Various thoughts

This post will be a hodge podge of thoughts.

My neck and back are sore from the new bike position. That should take about two weeks to get used to. I got a small massage at Costco today, where I go to hang out with Paul because he tends to fall asleep there. Anyway, I found a massage recliner that is AWESOME. The "fingers" get both sides of the spine, right next to the spine and all way down your back. It doesn't get the neck very well, but my lower back is usually the sore spot anyway. I sat in there for about tweny minutes while Paul slept. I'm sure it was a wierd site for people to see an empty cart with a sleeping baby in it in the middle of the aisle, and then they would see me sitting in the chair in the racks. But it felt great!

My abs are sore today. Probably from a combination of the uphill biking and the sprints I did yesterday. I always find my abs are sore after either of those, and I did both within a 24 hour period.

The sprints were a good but very short workout. I did a 800 warmup, then a 800 run on 2:57, then a 400 on 1:21, then a 200 and 100 (I forget the times). The 800 really sucked, and I positive splitted by about 16 seconds (1:21 v 1:36). The last 150 yards were brutal and hurt alot. The 400 went alot better, and I died on only the last 50. The 200 and 100 went 100% the entire way, which is nice. I figure I can do two sets of these during a standard lunch hour, but I really don't like the idea of how much that second 800 is going to hurt! There is a middle school with a track right by my work that will work great for sprint workouts once school is out in Mid-May. I like the idea of that workout once a week, but like I said the second 800 is going to be really painful.

I went for a 3 mile run with Paul again today. It was supposed to rain this morning and clear up this afternoon, so I waited to run til this afternoon. Of course, it started raining halfway through the run. So I bailed on a second lap. Paul fell asleep during the run, which I guess is good. He sure sleeps better at night when he takes naps. Funny thing is that he only sleeps 30 minutes at a time, and you get set a watch by that 30 minutes!

I swam yesterday morning. Was supposed to be 3x500 but I only did 2x500. On the last lap of my second 500, I hit a ladie's paddle with my arm during recovery, and it hurt. She was kind of pissed off about! But I was sharing a lane and she wasn't, so why she wasn't in the middle of her lane I don't know. Anyway, I just didn't feel like swimming another 500 after her attitude kind of ruined my morning. The other thing about that workout was that I couldn't count laps for anything. How hard is it to count laps?!?!?! Well, it's not simple when you get into your little happy place while swimming laps. I did a 8:40 and 8:55, and I figure I had to have done two extra laps, but that would be a 7:10 or so on the first lap, and I'm not that fast, but it was certainly faster than a 8:40, counting the extra laps as my usual 40second laps. Who knows?! I'm just chalking it up to a bad workout.

I got a new pair of googles. They are AquaSphere and are marketed as having 180 degree vision. We'll see if that's true. I need something that gives me more visibility in open water, and I figure these should work pretty good. They are "guaranteed" not to leak. Ha! I'll believe it when I see it.

And I'm changing to some competition swim shorts for my workouts. I think I'm getting some bad form by using my standard running shorts because the pocket on the back creates an uneven drag, making it harder to pull with my right arm than with my left arm. Maybe I'm overanalyzing again, but that's my thought. I'll find out tomorrow morning.

Weather is not cooperating again for outside biking. It's supposed to be rainy for the next few days. I just don't like biking in the rain. For one, I don't feel safe because the tires are so skinny. Second, I don't think others can see me as well. And third, I don't simply don't like it. But I supposed I need to get out there in the rain some day so that I know what to expect if it's raining on race day sometime.

Tomorrow is the swim portion of the Bengal tri. It's a 700 yarder. No sweat; I just want to do the race for the heck of it. Then Saturday morning is the bike and run. That will count as my first all-outdoor brick, which I had planned to do anyway very soon. For $10, I get to meet the other triathletes in town, a cool shirt, and a reason to bike in the rain. It'll be worth it, but I might not like it.