From recovery to hell... and the first competition of the year!

So this past week was slated as a recovery week: one weighlifting session, a bit of rowing, a little light cardio, and a mandate to go get a massage. Well, of course on the first day of this much-looked-forward-to week of respite we got hit by a hot mess of a blizzard. For the first time I can remember, we were actually snowed in. And of course around 4pm, once i'd managed to clear the end of the driveway enough to get the car out, the city snowplow came along and dumped it all right back in. And so the process began again - only this time it was all the crusted, heavy, salty rock hard stuff. UGH. And then the sidewalk plow made its contribution... blargh. G and I texted back and forth all morning, bemoaning our shoveling injuries. "My wrists hurt." "My whole body is shaking." "Owwww my shoulders!" "I'm running out of biofreeze." Etc. All in all  I think I spent about six hours shoveling myself out. And then I took a coffee can out of the recycling bin and started a snowblower fund.

Tuesday began on a much better note. Wednesday too was great (although when I got home from work the driveway entrance had disappeared again, so i got a little extra cardio), and I was on such a high I treated myself to a not-so-healthy but oh-so-super-tasty meal that included sweet potato fries and a double scotch. Yum. G took her family to Boston to see a Celtics game, had a plate of fries herself, and worked out her voice good and hard.

Thursday, we decided to give ourselves a fit test followed by a nice muscle stretching swim, topped with hot tub and sauna. I drew the short straw and went first. Got through the chinups very happy with myself, then the lactic bench, thrilled to meet my goal, and then moved to the erg, determined to mash 500m into a minute thirty-nine. Well, suffice it to say that my scotch-and-fries combo from the day before decided to say hello again, and bang went my workout. I tried a second time, and gave up again. (Extra embarrassing since G had announced to the guy on the bike next to the erg that it was about to get loud and no, when she starts making noise she's not actually dying....). My whole digestive system was freaking out! Guess I learned that junky food and a couple of stiff ones have no place in an athlete's diet. Dumbass move for sure.

I guess I wrecked what little motivation G had too, (plus her body was making its displeasure with her french fries weakness) so we decided to can the whole idea and just get through SOMETHING. And since G had left her swimsuit at home along with her energy, that part of the plan flew out the window too. LOL - all in all a very educational week ;-)

So we relaxed on Friday, got our massages, and came to practice today ready for a nice moderate practice to end the week and prepare for the ramping up of next week. But alas, coach's first words were "recovery week is over ladies. This one is gonna be tough."

HA! And tough it was. But so awesome we grinned the whole way home. And now, totally dead, we're relaxing the rest of the weekend, gearing up for a tough training week ahead and our very first competition of the season on Saturday. It may be indoors, but it can mean only one thing: winter is almost over and we'll be on the water sooner than you can say "attention please.... go!!"