Tri-ready in 6 days

So I thought I'd quickly share the fact that I have my first open water Triathlon coming up this Sunday (June 26th) and I haven't really trained for it at all. I have been so busy with work and life that I haven't been tri-focused during any of my workouts. Yeah, I run, bike, swim and lift on a regular basis, but I have not been mentally preparing myself for what's to come, until today, 6 days before the race.

But let's back up a bit. The past few weeks have been quite busy. For one, I was recently pulled into a project team at work where my role is to provide feedback, research and present the best options on how to design our new fitness center at work. we are moving to a new building next year and I am on our health and wellness team to support the move. What a cool project, right? It certainly has been fun to research and find best practices related to corporate fitness centers, but also very time consuming with the tight deadlines. I never imagined I'd get to help design a fitness center at my company as part of my ad hoc projects for the year, but here I am! It's been a great experience so far.

On top of work, I'm also moving. I'm finally out of the fan and into the suburbs, and moving has been quite the time vacuum. Between packing, cleaning, unpacking and cleaning some more, plus coordinating utility deactivation's and the like at my old place, then errands and furniture planning... It seems my life (and work) has been nothing but residential and commercial interior design these days - at least it's something I enjoy!

So... between work and life, training for this triathlon has been put on the back burner just a bit. I still work out almost every day, but these past few weeks they are not as intense, and I skip a day here and there. This weekend I didn't even consider working out during the move, and I only squeezed in a 5k on Friday afternoon on a treadmill. Ah well.

So what better to the week than to do a mini triathlon... er... not really. I went to spin during my lunch break, then followed up with a 400-500 meter swim after work in the James River at Robious Landing Park (where my triathlon will be on Sunday), then a short 2 mile fast run. It felt great today. Even though it wasn't a full triathlon and quite spread out, it felt great to get out there and hang out with other amazing athletes. It definitely brought me back to the place I want to be - excited about working out, and not finding excuses to skip. I look forward to the opportunity to get my heart rate up and sweat a little. What a feeling.

The trail run was short but sweet and fast. My co-worker Kali and I hustled the 2 miles - a nice burst of energy to pump blood out of my legs after the swim. Can't wait to do it again soon. Let's hope this is all I needed to get the confidence to finish the I Love the Tavern Triathlon this Sunday. Wish me luck!

Weekend of reunions, food and friends

Lately my weekends are either over stuffed with events or nothing

but packing and catching up on the day-to-day. This weekend was definitely packed. My 5 year reunion from the University of Virginia was this past weekend, plus John had birthday/graduation party up in DC. We managed to pull off both despite our exhaustion. We headed to Charlottesville after work on Friday, and met up with my good friends Bane and Jen. Our standard hot spot in college was the Virginian on the Corner, which of course brought back great memories. We also enjoyed some of our favorite food joints like the Tavern and Take It Away. It was absolutely wonderful!

Back in Richmond, it was also a big foodie weekend, and somehow I managed to fit that in as well. Thursday before my reunion, my friends and I headed to the Greek Festival. It's one of the largest food festivals in RVA and it just gets bigger every year. Gotta love a cheap bottle of chilled red wine on a hot summer day with a side of dolmades!

Sunday was yet another food festival called Broad Appetite. My sister and I approach this festival very strategically... A co-worker friend of mine came along to tag-team each of the food vendors so that we could split them to save money and room for all the food we were eating. It was awesome... Below are a few food shots from today:

Marinaded skirt steak tacos with cilantro, red onion and parmesan cheese. YUM.

Shrimp and Pork meatballs with papaya salad plus hoisin and sriracha sauce dollops.

Smoked salmon toast with baby spinach leaves and jalapeños... Spicy!

Crab stuffed ravioli in a lobster cream sauce. OMG.

So that's the quick update. Definitely hopping back on the routine tomorrow. I can't wait to get my ass kicked in boot camp after work and eating healthy meals this week. Bring it on!