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Interval Tuesday

I could not get out of bed this morning. I was physically stuck...well, half asleep when the alarm went off at 5:15am. I didn't have swim coaching on monday morning so I took that morning to sleep in until 8am. WOW-you know you are in need of sleep if you say you will sleep in and you end up actually sleeping 3 hours later than normal. Unfortantly, I was tired ALL day. I had class at 11-12:15 and a meeting at 12:30-2. Then home to study and I couldn't keep my eyes open. I took a power nap for 30 minutes around 4pm and spent the next hour after I woke up trying to think of excuses not to go to my 7-10pm global martketing class. I never ever skip class but I try to think of every excuse possible. Fortunantly (I guess) I never get sick (last time was June 2007, 2 days before the IG atlanta event I was signed up to do and 2 days after I returned from Las Vegas) and before that I can't remember. Maybe I had the sniffles or a sore throat. When I did my internship with Ironman in 2005 I had the flu. Ok, so I guess I am pretty healthy, a person with high morals and values and I am just so bad at lying. Therefore, I don't even try to lie....I am an open book and just 100% honest (hum...I think that is a good thing). So, I went to class and when I came home at 10pm Karel was up and had a lot of things on his mind. Instead of crashing and calling it a night, we both stayed up talking in our computer/bike room for about an hour. I would miss sleep for a talk with karel any night so it was well worth catching up with him. We cross paths a lot so good thing we have a trusting, supportive relationship. Anyways, 11pm I was in bed but I couldn't fall asleep. I didn't have anything on my mind (a good quote is if you have something on your mind when you are trying to go to sleep, just remember that you can't do anything about it until the morning. Write it down and clear your head) but I just couldn't fall asleep. Another important thing with training is that when you sleep, you need to have restful, sound sleep. It isn't like you can lay in bed at 10, fall asleep at 11:30, wake up at 1:30 because you are thirsty, wake up to the alarm at 4:30 and decide to fall asleep for one more hour and then expect to get up at 5:30am rested. You must go through several REM cycles to wake up feeling rested. That is why some people only need 5-6 hours of sleep because it is restful. I recommend 6-7 hours of sleep. :) Ok, so the alarm went off at 5:15am so that I could head to the Y and be on the treadmill at 6, do an hour of intervals, swim for 40 min to cool off and then clean up to go personal train someone. Well, it wasn't happening today. the alarm was re-set for 6am and after that went off, my plans changed. Running outside at 7am, wake up at 6:30am. Of course this isn't restful sleeping but I wasn't ready (or able) to get out of bed. This may not be typical marni but I have been super busy and I have more super busy days approaching...and my race season is starting this sat! So I finally woke up at 6:25 due to the smell of fresh coffee that Karel made when he got up at 6am. I was up, changed and drinking my coffee by 6:40 and out the door at 6:50. The weather was beautiful, I felt free out on the trail and I was totally enjoying my decision to skip the treadmill for the open road. That is, until I started my workout. I had a plan of the intervals i wanted to do today but since I had a long trail and many miles of scenery to keep me company, I knew i could push the limit this morning and stay focused without the monotony of the treadmill numbers. Todays workout was all on perceived effort and with the thought that I have the Iron Girl 10K on saturday in Clearwater 10 min warm-up, 5 min tempo (half marathon pace). Main Set 15 x 1 min ALL OUT with 30 sec. recovery jog-more like catch my breath so that my heart didn't explode out of my chest. Because I could hardly breath after each 1 min all out (around 5K pace), I took an extra 30 seconds rest (total 1 min) after a set of 5. I ran a total of 57 minutes and i knew this workout would go by fast. I did another 5 min. tempo after the 25 minutes of intervals and then ran with a comfortable pace (and good form) back to my place. I saw Karel on his bike as I was almost home and as I waved hi to him he kinda looked twice at me. yes, I probably looked like death. Well, I felt it in my heart an hour later but the legs felt ok. I think I am getting back into my anaerobic zones but I will need to continue training at a hard effort. I have Ironman Florida 70.3 in less than 2 months and I am looking forward to starting out my racing season this saturday at the Iron Girl 10k.
I am now studying for a Biology lab quiz and looking forward to my 3hour lab being over with at 5 so i can get to the pool and have a refreshing swim to loosen out my legs for tomorrow. Now this was a great Interval tuesday!