Week 4 of 24.   POOF.  I have vanished.

I am back. Sorta!

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Things at work have been increasingly insane as I prepared to go “part-time” …interestingly, I have worked more hours this first week of  part time than I have  than ever being full-time. The amazing thing, though, is that I am able to work from the home office, take the kids to and from summer camp, and deal with things like pest control and painters.

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I can say this has been one of the happiest weeks of  my life despite it being busy.  I managed to nail some pretty key workouts.  I also managed to botch up a few.

Here’s the quick and dirty…

Friday – Kindergarten and Pre-K graduation!

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Saturday – I got lost on a 9 mile run. Had to call the Expert to come get me.

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Sunday  – I tried to ride my bike on the trainer for 3:30, when the Expert called me, with a broken down Honda Pilot. “You’re not going to be happy with this phone call,” he said.  I was 35 minutes into my ride.  

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And we had a ballet recital for the girl Swim Bike Kid that afternoon, after which we promised her hibachi in celebration.  I dragged the kids and retrieved the Expert—got back on the bike for 1:45 and thought, “Hell, another missed workout.”  Crap puts me in a bad mood. Bad.

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Ballet recital!

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Monday – My first official day of part time work from home.  Was awesome. Except that I worked about 11 hours and had a bad swim.

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Tuesday – I had to go into the office.  [Well, that working from home stuff didn’t last long.]  Okay, it was just for the day, but still crazy day.

Wednesday – Managed an incredibly difficult bike workout as prescribed by Coach Brett.  Woke up at 4:30 and was on the bike by 4:50.  Couple episodes of “The Good Wife”, Season 2, some lunches packed and the kiddos off to summer camp for the day, and I was back at my desk by 8:00.  WIN!

Sweat trough:
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Grandparents came to visit at 3:00.  First time they had been to Roswell to see the house, and I was thrilled to have some time with them.  You guys think you read this blog—THEY read this blog.  My grandfather goes—“Uh, you haven’t written anything in a while…”

Touche. I’m working on it, I’m working on it!

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Thursday – Swim. Work 11 hour day.  Wine and bed.

Friday – OOOOOH, that’s today!  That means I have caught up on all my blogging, and you are all well-informed. The End.

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So last night, I put out a Facebook status, requesting the nearest track to run… I had 9 miles to  put down before 8:00 today, and I really, really DID actually want to run 36 laps, listen to Eminem and have my feet just get it done. I am kind of funny that way–I crave the boredom of repetitive training.  I think it’s the nature of the day job I have–I spend so much time thinking that I really like the boredom of training days on the trainer, treadmill and the like. Mental toughness training.

So anyway, one of my local triathlon friends, Heather, messaged me:  “Let’s go run together.”

So there are three things you should know about ole Swim Bike Mom:

1)  I love peanut butter.

2)  My favorite beer is Stella Artois.

3)  I never (ever) run with anyone.  Ever.  Ever.

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I don’t even run with the Expert.

I run alone. Always.

I always choose to run alone for several reasons.   First, I am incredibly insecure about my pace.  I may be a decent swimmer, and I can put down a middle-of-the-pack 18MPH average bike on any given day… but I am painfully slow at any distance over 3.1 miles on a run.  I can’t really say that I am “slow” –because Coach Brett really has given this fat girl some good speed on the shorter distances.

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But for a long run, I know that I will be pacing 11:30-13:00 minute miles.

So when someone says, “Let’s run together,” I am usually not even polite about it. I say, “Nope. I don’t run with people.”

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One time I swam at the lake with Coach Monster and the girl I called Fish (mad fast swimmer)… afterwards, she’s like, “Let’s run together.”

I said, “No.”

She said, “Oh come on.”

I said, “No.”

She said, “Let’s go.”

And off she ran, somewhere pacing between an 8 or 9 minute mile.  “Give me a break,” I screamed after her.  “Go run, you crazy woman…I can’t keep up with that.”

And off she went.  And then I was mad because A) I KNEW I DIDN’T WANT TO RUN WITH ANYONE; and B) yet again, I was left to feel like the slow shitty runner I was (am).

I also really like the solitude of running alone. I like doing all sorts of things by myself–movies, shopping, running… Doesn’t matter. Strangely, I’m a bit of a loner sometimes.

So fast-forward to last night…

For some reason, I didn’t tell Heather my traditional “NO.”  I mean, I guess I tried to say “I’m slow” and all that, but then she said “See you at 6:00” and that was it.

Crap, I thought to myself.  I have to run with someone.  

Time to put on big girl panties. I mean, what was the worst that could happen… And my inner introvert was dying. What if I can’t run and talk at the same time – I mean, I have never really done that. I don’t THINK I can run and talk. What if I need to quit?

Heather and I met at a park in Roswell, and I asked her how far she was going. “Oh, I’ll run the 9 miles with you.”

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[By the way, Heather has run 40 or so marathons. WOWZERS.]

I was shocked. Was I really going to run for NINE MILES with someone AND without music? This was completely unfathomable to me.

We took off running and I’ll tell you, she was THE BEST running buddy I could have ever hoped for. We paced well together and walked here and there. At Mile 3, I was really tired and if I had been by myself I might have just quit. She led my directionally-challenged self the right way. I wasn’t feeling the greatest this morning after yesterday’s bike ride and lack of sleep—and there is just no way in hell I would have made the 8.7 miles (final mileage) without her.

I get it now. I really, really get it. We had a great time, and accomplished something together.

Totally awesome. THANK YOU, HEATHER! 🙂

Even old crabby Swim Bike Mom can learn new things and have fun. 🙂

10 Responses

  1. Great post!
    I had no idea Swim Bike Mom was crabby?!
    Great to here you found a great running partner. They can always get you through the tough times. It’s not easy to find a good training partner but when you do, it’s golden.

  2. Quick question — when you do long rides on the trainer, do you mix up the resistance or speed? Or just ride continuously for the entire time? I love the trainer — especially during the rainy spring and summers we’ve been having lately — but I worry I’m not getting the same level of training as I would if I was out on the road. Given your speedy bike pace, I figured your advice would be helpful! 🙂

  3. Wish I could maintain a middle of the pack 18 mph. I’m at a 15. So who care’s if you “run slow” you’re a heck of a cyclist and that’s what I’d like to be. Running is so hard on the body.

  4. Congratulations on making the transition to part-time. Hope the hours reflect that soon. Heh.

    I love your bike trainer set-up, too cute, girl.

  5. I am a slow runner. I am fit, I train a lot, I work Really Really hard. But I come from a family of short legged, slow runners. (28 inch inseam on the pants people!!) I get it. I always run alone. But a friend recently told me- you don’t have to be slow. You are physically able to run faster but your mind is holding you back. I meditated on that for a few weeks. I took two minutes PER mile off my 5 mile runs. Sometimes you just have to change it up & try something new! I am running my first “run only” race tomorrow. I am nervous. But excited. It is going to be good for me!! Have a great weekend 🙂

  6. (NOTE: I am old, slow and new to this!)

    Tonight I ran a 5K so my trainer could get a “fast” time on me. And I am like you, SBM, I run alone because I don’t really care to share with other people how incredibly pokey I really am. (I want to relish the looks I get from people when I tell them that I, Yes I, will be heading out for a 5K run today. They have no clue what my times are!)

    Anyway, I had a young, fast friend ask to join me. I wanted to say no. I wanted to keep my secret but for some reason I let it happen. As it happens my young friend is a coxswain. And a very very good coswain at that. She basically coxed my race! She ran beside me and when necessary she coached me, or became my cheerleader, or just became quiet so I could find a rhythm that worked.

    While at the end of the race I did not get to the time I wanted (mile 1 was a small miracle, but outside of that not good) I learned many lessons from this. And the first is not a new lesson but one that keeps getting repeated. This is my race. No one elses. My race. And when a partner comes along that understands that then I think that good things happen.

  7. I completely understand your reasoning for preferring to run alone! My running pace is avg 14:00 mile! I always feel like I’m holding people back when they stay my pace! But I have a wonder running partner that runs a 9 min mile! I enjoy running with her on occasion because she pushes me! But even in those moments when I’m at 14 and she’s well on ahead of me at her 9 ……there is something about being on the same course moving forward! I thank God for my running partner! She encourages me and leads me to move forward!

  8. I am with you on the running in solitude. I am a solid 11-11:30 per minutes runner for a half marathon pace. Am training with a new tri group and feel like everyone is faster than me. But the speed workouts are key so I just need to focus on that and not worry about everyone else. But I do like to do my long runs by myself. Keep up the good work on your IM training!

  9. I could have written the section on running. I just do it alone. I feel worse about my effort when I can’t keep up, or if I even feel I am holding someone back from being their best. 🙁 I look at it this way — I probably won’t be running with someone on race day, so it’s mental training too.

  10. Great post! You’re not alone, I prefer to run alone as well. When I do run with others I usually feel bad about myself cause I cant keep up or I feel like I’m ruining someone else’s run cause my pace is so slow.

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