Trying to Get Back in the Routine

My alarm went off this morning at 4:45, and I quickly turned it off and reset it for 6:00. Then I felt guilty (and maybe a little chubby too) and got out of bed and went to my first swim practice of the week. I am finally starting to sleep better (less congestion and coughing), but I find myself staying up late and pidding around since Cliff is not here. So I got in a pretty good 5,000-yard workout at Benbrook. The main sets were a 1,000-yard stroke set which I did backstroke (what a luxury to have backstroke flags at both ends) and 3 x 500's pull (I'm holding 1:15 pace now when I used to hold 1:10 pace... yuck!). I hit the gym at lunch and rode 30 minutes on the stationary bike and then did 20 minutes of weights (mostly arms/chest/back stuff for Operation Wedding Dress). My foot is pretty sensitive at the moment, so I decided to be smart and not run on it today. Like Brian (Miller, not Doctor) told me yesterday, I'm so far out from the marathon right now that it's more important to heal. It's just hard because I'm on Week 8 of training and I've made all of my runs (except the tempo run I missed last week when I was sick which I was going to make up this week), and it has given me a lot of confidence. I need to stop being so Type A though and just let my foot get better.

Cliff was able to get an earlier flight on Friday, so he'll be home in the early evening instead of later at night. So I get a whole night with my managerial fiance! Oh we decided on our Christmas presents. Since we're spending a bunch of $$$ on the puppy, we're going to split the cost of the Wii and some games. So I'm getting a Wii and a puppy for Christmas, just like a 10 year-old!!! I remember when I was 8 years old, and my parents bribed me and said that if I changed my freestyle and continued to kick when I turned my head to breathe (I was stopping my kick, which I think I still do) I would get a Nintendo for Christmas. So of course I rose to the occasion and then fell right back into my bad habit after Christmas. But now that I'm a coach, I realize that kick problem has more to do with my pull under water and my body position. (See... I'm learning something.)