A trip across country

I went to Philadelphia on Sunday. Then I spent all day Monday in business meetings. Two days of forced rest. That was good. I did swim a few laps on Monday night as the people I was staying with went to the Y for a workout. I had not packed any workout clothes so I would not be tempted -and besides I did not expect them to go work out- but I did have a swimsuit so I swam a little. They got me some goggles that did not work so well so I ended up doing only a dozen or so laps.

Today I woke up at 4:15 AM EST (1:15 PST) to catch my double layover trip back. From Philly to Pittsburgh to Las Vegas to Oakland. I arrived at 12:20 PM feeling like I just came back from Europe. So much for cheap travel. With no real food I munched on bagels, peanuts and chips the whole way here.

The only problem with traveling is that one ends up eating way too much. There is nothing to do and my appetite is enormous coming off several weeks of intense workouts. With no further workouts to burn those calories there is a real danger of putting on serious weight. 

Fortunately I can start my carbo-load soon. I carbo-load the old fashioned way, by eating an "Atkins" diet for a week and then nothing but carbs two days before the race. The Atkins is ideal since I always lose weight doing it and I never feel hungry. I also feel I can eat as much as I like and that is just great. The main drawbacks are a slight feeling of nausea, a general lack of energy, and -by the end- a rather intense craving for carbs. Other than that it works fine.

Today I ran a hard 5K on the treadmill and I swam 1/4 mile. A pretty light workout, but it works out fine since I am pretty beat from the travel.