Around the Corner

I have had such a fun week! Beth was on a layover between training camp and Oceanside 70.3 so she came to hang out with me for a few days. We had so much fun, swimming outside, making new recipes out of the Feed Zone Cookbook, and focusing on recovering. It was really fun to talk to her about her decision to turn professional and to hear about her goals. She has such a calming demeanor, it was just nice to absorb a bit of Beth this week. I'm hoping that when I dropped her at the airport today she felt rested and well fed, ready to tackle her first PRO race. Go Beth!!!

The weather this week has been amazing and I have been treated to many sports bra runs and rides without knee warmers. The outdoor pool has been wonderful to swim in and I even hung out on the deck for like 5 minutes before getting in the water. The sad thing is that it's March and the probability that this weather will stick is slim to none.

These taper weeks are definitely pretty fun. Dirk is a fan of rest and so this week has been all about chilling and moving a bit here and there. The timing was perfect since we just ordered a California King size bed. This thing is sleeping central, it's got all sorts of down this and down that...plush, microfiber, etc etc. Any sort of bedroom associated buzz word is currently on my bed. And let me tell you, I have never slept better!

After my victory against Troy in the great sleep challenge he threw down I got my prize. A zeo, which, by the way we have all decided I am the last person on earth who needs one since I sleep like a hibernating bear.

However, Zeo has definitely helped with my decision to kill my inner night owl. Once you put the Zeo headstrap on your forehead and get the tracking started...IT'S BED TIME. Not "talk time", not "snuggle time", not "check your email on your iPhone one last time" time. No, it's GO TO SLEEP TIME. Well, maybe snuggle time is still allowed, but I tell ya, that little Zeo make me want to snooze.

No shocker, it turns out as long as I get to bed early, I am a SUPER SLEEPER. The average adult 30-40 years old gets a Zeo sleep score of 80....my average is 110. The average time spent in REM is 1:31....I'm 2:45. Super sleeper....right here. Despite the fact that while everyone else is being productive...I seem to be sleeping... I'm still happy to be sleeping so well, and hopefully recovering nicely. I am getting some valuable information from the Zeo, along with following the little sleep coaching program it was with it which has some great stuff in it. It's cool to see a chart like this that shows how my night went.

Apparently, I can go from REM to "have to pee" and back to REM in a single bound. That's it, I'm quitting triathlon, surely there's got to be some sort of sleeping competition, like amount of REM in an 8 hour period (I would so win).

Anyway, data junkie over here has been enjoying the Zeo and having fun with it...and sleeping!!!

This weekend, it's business time! Galveston 70.3 is this weekend and I am heading out there to race without PIC (insert sad face) but with my athlete Audra (insert happy face). It's the first 70.3 of the year and I'm EXCITED. These early season races are fun, there is this excitement for the "potential" of the season. Everyone is looking to see how everyone else came out of the winter, and then you always look back and see who is still running strong 7 months later...no easy feat!

Here's to putting myself out there 100% so I can see where I am at. This will give me a good feeling of what needs work and what I am doing well with. The finish line, is the bottom line!