I just got back from a week in Florida! Last week I was at Daytona Beach for a conference. Prior to leaving, I had had a rough week (see previous post) which resulted in a lot of work stress combined with almost crying on the bike. Running Saturday proved to also be difficult- after 2 miles on the track (just under 20 min of the assigned 70) the track was closed for some Gala at the Y...so we got booted and had to finish up on the treadmill (running outside was just not an option- too cold and too much ice). Running on the treadmill proved to be quite difficult-at a 1 degree incline, I couldn't handle much more than 5.8 mph, which I felt was abysmally slow and attributed to the lack of sleep and excess of stress of the previous week. I was looking forward to relaxing (ha) in Florida... too bad that didn't happen!
The trip to Florida started out relaxing enough. After arriving in the early evening, Elena and I walked around Daytona Beach, and came across a Walgreens, which was the highlight of our trek. She asked the sales clerk if it was worth walking any further, and he said no, just check out Orlando. So much for anything more exciting. It was super nice to walk on the beach, and to walk around outside with only a light coat though!
During the week, Elena and I hit up the gym 4 of the 5 days! Good for us! Waking up at 6 AM was pretty rough though, because unlike when I am at home and try to be in bed by 10 or 11, there was a lot more going on and I was wired almost every night. Day 1 I biked, which was pretty uneventful. The conference was fine, I saw a lot of interesting talks, and had a Faber group reunion dinner, which was a blast! It was so nice to see everyone. I miss them!
Tuesday morning I hit up the treadmill for a 1 min hard 1 min easy workout. I didn't know how hard to make the hard portions, but I ranged from 8-8.5 mph with a 6 mph easy jog in between, at 1 deg incline. I found this to be very difficult, but it felt really good to be running really fast. Tuesday night I was tired of working on my talk, so Elena and I got dessert at the hotel bar. Yum! Though that caused us to be up even later, so no Weds morning workout. My talk went well Wednesday, which was good, because I now learned I don't have to obsess over a talk for it to go ok! One would figure as a post doc I would be OK with giving talks by now, but I still find it to be scary and nervewracking...but at least its getting a big better! After the conference the boss took us all out for drinks, then in the evening Elena, another argonne post doc, Nick, and one of my friends from grad school, Bryan, hung out more at the hotel bar (we were beginning to feel like regulars, and we had the same pregnant and mean waitress almost every time...she started to hate us, I'm pretty sure. Though maybe she just hated everyone). Hanging out with them was really fun- it was great to catch up with Bryan, and it was really fun getting to spend more time with Elena and Nick.
Getting up at 6 AM for the gym was rough after a late-ish night at the bar, but it was totally worth it. I saw the sun come up over the ocean from the exercise bike. Thursday night we went to a Japanese restaurant, then again to the hotel bar for drinks with the other boss. Seriously at this point in time, all I wanted to do was knit and relax, but I had to play the conference role one last night. It turned out to be a fun time at the bar, so I am glad we went, but I was still getting more and more exhausted at this point...
Friday morning was a super hard treadmill run. 40 min increasing continuously...I started at 6 mph and increased .1-.2 every 5 min to a max speed of 7 mph. The last 10 min were so hard, but I felt really good when I finished! I accidentally knocked the treadmill emergency cord at one point, and the machine stopped and wouldn't let me restart. grr. Even though I felt like I was giving it my all, at the 1 deg incline and 7 mph, I still felt discouraged. A year ago I was running 8:30 miles with little effort...though I guess I was using a 0 deg incline... oh well. The last session of the conference was Friday morning, and it was so great to leave. As much as I enjoyed the warm weather, I was seriously conference-d out at this point, and was really looking forward to coming back home. Saturday morning I had a nice run with Mo, and had a busy weekend of celebrating a birthday and knitting with friends. I am NOT looking forward to going back to the grind tomorrow... but such is life!
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