Que sera, sera...

It appears I've missed the bus on the Wilmington Tri. I went yesterday to check out registration, only to find that they had reached their cap and the race was closed.

I knew they only had 150 spaces left, but I didn't expect them to fill up in one day!

Ah well. Perhaps it wasn't to be. I haven't had the greatest time in the pool this week, so maybe I should just be thankful I don't have to test my skills in 1500 meters of ocean swimming.

Maybe. I'm a little bummed, but that's okay. It gives me more time and energy to focus on training for the half-marathon I want to do in November. Sigh.

Anyhoo.

I woke up yesterday, planning to do a nice 20-mile ride. Except I heard the phrase "code orange pollution" and looked outside and saw a nice thick haze lying over everything. So I went to the gym and rocked out with a little virtual brick: stationary bike + treadmill. I even did a few minutes of one-leg cycling drills. Good times.

I'm looking around for a trainer, though. If I have to ride inside, I'd rather do it on my actual bike instead of halfheartedly trying to get a decent fit on the spinning cycles at my gym.

This morning found me back at the pool and again, it was super, super crowded. This time, though, the aerobicizers weren't giving any space. So there were five of us crowded into two lanes. Most people got frustrated and left though, so for a while I had it all to myself.

Halfway through my workout, I was coming back down the lane, when I saw this man standing at the head of my lane. This man who easily weighed 300, maybe 350. This man who wanted to share my lane. At first, I was like, "Man, why do I have to get the big guy?!"

But then I quickly chastised myself and realized that, rather than feel put out by his presence, I should be rooting him on for getting out there and getting moving. And he did do a marvelous job of staying on his half of the lane.

The poor guy, though. He swam with his head pretty much out of the water his legs dragging behind him and you could tell he was having a hell of a time out there. He reminded me of how hard it was for me when I started and how far I've come and how hard it still is for me.

And suddenly, I didn't mind him there at all. (Especially since I actually got to feel kind of fast for once!)

One neat thing that happened on my swim: I think I realized that I've been kicking all wrong. Everything I read says that land athletes tend to kick too much from the knee down. And I was certain that I did not kick only from the knee down. But I realized today that my version of not kicking only from the knee down means just kind of moving my entire leg like it is one long stick without any grace or flexibiity at all. So today while I was doing my kick drills, I tried to imagine that my entire leg was one giant flipper. And lo and behold, I started going faster. (And my quads started getting a lot more tired, but what are you going to do?) So I'm looking forward to working some more on my kick. I love it when I find ways to improve!

Tomorrow is a 60-mile bike ride with Randy. Nothing fancy, we're just going out there to put in the miles and get at least a little preparation for the century we're doing next Saturday. I love the long weekend rides with my baby and I can't wait! We're planning to get out there by 6am, so we can be done and showered, with plenty of time to hit the farmer's market by noon. Yay!

8/4: Swim - Drills are fun and good for you!
200 warmup
4x50 catchup (on all drills, I drill up and swim back)
4x50 thumb-to-thigh
4x50 fist
1x50 one-arm freestyle, left arm (my form on the left is pitiful)
2x50 kick (no kickboard, stay face down in streamline to practice balance and kick)
4X25 sprint
100 cooldown

8/3: 40min stationary bike, 20min running (11:45min pace)