Post-Vacation Vacation

Have you ever gone away on vacation or a trip and then when you got back felt like you needed a day or two at home just to get reorganized and ready for going back to your normal schedule?

EVERY TIME!

Maybe I should blame my pre-race planning, but it always takes me up to a week to get back in the swing of things once I get home from a big race.  It's not that I need the time to mentally switch gears or even unpack.  I just need time to prep everything for my normal day. 

I raced the HITS North Country Half on Saturday and spent Sunday with my mother and step father; it was my mother's birthday.  But after getting home last night at 7:00pm, I unpacked, got a quick snack, got caught up on emails, made a to do list for the next day, prepped a workout session for the following morning, and then finally gave in and went to sleep instead of staying up.  When I got up super early, I went straight to coaching, then went grocery shopping.  I came home, cooked, did half the dishes, did a quick clean of the car (that still smells from this weekend), and then got caught BACK up on emails.  I then wrote this post instead of jumping into my race report because I still need to clean my bike (it's making a weird noise I think is from the grime on the chain), fold two sets of laundry, shave, shower, make lunch and dinner for work later, finish the dishes, deep clean the bathroom, and then write up my HITS race report along with the long overdue report from IMLP training camp the previous weekend.  As you can guess, it's not all going to get done today!

No matter how well I plan, I always seem overwhelmed with daily chores when I return from a big race.  I guess it's back to the drawing board for the pre-race planning!

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Questions
`1.  Have you ever taken a day or two off from work after you return from a trip/race?

2. How do you plan for a vacation, trip, or the like? 


Dream.  Believe.  Achieve. 

Ironman Lake Placid Training Camp

This weekend I will be in Lake Placid getting a first hand view of what I'm in for in July.  This could be great or I could realize how much of a bad decision I made a year ago by volunteering for this race in order to sleep outside a gym and sign up for this year's race.  *sigh*  Only one way to find out!

There are some 20 members of my tri club heading up to swim, bike, and ride the whole course.  Some are training for Placid themselves and others are just using the training camp as a great weekend training for other races.  Or maybe they're scoping the course out before signing up; who does that?!

With my calf issues behind me (*crossing fingers*), and my hip adductor tension 90% gone, I'm excited for this weekend's training.  I won't make it up for the Friday evening short run due to work, but I'll make the Saturday/Sunday swims, Saturday's 112 mile ride, and Sunday's 13.1 mile run.  Woohoo!!  And the weather is somewhat cooperating thus far. 

Rain I can deal with.  Thunder & lightning might put a hamper on our activities.

I'm excited to see what the course is like and to test some new things out:

• More frequent nutrition intake on the bike.
• Greater Perpetum concentration on the bike.
• Half bottle of Coke at the end of the bike.
• Cruising the first bike loop and kicking up the second.

This puts me 5 weeks from Ironman Lake Placid and just one week from HITS North Country 70.3.  The pre-race jitters are starting to settle in from time to time.

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Questions
1.  Have you ever been to a training camp?
I've been to summer camp.  That's as close as I get.

2.  When's your next big race?
Ironman Lake Placid in just over 5 weeks.


Dream.  Believe.  Achieve.