Playing in the rain...

I had one of those rides today that was nearly sublime.

When I was a kid, my mom once had a big meeting with a bunch of other wives from the squadron. They brought their kids...all various ages. The kids were told to skedaddle outside and play... and NOT to disturb the moms.

So, we did. We played, all ages of visitors, all the neighborhood kids...ALL of us. Skaters, big wheelers, skate boarders, bike riders, skippers, runners...boys girls...everyone. I remember we had some elaborate game with rules that allowed the little kids to play along with the big kids. Then, it started to rain. It was late spring or early summer...the rain was heavy, but no thunder. And then it POURED. We played. For some reason, though, NONE of the moms called for us to come inside. I remember being rather surprised by that. We kept playing. Finally, we got called in and halted in the garage. There would be no puddling in mom's house, after all.

Fast forward to today.

My training "job" today was to get a 90 min long run in. I did. Not very fast, but nice and steady. I felt good the whole way through. I started in a light mist that got a little heavier, but not much, and finished just as the watch was beeping for the 2nd 45 minute interval (I did a 45 min out and back to see if I could even or negative split).

I came in, scarfed some food down, changed my clothes and went out to meet the out of town cyclists that are here for the AMBA rides. I'd told them I'd lead the ride today if they wanted. We've had so much rain lately, that the spray chalk and arrows were mostly washed away. So, since I'd marked the last half of the route, I could lead if they didn't feel good about the cue sheets.

It rained....
lightly....then moderately...
then... WOOSH! Torrential downpour.

At one point, the rain was managing to sneak in under the brim of my hat, and rain down the inside of my glasses. I was DRENCHED! All I could do was laugh at one point. It actually was pretty liberating.

Yesterday, I got 30 miles on the trainer, today, 40 on the road. That's the longest weekend riding I've ever had. Sorta liked it.

When mean is good

My shin is being mean to me, this is bad. It's been annoying me for a few months, and I finally went to have it looked at. It took CS saying, "no running 'til you're cleared by the doc," to get me in there, though.

Now, I'm in this weird limbo place. The trouble with going to the doctor for this sort of thing (in my opinion) is that when you're at the doctor and he's pushing on your leg, it doesn't really "hurt." Know what I mean?

I keep describing what I feel when I run as "tight" as opposed to "pain," per se. BUT, I was informed that "tight" is pain, and that my pain tolerance is influencing the accuracy of my reporting. ugh!

Races have been paid for.
Condos have been paid for.
I really want to do well and be successful and finish "on my feet and healthy" for these races.

I do NOT want to stop running, but stopping running (for now) seems to be the only thing that's gonna resolve the "tightness" issue.

Crap!

The general concensus now is that CS has to be mean due to my hard headedness and underreporting of discomfort. I initially said that I wouldn't be the one to tell him that, but I finally did. The coming weeks are NOT going to be fun, that's for sure.

POWER!!

Today was my first Friday workout with the master's group. Normally, I swim with them on Sundays but CS is changing my schedule. OK, he's enforcing my schedule! Anyway, apparently, Fridays are Power Days with the group. I did drills that I've never heard of, and discovered that.... I have very little power. Seriously. One drill required us to kick while lying on our backs with our hands pointing to the ceiling. The first time we did it....
straight.
to.
the.
bottom.
Yup.... And, to make matters worse, I started to laugh..... while on the bottom. Just a note to those reading, laughing, while on your back and underwater... doesn't really work. Ok, it doesn't work AT ALL. Good thing there were lane lines on either side of me to help me get to the end of the lane.

Power day seemed fun.

There was a non-power option, but today I decided to suck it up and swim with power. I might end up doing the non-power day option in the future, because it fits better with my schedule most weeks. But, every once in awhile... it's fun.

Hurt comes in small packages

So, this morning my main swim set was 1000 yds, with every fourth lap being head up, ala "lifeguard" stroke. This was way harder than I thought it would be. I didn't get sore the way I do from working hard on sprint sets. Rather, I got heavy and slow. It was odd.

Once I got home, I took my normal Thursday morning power nap, during which I slept oh so wrong and managed to crick my neck into knots. oy! So, now, I sit in front of "The Secret Life of Bees" with my neckease around my shoulders...hoping I'll be able to get to sleep comfortably tonight.

Smack down!

It's an interesting feeling when you realize that you were smacked down by your coach. Here's the thing, it was the first real "I'm an athlete" feeling I've had. And, it wasn't in a stereotypical gruff, caustic coach kind of way. It was the simple, honest truth. Granted, it was likely spoken in haste, but it was what it was. Ya gotta love that. And, in the end, there was also a phone call this morning with a gracious apology for something that didn't even bother me at the time. That's class.

When you fly with the eagles...

My dad used to have this poster that said, "When you fly with the eagles.....you have to get up with the turkeys." Basically, if you play, you pay.

I got caught up with a friend from HS last night... great conversation. Only...I didn't QUITE realize how late it was till it was too late. This morning's 4:00 alarm came awful early.

My mind was fuzzy during the swim workout... that meant that counting laps was a particular challenge. And, the thought of doing the sprint set at the end was simply uber painful. On the other hand, I managed a 1:18 for my final 100 free in the test set, so it wasn't all bad. oof.

God bless the person who invented coca-cola -- sugar, caffeine, and bubbles.....what more could a girl want?

To everything, there is a season...

January has such a bad rep.
Middle of Winter.
Cold slushy streets and entryways (up North, that is).
Low gray skies.
You get the picture.

But, it's also when you start to see the lighting eastern sky during swim workouts.

Our pool has a glass block wall that faces east. As spring approaches, you can see the sky begin to get lighter as the workout winds down. It's a measure of whether the current set is close to being the last set. It's a tease.

There are some magnificent sunrises that I've seen through that glass block wall. They've started to come back.