Spoiled Rotten

It occurred to me while riding this morning that a teeny tiny problem might be developing here in South Carolina.  What is this problem you ask?  Well...I might be getting a little..."spoiled" shall we say. 

Reasons Beth is becoming spoiled:

1) My mom's cooking.  Holy.  Cats.  This might be numero uno in terms of major spoilment.  (I think I just made that word up).  Of course I know how good my mom cooks - I did live with her for approximately 18 years of my life.  But I think I might have forgotten.  Until now.  YUM!  And I think I picked up my early nutrition savvy from my mom also - she clearly has the good tasting NUTRITIOUS and HEALTHY cooking piece down.  I may eat more vegetables in these next couple weeks than I do for 2 months at home.  And I might even like it!  SHAZAM!

2) The weather.  (duh)  I mean really.  I rode today at 10 am in 60 degrees with the sun beating down on my back and I smiled and I was happy and there was no snow and it's early February.  FEBRUARY!  I can definitely see why people who live in warm weather places actually like riding their bikes.  And it's nice to remember that I like riding mine too (when the conditions are nice :).

3) The roads.  And the speeds on which you can ride on the roads.  HHI is as flat as a pancake - only getting up over bridges offer any upgrade whatsoever and you STILL don't need your small chain ring for those.  Let's contrast this to Pittsburgh where I spend at least 50% of my time in my small chain ring.  Ever do Eagleman?  Well HHI is like riding the Eagleman course - windy yes but FLAT as FLAT can be.  And the surfaces of the roads are so nice (I've yet to see a pothole).  Which means I can average 20 mph over a very long distance with my HR in the low 130s.  It shall be a rude awakening when I arrive home and start averaging a much slower pace at a higher HR.  (dang do you feel FAST around here!)

4) Time.  Although I'm doing some (dietitian) work while down here, I'd say it's about 50% of my normal load.  Plus, I don't have normal life duties like paying bills, cleaning the house, going for groceries, etc... that I would have at home.  Even though I have big training hours, I find that I still have ample time in my day to not feel rushed, stressed or have to cut back on sleep.  You can't possibly know how nice this is (well, wait...you probably can imagine).  It truly is heaven and I'm SUPER thankful for this opportunity.  It has made me realize just how important it will be to try and mimic this once I do get home to Pittsburgh.  It makes a big difference when you really can focus on training.

5) The people.  I think it might be true - people in the south are just...nice.  They are nice and friendly and don't seem as stressed.  This could all be my imagination but here's what I know - I've swam at masters twice now here on the island and I feel like I've been swimming with my lanemates for years!  This morning we were joking around like old college pals.  And this really shy, quiet girl (hard to believe but very true - "outgoing" is never how I'm described) has been made to feel so at home by so many in the endurance athlete community here. 

I'm sure I'm missing a few other items but these are the big ones.  Definitely spoiled rotten.  Which is why I promised myself I would make the very most of these few weeks and keep that momentum rolling once home!!  Happy training to all!

PS  In case you are keeping score, I did manage to have a day of swimming, riding AND weight lifting/gym time without injury today.  No run-ins with weight bars or trees or other such hazards.  And my forehead is healing up quite nicely (although my swim cap was not feeling very good on there this morning...)!