Ms. MIA is Back

Wow. I'm a fairly busy person in general, but these last few weeks have been uber crazy! I think this is the longest I've gone without blogging. I play a tricky life game of juggling "to-do's" with the "I-want-to-do's," and lately the to-do's are dominating (I consider blogging a to-do, but it's a bottom-of-the-lister). While I've been MIA in blog world, so much has happened, and I don't even know where to begin. Hmmm, how about a little timeline recap...

-End of April: Spring Break No. 2 a la Zoot for the modeling gig. I'm a good student, but it wasn't hard to respectfully "ditch" school for a week+... professors totally understand. Work load piles up in my absence.

-Minor setback post Xterra 17k: Lingering pain/soreness in L calf that keeps me from running. Good thing I'm occupied with cute zoot clothes, shoes, accessories, etc.

-News flash: Modeling is HARD! No joke, it's arguably more tiring than a lot of my training, as is the driving back and forth to SD 24/7 (2,000+ miles in 2 weeks!). Stay with a friend in SD some of the time; that helps.

-Realize I need an iPod back in my car. Radio sucks. I officially now hate that "Beautiful girl" song!

-Logging in too many 5 a.m. wakeups, ew. Rest begins to suffer... wearing myself down... but loving every second of it...

-Um, hey tawn, while you're in la-la land, don't forget: you're still a coach, a freelance writer with deadlines, triathlete-in-training, accountable for homework even when not at school and a person who needs to unwind. Craving a home-cooked meal, some wine and peace & quiet!

-Couple R&R hours at the beach. Consider it therapy.

-Buy a Macbook Pro. Need to be able to comfortably work while on the road... my old dinosaur laptop is like carrying a toddler around.

-More motivated to work with shiny new laptop.

-Training is still going very well, but not according to the plan... fewer hours available so quality over quantity. Schedule is constantly being modified. Not stressing it. Having built my endurance base, I do more high-intensity/speed endurance work aka ouch but with more rest. Not going to argue most rest in the plan if it means coming back stronger!

-Calf starts to back to normal after a week-ish.

-Log in some of my best bike rides of 2010 to-date... Nothing over 60 miles at a time, but all 100% quality riding.

-Pay a visit to old 6 a.m. master's swim group with my original coach. Love playing catchup; same crew still there. Hard set.

-Food. Lots.

-Back south for more Zoot fun... outdoor shoots from Balboa Park to Encinitas and beyond. Long day. Lots of running in circles. Literally. Still in la-la land.

-I should be swimming more. I love cycling.

-I need a nap.

-Oh crap: I'm signed up for Wildflower oly! Make last-minute call (like 2-3 days prior) to sit this one out and take care of my workload, tired body, etc. Not an easy call to make. I shed a tear. Thought process/how my mind works: WF was never an A race to begin with, and it feels wrong to sneak away for tri fun with a deadline for Triathlete Mag on May 1, a group project meeting May 2, a thesis lit review to write, finals approaching, a calf on the mend and a body saying "please keep it mellow, chick!"

-Fro yo big time with the big cup. Aka more therapy.

-Good call on WF. Wrap up weekend feeling fresh and charged up for once instead of feeling run down and in need of recovery. Result: quality work gets done on all fronts. Feel caught up. Sigh of relief.

-Get in more swimming... 12k in six days. Not too shabby.

-Pain free tempo run. Success.

-Lower-body plyo + strength workout. Aggravate calf. crap.

-Analyze training log. Yup, quality still rules over quantity. Biggest training week in last month is 14 hours. Not a lot of LSD leisurely weekend rides with coffee shop breaks in my world.

Wrapping it up:

Focused: school is top priority thru next week/finals. Writing my Lit Review for the thesis is daunting to say the least. And that group project I mentioned earlier--we have to design a year's worth of training for a football player. Legit, detailed, day-to-day training on Excel spreadsheets with pictures, explanations of why this why that, etc. Challenging given my specialty is in aerobic endurance sports!

Excited: Get a little break from work-mode for local tri fun at the Bonelli Tri #2 this Sunday (distance is little less than an Olympic).

Content: As of right now, Monday morning, I feel appropriately thrashed from a hard week of training with an even more awesome weekend that included some key half-Ironman efforts, the best batch of white sweet potatoes ever from Henry's, lots of ice, coffee, compression, computer time, solo time and some relaxing girl friend time over mexi & wine. The calf? Still doing rehab (on my own) and seemingly on the mend. All runs last week were pain free, and only a minor setback from the plyo workout. Hm.

Hm, I'm leaving out so much.... My sister on a bike + car with panicky sorority girl = accident, bang! (she's ok; one tough chick!). My fast mom and her swim competition. My dad who's becoming quite the runner and the world's best son to my dear grandparents. Someone who is making me smile a lot lately....

Next post will have more pics & more on the Zoot modeling experience, promise! For now, got to get to it!