Fireworks, workouts, parties, and trips to the doctor

Weekends at the Collins' house are never uneventful. Being the 4th of July this past weekend was no exception. We started the 4th off at my in-laws swimming and having a little BBQ. The rest of the day was spent at the neighbors house. They have 2 boys a little older than our girls, so the girls were entertained most of the evening. I only had 1 beer due to the fact I had a long workout the next day. We went to the fireworks and got home about 11pm - way past my bedtime. The girls did not sleep well that night so Mike and I were up on and off until about 2am. This was probably due to the fact that the air is not working in our house so we were all laying in our own sweat for most of the night.

I planned on getting up at 7am on Saturday to start my 5 hour ride followed by an hour run. I woke up at 5am just to make sure I had something to eat before I left. I fell back asleep and the next thing I knew it was almost 9am. Normally I wouldn't care, but Mike invited people over and they were coming at 4pm. According to my calculations, I would be home just in time to take a shower before they got here. I left the house a little after 9 and headed out Minnetonka Blvd. I took the route I took for one of my other rides. It has some rolling hills in the beginning and some really big hills when you get out to Chanhassen. I did a loop for the SA part of my workout. Part of that loop consists of a hill that I can barely climb. By the time I was done with the hard portion of my workout, the temperature had climbed considerably. I went to a gas station to fill up on water and something to eat. I drank more in the first half of this 5 hour ride than total in my last 5 hour ride. At about the 3hr 30 min mark I was close to home and feeling a little hungry, so I quick ran in the house, used the bathroom, got a PB sandwich and was out the door. I also got more water and Accelerade. I finished the remainder of the bike around my house. The last part of my bike was brutal. I should have eaten more. I got home and felt really light headed. I took a little longer than the normal transition time to start my run. I drank and ate something light and 15 minutes later I was out on my run in the heat of the day. The first 40 minutes of the run went well. I crashed the last 20 and felt like I was not going to make it home. I still managed to run 6 miles, which is not bad with 6 minutes of walking.

I took a shower and immediately helped Mike get ready for our guests. Per my coach telling me to eat really well, I ate pretty good. Again, only 1 beer, corn on the cob, strawberries, veggies and 1/4 rack of ribs. It was nice to have people over at our house for once! I fell asleep before the girls that night and slept a whole 12 hours. It was the most splendid sleep I have had in a long time. Again I was planning on getting up early for a swim, but it was not in the cards.

Ellie woke up Sunday morning with severe neck pain. After a few hours of crying, we decided to take her to urgent care. She could not move her neck to the left without agonizing pain. After seeing the doctor and, thankfully, ruling out meningitis we went home. We were told that if she was not feeling better in 4 hours to take her to the ER. The doctor said to just give her some Tylenol and rest it, so we did. We sat inside most of Sunday morning and early afternoon watching Barbie movies and making sure Ellie was ok. After about 3 hours, she was feeling better. By this time it was 3pm and I still had not run. Mike wanted to take the girls swimming because all of us were so hot, so we went to his parents for q quick dip in the pool. I was getting a little concerned I was not going to get my run in, so Mike brought me home and I started running about 6pm. This is not my ideal time to run, but it worked and I may be running at that time for my IM. I had a really good run. I ran all but 6 minutes of the 2 hour 20 minute run. It was really hot and muggy and there were dark clouds south of me the whole time. I did miss my swim, but there was nothing I could do about that.

Today I got another massage. I got one 2 weeks ago and this week the massage therapist got more knots out. I am getting another massage in 2 weeks the day after the Racine 1/2 IM!