila. It took me about 15 minutes to gather the courage but I did it. Being normal is abysmal.

But on the flipside, without a long bike ride to do, I did get a chance to spectate and cheer at the Thunder Road Marathon here in Charlotte. I hopped on my sweet purple and green single speed (courtesy of the Caamanos) and rode over to meet Ross and Tim at the Starbucks on East Blvd. After a brief moment to caffeinate, we rode down to the run course just as the lead runners came through. We cheered for a bit and then rode off to catch up with the man of the hour and new dad by just a few hours, Johnny Scoots. I can tell you, without a doubt, no one had an entourage quite like Scoots. 

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I think I ended up riding about 2 hours Saturday so I decided to take Sunday off. Oh yeah, it's like that! When Monday morning rolled around I was eager to hit the pool. I was eager to do pretty much anything (expect maybe run a marathon). I told myself I would just go and splash around. I also told myself I would not lead the lane and I would not work hard. I can tell you from the bottom of my heart that I tried. I really tried but I slowly made my way up to the front. We ended up doing some speed work and a 100 for time. I gave it a good effort and surprised myself with a :57 which is fast for me. My lack of sprint speed in the pool has been a huge weakness all summer. It was nice to finally find some speed. It only took a week of taper and a full week of recovery. Geez.

Tuesday I decided to hit up Moga Charlotte for a session of deep stretch work. I have heard lots of great things about Moga in the community so I am really interested in trying out some of their classes. On Tuesday mornings they offer a $5 deep stretch session and I figured it would be a nice way to ease in to it. Wrong. There is no easy way to relax into a deep stretch when it is 6 AM and you have done no stretching for months. I was shocked by my lack of flexibility but it ended up being a nice practice in letting my expectations go.

Wednesday I was back in the pool and fighting the urge to do sneak in a second workout. Maybe a run? Just a nice little short run? I didn't sneak in anything but some couch time.

Thursday morning I went back to Moga. My experience Tuesday was good enough to go again. The class was again at 6AM but I felt so much better than I did two days before. I ended my Thursday with my first Thai Yoga massage. It was incredible and I am eager to share more about the experience. It combines a little bit of stretching with a little bit of body work. It was intense and I hope to sometime soon to blog in detail about my experience. I felt great after the massage but when I got into the pool Friday morning I felt a little off. In swimmer's lingo, "my feel for the water was off." My stroke count seemed to have decreased and I felt a huge pause between each stroke. My approach to my turns was awkward as I would take my last stroke a little too far from the wall and I was forced to kick it in. I dunno if I was feeling fatigued or just really well stretched but I definitely felt different. Luckily, by the time the main set rolled around, I was feeling better. Good thing because the main set just might be my new favorite:

10 times through of the following:

100 on 1:10

50 on 1:10

James actually mentioned the set to me earlier in the week. Apparently he did a similar set about this time last year. Not willing to be left out of such awesomeness, I jotted the set down and I may or may not have casually dropped the set into the lap of Johnny Tango. Despite feeling "off" I was swimming really well and holding a pace faster than what I thought I was capable a month ago. Granted I do not get very many opportunities to swim well rested but at least I am enjoying it while it lasts. I topped my Friday off with a slow vinyasa class at Moga and planned my weekend around a nice and easy bike ride behind the airport.

My attempt at a video ended up in this picture so enjoy. 

Ahhh, now I feel normal again . . . . (sorta).