3000 Yards!

I officially did my longest swim ever yesterday. It was 3000 yards. Go me!

I had a 2300yd main set, and did 300 for warm-up, so I figured I'd stay in the pool for a 400 cool-down to get to 3000. It was awesome. And someone (who clearly doesn't know much about swimming, thank goodness) asked me if I was on a swim team! I told him that I was not, but the mental push that that gave me helped me drop a few seconds off my dragging-my-ass 50s at the end of a 4x500 workout.

Also, last week my coach mentioned to me that I stopped kicking when I breathe (who knew?) and that I should focus on kicking through the whole stroke. I did that today and definitely felt more efficient.

I love setting new milestones. It's great to actually see the training working, and I'm starting to get pumped for racing to start. I can't wait to see where I am this year compared to last. Hopefully it'll be an improvement!

New Layout

So I sort of figured out the new layout. What do you think?

Outsmarted By A Dog

I locked myself out of my house tonight.

Well, okay. I didn't lock myself out, per se. My dog locked me out, when I went to take out some cans for recycling. She jumped up on the door to see just what I was doing outside, and in doing so shut the door. And I was locked out.

My friend has a key. But my phone was inside, and I don't know anyone's number - they're all stored in my phone. Not super helpful in emergencies like this.

So being locked out, I started thinking about the best way to get back in. My first thought was property damage (natch). So I tried to kick down - yes, I just said I tried to kick down - our back door. We live in an old house, and I would like to report to you that those old wooden doors are actually pretty damn sturdy. The plaster around the doorframe, not so much. But no dice. So then I tried to put a brick through a pane of glass in the door. After all, replacing one measly pane of glass is a lot cheaper than replacing a whole door, right? Well, the glass is also pretty sturdy.

I finally did what should have been my first step - went next door and called Speedy. He had the brilliant idea (which is why I should have called him first) to use my neighbor's ladder, climb onto our porch overhang, and go in through an upstairs window. Fortunately for me and my non-handy self, cooler heads prevailed and my neighbor suggested I go out his window to get to mine (we live in a twin). So he and I are standing on our porch overhangs, basically breaking into my house. Fortunately, this time it worked, and even more fortunately, no police cars drove by as we were doing it. Of course, I had to push my dog back inside when she jumped up on the upstairs window to see what was going on and why I was outside.

So in the end, all is well, I am inside before it gets really cold tonight, and property damage is minimal. All in a recovery day's work.

Can You Tell It's a Recovery Week?

Okay, so I tried to change my blog layout and all, but I lost my race schedule table; apparently the HTML doesn't convert. Any ideas how I can get this to work?

I Love Warm Weather

And I'm so desperate for it to be warm that 50 and sunny counted as 'warm' today. It's so great to feel the warmth of the sun, and see people out and about without heavy coats and without the scowls that seem to develop after extended periods of really cold weather. And today, I ran in shorts. I saw some other runners out in long pants and winter hats, and all I could think was, "What is WRONG with you??" This relative warmth is not supposed to last for too long, and I'm sure I'll be all bundled up for my run this weekend, so it was great to enjoy it while I could. I can't wait for summer.

I was totally dragging my ass during Wednesday's swim, and I couldn't figure out why. Getting myself onto the trainer that evening was pure willpower and nothing else. I couldn't figure out why I felt so tired. Then I woke up on Thursday and felt awful. Sore throat, headache, just general yuck. After being up for a while and trying to get my act together, I finally decided it wasn't happening. I skipped my classes and went back to sleep for FOUR hours. I don't think I've taken a four-hour nap since I graduated from college. Today was slightly better, I've actually been vertical for much of the day.

The thing that really stinks about bugs like this one is the mind games they make me play. As a triathlete, I of course think that taking 2 days off in a row puts me in the fast lane to Sloth-ville, and my body is going to turn to mush, with all my hard work for naught. I might as well sell my bike and just take up residence on the couch, eating Doritos and drinking beer. It's the classic angel-and-devil-on-the-shoulders situation, except it's unclear to me which is the one saying "You need to rest in order to recover!" and which is saying "Suck it up and train through it!" I keep thinking "Well, maybe I could go for a swim; I was only supposed to do 10x100 today, I can get that done." And then I get up from the couch, my head spins, and I sit my ass back down for another few hours.

Here, Fishie, Fishie

Today, during my swim warm-up, another girl got into the pool. Now, I know this doesn't sound like a big deal, but there are very few young women who actually swim at the pool at my gym. There are quite a few older women who water-walk, and no shortage of women who want to kick you out of your lane so they can do aquarobics, and even some young women who get in with their friends or significant others or whomever and splash around and giggle. Because, you know, when I'm swimming laps I really want to watch the two people in the lane next to me flirting and grabbing and all. But I digress.

So today, I am finishing my warm-up, taking my sweet old time, and this girl gets in and starts swimming. Really. Flip-turns and all. Of course, this totally piques my interest, so I'm all trying to look without really looking, and of course I'm trying to figure out which one of us is faster, since I'm absurdly competitive like that. So I start my main set of 8x200, and I'm barely paying attention to the swimming. Instead, I'm single-mindedly focusing on holding her off. I had to nail those flip-turns, and if she was getting down the lane in 18 strokes, I had to do it in 17. Meanwhile, my sets are just flying by. By the time she got out, I had gotten through six intervals, all relatively fast and consistent, and had hardly even noticed I was swimming.

It. was. awesome.

I was still comtemplating the awesomeness that was my distracted workout during my seventh interval. Meanwhile, lo and behold, Speedy showed up for his swim, so he was around for the eighth and final. This workout went so quickly that the only reason I know I did eight intervals is because my watch tells me so.

Add to a great swim workout a delicious and over-eaten dinner at The Melting Pot, and it was a good day.

But I Like My Toxins! With Two Olives!

I think Ugly Betty is one of the best shows around. It's absolutely hilarious. Characters, plots, writing, everything is awesome. Seriously. I don't like telling people what to do (yeah, right, who am I kidding?) but if you don't watch it, you totally should. Now.

Wake Me Up When It's Warm.

I've been feeling uninspired lately. I think it's the cold weather. I don't do well in the cold; I just want to hibernate. Speedy thinks my hibernation instinct is the reason I like to carry large handbags, that way in case I run out of food I have enough room in my bag and can just dig in for a Clif Bar or apple or meatball sandwich.

In about a month, Speedy and I are traveling to Texas for my spring break. With the current 10-day forecast listing nothing above 35 degrees, I can't wait to go somewhere warmer for a little while.

My coach has raised my swim volume in the past few days. It went from 1200-yard main sets to a 2200-yard main set. I actually called him to make sure it wasn't a typo, but no, it wasn't. And I used my new alphabet counting method to count the laps, and it worked great once I figured out how to count. So my coach wanted to know how it went, and I told him I thought it went well. I was tired by the end, but overall, for doing the longest main set I've ever done, I felt great and I told him that. To which he responded, "Good. So we'll keep your long swim at 2500-3000 yards for now, until we start to build the volume in a few weeks." I think I'm in trouble . . .