This is a little old lady.

THIS is not.

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I haven't been given the official green light from the doc yet. BUT - after spending four hours on my feet making my lawn beautiful yesterday with no aches or pains I can tell that it's coming. I'll be very surprised if I get anything but a clean bill of health.

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My swim today consisted of ten 50 yard repeats and I hit the weight room again after school. I love what this tri training is doing for my fitness already. I can' wait to start putting all of it together.

Happy Sore

Yesterday I lifted weights for the first time in quite a while. I had forgotten how much I love the push and pull of lifting heavy things. I told my wife how much fun I had.

I’m a little bit sore today but I’m going back for more tomorrow.

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I swam a half-mile today.

I got a very nice compliment from a little old lady.

I did four hours of yard work.

And...I had my follow up bone scan to confirm that my stress fracture has healed.

Zipper de do BLAH

I warmed up with the swim fins in today. I did a couple hundred yards of drills to remind myself how to swim this new fangled way. Then, I took the fins off and tried to swim the new and improved TI way.

I suck. (That's not a typo for I sunk...)

I didn’t move forward in the water without the swim fins. I couldn’t find a rhythm for breathing. It was MORE work swimming a length, A LENGTH!, than it was before I started this TI stuff.

I didn’t have any trouble balancing. I was skimming right along the surface, my hand was down in front of my head, I could roll and breath in my sweet spot, I just didn’t go anywhere.

I have gone backwards as a swimmer.

So…just out of spite I said a naughty word and swam a length without caring how balanced I was or that other stuff. Here’s what I noticed:

-I rolled naturally and easily to breath.
-I had rhythm (but I still can’t dance…)
-I didn’t exactly have the balance that I would have liked.
-I got from one end of the pool to the other with less effort and much more quickly than before.

So…what’s the point of TI?
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I did 9 miles on my bike last night. My butt is sore.
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I had a very nice weekend in Traverse City with my family. My kids had blast swimming in the hotel pool. I, however, could barely stand being in that pool. That water felt absolutely disgusting to me. Yuck. It felt slimy. It was so nice to get back to the high school pool this morning.
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We toured a vineyard this weekend and had the opportunity to taste a few of the local wines. I tried a Cherry Port. The wine taster guy handed me a piece of dark chocolate with the glass. Hallelujah! I have seen the light. It was absolutely incredible. What a fantastic treat for the taste buds. And….a glass of red wine and a little bit if dark chocolate once in while is good for you too!
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There’s nothing better in this world than coming home to your own bathroom.
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It was really hard to watch people run and finish the marathon I was supposed to run this weekend. I remember getting all bundled up and running in subzero temps this past January. I ran 7 miles that day. Why? To earn another stress fracture?

I was really jealous of the people I saw wearing their medals around town the rest of the day. I wanted that medal. I would have earned that medal.
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Now that the weather is warming up my oldest daughter, Emma, keeps reminding me that I promised to run a 5k with her sometime this summer. My seven year old wants to run with us. I guess we get to go shoe shopping!

Zipper de doo dah

Where were these zipperskate and zipperswitch drills when I was trying find balance last week? OR…maybe it’s just so much easier for me to balance now. It really does feel like I’m floating along on my lungs. It really does feel like I’m moving down hill. It really does. I’m very surprised that the info in this books works. I have to admit that I didn’t think it would really work for me. How about that?

I’m still a little bit concerned about still using swim fins. I took them off and did the zipperswitch drill at the end of my swim today just to see if would move forward.

Did I?

I DID!

It wasn’t as fast as with the fins on (duh!) but I was moving forward. Now, do I have enough time to build the endurance to finish a half-mile swim with enough energy left to bike for 18 and finish with a run of 4.5 miles?

Now I need a training plan…

Actually, I have one. I read a book about triathlon training for beginners a month or so ago. I’ll just dig that out and review the beginner plan and get to work. Official training begins Monday. (No, I’m not going to forget about the TI stuff I’ve learned so far. I’m still going to keep working my through the book.)

Speaking of Monday….

I’m taking the family to Traverse City to cheer on some people running the marathon I was going to run this weekend. Oh well.

Enjoy the holiday weekend! (Did you know that Memorial Day dates back to the Civil War? It does. Look it up.)

It's Official

I registered for my first triathlon today. I'm eight weeks out from race day. I think I'm excited.

Underswitch

I did more underswitch drills today. I was having a little trouble maintaining balance on my right side after I would switch and roll to that side. So, I took my time and did length after length after length of underswitch. I’m really beginning to see how all of these things come together. I found myself wishing that the pool were 100 yards long so that I could just keep going. It just seems like I don’t get tired or out of breathe while I do these drills. I should be swimming by next week and I’m to realize that even though I haven’t been swimming laps I have actually gained more than I have lost by taking the time to make this change in how I swim. I’m becoming a TI convert.
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I’ve never really liked the Rolling Stones. I just don’t understand what people like about them.
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10.5 days until my students escape for the summer. What am I doing to do with myself?

The List
1. read
2. swim
3. run
4. bike
5. play my guitar
6. coach t-ball
7. read some more
8. finally make up my mind about whether I want to pursue a Phd or a second MA

Flipper Addiction

It’s easier to breathe while doing the underswitch drill.

It’s kind of a fun drill to do.

Relaxing.

Rolling from side to side.

Reaching forward and letting my arm drift back to my side.

Taking a breath.

I took off my flippers to see how it would go without swim fins.

Not so good.

I suspect that I have become addicted to the swim fins because I do not move forward with out them. Even though I thought I had found balance I sink like a fricken rock while not wearing them. So I put the fins back one.

Do you think I can wear them during the triathlon?

Nobody is likely to notice the fat guy with big yellow flippers lurching toward the water at the beginning of the race. Are they? I mean, the way I swim, they will hardly be an advantage.