Ah...The Irony

"Achilles; immortal man, immortal body, except he had an Achilles heel, the irony", Eddie Izzard. I know, but he is too funny NOT to quote....again. So how does this apply to me? Remember, I am also playing soccer? I signed up before getting involved with triathlon, and I am a woman who keeps her commitments. As much as I LOVE soccer lo, these many, many, many years, I have thought recently, perhaps it may not be a good idea to play now that I am doing triathlons. Too much on my plate, possible injury, BINGO! Twisted my ankle in my game last night. Yes, extremely casual league and we were losing. I guess you can take the girl out of competition, but you can't take the competition out of the girl. It's like motor memory, I can't seem to just play it cool on the field. I have to go all out despite the fact that this is just for fun. This is the result of that.

Oh, but the irony doesn't stop there boys and girls. I mentioned my interest a post or two ago in a wrist device that would be able to track my distance, pace, heart rate, calories, etc., you get the picture. GPS is out for NYC. At least based on my research; too many tall buildings and the price tag isn't very enticing especially for me at this stage of the game. Mom On the Run made some very good suggestions and I almost went for the Tech4o. Blah, blah, blah, I ended up buying the Garmin Forerunner 50.


It arrived today. I have a sprained ankle. I can't run. I am an idiot. So now I have this lovely device I was jonesing to try out once it got here. Had the perfect opportunity tonight at my group run to do it, and I can't go. Damn! If there is one thing I have learned, ok, two things, at my age, it's always listen to your inner voice (which said, "don't play soccer") and even if you want to, don't ignore your injury and keep running. I will obey number two and wish I had listened to number one.

I did manage a bike ride today. a lowly 10 miles, but I didn't want to push it as I wasn't sure what the ankle could take. I am also still working on the fit of my bike. I may need to look into a professional fit. I am feeling sore elbows and numb feet. I'll have lots of questions at my bike GTS on Saturday. I also will try to swim tomorrow night. Not sure how the kicking will go with the ankle.

Wait, there is more irony. The author of one of the blogs I follow, Stiffy Leg Blues, jammed up her toe pretty badly. I have to wonder what's in the water? Or some celestial misalignment?

In any case..some training notes, from when I could train....waah! Last Friday was a bike day, still no major mileage to speak of, mostly trying to get comfortable. Saturday was my GTS run. We had a run (total 45 minutes) plus course overview. The beauty about this triathlon is I get to train on the very course I will be competing on. Further irony, because that's the theme here folks, is I also live right near the course. I have lived near it for the last 14 years. I know this park like the back of my hand. All this is great for feeling comfortable in my first Olympic tri (oh, my first tri ever!). Upon looking at the Hudson that morning, the murky, icky looking water was not very inviting and I hear tell of an algae beard as you exit the water. It may be considered nature's perfect food, loaded with all kinds of vitamins, but I'll take mine in a supplement please.

After the training session we were invited to attend an injury prevention workshop...ah, more irony. Following that something they call "Connection To The Cause". We heard from individuals who have had some form of Leukemia or Lymphoma. It was pretty heart rending. I'm not sure there was a dry eye in the house. The purpose was to remind us why we are training so hard and who our fundraising benefits. It worked. I left there even more motivated, if that is possible. I like to rest on Sunday and have family time and Monday saw me up at 6am and off to the pool for laps and drills, and more drills and then more laps. Monday night.....soccer and ankle implosion. I could kick myself if my ankle didn't hurt so much, instead I sit and drown my temporary sorrows in a (singular) Blue Moon.

Best Laid Plans

"The best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men / Gang aft a-gley", Robert Burns. As if one needs to translate from Scottish or explain, "The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry". The British comedian, Eddie Izzard does a funny bit on this asking, "If the best laid plans of mice go wrong, are some of the worst laid ones ok? They plan to get cheese; they run they scamper, one has fallen over! No cheese today." He goes on to incorporate scenes from "The Italian Job" to illustrate even further. Not as funny when I tell it, but you can see it here. So what does this all mean? Either I am becoming a literary blog (ha!) or I am trying, very sadly, to describe (didn't want to use "illustrate" again) my week.

My last post laid out my training plan for a "normal" week. Upon further mental rumination, let me not kid myself. This is my best laid plain, but it too gang aft a-gley. In fact it gang aft a-gley every week. Basically what I described was my training week in my dreams. Even with the best of intentions and an early morning rise there are so many factors (life, for one) that just get in the way. For the most part I manage to get about 85-90% of my plans completed, but with weather, hubby's travel, 3 year old and northeast "Spring" weather, they definitely go awry. Add to this my commitments to my son's school (ie. volunteering for events), soccer (a commitment that I made before I knew I was going tri), and life, well, you get the picture. I am often amazed that I get as much completed as I do.

So this week kind of summed up like this:
Monday: swim
Tuesday: group run
Wednesday: weights (normally a group swim, but I had a concert that night)
Thursday: nada (taxes)
Friday (today): bike (weather forecast 64˚F today!)
Saturday: group run

Not too bad, but certainly not as scheduled. I find I am constantly having to rethink my plans; training on the fly, working around things and sometimes having to drop something all together. Such is life.

Who is "This Charming Man"? Sorry, I couldn't resist. Morrissey played Webster Hall in NYC on Wednesday and it is an annual pilgrimage for my friend Evan and I to attend. It was a pretty good show in a way-to-small venue. It was also clear that Morrissey wasn't exactly thrilled with the place either, describing his quarters as "a room with a bucket and a chair to do with as you will". He continued, "I hope you didn't pay more than $20 for your tickets" which received riotous laughter and applause, seeing as how they were $75. Some random young lady crashed at my friend's feet; too much in the libation department. My back and calves were screaming at the end of the evening. Upon leaving, Evan said, "Next time we see him, it has to be in a place with seats." I concurred. I am clearly getting too old to stand for hours, which is what made Jazz at Lincoln Center last weekend so enjoyable; chairs! All in all though, we had some great sushi before the show, Evan's friends who came along were fun, so it was an all around success.

I think I will feed my little man some lunch and then take him out to the park to ride his bike on this rare, glorious spring day. This is my best laid plan.

Nothing in Particular

I'm not really writing today to report on any "ah ha!" moments. I just feel like writing something. My fundraising for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society is going really well, thank you to everyone who has contributed. I am moved by the generosity of others despite this dismal economy. Training is also coming along well. At least it appears that way to me, having no prior experience in triathlons to match it against. I am able to meet and complete the challenges that have been put before me thus far without too much trouble. My weeks are still shaping up in terms of routine. It will be easier when I am biking on a regular basis. As it stands, a week looks like this:

Monday: swim, weights
Tuesday: group run
Wednesday: group swim, weights
Thursday: Bike (outside or in) or StairMaster (please get warm soon!)
Friday: run (speed work/drills)
Saturday: group run (weather permitting: bike)
Sunday: rest

I've changed the schedule laid out by the coaches a bit. I don't like swimming on Friday mornings b/c the pool is too crowded so I decided on Mondays. Monday is supposed to be the rest day, and I might still make it that and do swimming on Sundays. That was my plan of action this last weekend, but my husband had to go out of town for work. I had to rearrange everything and couldn't do much over the weekend with my son around, just some core and strength exercises. Unfortunately, since my husband is in the news business, I will constantly have to rearrange, reschedule, completely drop things as he sometimes has to go at a moment's notice. I have a sitter, but not on the weekends, and once school is over, not on Fridays either. It forces me to adapt, for sure, but it also keeps me focused on training when I have the opportunity, because I never know when I may not.

I also must mention my Miracle Balls! A) Get your mind out of the gutter. B) Nothing to do with my miracle tights. I have herniated discs, as I have mentioned before, and I sometimes feel a little sciatica and lower back pain. These balls are great for releiving the discomfort and realigning my hips. I always feel a bit lighter in my shoes and seem to stand up straighter when I am finished using them. A Blue Moon also helps ease the pain. And yes, I have lost a little weight. Tried on some pants this morning and they used to be tight, now, a little wiggle room! Hallelujah!

On that note, off to run.....

Update: There are some days when I think, "I can do this triathlon thing!" Tonight was not one of those days. Tonight I thought, "what the hell was I thinking?! I can't do this!" It was a tough run for me. Funny thing is, I started out at the front of the pack, in fact I was the second in the group. I was only passed by maybe 5 people, and I did pass the one in front of me on an uphill. A note here: I find that I pass people on the uphills quite frequently. I am not sure if that is because I am going too fast, or I have very strong legs. I vote for the latter. There was a very big hill, long and slightly steep, that almost did me in and the end of the run, about the last 5 minutes, I really had to dig deep. I wanted to stop, but didn't. The really frustrating part is not really knowing how fast I am going or what kind of distance I am covering. I'm not sure I want to drop the kind of money it would take to buy one of those Garmin Forerunners, or Polar GPS/footpod thingys and it's kind of a long way to Mother's Day (honey, if you are reading this...hint, hint). I feel great that I finished the run, but running is clearly going to be my weak link. I'll need to work on this.

In Memoriam

I have to take a moment to remember my grandmother, Margo who died this day last year. My mother wrote a beautiful tribute to her in her blog "Meave's Madness".

I spent all my summers with Margo & Pop (that is what I called them) on their boat on Long Island. Time spent with them are some of my happiest childhood memories.

I used to sit with her in her over sized recliner and watch old musicals, I still love them to this day. New Years was also special. At midnight we would go outside and bang pots and pans with wooden spoons. You could here all the neighbors up and down the block doing the same. We moved this past summer to a new apartment and spent our first New Year's here. I was so surprised and happy to hear some of the neighbors on our new block do the same! It instantly transported me back to Acre Lane in Hicksville. I must remember to have my pot and spoon ready for next year.

My grandmother loved to talk about when she was a young woman; dating, dancing, etc. She was quite a looker too!

It was hard to watch her become old. I always remember her being so alive, vibrant and chatty. She and my grandfather love to talk to people. The funny thing is, she always resisted going out and doing things publicly when she was older, but once you got her out, you couldn't get her away from the folks she's be chatting with. I miss her and think about her all the time. I can't watch a musical or listen to big band music, Perry Como (whom she loved) without thinking of her. I know she was ready to go. She would always tell me, "Never get old, it's terrible". I think the worst part for her was having her body fail while her mind remained sharp.

I also have to give a nod to my Mom and Uncle. Especially my Mom, for being a caregiver and her infinite patience with someone would could even on her good days be an extremely stubborn and difficult woman. My mom handled it all with grace and patience. My Uncle, although he lived several hours away, always came to visit her quite frequently. She was never left to just rot away in some home; she had people who love her, even when she made that difficult to do.

My only regret was that I was two days away from seeing her again when she passed. I did have a really nice time with her the last time I did see her. I took her out to lunch and then we went for a long drive. Finally we stopped for some homemade ice cream. She had butter pecan, I remember, and she ate the entire thing! This was quite a feat for someone who wasn't eating much at the time. I worried too that I was going to send her into sugar shock as she was diabetic. But I know her, life isn't worth living if you can't enjoy the things you enjoy.

Mom, I hope you won't mind I snagged some of the pics from your blog, thanks.

I miss you Margo, I hope you found a better place.

Good-bye C25K, Hello Magic Tights!

Today on my facebook page I wrote "To blog or not to blog today", and having been encouraged to do so, here I am. Clearly my C25K running plan has been trashed completely on the heels of joining Team in Training. However, it is not without gain. When last we checked in on our intrepid tri wanna-be she had completed week 5 day 3 of the program; running 20 minutes straight. Fast forward to this past Tuesday evening for my GTS (group training session) run in Central Park. They broke us up into basic, intermediate and advanced running groups based on this:

Advanced – current ability to run 3M continuously 8min pace per mile or
faster

Basic – run 3M continuously? Are you kidding? Also, injured runners should
do this session and question whether they should even be out running!

Intermediate – all others

You guessed it, I joined the basic group. I was pretty sure I wouldn't be able to run continuously for 30 minutes. We set out and I started my watch to time the run. I was somewhere at the middle back of the pack. We focused on pace, trying for 90 strides a minute, which seems to be the magic number. Our coach timed us at 30 seconds asking us to keep count (magic number, obviously, being 45) I kept coming in at 42 or 43, thus making my cadence 84-86 strides/minute. I was actually surprised by this. I thought I would be way off. I tried to remember that tempo and keep it during the entire run. Next thing I know I am passing most everyone in my group and I felt terrific. I wasn't trying to go fast, I just kept creeping up on people. I also wasn't winded at all, I felt very comfortable. My last test came at the end of my run, probably the last 10 minutes; I was able to hold a conversation with a fellow runner and not feel like I was gasping for air. I felt like I could run forever. After our group stretch I was going to jump on the subway and head home, but instead decided to run home as it was only 28 + 3 crosstown (31) blocks away. "Common knowledge" in NYC is that 20 city blocks = 1 mile. When I mapped it out on RunningAhead.com I covered 1.85 miles in 17 minutes. So I was running at a speed of 6.5 mph or a 9.2 minute mile.

Come on, keep up with me here...lol. Ok, I admit I had to look the formula up online ; p.

rate= distance/time (converting time to hours 17/60=.2833333), so we get 1.85 (miles)/.28333 (time)=6.5 mph. So now I know how fast I was going, but what kind of time is that per mile?

time=distance/rate.........1 mile/6.5 mph=.1538 hours, but I have to now convert it to minutes, so .1538x60=9.2 minutes/mile

phew! I'm sweating now. Garmin's got nothing on me! My Dad would be so proud of me. He is kind of a math geek and I am so NOT. Fights used to break out on a routine basis over math homework. What this all amounts to is just this, I am running about .5 mph faster than I thought I was and I consider myself graduated from C25K having run 30 minutes straight (which is the final run of the program). OH! I almost forgot! I attribute this fabulous run to my new magic tights. Apparently, it isn't complete hooey. I also wore them at my run last Saturday and felt just as superhero-ish. My conclusion: NEED MORE MAGIC TIGHTS!

My bike is also ready to go. Put the pedals on and attached the cleats to the shoes. Was going to take it out today, but alas, it rains. My tires are treadless and I don't relish the idea of becoming road kill (I have spared you the hyperlink I originally intended...too gruesome). Especially due to the fact that I am a total newbie to clipless pedals. I think I will bike tomorrow and run later today.

Swimming last night was awesome, as per usual. We did some kicking on side drills, fingertip drag and front sculling drills. Afterwords I had to hightail it out of there to make the second half of my soccer game. Fortunately, the soccer field is just outside the pool house, how lucky is that?! Turns out, one of the women on my current team used to play with me in the Bronx Irish League a few years ago, small world. I also swam on Monday morning at 6 am as usual. I baptized my new Timex Ironman watch that has the ability to keep laps and splits. I did 22 laps in a 50 m pool = 1100 m or .7 miles. I liked Monday morning better than Friday, less crowded. I might also try a Sunday morning to see how that is too.

I also must apologize to my friend Susie, who by all accounts is a literary goddess. My free use of colons, semi colons and commas, must set her teeth on edge. Sorry Suze!

Goodies

I actually really hate new sports equipment. My art supplies must maintain as close to pristine a condition as possible, especially my brushes, but my athletic stuff is a whole other matter. I hate new sneakers more than anything. My delusion is that used stuff says, "experience, history, can-do". Now, mind you, I am not talking about tired looking stuff, you have to know when to say when and give up the ghost. Keeping this in mind I am excited about my new Scott bike shoes, however they look way too shiny and new and need breaking in.



I hate breaking in new shoes more than being force fed beets. I also got some new clipless pedals (thanks Sherry), Look Keo Classics and a new Serfas floor pump. I can live with the newness of the pedals and the pump. My last new item this week was a pair of CW-X 3/4 length Pro tights, "Holy sausage casings, Batman!" Spanx have nothing on these. If you saw what they looked like before I put them on you would say, there is no way on God's green Earth she is squeezing into those. It took some doing, but I got in at the expense of about 200 calories worth of work. Ok, I exaggerate, but it did take a bit of doing. they felt really great though. I guess I should explain, they are compression tights and the myth, uh I mean, technology behind them is that they are constructed in such a way as to offer support for different muscle groups and as a result help you train longer and more efficiently. Whatever, I just know they offered my back and hips the support they needed to run and I didn't get fatigued. There is definitely science to support the whole compression theory for muscle recovery thing, but you'll need to go look it up. I'm and art nerd.

On beyond goodies, my week was tough. In a word, soccer. I started my soccer season on Monday night, wearing my well worn and lovingly broken in turf shoes (look at her shoes, she must really know how to play!).



As I've mentioned, I signed up for the extremely casual division since I haven't played since I got pregnant with my son and I don't feel as competitive in my more advanced years. My challenges are more personal these days, I just want to have fun. My new teammates are a really nice bunch of folks, but I was clearly the one with the most experience. No matter, like I said, I just wanted to play and play I did for an hour. Let me tell you, GINORMOUS mistake, HUGE. Usually it takes the second day before I feel new muscle use. Tuesday morning I awoke a broken woman, which meant Wednesday was gonna be really bad, and it was. I literally could barely walk this week and my back.....forget about it! I skipped my Tuesday night group run (somehow hobbling for 3 miles wasn't going to cut it), but still made swimming on Wednesday, which felt sooooooooo good. I did the stair stepper on Thursday as laid out by the coach. Friday I was meant to get up at 6am and swim, but I slept very badly the night before clocking in only about 3-4 hours and my son got up at 4am! He made it back to sleep, but not me. I was exhausted. This morning I felt much better, sqeeeeeeezed into my new tights and went to my group run. It was great! I felt really good the whole time. I was able to pick up my pace at times. I guess the rest this week did me some good.

Monday is my son's birthday, he will be three. One of the reasons I only let him watch PBS and Noggin is their "no advert" policy. Apparently this has limits. Much to my surprise he started asking to go to Chuck E. Cheese and I couldn't figure out where he was getting this from as there isn't one in NYC. Turns out the rat b*stard (oops!) was sponsoring one of the shows on PBS. Mommy was not happy. And why a rat as mascot? If you live in NYC, there is nothing warm and fuzzy about a rat. I really don't get it. In any case, today we decided to go to one in New Jersey as a treat for my son. A little history here. I have not stepped foot in or within 50 feet of one of these places for more than 20 years; since my sister worked there as said "rat". Boy, has it changed. It was like walking into the pit of hell. My son was even shell shocked the minute we walked in the door, he also seemed to have second thoughts. We stayed, ate the food (if you can call it that) and let him do his three year old thing. While Tom was taking his turn near the end of our stay, a nice young man (I'm showing my age here) who worked there came over and asked if we were finished as they could use the table. No problem! I asked if we could cash in our left over tokens (for the games and rides, etc.), he told us no, but we could keep them and bring them back next time to use. I looked into his eyes and said, with the most solemn tone I could command, "Oh, we're not coming back." He laughed. I told him how sorry I felt for him working there, I think he appreciated that. We flew like bats our of hell from there never to return.

Early Bird, Worm, you get it.....

Friday I was up at 6 am (oy!) to head to the pool to do laps. The city is so quiet at that hour (as much as the "city that never sleeps" can be). I should mention here that the pool is an Olympic size pool (50M). When I was at the GTS on Wednesday I thought, "hmmm...this pool doesn't look that long, in fact there are two pools here". So, imagine my surprise when I walk out on the pool deck and there was one big, long pool! Obviously there was some magic, moving wall involved. First thing I thought (very self defeating), "I won't be able to make it to the other end without drowning!" There were quite a lot of people out there swimming and by the looks of it, triathlon folks. They seemed to be from other triathlon clubs as well. I got into the slow lane and started doing laps. Hey! I made it to the other end and I am not even out of breath! I did laps for half an hour. I found that the more laps I did, the more relaxed I became. It didn't even occur to me to count the laps as I was most concerned with my form and practicing what we learned at the GTS, without drowning. In the end I decided two things: I think I did about 12 lengths of the pool and I really should get a lap counter (watch or otherwise).

The next morning, Saturday, was my group run. It was such a lovely, warm (55˚F) morning. We did three OAB's (out and backs), 10 minutes each, total run time 30 minutes. There were hills in these (ugh). In between we did some strength exercises. I felt really good until the last one. I thought I would die at the end and really wanted to stop on the last hill, but I convinced myself to keep going. They also gave a mini clinic after the run on how to change a flat on your bike, pointing out the obvious, you will only get a flat when it is really cold or raining. Ah, Murphy in the works even here. ***An aside: Ordered my Look Keo Classic (clipless) pedals today (thanks Sherry, followed your advice) and picked up some shoes to go along...can't wait to have my baptismal, ego crushing fall.

Later, Tom and I took Baby Toots to the park and let him get in his bike training. He is building up speed and stamina. He should be ready for the next Tour De France by 2026. We may need to get him a bigger bike by then.

I HEART SWIMMING!

After all my bitching and moaning I went to the GTS for swimming last night. I LOVED it! I went to the basic session since I wasn't sure where I fit in in terms of skill. I can swim pretty good, but I am not an efficient swimmer. The coach really broke it down for us in terms of stroke, kick and breathing. It was soooooo much better than running. I could really come to love swimming a lot.

Funny thing was, when the coach started talking about breathing technique, I suddenly could not swim and breathe at the same time. I kept taking in gulps of water. I put this down to thinking too much about the stroke and the breathing all at once. It was a lot of info to take in and then translate into form, but they were very clear about taking it one step at a time. I can't wait to wake up early tomorrow morning and go for a swim! I am no lark either. I love staying up late, it is what I am naturally inclined to do. My husband is the same way. That changed when my son came along (shouldn't he then, by virtue of genetics, be someone who also likes to sleep late?). Here is the weird thing though. I would love to be a morning person. I actually like it when I am up really early, it's quiet out and when the sun is shining, the light is beautiful. Not sure what this means....Maybe I am an owl in lark pajamas.

It was really nice to know that there were many women last night not too keen on strutting out onto the pool deck in our swimsuits, I was somehow comforted by this. So many wrapped in beach towels. I avoided the urge to swaddle myself and just let it all hang out: the good, the bad and the ugly. I was very happy to finally get into the pool.

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr....................

We got walloped yesterday by a snowstorm here in the northeast. It actually wasn't as bad as they made it seem, however schools were closed and I did not venture outside. Today was Freeeeeeezing!!!!!! When I woke it was 12˚F with a wind chill of -2˚F!! Ok, not Alaska cold, but cold nontheless. My group run for tonight was cancelled so I ran off to the gym to get my run in. I did the 20 minute run, just to see if I could instead of moving on to week 6 (which is another walk/run day). I did it and it wasn't too bad. Ran 1% incline @ 6MPH, so a 10 minute mile. 280 calories bourned and 2.3 miles completed. I also did some hill work and that brought me to 380 calories and 3.2 miles.

Tomorrow is the GTS for swimming. Youch! Kind of looking forward to it in a, I know my ass is ugly, but I wan't to be an awesome swimmer kind of way.

Trying out another blog design...kind of digging it; very lichen-y.

Week 5 Days 2 & 3 C25K and GTS

Ok, lots of abbreviations going on in this title. As we know the C25K is the Couch to 5K running plan I have been following up to now. I finished day two outside and it went like this:

5 minute power walk warm-up
8 minute run
5 minute power walk
8 minute run
5 minute cool down walk

I did this on Friday and it was absolutely balmy here at 58˚F. I felt pretty good during this run. Only towards the end of the second 8 minute run did it start to feel a bit trying.

Now here is where things get tricky. Saturday morning was my first Group Training Session (GTS) with Team in Training. We were scheduled to meet at 8 am in Central Park at Engineers' Gate. I got there a bit early, as I wasn't sure how long it would take me to walk there. Yes, I could have run there, but I wasn't sure what we would be doing the first day and I wanted to conserve energy. We ended up doing some timed runs on the bridal path near the reservoir called out and backs (OAB's), which meant running for 5 minutes and then turning around and running back for 5 more minutes, a total run of 10 minutes. Then some running drills on arm movement, body alignment, foot placement, etc.. Then more AOB (which seemed much longer) and finally some stretching.

Two things occurred to me during these runs: I am so glad I was already running, when will we be finished. I really felt like stopping a couple of times, but I didn't. I was running slower than some folks and faster than others, I felt pretty good about that. At the end he told us that if we had never run 20 minutes, then we just had. Woo hoo! Day three of week 5 unconsciously completed. Mind you I forgot to wear my watch and I can only take his word for it. I am slightly curious about whether I really ran 20 minutes or not, although I felt like it. I wonder if I should do the 20 minutes again (timed) or just move onto week 6.

My age is also starting to play a factor ache-wise. After the run yesterday I could feel my knees ache and today my left hip and lower back were creaking. Not that I have never felt these things before, but always after a week of mega soccer playing. This old girl feels like an old girl. Fortunately, with age comes wisdom. I don't force myself to keep working out at the same intensity or day after day despite my aches. This is certainly something I used to do in my younger years: Broken leg? I can still play, put me in coach. I also notice how much harder it is to increase lung capacity. When I feel like stopping it isn't because my muscles are tired, I am having trouble getting enough oxygen. I'm going out on a limb here, but I imagine that means I am actually working too hard and am in my anaerobic zone?

In any case I rested today. Well, I don't know if you call going to 4 different bike shops with a 3 year old in tow, organizing our storage space and doing grocery shopping rest. In any case I didn't run, bike or swim. On that topic, I have another GTS on Tuesday to run and Wednesday for swimming. I am also at a loss as to what to do with the rest of my C25K program. I also have to figure out how many days a week to dedicate to each event. I will see how swimming goes on Wednesday. I'll obviously want to spend more time on my weakest link. Did I mention the coach said it was fine to wear tri shorts to swim in and in fact, it would be good to get used to swimming in them? Music to my ears!! They cover a multitude of sins; wonder how quickly I can find a pair.