A Long, Sick, Hectic Week

So much has happened since I last posted.

Peanut was pretty sick for about 10 days. Fever for four, sore throat, coughing and fatigue the rest of the time. She finally started feeling like herself on Thursday. So, because there was the BIG (name of the gymnastics gym/team) on Saturday and Sunday, she practiced Thursday and Friday night.

I could tell she wasn't 100%, and told her not to expect too much at the competition. True to form, it was a tough meet for her. She only placed on one event (bars, traditionally her worst), and didn't place in the all-around, which is very unusual for her. But so like her, she was not at all upset, had a great time, and went back on Sunday to watch the rest of her team compete. (They had to split up the levels over the two days because there were so many teams/girls entered.)

The meet was a huge success. J, who was also really sick the entire week, worked his rear end off all weekend. He was there the entire time, including Friday night setting up. The meet was held at Lyons Township High School, so it wasn't a long drive, which was really nice. He had to go to work today, sick and all, but I think he plans to take a day or two off this week to get better.

R-man worked concessions at the meet on Saturday--I should have left him home in bed. He now has what Peanut had--fever, cough, sore throat, fatigue. For once I'm glad they have off school today for a crazy holiday. He HATES missing school, and I'm hoping he can go back tomorrow. He's still running a low-grade fever and feels crummy.

As for me, I worked on Saturday entering scores for the Floor routine judges. If I was disheartened regarding judges/judging before, now I'm even more convinced that this sport is crazy when it comes to scoring. I watched and heard how they arbitrarily came up with many of the scores. They were really tough on the girls, especially in level 6. They were also judging level 8, and were so much more generous in their scores. They did talk about how difficult the level 6 routine is, and how there are many places to take points off the score. Anyway, I NEVER want to work with judges again, that's for sure.

As for the team, two of the levels took first place, and the rest, including level 6, finished in second place. I think it was tough competing in your own host meet, kind of like a sports team playing at home during playoffs. Many of the kids worked or were at the meet the entire weekend. Lots of stress and excitement doing this the first time. Not many of our gymnasts had "great" meets, but that's OK. They all had fun.

Thank goodness I haven't gotten the "sickness", at least not yet. I'm trying to get enough rest. I cut way back on my workouts last week. Three of the days I only swam. The good news is I actually RAN on Thursday. There was some walking/jogging involved, but I managed five miles in about an hour. My joints were sore the next day--not used to the pounding, especially at this time of the year. Hopefully I can run a couple times this week and work my way up to a regular routine.

Last night I sat down and added up my workouts for January and February. January was crazy, but February was much more where I want to be. Since I don't know when or if I'm going to race this summer, there's no need to burn myself out now. Also, I will finally admit that I should have taken time off after Louisville. I didn't, and I now know that it was a big mistake. One more lesson learned from ironman racing.

January Totals:
Swim: 47,500 meters
Bike: 590 miles (all on trainer)
Run: 0 miles (all on treadmill!)
Strength/Core: 18 hours
Total Time: 81 hours

February Totals:
Swim: 33,000 meters
Bike: 417 miles
Run: 5 miles (YEAH!)
Other Cardio: 6 hours
S/C: 15 hours
Total Time: 66 hours

I'm going to try to stick to my half-iron training plan as much as possible this month. Today calls for a swim only. I'm going to also do some strength training.

Hope everyone survived February. It's March, which means we're closer to June, when it really starts to warm up around here.

Until next time--God bless!