Just another day...

Well, it's about 9:15 at night and I am STRUGGLING to stay awake. Things are going okay, training is exhausting. I am averaging between 15 - 20 hours a week and really, really, really need to get out in the open water! I did a long ride the other day and managed 90km in less than 3.5 hours, so I'm pretty happy with that, can pretty comfortably finish the whole swim distance and the runs are only up to around two hours, which is fine. But, I am definitely tired at the end of the night! I bought this groupon coupon for five meals for a family of four to be delivered. I was cracking up when I saw the amount of food they brought on Monday night! I have NO idea how I will eat it all, but so far what I have had is good. The recipes are pretty easy, or at least my rough translation of them are easy enough. I had a few friends over for dinner last night and tried to make the fish and it didn't quite look right, but tasted ok. I think it was mostly an operator error, not the food or the recipe... I needed a different type of pan. At least that is what I am telling myself. It is pretty fun to have all the different foods to try, it's not necessarily Paleo friendly, so I am having to make some adjustments. And, with my increase in training some of the foods that used to be pretty limited are now allowed. I went and visited a friend and previewed the Zurich Ironman bike course last weekend. First of all, the visit with my friend was GREAT! It was someone I haven't seen since my first year in Dubai, so it's just been forever. I loved spending time with her, we had a great drive on the bike course and also went out for a few drinks, one at this great panorama view place and then this really cute wine/cheese place. I loved Zurich. We also went with her family on some hikes/walks around the lake right in Zurich and then on Sunday this lake that was a bit farther away, but it was beautiful! They lived in this really great place with a big yard, such a change from Dubai, and then right at the bottom of this amazing area to trail run. Which I did one morning and managed to get myself quite lost, but did eventually make it back to their house. Her kids were so great, all about the same ages as my niece and nephews. Kids are SO much fun to be around! So, the course seems like it will be ok. I need to get out and do some hills. Nothing will compare to the Nice course, but... it definitely has some long hills and climbs that I would probably be more worried about had I not done Nice. I do need to get out on my bike and hit the hills... and also start with some open water training, like I said. Ugh. The weather was gorgeous today, and yesterday I ran home from work and was able to figure out a way to ride my bike to work and avoid having to ride along the tram tracks, I have such a fear of falling into the tracks and just crashing. So, that means I can ride to/from work and get up a bit later and get ready at work. And/or have my bike at work and ready to go for my long rides right at 3:15. This weekend I am home and am planning on trying out the route to work as part of my 4:45 ride (then a 45 minute run...) and also getting out in the open water Saturday and Sunday. I already did two swims this week, but need to take advantage of the weather and am hoping to convince some friends to come hang out on the shore and get a tan while I swim and then join them. We'll see what happens. We are also doing a cooking class on Monday next week, seemed like a great idea when we thought of it, but somehow planning it is stressing me out. But, right now everything seems to be stressing me out. I'm really looking forward to the weekend! I am definitely at that training point that is my near exhaustion all the time while I adjust to this increase in training hours. I know I will get used to it, but for now, it's off to bed at 9:30, so I can get up and ride at 5:15, work all day, then run home... it really is a never ending cycle that I both love and hate. I am feeling good about the biking and running, but still terrified of the swim. And, I have a race in less than a month. Hm, night time for me. Oh, and I thought I was going to find out about the NYC marathon tonight, but apparently they do the drawing today, or well, did the drawing, but we can't log in and find out till tomorrow at 10:00am EST. So, I guess I'll have to wait till tomorrow... then start begging for the time off work.