ultrarunningmom

I never thought I would say this, but I am glad that this week is a rest week. I am dropping my miles by 25% to let my body recover and rebuild. I normally loath rest weeks and try to fit in as much as possible regardless of what is written on my training schedule (not recommended).

This last week, however, has left me exhausted. I was once again the on call attorney for my day job and now hold the record for the most cases to come in over a one-week period. I’m always worried I will miss an emergency call in the middle of the night, so I never sleep well during my on call week. While at the office, I usually get some down time to just wrap my head around what is going on, but not this past week. I was constantly working on some new problem from the moment I walked until after I left for home.

Sky(13) was camping with his grandparents, which would make you think that life was easier since I was short one child, but it didn’t. I tried to get more things done since I didn’t have to worry about leaving him home. Jazz(17) works weekends and spends a lot of time away from home with friends and sports. I track him by text and phone calls.

After work Friday, I went to the store to buy everything to make breakfast pizza (recipe below it’s awesome) for my relay team meeting on Saturday. Once home, I made dinner and the breakfast pizza.

Three bags laid across the floor in the living room, while I gathered all my trigear. Bike helmet, shoes, gloves, and glasses went in one. Running shoes, garmin, hat, race belt, and road ID went in another. Wetsuit, swim cap, and goggles were tossed into the third.

Tossing all the bags into the front of my car, I popped the trunk and pulled the latch allowing the back seat to lie down. My bike slid in without any problems. I went to bed around 11:00 pm. Jazz came home from work at 11:30 pm sending both dogs into a barking whirlwind from under the blanket.

“Mom, can I go to Belle’s (named changed to protect the innocent), it’s her birthday and we are going to have cake and ice cream with a few people,” Jazz asked. Belle is his girlfriend.

“Sure Jazz, but don’t be too late,” I mumble from the dark.

12:10 am Jazz came home, whirlwind of barking dogs began again. Who really needs more than three hours of sleep anyway.

Saturday morning I rolled out of bed at 330 am to get a 25 mile run in. I was out the door by 4:00 am. Finished my run at 8:00 am, I chugged some whey protein and coffee down, showered and pulled on my triathlon suit.

I was supposed to be to Swiss Miss’s by 830 am, but I didn’t make it until 910. We went for a three mile run with Foreman Grill around the park. We had to be back by ten for the relay team meeting.

Left to right: Swiss Miss, Foreman Grill, and me.

Breakfast pizza, an omelet roll, watermelon, muffins, and raspberry pastries were set on the table. Plates were passed around and a silence came over what was a very chatty group only moments before. After shoving food in my face, I went over the rules for our next relay and answered questions.

From there Swiss Miss and I drove up to East Canyon reservoir, so I could try out my wetsuit. The beach was crowded with kayaks, paddleboards, and people. I realized that there was nowhere for me to be able to practice the transition from swim to bike and bike to run.

I pulled on my rubber duck suit and the shiny new bright yellow swim cap Swiss Miss bought for me. She wanted to be able to see me in the water oh and the boats needed to see me too. Having never done many open water swims, I had not realized that a bright colored swim cap was important. Duh!

I swam back and forth in the swim area of the reservoir for about an hour dodging children, paddleboards, kayaks, and a bunch of teens on a ginormous blow up island with slides. Two hundred other swimmers will be getting in the water with me at Spudman Tri, so the obstacle course of boats and people was great practice.

After the swim, we met up with some other friends and went downtown to try to ride the Slide the City 1000 foot slide set up in the middle of the street.   Image at KSL.com

Unfortunately, you had to have tickets and an appointment to be able to slide. Not knowing we needed them, we were unable to slide. We will have tickets for next year.

Swiss Miss wanted to do some shopping so we walked through the mall and then went to the sidewalk sale to have unicorns drawn on our arms. That’s me smack dab in the middle. Why Unicorns? Because you have to believe the impossible is possible. This was the second unicorn of the weekend for Swiss Miss and me.

I finally got home around 7:00 pm made dinner and crashed.

At 4:30 am I got up and ran 15 miles, loaded the dogs into the car and drove 4 hours to pick up Sky from my parents. I had lunch with my parents and realized how much I needed a break in the quiet of the mountains listening to the wind blow through the aspen trees, the river rumble over the rocks, and the smell of the pine trees.

Sky and I finally got home at 6:00 pm, I made dinner, and enjoyed my youngest son’s company, which I had missed for the past five days.

Breakfast Pizza

1 lb pork breakfast sausage

large tomato chopped

2 scallions chopped

1/2 cup chopped mushrooms

3 eggs whipped

1 cup smoked gouda cheese

Directions: Turn Oven on to 350 degrees. Press breakfast sausage into bottom of 8×8 baking pan. Dump whipped eggs on top. Sprinkle with tomatoes, mushrooms, and scallions. Top with cheese. Bake for 20-25 minutes.