One more to Go!

This past week has had it's ups and downs. Last week was my first week on night shift in about 9 years! I tried to stay up Tuesday night as long as I could before my first night on Wednesday. I made it to about 2:45 and crashed! 20 years ago it would have been nothing to stay up that late, hanging out with friends, etc., not so much anymore! Wednesday was my first shift in training. I made it to about 3 am and hit the wall! I REALLY struggled to stay up. Those last two hours seemed like eternity! I actually woke up early on Thursday and actually felt pretty good but I wasn't going to make the same mistake Thursday night. I made sure I had plenty of coffee to drink around 10pm. I was good to go all night! Diet MT. Dew and Sweet helps too...and lots of it! :-)

Friday I woke up after about 6 hours of sleep and hit the pool with my masters swimmers. My swim workout was around 2200 meters. Friday night I took the kids to the St. Simon Festival in Lawrence while Nickole was doing a Boutique show in Lawrenceburg. That is the first time I had been there. We got there kind of early and the crowds weren't that bad, which was nice. Evan rode a few rides, did some jumping, got in a human hamster and we got a corn dog and tenderloin for a nice healthy dinner! :-) I am glad we got there early because it got really crowded and the kids were cashed out.

Loving the festival!

6am Saturday morning I did my masters swim workout. It was about 2200 meters and we pushed pretty hard. I met up with Bryan, Mark and Kip afterwards and grabbed some coffee. It's nice to sit and chat with some guys about tri stuff and how their workouts and other people we know trainings are going.

After coffee I took down a bonk breaker and headed out for a run. I felt really good on my run. My runs earlier in the week, not so much. I think it is partly due to the adjustment to working a 12 hour night shift. I managed to get about 9.5 miles in. Not a bad Saturday workout.

Saturday afternoon Mom, Kathie and Olivia came up for Evan's t-ball game and to celebrate Kathie's birthday. The game went quicker than normal, which was disappointing. We relaxed by the pool for a while and Evan and Olivia swam in the cold water! The pool in the neighborhood is still pretty chilly since we have had some cooler temps. We headed out on the lake and took a tour. It was nice to get out and relax a bit. We had dinner at Eddy's, which is always good and came home for some cake. To cap off the busy Saturday Nickole, Evan, Anniston and I went to Megan Kehl's graduation party and visited with friends. Yes, it was a long day!

Kathie's 48th Bday!

Sunday morning up at 6:30 and ready to ride! I met up with Mark, Bryan and Nate headed east towards New Castle. This was the first time we have rode this route. Well, let's say that we are lucky to have nice roads in Hamilton County! We hit a few really rough stretches that punted a couple of water bottle. It was almost like it was cobblestone. After getting through that, we encountered a wonderful farm dog. I just love farm dogs when riding on my bike! They are so nice and greet you with a smile....with ALL OF THEIR TEETH SHOWING WHILE RUNNING AS FAST AS THEY CAN!!!! Of course that 1000 or so feet your cadence, speed and heart rate jumps up! Not fun! I need to start carrying some OC spray with me!

We continued east and ran into some gravel portions. Not small gravel portions, but LONG gravel portions! It made for some nice white walls on my tires. Luckily no one went down as the gravel was pretty thick. It did make for an adventuresome ride east, that I don't care to do ever again! On the way back we got on SR 234 and hammered down. Those guys are a lot faster than I am but I think I held my own. I think we averaged 22-26 mph. on the way back.I finished my days workout with a 30 minute run.

This week I had some hill workouts and I have a long ride I need to make up tomorrow. I only had one day off this week, which was Tuesday. Evan had swim lessons and t-ball back to back! No down time in the Patton house!

Today;s weather was nice for a ride! I got about 30 miles in on the bike and a 4 mile brick run afterwards before work tonight.Tonight is my last night shift training as a new Sergeant. I will go back to day shift starting Monday morning for more training. Night shift has not been that bad and my sleep hasn't been as crazy as I thought it would be. It is tough not seeing Nickole and the kids that much this past week while I am at work when they are home sleeping.

One more to Go!

Daddy's Girl! :-)