Stress. It's a killer.

Hi negative three followers... I come bearing sad news. The infamous well-loved chevy cobalt died a sad, painful death Monday night. We (and Jazz) hit a guardrail at the breakneck speed of 30 mph and proceeded to deploy the airbag and smash the hell out of the front end of the car. Oh and it was raining. Ice rain.

It was scary. as. shit. I think I was in a little bit of shock, my neck got tweaked again, and I was just overall pretty shaken up. I had the help of some good friends that night and over the next couple days to get me squared away with a rental car and car shopping - very thankful to have these amazing people in my life.

It ended up being a very difficult week between the wreck, my neck hurting again, and work issues and I had a bit of a breakdown mid-week. I cried a lot... almost every day that week. But that support system of mine is awesome and I reflected on what I learned with my car issues last year and I think I handled it better this time around.

I'm proud of the fact that I managed the car shopping ordeal, work, and training without missing workouts last week. Training gave me something to focus on when it felt like my life was falling apart and I think I did pretty well overall.

swim: 6700 (1:55)
bike: 27 miles (1:30)
run: 17.55 (2:26)

I missed OSS sunday morning - with the hellacious week I had, I gave myself a mental health day and focused my efforts on organizing life and car shopping. I also did my taxes - yay.

had an amazing swim workout wednesday - 10 x 250s IM pace. My IM pace with a wetsuit is about 1:25/100y. My goal was to hold that pace in the pool for the 250s - and I totally did. My times were consistent, ranging from 3:32-3:35 across the board (1:24-1:25 pace). It was tough, but I was thrilled at the end about being able to hold that pace - I didn't think it would be possible at this point.

also had a beautiful outside run at haines point on saturday. it was 8.5 miles - 6 mile MAF test in the middle and I was pretty consistent with those miles too - 7:58-8:14 per mile. I felt comfortable and strong and it was glorious to run outside in shorts and a tank top in the sunny cool weather.

Light biking week (since I missed OSS), but overall good with swimming and running.

happy thoughts that I have some easier weeks ahead in life. and RIP chevy cobalt. I secretly (or publicly) hated you, but you were pretty reliable for awhile there. Thanks for being my first big girl new car purchase. To the junkyard with you love.

I can wear my skinny jeans again...

... and I am so pumped about that. I got fat at the end of 2015 with the injury and workout slump! Had to bust out the chubby jeans, HA! But I think I've lost about 10 lbs over the past 2 months and I feel like myself again. Getting back in shape sucks, but the rewards are awesome.

week in recap:

swim: 9900 yards (2:54)
bike: 83.1 miles (4:50)
run: 18.1 miles (2:50)

still in base phase and feeling good. completed a whole week (finally) without skipping any workouts and neck feels back in working order (thank god).

notable workouts include 9 miler (on treadmill) - but it was quite lovely, non painful. watched the marathon olympic trials which was amazing. had a moment with an older gentleman right after I watched amy cragg catch shalane at the finish line and I was tearing up. he was watching the tv screen on my treadmill and I turned to him and gave him a thumbs up and he returned the thumbs up and walked away. i love our sports - running, swimming, cycling - the team dynamic can be so awesome.

also had an interesting swim set - broken 250s: 100 fast, 75 cruise, 50 MAX, and 25 easy stroke with various rest intervals scattered in there between the individual parts. my initial 100's were quick - in the 1:16-1:18 range and I didn't really feel like I was killing myself. the fitness is returning...

... and training is good. makes me happy.

Neck says don't swim, I say... um, okay you have a point.

My neck is STILL bothering me BUT - I can run(ish) and bike fairly comfortably. I was afraid to swim at the beginning of the week because of the breathing and neck turning and all those things that feel just fantastic on my neck. However, I was able to do a 20 minute flop swim after the long run on saturday and neck felt tight, but not painful. Super easy swimming, I do love these short easy swims after running to loosen up the muscles and speed up recovery after long runs.

I got some quality work done this week regardless:

swim: 1300 yards (0:20 time) - STELLAR
bike: 79 miles (4:52 time)
run: 20.37 miles (3:12 time)

Did my long run of the week with Andy for his "39 for 39" birthday run. We were running a pretty steady, slow-ish pace (he was doing 39 miles...) but I was pumped that I had very little knee/hip pain and I really wanted to keep running. Did a 2.5 hour ride with Ian the day before and was happy with that - I can feel my legs are getting stronger and its definitely helping my run strength. It is SO nice to have company for these longer rides - PLUS House of Cards AND eating a sushi-burrito post-ride (that's a real thing, trust me). Lovely day!

We also did a tough hour trainer ride earlier in the week after work - 20 min warm up with a few 30 second sprints thrown in there, then main set was 15 x (30 seconds ON, 30 seconds OFF), 5 min easy spin, 30 x (15 seconds ON, 15 seconds OFF), 5 min cool down. Holy hell. My heart rate got up to 178 and I almost threw up over the last few repeats. Success.

Next week, I vow to complete every single workout and turn all those boxes green. Neck needs to shape up or ship out...

off with your head, slacker.

im slowly recovering from the neck thing. i wish i could just lift off my head and give my neck a break.

go ahead and picture that for a second.

still no swimming. light run week. i did a fair amount of biking though and that is always my major concern, so happy #1 for that. kicked my ass in spin yesterday which actually felt amazing - super pleased with that. yay. me.

my solo run of the week was an hour treadmill run - care free and easy. for the first time in awhile, i felt like my stride was smoothing out. still some IT band twingy ache, but i feel like i have more power back in my left leg. mission hip-flexor-loving is working. happy #2.

swim: none
bike: 94.2 miles
run: 6.7 miles

this is embarrassing.

but its progress.

this is a heavy week at work - I don't love the 4 full days in a row (monday-thursday) - but that means i have friday-sunday off. I have a long run sunday planned as part of my friend Andy Baldwin's birthday run for his foundation - Got Your Back Network. He is turning 39 and will be running 39 miles Sunday morning around the Virginia/DC area. I plan on doing about 10 miles with him, a short and sweet swim afterward then enjoying superbowl sunday. excited for the weekend!

Link to donate to GYBN - http://gotyourbacknetwork.org/donate

Thanks guys :)