Hurts So Good

Have you ever had one of those days where you want to crawl up into a little ball behind your couch and just rock back and forth? Last Thursday, my boss asked me to work his shifts because his wife was expecting. After working from 6AM-3:30PM straight, I rushed over to my other job and worked from 4:00PM-7:00PM then rushed to the next location for my tri club's swim from 7:45-8:45PM. I was stressed to the max. On top of that, I was supposed to swim test that day. By the time I got into the pool, the lifeguard was putting things away. I looked around and caught his attention.

"Hey, Chuck," I hollered. "What time does the pool close?"

"In one minute," came his response.

...Awesome. So I hopped out of the pool, threw on my sweatshirt and no pants and ran out to my car to try to make it to the other gym before they closed. Alas, by the time I got there, I realized that if the test took me longer than 20 minutes, I would be kicked out of the pool and would not get to finish my test. What would be the point? So I drove the long way home, totally filled with guilt and disappointment. I had only cycled and I was bummed that I didn't get to test. My meals had been rushed and not healthy in the slightest, a dog had followed me to work (adding onto the stress of the day), I was still dealing with some disappointing news I had found out during the weekend and everything during the day felt rushed. But I made it through the 24 hours.

You are probably wondering about this little dog that followed me. Mr. Cojax (that's his name) is the dog that lives two houses down from me. He started following me as I rushed to my job, but I thought he would turn around at some point. I got to the end of the street and he was still at my heels.

"Puppy, you need to go home now. I have to go. I'm sorry." He seemed to understand. He turned and walked back up the road. I crossed the busy street, but as I walked through the parking lot at work, I heard the sound of little steps behind me. "What are you doing here?" I didn't want him getting hit by a car, so I let him come into the gym with me. I closed the door and he joined our class for Cycle Core. Fortunately, everyone loved him, but it was one more thing to figure out. He was at the gym for almost three hours before I finally got ahold of his owner. This big, burly man came to pick up the tiny dog.

"Hi, my name's Bronco." ... of course it is.

Let's skip to Friday. It started with Drea's running strength class. This week was a little better. I felt more like one of the big kids, plus I could see the others struggling, so I knew I was in good company. Drea is such an inspiration though. She's cute and has this perfect body and awesome hair, not to mention she's a phenomenal athlete. Maybe if I take enough of her classes, her awesomeness will rub off on me!

Nash and I met to work on my run. He kicked my big derriere. Dang! I have never had formal run training, so it was nice to have someone critique me. He kept yelling, "Get those hips forward!" "You're too strong! Slow down!" By the end of the 45:00 run, my quads were killing me; fortunately, the high school gym class came out and kicked us off of the track. Thank goodness! I jogged home and got ready to bike.

My bike test was scheduled for Friday. I did it in the afternoon and I pushed hard, but I'm not sure how different it was from my last test, I still need to check. I know I didn't do as well as my last one though. Grrrrr... My quads were still achey from the run, but I grunted through it (literally- if Serena and Venus can grunt, so can I!) and worked hard for an hour.

That evening, I did not feel awake or energized enough to do my swim test, so I went out to sushi and a movie. I know, right? I relaxed! I actually sat still and watched an entire movie! When I saw the preview for Man On A Ledge, I was anxious to see it. I highly recommend it!

Skip to Saturday...

I worked all morning until 2:30 in the afternoon. Despite the fact that it was a gorgeous day, I went to the indoor pool and did my swim test. Just like the bike, I don't remember if I improved or not; however, I felt great! Last time I tested, I was exhausted and didn't know if I would be able to finish. This time I felt energized the entire 1,000 yards! I finished in 21:17.0.

Two hours later, Jameisha met me at the track. She ran by my side for my run test. We may have been joking when we said it "hurt so good", but it totally did. I love the pain. I feel sexiest when I'm drenched in sweat; I realized that last Thursday when I saw my work crush right after teaching a brutal cycle class. Most girls would have been mortified to have their crush see them drenched in stinky wetness with hair matted to the forehead, but I had a huge smile plastered to my face. I think there must be something wrong with me. I need to marry a man with no sense of smell.

On Sunday, Dani told me about a cycle race. I've never done strictly cycle racing, so we decided to give it a try. It was a 30-minute time trial where you lapped around a .75 mile track to see how many laps you could get. We went out to the track after I got off of work and watched the events taking place. I don't usually get nervous before events, but I was starting to wonder what I had gotten myself into. There were women on their trainers with their coaches urging them to push harder just for the warm-up. I looked at one such woman and whispered to Dani, "She had better not be in our heat."

We signed up for the Cat 4 and walked back to the car. After getting our things together, we realized we only had 5 minutes left to warm-up. We rushed to the starting line. There were about 20 women, all clad in their sponsored jerseys, ready to go. Guess who was with them? That's right... the crazy cyclist I had told Dani we needed to avoid.

The timer was counting down. One minute until take off. Dani looked at me nervously. "Are we in the right Cat," she asked. I had no idea. Before we had time to ask, they pulled Dani to the side and made her take off her aerobars. As she got back in the line up, the timer clicked, "3, 2, 1" and off we went... or should I say, off they went. Oh my word! I pushed. I pulled. My legs worked hard. I controlled my breathing.

"Ashlee," I told myself. "Pace yourself. Don't go all out if you can't maintain it for thirty minutes." I kept it steady, but didn't push more than I thought I could maintain. I got lapped, but managed to come in third to last. Ouch. The next day, I saw my friend Matt who is a cyclist. He had been at the event. "You realize you were racing with the pro group, right?" Whoops. Turns out Cat 3 and 4 (our group) are the more advanced riders. Well, it was a good experience! And I didn't get last!

Dani and I decided to continue our ride from there. We rode an extra hour then looped back to the car. I drove her back to her car and made my way to church.

My boss needs to spend time with the new baby, so I took Monday morning off of my other jobs to help him out. I love being there! After classes, Rebecca and I had a great time at Target, then I trained Richard at the beach. From there, I went straight to my cycle class. I'm pretty certain my Monday night cycle class hates me. None of them laugh at my jokes and every time I open my mouth, they give me a death glare. Why do you all come back? Don't come if you're not going to enjoy yourself!! I do not get it!! But Josh, Summer, Jackie and Richard took my class and it always helps to have supportive friends to smile encouragingly at you when you are positive the rest of the world thinks you suck.

Yesterday, I worked for my boss again all morning then did a 6-mile run around town. I worked on some hills and stayed at 1:30 below my race pace because Nash demanded I do so. I finished in 59:08, including warm-up and cool down. Then I swam for 45-minutes and practiced speed and flip turns. Yay flip turns!

What goes around comes around, just like a flip turn.  ~Author Unknown

That night I worked for my boss some more then went to dinner at my pastor's house. His wife had made a delicious meal for Ben and myself. It was just the four of us and it was wonderful. I loved getting to know them better. They have hiked the same area of Switzerland that I hiked three years ago! We both have Subaru's! Reed (my pastor) kept joking about the fact that Subaru drivers love their Subaru's and can only talk about Subaru's. Totally true. I also found out that Reed surfs and cycles! And his wife Lisa swims at the same time and place I normally do! I wonder if we've ever shared a lane! I am so blessed and so excited to be getting to know them better! Ben is great, too. He is from North Carolina and loves hiking, shooting guns and kayaking! Pretty sure I just met the male version of me! I plan to be friends with him for a very long time, especially since it turns out he lives with one of my best friends from college!

Today is my busy day. I have been teaching since 5:45 AM. I did get a break to bike to Katie's house for a quick bite then do a speed run. 2-mile warm-up, 4x800s with 1:00 recoveries, 800 cool down, 4x100 sprints, 1-mile cool down. I got to work and my legs were barely strong enough to keep me standing. Amazing, because I definitely got enough protein! You know that moment when the bug is in your throat and you're not sure if it's worth fighting it any longer or just swallowing? Yeah... that happened three times today. I almost vomited on the first bug, so I took the other two down without much of a fight.

Circuit class was awesome! I had six new people! It was so fun! Pure Awesomeness is tonight then I'm going to crash! I can't wait to go home to my Saucony Scofield!