Swimming Laps

Today I spent my day doing a little cross training. My game of attack was to start out with a nice and easy bike ride, followed by some time in the pool, and finishing up with another leg of biking. Really, I just did not want to take my car to the 'Y' and therefore the two-wheeled addition to the workout.

So I have this crazy idea that next spring I would like to try my first sprint triathlon. 1/4 mile swim, 15 mile bike, and 3.1 mile run. The bike and run are right up my alley, but I have not been in the pool in quite some time. Thus my brilliant plan for the day began. It might not be open water, but the 'Y' has a pool, and a lifeguard if I start to look like I'm about to keel over.

12:30AM

Started out after watching the first game of Venus vs. Peers at the U.S. Open. I was slightly inspired by Venus's red, sparkley dress and decided to bring out my own bit of red in my riding shirt.

Took off and headed across town. Of course my attention span being as short as it is, I became distracted at the sight of dozens of seagulls hanging out by the dam. Stop the bike, whip out the camera. Work it seagulls, work it.

1:18 PM

Arrived at the 'Y'. Tried checking in with my debit card instead of my membership card. The check-in folks were polite and did not say anything about my gaff. Apparently this not the first time this has happened.

1:27 PM

Head out of the locker room and head down to the pool. I immediately go to the cabinet and pull out the fins. Figure that it might be good to help get my legs back since its been a while from the last time I did laps. The pool is mostly cleared out. Only a teen using the diving well at the far end, and two other swimmers already doing laps.

After a ten minute warm-up, I pull off the fins and start rotating laps between freestyle, breaststroke, and backstroke. The breaststroke has always been the swim that I am most relaxed in, but I know my speed will come from the freestyle.

Ten minutes of the rotation I take a quick break, and start in on pure laps of freestyle. It is amazing, but when I stopped thinking about the strokes and just let my mind wonder, the laps just started to vanish. Everything started to feel like a cocoon of quiet and peace.

It was in that moment that I chastised myself from staying away from the pool for so long.

2:34 PM

Wander down to my bike after cleaning up and changing back into my road gear. Start out on a small bike trail route and head over to my mom's. I have run out of toilet paper, and she acquired some of the really soft kind, an accident on her part. She prefers the thin variety and I am happy to take the problem paper off of her hands.

I just planned on stopping by for my random toilet paper acquisition and to say "hi" to mom during my afternoon route, and she mentioned how she "just had to get a picture of me". Being the girl who wants to maintain favorite child status, I quickly agreed and this little beauty came to fruition.

This photo says a few different things:

• My thighs will always be massive, and I embrace that.
• I am kind of a bike poser. The gloves, bike shirt, shorts--um, yeah, I'm not really that hard core.
• My mom loves to take random photos.

3:09 PM

Finally on the road after chatting with Mom. A workout in itself, but a welcomed one. TP in the backpack and heading home.

3:18 PM

Back at home, and make myself a quick snack. Steamed broccoli with garlic salt. Happy tummy. *drool*

A good day overall. My muscles are feeling good and ready for a nice easy run tomorrow.

A Little Bit -- Dirty?

Oh my blessed washer and dryer this looks awesome! Even better then the Run Amuck event is the Run Amuck photo gallery.

Seriously laughing so hard. I want in on this race so badly, I would even consider buying an airline ticket and flying out for this next year.

The Spirit of the Marathon

I have been putting off watching The Spirit of the Marathon on purpose. It is two weeks to the Fox Cities Half Marathon, and figured this would be the time in my training I would need a little inspiration. It has been sitting in my Netflix queue taunting me for quite some time, and after my distance run today, it felt right to pull it out.

"The triumph over the adversity, that is what the marathon is all about. And therefore you know there isn't anything in life you cannot triumph over after that." -Katherine Switzer

The premise of biopics following these six runners in various stages of training and experience is well thought out and relatable. I loved the little bits of running history thrown into the documentary. And oddly enough, the tension building music was not too terrible either.

It is interesting because the film points out how non-runners see this almost obsession with such a personal sport as crazy. The motivators for every runner is different, but the commonality of the race binds us together. The elites along with the "others".

Entirely unrelated to Spirit of the Marathon:

And onto a mini rant. The comment of the day happened during my long run by a man who resembled Al Borland, "Look at her, she's wearing shorts--she's crazy!"

No Sherlock, its only 60 degrees, which is in stark contrast to last weeks high temps. However, contrary to popular belief it does not warrant snow suits and stocking caps quite yet. In fact, if you were up to about six miles of running, you too would need to cool off. But it appears you are drinking a beer outside of your garage and making random comments about folks who you think are not listening because they are wearing earphones instead.

Let this be a lesson to you beer drinker man, runners usually keep the volume down low so we can hear traffic, and random comments from guys like you. Thanks for the chuckle though.

And for the record I am not crazy, just a runner.