Steering back into the groove

Thur. 1-31-08

Back in the pool. I mean, BACK IN THE POOL!!

Triumph #1 - Beating back the strong desire to go back to sleep when the alarm went off at 5a. 18F on the Cougar-ometer at oh-5-40 didn’t scare me back indoors. Sliding into bed and getting to sleep would have been sooooo easy.

Triumph #2 - Surviving the swim session, staying relatively "on", not just going through the motions to finish a set.

Best of all: no noise from the high chest strain, finally!

Form wasn't as terrible as I feared, I'm still far from sprouting gills, and fitness is ugly. If the effort was anything but very easy it quickly felt hard. Fortunately, coach went easy on us. I wasn't the only one returning to the water after a layoff.

200warm up
2x50 drills of each, all w/zoomers: side swim, 1 arm, stroke and glide, catch-up
500 free hard w/zoomers
500 free steady no zoomers
3x25 very easy
1x25 hard

Evening - Bike
1hr20mins on the trainer. Just riding. A little standing and a little pushing the effort now and then. My attempt to ease the legs back into things.

Fri. 1-4-08
Run steady 60mins, ~7.8-8mi, feeling a bit more like a runner, not quite back to form or HR:pace tho.
Upper 20's, crisp.
15mins core.

How about Obama and Huckabee in Iowa?
The high turnout pleases me greatly. Might there be hope for a record (respectable) percentage of eligible voters to get out to the polls in November?

I think I can not... I think I can not...

I'm working on a weakness, focusing 110% on doing nothing. Going all out to find my inner slug. Six days so far. That's some pretty decent consistency, maybe even a new DN PR. I'm no Jabba the Hutt yet, but why not aim high?

The internet is an excellent slugability enhancer. A beautiful blackhole, with an amen corner for every persuasion. Even within the fitnet, encouragement to slack abounds. The body needs a break, and the mind will relish the change, they instruct. Firm up the foundation. Lay the mental and physical ground work for good health next season command the gurus. Even the NYT echos the chorus suggesting there's an upside to just not doin' it for a bit. Ignore the HTFU crowd.

So, go ahead: Find some new interests. Reintroduce yourself to neglected friends, family and/or pets. Gain some weight - don't burn those great holiday meals, build on them. Shop, on line of course, $3.19 for the cheap gas, ouch. Sleep more, blog at great length(ahem), read more, work more? Enjoy some college B-ball (avoid Dicky V.) Restful down time now for fewer down days over the long term. Sounds rational, right?

Taking it easy doesn't necessarily feel better. It feels worse, at least for awhile. And I've yet to make it past awhile. Rest indeed seems to be rust. Sluggish becomes the norm (Jabba) and does wonders for a dipping cranky curmudgeon factor. Yeah, I'm a strong perfomer on the CC achievement scale as it is. But, I'll buy into all the faffle, file it under doing the right thing and claim the mental victory of successfully doing nothing.

I was nudged in this direction, via an ornery achilles tendon and a high chest strain of some sort (never should've raked those leaves). Not hurtin' enough to prevent exercise. Cold weather and diminished daylight gave that nudge some added oomph, more of a stiff-arm. Seven days worth of oomph? Ten days? Let's not get crazy. All things in moderation.