Getting Stronger

I've been a total slacker about blogging. This is a really busy time of year in the Chaffin household. Matt and I are both ramping up the mileage for race season and the kids have baseball, lacrosse, swimming, and soccer. This is alittle insane but honestly I function better when I'm crunched for time. It has been interesting for me coaching myself. The best part about it is that I am way more relaxed about my training mentally. When I have a schedule in front of me I tend to get alittle anal retentive and I really freak out if I have to miss a work out-i stress and worry alot about how to fit it in. One of the benefits to going solo is that I find that I listen to my body a whole lot more. I was completely guilty of not being completely honest with my coach about how I was feeling. I was terrified to miss a work out. Now that I am winging it-if I feel like crap I just take it easy that day-no big deal-and when I'm feeling good I can lay down the hammer. For now, it is working. I'm fortunate to still be able to do a large amount of training with Kristen who always pushes me out of my comfort zone. One of the biggest changes I have made thus far is that I have been doubling up on my longish rides. 50+ miles on Monday and then 60+ miles on Friday. I'm alittle panicked that I have yet to do a century (hundy as Adam would say) with Placid less that a hundy days away!! There is time and right now my focus is Eagleman 70.3. On Monday I've just been riding at a relaxed pace-and the past few Sundays I have ran 20 or more miles so the legs are not all there on Monday! On Wednesday Kristen and I did a brick of 25 miles on the bike followed by an hour run. This was a total disaster for me as I was going on less than 3 hours of sleep after working the previous 3 nights in a row. I started the ride out and immediately got a terrible side stitch-the kind you get when you are running really hard-the kind I've never had on the bike! KRoe was hauling up a huge hill and every breath I took was so painful. When we got to the top she said, "You have a bloody nose!" I told her she should just go on cuz i was feeling like crap-the good friend she is she didn't wanna leave me with the nose bleed and all! The run wasn't much better but you know what-I got it done and it is miles in the bank. Some days that is all you can do. I know that it is all making me stronger!