Not According To Plan

*whiny post and TMI ahead!*

I signed up for my tri about 5 weeks ago and I put a plan into action.  I was going to up my swimming biking and running in order to really be ready for this tri.  Saturdays would be my brick workouts, getting progressively longer every week.  And to be honest, most weeks looked pretty bad ass

Monday: 1 hr swim with tri group
Tuesday:   1 hr yoga at work, at least 30 min run
Wednesday: 1 hr swim in am or 1 hour bike ride w/tri group
Thursday: Bike Ride or Swim
Friday: Rest (or easy swim)
Saturday: 1 hour Pilates, Brick workout (anywhere from 1-2 hrs)
Sunday: Rest (but really run after my  kiddos at the church)

This past week being the last weekend before my tri, I really wanted to push myself and make sure I was prepared.  I had a super packed weekend planned.  Friday I was working all day and then driving 2 hours to my hometown, taking TeenSwimSis to the drive in movies (I hadn't been all summer), drive back here (arriving around 3am).  Saturday I was to go to Pilates at 8am, come home and do the full bike and run portion of a tri, and then go to a concert Saturday night.  Sunday I was spending 8 hours at the church and knew I would not really feel up for anything else.

Well Friday was fine, my butt hurt from sitting so much, but the drive in movie(s) - The Conjuring and The Heat, were good and I got to spend some quality time with TeenSwimSis who is going through some really hard things right now.  Due to the pop I had at the movie, I didn't fall asleep until 4:45am and when I woke up before Pilates, I felt hungover!  I could feel the blood pounding in my body and I knew it wasn't gonna happen.  Which is crazy - since I started last September, I haven't missed a Pilates class unless I was out of town!  Lame.

So I woke up (a few hours later) and I felt like something was off.  My legs felt so very tired and kind of sore.  Uh, that brick workout may be a problem!  The more I was up and about, the worse my legs felt.  Just like they were zapped of energy, especially in my quads.  I was upset that I couldn't face my brick workout and told myself to at least do some biking and maybe I could do the run on Sunday.  I had taken my bike into the shop for them to give it a once-over before my tri.  As I was stradling my bike, ready to hop on, I noticed the gears were not how I left them.  As normal as any other day, I looked straight down at my handle bars and felt a sharp, shooting pain in the back of my neck.  My first thought besides "holy freaking ouch" was "I can't not do this ride" and I was getting upset about it, which is abnormal for me.  So I just pushed through the pain and the whole first mile I had to tell myself not to cry.

Around this time it dawned on me that PMS symptoms could be the culprit as tired, energy zapped legs are nearly always a symptom.  The crying isn't normally a symptom, but is every so often.

I finished a little under 7 miles in near record pace.  I came home, did my epsom salt bath with a bag of frozen berries on my neck, found the heating pad and watched an episode of Doctor Who with it on my neck, then rubbed in some menthol-y sports creme, hoping it would feel better.  I had to get some food for tailgating at the concert, but on my way to the store, I noted that my check engine light was on.  Yeah, the car that broke down and I had to shell out $460 for the week prior.  I took it to the auto parts store so they could run the code (my second cylinder is mis-firing).  I hate money stuff and car stuff and my shopping for the tailgating was frustrating.   And my neck really freaking hurt.  I could not turn it to look in my blind spot without a cry of pain.  I walked into my friends house, said hello to her and one of her friends whom I had never met.  We sat down and they were talking and I must have cringed because my friend said "uh, are you going to throw up?".  I said no, I just did something to my neck and it really hurts.  Well about that time, tears start welling up in my eyes and then she had to go an ask if I was going to cry.  Well, not that she said it, yes, I was!  I NEVER cry in front of people either.  I've known this friend for 10 years and she's maybe seen me cry twice at the most.  To top it all off, I had put makeup on and now my mascara was running.  It wasn't a good start to the night, but it did end up being a lot of fun.

Sunday I was in my car, driving to the church.  My cup holder is right under my rear view mirror, where I put my lanyard and ID for work.  I went to pick up  my cup of water to get a drink and the whole ID just dunked into the cup.  I started sobbing instantly and spent probably 10 minutes crying.  WTF is wrong with me?!?   I read an article about food affecting your mood today and this was one of the points:

5. Crazy lady PMS: Foods alone don't actually cause PMS, but some can certainly make it worse. Sugar and starches can cause insulin to spike and then drop, which affects brain chemicals and may exacerbate mood swings. Sweet coffee drinks are one of the worst things you can indulge in when your hormones are raging-the combination of sugar and the simulant effect of caffeine (and the subsequent crash) can push you over the edge.

Lemme tell you that nearly all weekend was terrible when it came to food.  Sunday, specifically, was pizza for breakfast, burger for lunch, pizza for dinner, ice cream afterwards.   Ouch and ew.  I was too tired to grocery shop and make food for the week, so Monday and today were just as bad.

I misread our tri group email yesterday and missed that we were running instead of swimming.  I didn't have time to go home before that, so I just skipped it.  And laid on the couch and watched Doctor Who with my SwimTot.

Gazing at David Tennant

Today was hard again and these PMS symptoms are better, but not gone.  I need to do my customary 2 min pity party, then pack that shit up and send it on its way elsewhere.  I did a little grocery shopping and got stuff for lunches the rest of the week and breakfasts too.  Life is to short to feel crappy via bad food!  Oh, like today I went to Taco Bell at 11;30 for lunch (normal lunchtime is 1pm) and then felt hungry around 2 and went and got a candy bar.  Then I almost started crying in the bank.  haha for real Melissa?

I've got veggies and chicken in the crockpot right now so things should be good for the rest of the week.  The irony of my last post being about healthy eats and what has happened in the last 4 days is laughable.  Granted, my Saturday routine of Pilates, working, grocery shopping & food prep was disrupted, but I really put in no effort.  The only reason I didn't eat terribly on Monday was because I had quiche leftover for lunch at work.

Friday I'm taking a half day so I can go get my nails painted (hehe!) and then head up to the tri site for an open water swim clinic (can't hurt!) and a first timer's clinic.  They are sending informational emails everyday this week, so I am getting excited!  Oh, and a wee bit nervous.

Going to pick myself up in the morning and do a small brick workout.  Hopefully biking 7 mi and running 1.5 at least.  Gonna feel great going in to this, even if feeling great doesn't mean feeling the most confident.



Do you notice when food affects your mood?

How do you get back on track after a derailment? 

 

P.S. Here are some random things that make me happy:

This swimsuit - on clearance at swimoutlet.com was based off of the Olympics last year and is "London" themed.  Hilarious.  sorry for the 5:30am hair/face!

I'm happy with their pick!

Picked up size 18 skinny jeans at Old Navy.  Made my butt/legs look great.  But I knew (sadly) they would fit TeenSwimSis and she was in need of school clothes.  I wore them once and then gave them to her, but I had to take a pick of my rear in them first!