Step Away From the Cake

Yesterday turned out to be great. After my awesome swim, I headed out on my bike. I went and got a haircut then just cruised around. I ended up visiting a friend I haven't seen in about 3 years. It was great to catch up. Around noon I hooked up with hubby and we went and had lunch. Then it was home for some yard work; install a/c in the bedroom; and a little nap. Overall a great day. This morning I slept in a little; at least the animals let me sleep till 6:25 - nice of them. This morning was a run. It is also primary day and I needed to vote. So I planned my route to take me past my polling place. I had 6 miles in mind. I headed out and it was a little tough going at first. I voted and then got serious. The run turned out to be good. My pace is getting quicker though still not where I want it to be. At the turnaround point I sat and looked at the ocean for a few minutes, then headed home. I got a grain of sand in my shoe and it started a blister on my arch. That is not good. But o...

That's what I've taken today. For the last few weeks months I've been feeling in a rut. I realized I'm stressing just a tiny bit and things are not great. I have a friend passing through town today, literally, passing through, so I used it as an excuse to take a mental health day. I need a day for me. I got up at my regular time and headed out to the pool. Since I had time I decided I needed to go long. I ended up doing 3150 m (1.96 miles) in 1:40. It was great. I did some drills, some intervals, some kicking, etc. I really pushed myself. By the time I was done I was tired. Yeah!!! Right now I'm hanging around the house, eating breakfast, and hanging with the animals. In a little while I'm going to go for a bike ride. I need to get a hair cut and run a few small errands. I figure why not do it on my bike?? Then, a little later, I'll head to the airport to meet my friend. We'll go to lunch, maybe drive around see a few sights, then it's back to the a...

Today I was back in the pool for the first time in 2 weeks. It was interesting. At first I felt like a real clutz. I couldn't seem to get it together. My stroke was all lopsided; I couldn't seem to breathe properly; I kept sinking; ugh, it was frustrating. But I kept plugging along. This is the price you pay for skipping workouts for 2 weeks. Eventually things began to smooth out. First my breathing evened out and got better. Next, my stroke seemed to straightened out. I still kept sinking and I can't figure out that that is about. It's not that my feet are sinking, my whole body is sinking. WTF????? The workout was: 300 sw, 300 k, 300 pull 200 sw, 200 k, 200 pull 3 x 50 rt/lt 300 sw 3 x 50 fingerdrag Total distance: 2100 m Total time: 1:13 By the time I got to the fingerdrag drill I was totally on it and doing flipturns. It felt really good again and back to where I was before I started. Okay, I really should get to work.

It's still a working theory, but I really think I'm on to something. First, a couple of observations. When you drink lots of water your body wants more. It drives me crazy how thirsty I get the more water I drink. I drink 3-4 liters a day and I'm sitting here right now feeling parched. I know it's not true but the more I drink the more I want. Now water is how the body gets cellular waste out so it is important in many many ways. I've noticed people who drink more water go to the bathroom more, even when they are not drinking water. People who don't drink a lot of water don't exhibit this tendency. Hmmmmm... I've never liked salt. I don't put it on my food and I'm not a fan of salty things. When I would race my sweat was salty but not as salty as some peoples. When I started long distance (read marathon) training I started to investigate salt tablets. I discovered very quickly that I don't like them and I don't like what they do to my bod...

I have never done a duathlon. We don't have many here in Hawaii, I think there are 2 a year. It's just not popular. So this would be a new experience for me. I arrived at the start/finish/transition area at 5:15 a.m. The race was scheduled to start at 6:30 so I had plenty of time to set up my area, use the bathroom, eat my breakfast, use the bathroom, what is it about race morning and the bathroom???? After roaming around for an hour it was time for the athlete's meeting. Here is where they explained the duathlon. We would do a 1 mile run, 12 mile bike ride, and 5k run. The route of the 1 mile run was across the grass of the park to the bike path on the other side. Okay, this would be bad. Every since my ankle problems last year I don't do well on uneven surfaces. Luckily it was only 1 mile and we were on grass for about 1/3 of that. At 6:30 on the dot the horn goes off and we go. They had this bizarre inflatable arch that we had to run through and only about 3 people a...