Slacking Off

The Hellhole Ride (see post below) left me completely toasted. I'm beginning to wonder if I'll ever be recovered. I took Monday completely off, something I hadn't done in 2 weeks. No weights, no swimming, nothing. I felt like absolute crap Tuesday, leaving me wondering if days off are a bad idea. Maybe swimming and/or weights on a day off isn't such a bad thing? Helps move blood to the muscles? I'm only sort of joking here. I hate days off.

I swam Tuesday morning. The first half was crap. So much so, I almost got out and called it quits. But after 1,000 meters or so, I suddenly felt wonderful. Feeling wonderful after feeling awful spirals on itself, making you feel even more wonderful. Like a superstar. First, the mindset is: I suck, I can't do this, this sucks, I hate this, I want to give up. But you stick with it. It starts getting easier. The time/lap starts shrinking. Then, the mindset shifts: I'm AWESOME. I'm a SUPERSTAR! I'm swimming like AMANDA BEARD! This is SO MUCH FUN! I want MORE! Complete opposite. Again, I'm reminded of the highs and lows you go through in an Ironman. Yet another reason to keep on pushing when you feel pain...the exquisite wonderful ecstasy that follows when the pain subsides and numbness sets in.

Tuesday's night workout was a spin session on the trainer. Time Trial Special 2.0 a'la Spinerval DVD. I got on Torch. Ouch. I started warming up. My legs hurt. I started doing the workout. Waiting for my legs to feel better. They felt like cement blocks. Coach Troy was yelling to "Push it! Harder! Harder! This is an ALL OUT!" I shouted at him to go *F* himself. I HATED him. Stupid Coach Troy. What did he know? Stupid Spinervals. Stupid trainer. It had been 20 minutes. My body wasn't responding, and the all time mental dive wasn't worth it. It was time to call it (gulp) quits. Reluctantly, in full pout mode, I got off the trainer, went inside, doled myself out a huge sundae (Dreyer's Peanut Butter Cups---OMG--It is SO GOOD!), and sulked.

Today, I'm still sore and tired. But I was able to do my workouts. I was actually looking forward to doing them, and after a looong warm-up, able to produce some good quality power. I did some light weights, taking care of my flared-up knees and laying off my aching hamstrings. Followed it up with an 8-mile (hot and humid) run. Was pretty slow but felt good to get it done. Tonight, round 2 on the trainer. This time, Rachel and Torch won the battle against Coach Troy. Take that! Sometimes, it's smart to surrender one workout to come back the next day and actually recover.

I leave you with this:
Chip--the rapidly growing wild baby bunny that visits our backyard every evening. I discovered him while I had my biblical sinus infection, and he's been my guardian angel ever since. And, yes, he's adoreable.