I'm still alive… but the weekend is dead.

What ever happened to sleeping in on the weekends? I don't have any kids yet. But I seem to have already given up my mornings this multisport monster. I can't remember the last time I got up at 4am on a Saturday and it wasn't a race day. And so my long weekend began. I headed over to VQ in Lake Bluff for a 5:30am indoor ride. The weather couldn’t quite make up it's mind as it was raining then snowing then raining etc… The 5:30 ride at VQ was full of people I've been swimming and riding with in the Taste of VQ classes. Robbie Ventura headed up the ride. As he was putting names into the computrainer I saw him lean over and ask someone what my name was. And I just spent 2 hours with him 4 days prior for the Performance Test! But that's ok, I don’t remember the last time he rode in the tour so I'll call it even. After he got my name in the computer he did remember that I had just signed on as a VQ member so he made the announcement to the group. I can already tell this was a great decision. The energy and camaraderie from my fellow VQ'ers is something I was missing in my solo training. We rode a similar course to Wednesday's ride. It was pretty brutal. Two main hills and five VO2 max efforts at the end. The VO2 efforts were really tough. I was well toasted by the end.

From there I went home and took a 5 minute shower. I barely got my dog to the vet in time for his appointment. My wife would have done this for me but she was out of town this weekend visiting family. After the vet appointment I dropped my dog off at home and headed out to Lake Forest for an 11am pool workout. All the driving was starting to effect my back. Dan Shelly was in Wisconsin running an Ultra marathon. I'm not sure which one. Hopefully he'll be back on Tuesday with some great stories. Karyn was substituting for Dan. She's a self proclaimed stroke-nazi which I love. Thankfully she went easy on the kick sets. But by the end of the workout my triceps were killing me as she had me really concentrate on my catch. I grabbed a protein shake from Robek Juice on the way home. Another quick shower and a lite lunch. I crashed on the couch just in time for the Yankee/BoSox game and was asleep before the middle of the first inning. I woke up somewhere in the 6th with my back screaming at me. The bike and the long car rides were taking there toll. I popped some Advil and watched the Yanks get beat. Dinner and off to bed early.
I was up early again on Sunday, 6am. Those extra two hours felt like and eternity. Thankfully my back started too loosen up after my wake up shower. I drove out to Lake in the Hills for a 10k. This race has been the start of my Spring racing season for the past few years. Again the weather was flip-flopping. The sun would peak out and then the snow flurries would fall. I can't remember the last time I saw snow on April 13th. The temps were actually perfect, around 35 degrees. This 10k course matches the town name. The hills are constant and often times steep. I met up with a friend of mine who had just run the St. Louis mary a week ago. I certainly wasn't ready for a 10k a week after I finished the Las Vegas mary. Under normal circumstances I'm sure he would had kicked my ass but I was able to pull ahead of him toward the end of the race. I finished 16th overall and 5th in my age group with a time of 44:14, one minute faster than last year's time. The 30-34 age group is just too damn competitive. My buddy finished 4 places behind my but placed 2nd in the 25-29 age group. I hope he hangs that medal proudly in his home cause that course can really beat you up. My calves are screaming a day later. After spending the winter on the trails and in the snow, pounding the pavement on those hills has left me pretty sore. Kind of hard to whine about it too much knowing coach Dan has a more legitimate reason to be sore.

After the race I spent the afternoon doing remodeling work on one of the bedrooms in the house. I spent around 8 hours sanding drywall mud and putting the first coat on primer on the walls ands ceiling. By the end my arms felt like 10 ton weights and there was dust in every every part of my body. I'm still sneezing it out even though I wore a mask. When you're that tired you kind of stop caring about whether you drip any paint on the carpet. Especially when you hate the carpet anyway. One more coat of primer tonight and then I'll have my wife pick the final color. I need to get this room done quickly since the weekends are really filling up fast with races and training events. And the yard will require more attention if it ever stops snowing!

So this weekend is dead and I am dead tired. This song by As I Lay Dying seems to fit the moment perfectly.

LIKE THOSE GASPING… FOR THEIR LAST BREATH
WE CANNOT HIDE… THERE'S NOTHING LEFT