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School is out for the Summer!!

Before I talk about my freedom from my books, I'll talk about interval tuesday and my wed workout.

Tuesday morning was great. I couldn't pass up the opportunity to see all my buddies at SwimFit at the Palm Harbor Y so I rolled out of bed at 4:40am (haven't seen that time for a workout in a LONG time!) and headed to the Y. I was shocked that the Y was completely remodeled since I had been there in May but I still had lots of great memories from my swim team and interval tuesdays. The swim started at 530am and we did a lot of drill sets of 50's. We finished at 6:30am with 2500 yards and I headed to the treadmill. Tony and Barb joined me on the treadmill as well as Joyce, who didn't plan on participating in my set. What troopers! We were all up for the challenge and with the Olympic distance tri at the end of the month I want to keep my speed training but work on the endurance. Here's the set:
Warm-up: 10 min at 7.6mph
Pick ups: 45 sec at 8.5mph, 15 sec recovery
Main Set:
2 x .5 miles @ 9mph (10K pace or what you'd like to run for a 10K)
3 min run (7.6mph) in between .5 miles
4 x .25 miles @ 9.8mph (5K pace or what you wish you could run for a 5K off the bike)
1 min recovery (7.7mph) in between each 1/4 mile.
2 x .5 miles @ 9mph
3 min run (7.6mph) in between .5 miles

7.3 miles in 50 min. Pheww...that was one hard run!


Wednesday morning I suprised my spin class with a hello as they were spinning away with their new teacher. Next time I will surprise them with one of my spin workouts, just like old times.
I headed to the treadmills at the Landsbrook Y and started a tempo workout at 5:40am. I ran 10 min to warm-up and did a series of pick-ups with some tempo intervals. With lots of welcomed interruptions of people saying hello to me as I am sweating on the treadmill, the workout went something like this:
10 min warm-up at 7.5 mph
5 x 45 sec at 8.5mph
5 min tempo at 8mph
5 x 40 sec at 9mph
5 min tempo at 8pmh
5 x 30 sec at 9.5mph
5 min tempo

I think I ran for 55 min and around 7.5 miles.


OK, so now about school. I am finished! What a relief! I can't believe I just finished 4 courses and my first summer of my dietetic program. I am not close to being over, with 3 more semesters to go, but what a relief to not have to study for a few weeks.
I've learned a few things from my decision to continue my eduction:

1. Education is NOT priceless. It costs a lot and that sucks. I have a little over $1500 more to pay to my parents after already giving them $2200 to cover some of my online dietetic program.
2. Life does not start until you have a degree. I was super ready to have a job, save money and enjoy the weekends when I finished graduate school. Now that I am back in school I can't save money for a house, I have to play with other people's babbies so that I can get over my thoughts that I am ready for a baby and the weekend means study study study.
3. A movie on a week night is the best way to de-stress. Karel and I usually watch a movie once a week and it seems to occur on a mon night. After studying all weekend, I enjoy spending time with Karel and putting my studying behind me.
4. School is not everything. Since graduate school, when my life depended on passing exams with a grade of a B so that I didn't have to retake a course, I have learned that school doesn't have to run my life. Where I use to spend 8-10 hours a day studying, in addition to late nights of falling asleep to cardiovascular physiology and a pile of research articles, now I focus on good sleep, training, spending time with karel and balancing it all with studying and completing my assignments. It is all about time management and as stressed as I get, I know there will always be another day so long as I don't procrastinate.
5. Jobs and school. Besides graduate school when I was a graduate assistant for research and lab work, I never worked during school. In undergrad I swam part-time hours, at least 18-20 hours a week. There was no time for a job when I studied all the time and had swim meets almost every week for at least 3 months straight. I worked my butt off in the summer to have some money but just going to school seemed to take up so much of my time. Now that I have to make money in order to just live, I find that my sports nutrition consultations, articles, videos and talks keep me grounded. My "jobs" which take up most of my time (when I'm not studying or training) confirm why I am going to school. I am so passionate about nutrition and it is nice that I can finally be in school for something that I know I will continue as a profession.
6. School has made me a better athlete.. When I'm in school, training is a big relief from studying. It is no question to wake up in the morning and not get excited to train. Looking forward to the next day's workout is a great motivator to get as much stuff done as I can during the day so I can get a good night's sleep and feel energized for a morning workout. My workouts are quality workouts since I have no time to piddle around with quantity/volume. Also, I have to prioritize my races so that I can do a race a month and actually focus on it as a key race. I don't really believe in A,B and C races (mostly because races cost money and I have to do well to make use of the moeny) so I use my time management and discipline to get ready for races just like I don't procrastinate for school.

Well, enough about that. I should just get off the computer and relax. Well, until tomorrow when I catch up a million "job" stuff that I have put off this week to prepare for my last week of school.
Just one more day to this week and then Karel and I will be enjoying ourselves at the Jacksonville Cycling Classic! Road race for both of us and perhaps, i will also race on sun.