Recovery

All told, my recovery hasn't been bad. i'm curious about what my weight was before and directly after the race, but i have no way of knowing. On Sunday evening my knees were extremely tired. i went to City Market and got some hot chicken wings for a reward (and protein!). Then i went to a movie, had a medium popcorn (Carkmike popcorn is nasty stuff, as it turns out) to carbo reload, and fell asleep at 9 p.m. That is really unusual for me. Other than the knees my only real complaint was a slight cough and runny nose, probably from the swim in the lake (i almost swallowed a mouthful of water while trying to take a breath, remember?).

On Sunday there wasn't a trace of pain in my knees, which surprised me but enabled me to be up and down with the rest of the congregation, my only real pain was soreness in my right wrist. i'm guessing this is fatigue from the bike ride, but i've been knitting with the wrist, so it's kind of holding on. i kind of wish i knew where my needlework wrist brace is, but i think it's at Megan's, and it's really not that bad, just annoying. Breakfast was light fare for me, a big chunk of cheese and some bread that i gave half of away since the kids apparently hadn't had any breakfast. During church i finished the first sleeve of my Fair Ginny sweater; after church was a VBS meeting and then Mom and i had to wait for Dad to come pick us up to go to 4-H, where there was going to be a potluck. i was extremely hungry and starting to feel weak, and wasn't at all happy about not having anything to drink, at the least. i ate a lot of lunch, which was watermelon, pasta salad, fruit salad, bread, lemon cake, lemon meringue pie, coconut cream pie, and minute quantities of chocolate (goat) milk and ginger tea (which i had thought was lemonade and am not a fan of).

Sunday night i wasn't able to fall asleep until at least 2 a.m. Monday morning (and again last night/this morning... i'm not sure why i'm getting insomnia again), which isn't very good because i had to be at work at 10 a.m. Monday was my sorest day, kind of a general overall soreness that seemed to be exacerbated by standing all day and lots of squatting to retrieve paper (to wrap with), paper bags, and things like scissors and post its and exchange cards. One man got really mad at me, ranted and raved, and made me feel weird in the chest. He accused me of "just ignoring" his complaints, but would not even let me get a word in edgewise to respond. i hate it when customers are unreasonable. It's not my fault that Day'lah refuses to price products in the jewelry department and that the Lori from crafts was forced to do a pricecheck for me while running another register (the issue was that she said, "That costs $3.99... i think," which did turn out to be the correct price, but he was irate about being an uncertain).

i have the next two days off and would like to take a short bike ride perhaps, but i'm not sure my body is really ready for it. i'm petsitting for the next two days, which means internet and cable access, and i'm wary about returning to my training too soon and getting injured. My real consideration at the moment is, what do i train for next? i'd like to resume my training next week, which may be impossible with both work and VBS. There's an Olympic length triathlon at Highline Lake in 13 weeks, which would allow for 12 weeks of training, can i accomplish that? i went from 0-600m swims and 0-20 mi. rides in 10 weeks, can i go from 600-1500m swims, 20-30 mile rides, and 3-7 mile runs in 12 weeks? After reading Weakness Not Strengths i think i need to focus on biking the most, then running, then swimming, but i'm not sure how increasing my running will go, so i might have to focus on it more than i think. i'm also not sure if i really need to focus on biking a lot or just really need a new bike, it's hard to say how i would have done on a new one. My cadence seems to be strong, if i could keep it consistent and bring it up 5-10 rpms i would theoretically tear through the competition (but i'm not holding my breath on that, i cannot imagine being competitive on the bike, i simply have never done it competitively).

On Sunday the Sunday school class has been very supportive, and the teacher said maybe they could sponsor my race entries. i need to get a new bike, but first i need to get a passport for the cruise this fall. The hardest thing about doing triathlons is going to be paying for pool access/gym membership, entry fees, and hotel rooms for out of town races. i really don't think i want to compete in the Denver area right now, but i am considering races in Leadville July 19, Durango August 1, Glenwood Springs September 13, and of course the Western Colorado Triathlon September 19 (i obviously wouldn't be competing in both Glenwood Springs and at Highline again). These are all cheap races that sound small and are relatively nearby. Anyway, am going to ask for advice at the BeginnerTriathlete forums, but i'm not holding my breath on a reply, i don't seem to get good results there.