On eating, drinking, and growling in your sleep

I wrapped up my first week back at training with nearly 7.5 hours of workouts: 5100 yards of swimming (mostly drills *groan*), ~24.5 miles of biking, ~10 miles of running, and about 1.5 hours of strength training. In conjunction with that, I've been working on getting my eating back on track - taking in the right foods at the right time for fueling and for recovery. After a couple weeks of holiday eating and quite a lot of sugar, this has not been easy. I'm amazed at how hard it is to give up the sugar again once you give in to the cravings. Plus, the added training volume has spiked my appetite and I have to figure out what is real hunger and what is just habit.



We are still in Arizona, so hydration has been a focus as well. On some trips here, I can drink water from sunrise to sunset and still be dehydrated. I've tried to be a bit smarter about it this time, with more electrolytes and non-water beverages, and have been aided by cool humid weather. Of course, not all of these beverages are particularly good choices....


It's been the off-season. Who doesn't love beer? Even Cujo is tempted!


Anyway...I do have to transition back to Properly Hydrated Molly and soon. This means alcohol is reserved for Sunday night margaritas at Mexico Lindo after a hard training weekend. BUT I am all set for next year after Ironman! Jeff and I had dinner the day after Christmas at Saddle Ranch Chop House here in Scottsdale. Fantastic food, excellent service, a fun atmosphere, a mechanical bull (which I can guarantee you I am riding after I finish IM), and - oh, did I mention the GIANT drinks? Here is Jeff at dinner, and just a small bit of my water-pitcher-sized mai tai in the foreground.


The dogs are still enjoying the trip. It's been interesting to watch Stanley take another small leap towards maturity. He's become very eager for a job, for any work I will give him. The dogs and I went to a small DOCNA agility trial this past weekend. Given the limited opportunities for us to trial in this venue, I don't have a strong interest in titling in DOCNA but it was a good chance to run the boys and just have fun. I had both of them entered in the beginners level, at different jump heights. Max did quite well, picking up a 2nd place in Standard, 2nd place in Gamblers and 3rd place in Jumpers. The pleasant surprise was Stanley, who improves with every run we do. He picked up a 2nd place in Gamblers (messy opening - my fault - but very nice gamble) and had an AWESOME Jumpers run (NQ as he knocked a bar) that was actually faster than Max's run on the same course. He even managed 2 very nice rear crosses. Now if only we could figure out the source/cure for his very loud habit of growing and barking in his sleep... Seriously, have I mentioned this before? He will be fast asleep all by himself and suddenly growl, moan and groan, yodel and bark, all while asleep. Good thing he is so cute!

Today it was 68 degrees here in Scottsdale. It's going to be 70 or close every day this week. Tomorrow we are heading to the cold mountains though, to visit Jeff's college friend who he hasn't seen in 10 years. I am packing the camera - hope to have some good pictures of the dogs and scenery!