This week was a bit more hectic than usual. I had the opportunity to attend some training classes down at the regional Microsoft office in Malvern, PA. While it nice to get out of the office for a change, the hour and fifteen to thirty minute commute put a bit of a crunch on my training time. Fortunately 2 of the 3 days fell on bike trainer days which I was able to knock out in the evening. The Wednesday day was a bit crazier but I was able to make it work out by doing an early swim at 5:30AM 
and then hitting the nearby Chester Valley Trail for my run.
The Chester Valley Trail was pretty sweet. It is very flat and, after getting past the office buildings and road crossings, opened up to some open land. I had started off at the end of the trail in the Target parking lot and headed west. Crossing Morehall Road(PA29) was a bit of a pain, but after that it was cool. I had a 4x:45 interval session to do so the flatness of the trail was well received, although my quads were pretty tanked and I could barely get into the 6:?? min/mi territory. Regardless it was a nice run and there was ample parking in the Target parking lot to get changed without getting busted for indecent exposure.
One other bonus with the long commute was I was able to listen to Chrissie Wellingtons’ book “A Life Without Limits.” Although I am not quite finished yet, it was a pretty entertaining book and I had no idea what her background was. It is amazing how she was never really into sports that much until later on and she was not in triathlon very long and totally dominated it when she did. Her prior experiences definitely attributed to her work ethnic and success. I would highly recommend this book to anyone, not just triathletes.
One other issue with going offsite for training is finding decent food. I always have to research the area for healthy choices beforehand. There were a few colleagues from work in my class which I unfortunately had to blow off since I didn’t want to subject them to my dietetic restrictions. I also didn’t want to get stuck going somewhere that had nothing healthy to eat. I did find a local vegan Chinese restaurant called SuTao Café. They offered a buffet which consisted of mostly typical Chinese food with meat substitutes like Seitan. I try to limit my consumption of these pseudo-meats because really they are processed food which I am trying to avoid. The seitan is also made of wheat gluten which is very inflammatory, another thing I try to avoid. The buffet was ok, but I was not tally thrilled with it.
After getting back to class I learned that my fellow workmates had gone to Wegmans’ and said it was very good. I perused their menu online and was stoked to find they had a grilled veggie platter and a vegetarian burger on the Pub menu. On Wednesday I headed over there and had the vegetarian burger and sweet potato fries which rocked. I enjoyed it so much I stopped at the Wegman’s in Collegeville for dinner on the way home. Grilled Veggie Platter and Indian Carrot soup rocked. I cannot wait for the Wegmans’ Pub in Allentown to open now. Oh and the best part about eating Wegman’s is NO TIPPING! Love it!
Well I made it through the week and fulfilled all my training. The bike on Thursday night was a bit tough and I am reading for some nice long, slow workouts this weekend. Weather is looking promising to get the bike outside on Saturday too.
