The Weekender

One of the best things about growing up in the 90s was Saturday morning television shows. I used to get up early, plop myself in front of the TV with my bowl of cereal and I was fixated on the screen, nothing would get me off the couch.... except when my dad would scream at me to go clean my room or I wasn't going to swimming. So there was this one show, it wasn't my favorite, but it sticks out in my mind: The Weekenders. I don't really remember too much about the show other than that it was about these kids that would live for the weekend, and the one character, a blonde boy named TJ, would always end every episode saying 'later days'....that was my catch phrase for months to come. Unfortunately, the kids of this generation have been dooped, they won't get to experience the awesomeness of these Saturday morning shows....then again I'm one to talk, since I don't even have a television in my apartment.

So the point of my little flashback was to highlight this idea of being a "weekender". These days I am living for the weekend. I haven't gotten to a point yet were the week days are unbearable but I'd be lying if I said I didn't look forward to the luxury of the extra hours to go at my own pace. I mean, I still find myself getting up at 4-4:30 on Saturday mornings but by 5pm, after work and finishing my workout I'm free to just veg out. And Sundays.....Sundays I don't set an alarm. Buuut I don't usually sleep past 7. One of the benefits of being in the morning-person groove.

Two weekends ago I had a great workout set! Got up nice and early and headed out to the suburbs for a swim that I had missed on Thursday. Now what I am learning through all of this training is that a missed workout, is just that, a missed workout. So typically you should just let it go. But I couldn't pass up the opportunity to have a full sized pool all to myself. And usually when I do a swim set I'm motivated by the thought of a tall, warm cup of coffee afterward :)

The best was yet to come though! After 4 hours at work I went upstairs to the cycling room, which I also had all to myself, only to stumble upon this beast. This was actually the first time I saw this type of spin bike, but an hour and a half on a bike, is an hour and a half. So I plugged in my ipod and hoped for the best. Half way through I was really missing Gwen and my clip in shoes. And actually I came to find that had I switched my workouts, biked before work and swam after, I could have been on my bike and still had the pool to myself. Oh well. I felt almost more accomplished on that bike than anything else.

I ended up staying over at my dad's that night. We digged in to some pizza and tried watching Ted, and maybe I'll be the only person to say this, but it really wasn't that funny. I also passed out halfway through the movie as well. Grandma complex. The next morning I got up early, had some coffee and oatmeal and hit the streets for my 70 minute run. It was a nice change of pace to run around the suburbs instead of the lake path. 9 times out of 10 I would pick the lake path over running around a neighborhood, but monotony sets in now and again and a change in scenery can actually improve my pace sometimes.






When I came home my dad laughed at me for my outfit. I had dressed in all black spandex and a black jacket with black and white Christmas socks to cover my calves. He goes, "You look like a robber, all you need is the mask" and I laughed and told him it brought all new meaning to running like I stole something. 

All-in-all it was a great weekend. But when 9pm hits I start embracing the fact that I have 5 more days to get through before it comes around again. Until then weekend, later days :)