Gearing up

Here it is Monday again. I'm not sure if the weeks are going by fast or going by slow. Really all I can do it take one day at a time right now. Gets too overwhelming to look further down the road.

Spring fever is here in Chicagoland. Temperatures are slowly rising and the clock has sprung ahead. We have dealt with a ton of rain last week and no sun. This week hopes to get better. Even hitting the 60's mid week. Of course with a week of dry partly sunny days you get cold partly rainy weekends. This is not good as I have my first race of the season on Sunday. Illinois hardest 1/2 marathon.......Cary March Madness. Who says we don't have hills? This race brings out some of the fastest runners in the area. Boston bound runners who are gearing up for the marathon next month. Since this course is loaded with hills it is a perfect predictor for how they will do in the marathon. Then there is me, a back of the packer who knows the area inside and out and wonders why do I do this to myself? It's my father's fault. I'll just blame him. He lives right in the town it's held and it's just too convenient not to run it. I have no goals other to finish and not to be in too much pain. Pavement and hills are a horrible combination for someone with severe shin splints.

So Monday means spin and swim, right? Wrong. Here we go again. Lap pool is closed today. Can't even see to the bottom of the pool. Gross. The club needs to get their act together and figure out what's wrong with it. Maybe it isn't filtering properly. If by chance it's open tomorrow, I'm sure it will be chemical overload once again. Not so good for the skin, hair, eyes and suit.

I'm doing as much as I can early in the week to ease up for the run this weekend. Already I'm behind in a swim. But tomorrow will be an hour run and a 2400m swim. Wednesday will be a 4 hour bike. Yes I do mean 4 hours. Thurs will be 45 min bike and a 2500m swim. Friday will be left open for any workouts that don't get done the next few days. Sat will be a rest day. Sunday race day.

Tried a pair of new sneakers yet again yesterday. Ran 5 miles in a pair of Brooks. A stability shoe that is not in wide, which I don't usually by. They weren't too bad. Typically I know within a mile if I can keep them. I ran the whole thing with out much issue and possibly this shoe may help out the shin situation. We'll see. I have the run tomorrow to try them out again. If I have no issue tomorrow I may give them a shot for the 1/2 marathon.

Here's to hopefully a better week than last week. I have a lot on the schedule with other things besides training, so it will be a tough one!