Rest day: Good for the mind, good for the body

(I randomly changed the name of my blog - we'll see if it sticks!)
I am enjoying my last Sunday of somewhat sustained calm for the next few weeks or months as a new semester gets underway tomorrow and I pick up another class to teach.  While January is not yet over, I am mentally lumping the last two days in with February, which looks to be a pretty crazed month.  That will be in stark contrast to the past few weeks which have given me ample time to nap, eat and drink well, play a lot, and train pretty hard.
On that last note, I must acknowledge that I went from minimal tri training (zero) to over-training.  Perhaps it connects to being a forty-something-female and the sense that I need to do as much as possible soon now at once!?  But I suspect that it has more to do with the fact that I would like to actually RACE, for me, the Wildflower Tri this year, rather than be content to merely finish it.  Since the past two weeks presented me with tons of free time, I decided to fill too much of that time with training hours.  Today, since my body pretty much rebelled on me yesterday after a 2-hour hike in the Santa Monica Mountains, I am taking a very unscheduled day OFF which was supposed to happen on Tuesday.  I had planned to spend part of the morning in the saddle, actually meeting up with a group (gasp!) for a training ride.  The decision to cancel the ride had nothing to do with my fears of meeting random people and looking/feeling inept and had everything to do with the fact that my body felt exhausted, especially my left leg (IT band and shin issues suddenly coming into play).
And so, I made a strategic choice:  Take the day off to focus on resting and on preparing for school tomorrow.  I love that I have to "focus" on resting!
Sometimes, however, I find that it is more challenging to just stop and take a break.  In my ideal world, I would happily (and healthily) balance the demands of work, grade everything my students hand in within 24 hours, while also training something like 2 hours a day.  To add to that, I would eat well and sleep 8 hours every day.  Or, if I couldn't sleep 8 hours, then I could function well on 6 hours of sleep a night.  Oh, and I would have a great relationship with friends, colleagues, students and, obviously, spend quality time with my dogs and husband (does anyone else kind of hate the word "husband"?).  I can live with a certain amount of chaos in my life and don't get too hung up on the idea of a perfect equilibrium in my life, but I've also come to accept that the idea 2+ daily hours of swim/bike/run at this point is completely unrealistic given my life and priorities and physical limitations, like a terrible knee and general joint issues.
On that note, I've had to recognize the obvious:  I am a training wimp.
So, on that note, I'm giving my legs a major break today with lots of time on the sofa as I watch the X-Games (Shaun White is a beast!), lament Nadal's defeat in the Australian Open, and prepare for classes and meetings next week!

Daytripping for a Sunday pilgrimage!

Yes, Sunday does seem to be the appropriate day of the week to visit some holy site. Yesterday, Michael and I were looking at a wide-open day and considering our options. So, after a not-too-early morning that involved buckwheat pancakes and a run, we loaded up the car - dogs and humans in tow - and headed northwest! While a drive to Santa Barbara (90 miles, give or take a few) seems like a long haul for a day trip, it IS a beautiful drive and totally worth it. Especially if you have a few choice places to pay homage to!

We arrived in Santa Barbara around 11:30, just in time for the line to not yet have wrapped around the block at Taquería la Super Rica. My first Super Rica experience was on the drive up for the Senior Trip at the end of the year. One of the other faculty members in the van suggested that we make a stop, and the other chaperone and I did not protest one bit. So we arrived about 30 minutes late - big deal? It was TOTALLY worth it. The food is amazing at this little place. Apparently Julia Childs used to frequent the taquería when she was in Santa Barbara. Who can argue with that? A fairly humble abode for such highly esteemed cuisine:

Source

Since that first time there, I've raved about Taquería la Super Rica to Michael, and apparently I convinced him that it was worth it just for a drive up. That's right - drive 90 minutes, eat some amazing food, and return to our corner of the world. It wasn't such a quick trip since we did have to wait to order and then wait again to pick up our food. Michael agreed, however, that the food was unbelievably good. Not heavily seasoned or sauced - just extremely fresh. I also think that the homemade tortillas are key. While I waited, I was enthralled, watching the woman pat out the tortillas, press them down and then cook them up. Anyway, we went with "La Super Rica Especial" which is just a big mess of cheese, pork and peppers. I've never had anything like it at a Mexican restaurant, and it's just all goodness. Since we had the dogs, we got our order to go - went to a park by a local school and licked our plates clean.

After THAT pilgrimage site, we headed back south and stopped at the original Patagonia retail store in Ventura, CA. We had been there once before, but we decided that we should return. This was the store that Yvon Chouinard, the founder of Patagonia and über-climber, surfer, outdoorsy dude, environmentalist, all-around bad ass, opened in 1970. It has obviously been upgraded since then, but the original shed where Chouinard made his climbing gear is still there. Seriously!

I was taking a picture of Michael and Gus and Milo outside the store, feeling like a huge dork, when this guy comes skateboarding down the street, stops and asks us if we want to go to the back of the store and see the original shed! I was surprised and felt like an even BIGGER dork at that point because obviously he picked up on my slight Patagonia obsession. I asked about the dogs, and he said, "Oh, bring them on back!". See, THIS is why I LOVE Patagonia.

Here is the lame picture that I took of Michael in front of the store:

And then here I am at the "tin shed" - I was so excited to be there! So were Gus and Milo!

After the excitement of visiting the (ORIGINAL!) Patagonia store, we ended up taking a walk on the beach and watched lots of surfers catch a wave or two. And as I'm writing this, I'm wishing that I could quit my 'real' job, move to Ventura, work at Patagonia and go surfing every day. Even though I don't surf!

A rest day!

Happy Sunday to everyone - and Mother's Day to all who are reproductively inclined.

I would like to brag about all the gifts that our dogs lavished upon me today, but no such luck. They were more interested in their own walk(s) than bringing me breakfast in bed. Typical!

I know that I mentioned that the euphoria from the tri eventually wore off - sad but true. Then, I had to face the harsh reality of May. First of all, it is/was May, not June, so while summer is right around the corner, as a teacher, my students and I have many hoops through which we must jump before we can celebrate. It was unusually warm - in the 90's (!), so that made it even harder to concentrate during the many hours of meetings that I endured last week. To top it all off, I felt that I was on the verge of being fired. Slight hyperbole there, but I did have to deal with an "issue" that kept my mind from being completely at peace. Fortunately, that came to a resolution on Friday, a fact for which I was quite grateful. Friday did not, however, mean "weekend" for me. I ended up spending 6 hours or so at school yesterday - about 3 in the morning and 3 in the afternoon. 'Tis the season for APs and other fun activities!

So, when I woke up today at 6:00 am, I happily wiggled my toes and stayed and bed. There was nothing that I just *HAD* to do! Michael and I eventually woke up at the early-ish hour of 7:00 am and stopped by our favorite coffee place on the way to the Farmer's Market. We hadn't been to the Sunday market in AGES! It felt great to seriously stock up on fresh fruit and veggies - lots of kale, fresh garlic, two bags of oranges (the last week!), tons of strawberries, tomatoes and asparagus - those were/are the highlights. This past week was fairly pitiful in terms of cooking 'real' food, so this will be a welcome change.

Finally, I've spent most of the day on the couch grading, watching some "Law and Order" episodes, considering a nap, grading some more. I did go for a relaxing swim and it felt great to be in the pool. Now, I may go back to considering a nap. Or a dog walk.

Decisions, decisions, decisions.

It's nice to have a seriously unplanned, unstructured Sunday. I may toast to that concept as I cook dinner tonight!