Weekend Update

Friday, I met up with Jen and Lindsay for another open water swim after work out at Lake Ann. We just did about a mile and called it good, since I had to get home to shower up and spend an evening with Jake and some friends that live just a few blocks away. Was nice to just hang out for a night...maybe this is what life will be like in about 2 weeks? Saturday morning I got up early and went to a swim clinic out at the Gunther's. I wanted to go and get some last minute 'tips' for Madison. Was a good clinic, as we talked a lot about agressive swimming techniques, where you can avoid agressors by how you stroke and position your body. Also, how to handle "grabbers" and strategies for the entire swim. Saturday evening, I met up with the girls at the Twins game (Heidi, Angie, Emily & Andrea) and watched a pretty uneventful game. Was OK, as I think we were gabbing the entire time, and maybe saw a few plays. We had our IronJen rally hats on, trying to get the Twins going - didn't work. They lost 2-0.

Sunday I got up early to go cheer on Stacy at the Minneapolis Duathlon (and Jim/Heidi, Leann, and a few more). Met mom, Jon & Laike, too. Stacy rocked out the course! Holy crap! The first 5K, she rocked out with a 8:30 min/mi average! She so would have smoked me! She had a strong bike (we didn't get to see her bike, as we were playing on the playground with Laike) and she looked great in her last 5K as well! She definitely had a great race and I'm so proud of her! 

 
This afternoon I spent some time on the trainer in the basement and I interjected some 'runs' around the block every 30-45 min of spinning to see what the leg felt like. (Don't worry....just some easy comfy runs - once around the block and back on the trainer again) Good news is that the leg (and back) seemed fine. No pain, a little bit of 'ghost leg' going on, but not bad. I just had to check it out and see how things felt, as I haven't ran for over 1.5 weeks here. The other good news is that my foot numbness has been (knock on wood) pretty much gone for about 1.5 days now. I minorly can feel a little tingle, but only if I am consciously thinking about it. I think tomorrow's appt with Dr. Dave we may get away with no cortisone injections...we'll see what he says. I really don't want a big needle in my back...not fun. My other activity today was monitoring Val and Jonny in their respective Ironmans today. Val is kicking some BUTT in Louisville and I'm so proud of her! She's about 6 miles from the finish and her splits for EVERYTHING have been so strong! I'm projecting her to finish at 13:30-14:00 if she holds strong. I am so very jealous of her right now... Jonny hasn't posted any run splits yet - swim was strong and first half of the bike looked good too, seemed to have slowed on the second half of the bike, so will have to get the scoop on that (weather? course? mechanical? bonk?). Hopefully the run goes well (Canada only posts 2 run splits, so it takes a while). Taper officially starts tomorrow, however, with my modified workout regime this past week, I'm really looking at that I'm going to have a slightly extended taper. Which is fine. The countdown begins!