That Gorilla is Going to Kick My Butt

"I'm on a run right now (and thinking of you/trying to run like Ashlee)..." read the text from Kristina.

"What is running like Ashlee?" I asked.

"It's running intensely forever like I'm training for a million events :)," she responded.

"Ha! Totally putting that on my blog!"

I have come to realize you people think I train harder than I really do. You all have these great expectations and views and, believe me, I love it, but I think you are all a little off.

Favorite quote of the week: "Training is like wrestling a gorilla: You don't stop when you are tired, you stop when the gorilla is tired". I try to keep that in mind when my quads feel like they are about to give out on me and my eyes want to close and not open for another couple of days. I yawned all through my balance class this morning. Fortunately, the adorable old ladies thinks it's cute. In my cycle class, I had the members focus on speed. We worked on high cadence drills with increased intensity. By the end, I had only averaged 141 watts compared to my usual 183 watts, so that was a disappointment, but I had to remind myself that I was working with a lower gear today than a typically use.

Thank you, Herbert, for my wrestling gorilla.

I'm entering base 3 next week so I've been doing a little research on what it will require of me. So far it looks like my typical weekly training volume will double. Ah! Like I have time to train as it is!! But I'm looking forward to it. I want to start looking at my nutrition more. This week I ate a lot of chocolate, chips and salsa, sour patch kids and coffee. I need to be more in tune with my body's needs. Most of my Christmas Toblerone and shortbread is gone though, so that will help.

Sorry, this blog is a little stale. I think I'm tired. Since my training volume is about to increase, I've been super good about resting this week. Other than the added volume my classes add, I'm sticking to my training plan. Yay for training plans!! Four words that help me push through every workout: "I want to win".

Ah! On a not-training note, I started a new home group last night! The moment I walked in the door, I felt totally at home. I LOOOOOOVE, love, love this group! The couple who leads have both run the Boston marathon! And everyone else is utterly phenomenal, as well! I was so excited to be there and I'm even going to take time off next week just to have dinner with my pastor and his wife and this other young guy in the group, Ben. I can't wait until next week! It is so nice to have things to do other than work and train.