The Workouts

   So it took me a little bit of time to recover from this weekends 9 miles.  The knee was definitely a little bit inflammed for the early portion of the week, but I was back to normal late on Tuesday.  I have decided that the last three weeks of working out is all going to be on the elliptical.  This should give me a solid 3 weeks to get down the inflammation in the knee and be as close to 100% as possible for the big day. 
   Thus, my workouts this week put me back in a familiar place ... a place where I have now spent hours upon hours over the past 3 months ... the elliptical at the Wang YMCA.  I have to admit that the two workouts I did this week were no where near my best.  My workout on Tuesday wasn't that great because I was still in an emotional hangover from my botched run on Sunday.  I was able to power through and do a 45 min (4.5 mile) workout on the elliptical.  It wasn't my best, but I was happen with the time and intensity of the workout.  
   Tuesday was a long day though because I had a moonlighting shift scheduled.  As always, this means I went into work around 7 am on Tuesday and didn't come home until around noon on Wednesday.  This essentially meant Wednesday was a wash.  Unfortunately, the fatigue that I felt on Wednesday seemed to carry over into Thursday morning ... which is when I had my next workout planned.  I got to the gym early, around 6:40 am.  For me, its tough to get the legs working that early in the morning when I am not pumped in anticipation (like is the case for those Sunday long runs).  I hopped on the same elliptical as always and started pedaling away.  For some reason, I couldn't get the legs to wake up and I ended out starting the elliptical at a pace of 132-136 ... which is way below my normal pace of 144 or so.  After about 5 minutes, the legs warmed up and I started getting into it.  By the end of the workout, I had completed about 30 minutes and just didn't have it in the legs to keep going.  Again, I think this Sunday's workout was still hanging heavy on my confidence because I didn't know what the deal was going to be with my knee (although I knew I would soon find out). 
   I finished the workout by doing all my physical therapy stretches and exercises.  Then, I showered and went to work!