Turkey Break!

Wow, what a much needed break from school! Things over here are getting pretty hectic because the end of the semester is right around the corner. Professors just love to give one last exam before finals! I just dont understand that sometimes. But I'm used it now from being here for so long. There are only two more weeks of regular class and then one week of finals. This semester has gone so fast, I don't know where all the time went! Its a little sad to think that after next semester I'll be leaving this school forever. Then its time to move onto bigger and better things (grad school and training my butt off). As of right now I am planning on taking next year off of school to concentrate on training and let my brain rest for a while before I start grad school up. I still do not know where I want to go to grad school so I figure it can be a good chance to check out some schools with the year off. So I'm looking forward to a great year full of training and racing. Hopefully I'll be able to get a better idea of what my potential can be in the sport with all of my time dedicated to training.

Speaking of training, I'm amping up the volume! This winter my coach, Adam Zucco, of TrainingBible is helping me build up a large base this winter. Being my third year in the sport, I have never built up a big base during the winter months. Last winter I was very sick and unable to work out for about 2 months. But this is a new year! I dont think I've been in such a good position as of this time in many years. I am healthy, feeling good, and really motivated to have a great season next year.....I have even been swimming 4 days a week!! Past winters I would not swim once and wait until the pools would open outdoors to start swimming. So watch out, my swimming is going to be on a much better level next season!! But basically I've been doing a lot of long slow runs (10-20 miles) at around 6:40 pace keeping it nice and loose. Then there are a few short quick runs in each week in order to keep my leg speed up. On the bike I've been doing a couple long rides of 2-3 hours each week. I'm sure I'll be riding a little more in time. And the weather has been so awful lately (rain and cold) that I'm forced to ride inside. I guess I could be a crazy and try to ride outside, but I prefer to get a good sweat in and not freeze my legs off outside.

As for race updates, I did run a short 2 mile race on Thanksgiving morning. My family usually does this every year, and I havent been able to due to injuries or sickness in the past few years, so I gave it a go this year. I ended up taking second in 9:42, which is pretty disappointing and slow, but I have not been doing any real speed training, and I'm still getting back into shape. The two weeks that I took off pretty much put me in a big hole..and I blame myself. I should have been watching what I ate...but what fun is that. Needless to say I weighed myself 1.5 weeks ago and I was 14 lbs over what I should be at, haha. Its crazy how fast I can put on weight if I want. But I have a good friend now that is working with me and the plan is to take the weight off slowly by watching what we eat and doing our scheduled workouts. So basically I was carrying a lot of extra weight in the race...but no worries because I'm watching, and I have 10 lbs to go until I'm one lean machine!

Alright, that is about it for now. I have to get going to class, but I'll try to update on some other soon. I've got more stories! So check back soon!

-Bread