Balancing....

I know that completing 140.6 miles in one day sounds like a lot...and it is..but what is harder for me is balancing training with life in general. I do work, granted about 25-30 hours a week, but I go to work everyday like most people and throw in two dogs, married to my best friend (who I actually like to see on a regular basis) and friends etc....training at this point is longer and it's just going to get more difficult.

Unfortunately, this time of year things get put by the wayside, much more than laundry or walking the dogs, but my emails to friends become shorter, my availability to hang out is less and my ability to stay up late and socialize is growing thin.....I am just short of 9 weeks out, so not much longer, but a friend of mine mentioned tonight that racing the shorter distances allows time for more of a balance in life and I kind of tend to agree.

It'll make the finish of my second Ironman all the more sweeter knowing that ok, so I didn't "sacrifice" like my first born child or anything, but yeah, i've definitely given things up in order to make sure my training is solid and I have a great race. I can walk away knowing that i've definitely put in 110% and probably then some. I re-read my race report from last year in Florida and I laughed to myself because I alluded to something in there about "wondering if I can go faster." Well, here I am exactly a year later and i'm trying....really hard to work my butt off and go faster.

I know 9 weeks doesn't seem like a long time, but in that 9 weeks i've kind of passed up on opportunity to go with Dave to Mexico to do humanitarian relief at a hospital (I can go and just help out).....my 30th birthday is probably going to be the lowest of celebrations ever.....thankfully i've already celebrated with my 2 best friends earlier this year in Chicago and my other friends and I have "toasted" some glasses of wine when I was back in Virginia, and thankfully i'm not a big "it's my birthday," type person. I'll be honest, as much as i've grown to know people in San Diego, I miss my friends back east a lot and I had a blast catching up with everyone, so that in and of itself was a gift, that i've been able to maintain some solid friendships while living on the left coast.

So......without further ado, my track results from tonight =0
800 (2 laps)-3:21
1200 (3 laps)-5:03
800-3:22
1200-5:06
800-3:22

All between a 6:36-6:45 minute pace thank you very much.....solid and my legs feel great! Tomorrow is a 60 minute swim, easy 30 minute run and easy 60 minute ride. But, I won't get to comfortable because i've already looked ahead to the weekend and it's basically looking like this:

Sleep, eat, bike, run, eat, bachelorette party/dinner, sleep, swim, bike, run, eat........you're jealous aren't you?