The Insane Girl Is Back Again...

An unopened e-mail pops up on my phone, causing a soft bling melody to flow into the air. Ahh, the melody that suggests a new adventure is about to begin. The e-mail is from Kyle, the TriClub president. He has two extra registrations for the Scott Tinley long course coming up in two weeks.

Now, let's look at this e-mail through the eyes of two different people: A normal person and Ashlee.

1. A normal person would open the e-mail and think, "That would be fun, but there is no time to train. I hope whoever does it enjoys it and does really well."

Yeah... we all know that  I am not a normal person. So what was my thought process?

2. Ah! How cool! Two weeks from today? Hmm... I could totally do that! 1.5 mile swim? Never have I gone that far before, but there's a first time for everything... 50 mile bike? That's nothing. Half marathon? Eh... I'm training for a full anyway. Okay! I am in! (click, click, click... fill out same paperwork, press some buttons and... voila! I am registered.) Oh... shoot! I have two freaking weeks! I haven't gone swimming since May! What was I thinking?!?

And so the insanity begins... or should I say continues? Will I ever learn?

I signed up last Friday and went to Sabrina's straight away. Sabrina gets my insanity. She is pretty crazy, too. There's a reason she is the other pea in my pod. And she totally supports the new vegan lifestyle I live. Oh! Which reminds me, Nash said the reason I've probably been so unmotivated and lethargic on my runs is because of the vegan diet... my body is just adjusting. But I have not craved meat or dairy in two months, which is awesome!!!

Anyway, back to Sabrina's... we had a lovely vegan meal of hummus and flatbread with salad, wine and sweet potatoes... yummy. As we ate, someone said something hysterical and I began to squeak. Oh great, my first time meeting Sabrina's new house mates and I'm kicking the Chihuahua again!

"Oh my goodness," Andy said in awe. "What is that?!" He got off the couch and came over, wrapping his arms around my body. "I love it! That's it, Sabrina! She's moving in!"

Saturday promised new training adventures! It started out with Pilates in the park. Then came work at the shoe store, which was awesome! It was a busy day with lots of  sales made. Joe and I talked about the endurance race I'm doing in November and the run he and Rusty did that morning. Vida came in and I was so excited to see her! While we were talking, Joe looked at one of the customers and told him, "Ashlee knows everyone in town! She's perfect for this job!" At the end of the day, he told me what a great day it had been. It left me feeling incredibly confident and excited to be working for such a great company!

After work, I went home and ate a bunch of vegan cookies and rosemary flatbread with olive hummus. Sophia and I were supposed to climb, but after an hour and a half of waiting to go out, I decided I needed to get some sort of workout in. A sunset run on the beach it was. Three miles was all I had time for, but I went hard and fast, leaving my toes a little bit bruised and my feet padded in tar.

So... easy training day was a success... I mean, it's hard to go easy, but it's gotta happen occasionally, right?

So now it is Sunday. When my alarm went off at 5:00AM, I was not feeling it. I know, I know... when the call is made, you must answer it, but today I decided sleep was more important. I waited to get up until two hours later and went to work. I just happened to mention that I was competing in two weeks and the class insisted I work out with them. Oh, yeah... that took a lot of convincing. I was on the bike in two seconds. Six minutes zone 4, 3 minute recovery times 4. :20 sprint to zone 4, :40 recover times 5. Repeat the sprints standing 5 times. And recover with a cool down.

Beautiful.

Post-workout treat? Backyard bowls with Sabrina.

Pre-race motivation? New helmet! Light and seductive. Seductive, did I say? Seductive. Okay... that's not the word for it, but some of you may be falling asleep right now, so I'm hoping you're awake now.

Tonight I am going to run hard and hopefully get a good swim in. It's time to get serious, folks. My only worry is I will get a case of the overtrainings... Gotta stay away from that.