Swim 30, Run 15

I had a very busy morning and afternoon. I met with a great group of ladies for lunch and shopping. It was great, but a bit expensive. I got some great stuff though.

Wait, you're not here to hear about my day with the ladies. I really mention it to let you know why had had to wait to swim until 4:30 today. From the last 2 weeks, I learned that an afternoon swim at Carleton was not the best idea. The men's swim team uses open swim time for their practice time. Just what I need. I already feel fat and slow.

However, I had a break through. After about 10 minutes, I remembered when I rocked a swim! In Guam last summer, I got dive certified. On the first day in the water, we needed to swim 200 yds, to prove we knew how to swim. I was there with 4 other guys, and I felt like I needed to prove something to them.

I knew my strength was swimming. But, I heard another guy was a swimmer too. I got nervous for a bit. I really wanted to kick their asses! When I finished, I heard one guy say, "You've got to be kidding me!" I felt like he was shocked I was the first to finish. It felt great! However, he couldn't believe he still had more laps to do. I like my first impression :) After feeling like I've failed at a bunch of stuff, kicking the butts of those 4 guys felt pretty good.

So, with that memory in my head, I kept going. I was faster than before. Not much, but every bit counts. I feel like my swim during the triathlon will go fairly well. I can't stop swimming now though. I need to keep this as my strong event. Something to hang my hat on.

After the swim, I headed home and out on the trail for a 15 min run. The winds were over 20 mph out of the south. This didn't sound too bad, because I first head north up a big hill, so I was getting pushed uphill. The run felt good. I have no idea how fast I really went, but I think it was under an 11 min mile. That's what I want and need.

Tomorrow is a 30 minute run, followed by weight training. I'm headed to the gym to work on my speed on the indoor track. We'll see how this goes. I'm worried about my speed right now, but I think it's getting better. I'll let you know how it goes...

BIG workout!

I've been doing pretty well on my workouts so far. I've missed Easter and 1 other day, not too bad. However, I missed yesterday. I was tripped on my dog's bone on Friday night, jamming my little toe. It hurt quite a bit yesterday, so I chose to skip my 40min run to make sure I didn't hurt it further. I really should avoid those dog bones. I've broken a few toes on them so far.

The toe felt much better today, so I went out for the big workout. I hit the pool for a 30 minute swim. I've fallen in love with my old pool again. The Cowling Gym pool at Carleton is great! It's in the basement of the gymnasium, and not heavily used. I get my own lane when I swim there. I missed that pool.

The swim was good. I got in 1,500 yds in 30 minutes, or at least I think I got that much in. I loose track often. That's a lot of laps to keep track of. Plus, I get scatter brained when I exercise. All that really matters is that got in 30 minutes of swimming.

Then, I hit gym for my run. It was 38 degrees with 25-30kts winds outside, so I decided to go inside. The gym wasn't busy today, so I had the track almost to myself. There was 1 other guy, walking around for 1/2 of my run. I finished 45 minutes of running is slow and steady form. My goal was to simply not walk. I wanted to get the time in and not worry to much about the distance. If I worry about the distance, the time gets daunting.

I did try to remember to keep my pace up though. I tried to run my thighs and not so much with my calves. I normally have a short stride, which keeps my pace down. When I stretch it out, I can run faster, and that's a big goal of mine.

All in all, it was a great workout. I'm beat now, but happy to have it done. Now, I'm off to varnish our new cedar ceiling in the basement. I hope my arms can hold out...