Exhausted

Giving a Sadface Selfie after pulling out
of the Miami Man Speedway HIM

    On the days when I happen to get home a bit early from court, I'll run into the bedroom an lay down on the bed for a few minutes and just stare at the ceiling. "Fifteen minutes until I get up and change to go run" I tell myself. I don't turn on the TV, I don't take a nap, I just law there and stare. You would think that I never get back up again...but somehow, I always make it happen. To some extent, I'm almost torturing myself. Getting up from a nice comfy bed after a long day of work is mentally painful. But, getting to enjoy even just fifteen minutes of nothingness, makes that pain worthwhile.

    It's really freaking hard to be a full-time attorney, a triathlete training for an IM, a girlfriend, and a parent to some pets. Between work, training, and a commute that can be anywhere from 1:30-3.5hrs round-trip, there never seems to be enough time in the day for anything else (just ask my boyfriend who I just abandoned for 5hours on a weekend to go do a never=ending trainer ride). People frequently ask me how I manage the super long work/training days. And, I always tell them: "you have to get used to being exhausted all the time." After about 20 years of competitive swimming, I'm about as used to it as you can get (I remember the days in college when I would run home from class and jump into bed and set my alarm for just 10 minutes so that I could take a "nap" before practice). But even being used to used to it, it doesn't mean that it doesn't still wane on you over time.

    So why am saying this? So that you can think I'm crazy? No.

    I'm saying this to make myself (and maybe some others) perhaps feel a tiny bit better about their own daily struggle against the clock. And to maybe find some solace that you're not alone in being exhausted every minute of every day. Having a lot of full-time activities on your plate is very hard work (godspeed to those who have kids to add to the list). And all we can do is to try our best.

    And, since my website/race updates are not really anywhere on my "Must Accomplish" list...here is my super abbreviated race reports from the last 2 races:

St. Anthony's Triathlon (Oly): 

Day before the race: Car broke down on the way to the race and my orbitz hotel happened to be a LGBT bondage, orgy hotel. So, I would up struggling last-minute for both a rental car and a non-orgy hotel that still happened to have available rooms (debatable whether or not the Knights Inn I wound up staying at could also be classified as an orgy hotel). There was also a decent amount of stressed-out crying involved throught the day that gave me a monster headache and caused me to venture out to a gas station for advil around 3:30am.

Race Day: Race could have gone better BUT, given the awfulness of the day before, the race could have gone much worse too. Solid swim (BIG BIG fan of my new zoot sleeveless wetsuit). Solid bike. Cruddy run. In all, not where I was hoping to be. But nothing to be too angry about either.

Miami-Man Speedway Edition (HIM): 

Day before the race: Was feeling pretty good but was having issues with my back breaks rubbing against my race wheel. Got it checked out in the afternoon and thought I had the issue solved (gotta get this checked out again).

Race Day: Had some stomach issues which prevented my from hydrating/eating on race morning. Hoped that I would feel better if I could make it through the swim portion. However, the 'lake (I use this term very loosely) was very warm and took a lot out of me despite taking the swim very very easy. Wound up cramping in my thighs almost immediately on the bike. I tried to stick to my nutrition/hydration plan but just couldn't get my legs to stop cramping. Debated pulling out of the race through the entire first bike loop (the last thing I needed was to pull a muscle on this "B" race when I've already spent so much time/money on Challenge AC at the end of June). Wound up pulling out of the race part-way into the second lap before I was so far into nowheresville Florida that I couldn't get immediate help if I needed it. In all, just wasn't my day to shine.