Great end to a great week!

This has been an awesome week for me!  I know I've been wishing for spring to come soon, but I don't think I realized just how much I have missed the sunshine and warm weather.  I don't know how people can live in places where it rains more often than not.  For me, sunshine really has a way of uplifting my mood and outlook on things.  Plus, my boys LOVE to play outside, so it was a great week for them too.  Not to mention the fact that when they get to play outside I have a little bit more "me" time.  Ahhh...spring!

This past weekend, my throat started to get sore and feel like there was an apple lodged inside.  It was painful to swallow, and when I started coughing, visions of my 3+ weeks with bronchitis popped into my head.  I really did not want to get that again.  I hadn't been sleeping well, so I decided to skip my 4:30AM swim on Monday and let my body rest.  It was a good call because on Tuesday I was feeling much better and my sore throat seemed to literally disappear over night.  Hooray!

So, I got up early for my swim on Wednesday.  Now usually when I go into the locker room I can hear people swimming in the pool, but I did not hear a sound.  Could the pool actually be empty?  I was so excited because I really don't like sharing a lane.  When I walked into the pool area however, I was surprised to find an older lady swimming very slowly in one of the lanes.  She was alternating freestyle and breastroke and it was the weirdest thing because she did not make a sound.  I started swimming and really tried to focus on my form.  It felt really good to be swimming and I felt fast like a fish.  I love swim workouts that make me feel like a fish!  Oh, and I never did end up having to share a lane!  Woohoo for a great swim all around! :)

The weather continued to be beautiful, so I was able to do my speed workout outside on the elementary school track by my house.  I packed a bag of sand toys and balls for the boys to play with in the sand pit, grabbed a blanket for them to sit on, made them a "super dooper" snack, got all my gear ready, and headed to the track.  It was awesome to actually be able to run outside without tons of layers, gloves, and a hat on!  My plan called for 6x400 repeats and I told myself I would just see how I felt and decide if I would do all 6 or not.  But again, like my swim, I felt fast!  The speed came easily and I was able to recover faster after my 400s then I had in the past.  I can really tell that my training is paying off.  Here are my splits:
wu 800 - 4:07
ms 400 - 1:34 (6:15/M)        
     400 - 1:34
     400 - 1:34
     400 - 1:33
     400 - 1:34
     400 - 1:34
cd 800 - 3:54 (7:50/M)

After every 400 I would look at my time and at first I thought something was wrong with my Garmin, but there wasn't.  Don't you think it's weird that my times are pretty much the same?  I'm all for being consistent, but how weird is that?   Does that ever happen to you?

Anyways, I actually had a blast doing this workout.  My boys played really well together and even cheered me on.  And when I started each lap, they would actually say, "Ready, set, gooooooo!"  It was so cute! :)  Oh, and the best part was when they wanted to show me how fast they could run on the long jump track.  They would run down and back and I would cheer them on and give them big high fives when they finished.  It was awesome.

Here I am, happy and sweaty after my workout!











Another reason this was such a great week is because I actually won a blog giveaway from Iron Dreams.  I won some TriSwim shots and Foggle Towelettes!  Woohoo!  Hopefully it will help with the constant chlorine smell in my hair! :)

Oh, and guess what came out in the stores for Easter?  Cadbury eggs!  Yum, yum, yum!  My husband absolutely hates these things, but I love them!  I figure since they only come out once a year I can eat them...right?

And the great end to my great week is the fact that tomorrow is going to be 55 degrees.  Perfect for my 9 mile run!  And, it's supposed to be 59 on Sunday.  My husband already called dibs on going for a long bike ride Sunday, but I may just have to sneak one in myself!  :)

I hope you all have a great weekend!