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Jacksonville, FL, United States
In Life as well as in running the secret is Pace.

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

I am a Pollywog

oh...  now I swim in the Guppy lane but...  I don't really fit in just yet...

Our swim coach told me 3 weeks ago... "You... swim nothing but catch -up drills until I tell you differently"


2 weeks ago she accidentally told me to swim... 2 laps later she reiterated her original statement and asked me to remind her of my rule if she accidentally told me to swim again....

Oh, I occasionally look at the board... like I'm doing the workout like everyone else but it's just a ploy to waste time until I catch my breath...

I am allowed to do kick sets... and other strokes

I just keep my head down... and I know that it'll all pay off one day when I earn this:


Monday, January 24, 2011

Personal Column

SRS 44 - Recently Separated ISO - that "Special" Sole Mate - Must like long bike rides and frequent rolling around in the back of a station wagon. Compatible looks a must. Size (44) matters . Hope to get clipped in together soon - Ask for Rightie
 

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

One year of experience fourteen times

I’m sure that you have heard the expression…  X number of years’ experience or 1 year of experience X times…  well… that is me and swimming.

I have been training for triathlons since 1996…  and have really just done enough swimming to get by.  I have Been DFL out of the water twice…  once at IMFL 1999 were I passed a couple of 60+ “years young” ladies and the inaugural Hammerhead Olympic Triathlon in 2002 (I think) where embarrassingly enough I started in the 1st wave and was still DFL out of the water.

I have trained, been to seminars, done clinics… 

There have been years where I only swam in races.

Last year I trained with some level of regularity for a few months

Oh, I have improved a bit…  I moved up from BOP to the Back of the slow end of the middle of the pack..

But in my quest to become a competitive triathlete…  last night I took the plunge (pun intended, always) J


I joined the masters group at the local YMCA…  for 90 minutes I kicked, did drills, got critiqued, asked questions, worked, kicked, pulled, did IM sets…  you name it.  My shoulders were so tired last night that I had to sleep on my back.
So therefore I am a resoloutionist…. And 2011 is the year I learn to be a swimmer

Monday, January 3, 2011

The Weekend

Well I can honestly say that we did all that we could to wring the most out of the holiday weekend…




*one* of us even knocked off early on Thursday to try and get a jump on things…  but… someone else…  has a practice to run and not some cushy corporate job…





UNF Trails

Nevertheless…  we hit the trails with a little daylight to spare on Thursday.



Now we run these trails at UNF frequently…  I would make fun of other folks having directional issues on the trail but…  I guess I do too….  So after “trying a new section of trails” that led us back to the start after less than a mile Doh! We ended up getting 4.5 in total…  with a couple of up tempo miles in the middle just for good measure.



Friday was a holiday for many…  and for us as well…  We met Mark athe Brooks YMCA at 0730 for a “10 miler” and a swim.





I was just not feeling it on Friday…  felt like I was dragging a cinder block around all day…  and…  I am *the bestest* route maker…  our 10 miler measured exactly 11.4 miles…  everyone was happy!



After the run we had a swim planned… The pool was kinda full…  and the aquabiddies had the first 3 lanes reserved so we did what amounted to a “ceremonial” final swim of 2010 of 500 or so meters…




Loaded with Gear for a chilly bike ride

Just to show you what nerds we are…  on New Year’s Eve we did not watch football… or go out to a club….  Or to a party…  or even out to a show or dinner…  we sat at home and watched movies…  well… it’s not because we are nerds at all….  It’s because we had *big plans* for New year’s day



The original plan was for 100 miles…  but with short days and an actual party invitation (for 2 PM on New Year’s Day… not exactly refuting the nerd stereotype here….) we decided on 80…  40 miles solo and 40 with the tri club.


We hit the road a little late…  0730 or so…  a photo op…  my poor distance/time calculations and a potty stop later and we are assured to miss the start of the group ride…  no matter we decided to improvise and ride our own route and since we are heading towards St Augustine where I lived for nearly a decade…  I put together a perfect route in my head to see some of the sights around the city… stay on low traffic roads and keep our mileage on the mark… 


Photo op on the first of four ICW crossings for the day

A couple of hours later…  after two dead ends…  a flat tire and a bit of hairy traffic we were headed back home…  we even encountered the tri club folks on the way and said hello.  We ended up with 72ish miles…  not too bad for January




We made it to the party…  flat “threw down” until well *after* 6:30 PM….  And were fast asleep by 9:30.




But….  That’s okay because Sunday morning dawned grey and heavy with clouds…  and found us 10 miles into our weekly long run. 




We decided to run an out and back at the beach…  even though we only had 12 planned we still needed to get started by 0530….   It was sprinkling as we drove over the Intracostal….  And pouring when we parked at 16th Ave S.  By the time we got set to start it was back to a sprinkle…  and a bit windy….  Before we’d covered a mile it was pouring again…  and I was grinning like a jackass eating briars…  I love running in the predawn darkness on Sunday….  But throw in some inclement weather…. And I’m like a pig in slop.  The precipitation ranged from mist to downpour for the out part of our run…  near our turnaround point I convinced Judi  to do a little lollipop loop on the end to make it a 13 miler… 




The return trip was drier but the wind was in our face and a bit chilly.  We ratcheted up the pace for the last 3 miles and ran each faster than the preceding one… 




During the run in….  the clouds cleared a bit and the sun rose over the Atlantic we were once again treated to the wonderful spectacle we call creation…  a fine weekend of training…  and a great day to be alive.




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