Frustrating week

So coming off of the race last weekend I was feeling pretty good. Not too sore. I was looking forward to a good week of training, getting myself back in the groove. I had accepted that I wouldn't be able to swim for a few days because of the tattoos, so I was happy to see that Scott had thrown in some strength training this month. I hit the gym on Tuesday at lunch and cranked out a good 50 mins of weights and core. By the end I was definitely tired and my legs were a bit wobbly. I haven't done squats or lunges in years! That evening I hit Fairmont and did 2 loops (~ 7 miles). By the end my legs felt like they run a marathon. It got worse from there. Even today I cannot walk down stairs without having a death grip in the hand rail. My quads, inner and outer, are beyond trashed. So essentially the only thing I've been able to do since then is light spins to and from work on my bike. Even that is risky since I can't get up out of the saddle or put my foot down unexpectedly. As you can probably tell by my tone I am a little frustrated. I am hoping today I will start to feel some improvement since it's been over 48 hrs. I decided not to ride to work today and will likely only do some light arm weights at lunch. If things don't feeling better soon I may have to seek some medical advice. I don't think it's normal to have muscle spasms and throbbing IT bands. I'm a little concerned it's more then just soreness... We'll see how they are doing tomorrow.

Other news: I've been threatening this for a while, but I think I'm there. No more Ironmans after this year for a while. I decided this yesterday when I was trying to plan out July while I'm on Sabbatical. I was trying to squeeze in a half Ironman in Washington, a 4 day trip to Alaska, and a few days in Canada for training. Scott pointed out the obvious that if I wanted to have a decent race in August I needed to not cram so much in. I think the Alaska trip is going to have to wait. This is VERY disappointing as I have always wanted to go there. I guess it's not going anywhere but I'm still being a baby about it. This is what has lead me to declare no Ironmans in 2009. I want to take fly fishing classes and maybe a sailing class. I would also like to try some bike racing and qualify for the Boston Marathon. So I'm not planning to sit on the couch and watch my ass grow, I still want to race triathlons. Just not full Ironmans. I think a year away will help me appreciate it again. I have done at least one per year since 2004. So that's where I'm at. I am looking forward to racing my guts out in Canada in August!!

Here are some pictures from the HF sprint last weekend:
http://www.backprint.com/go.asp?31822941