I love the smell of chlorine in the morning....

Just not the lingering smell of it on your body for the rest of the day....

Swam for the first time in two weeks last Tuesday.  My back didn't hurt during the swim, and a new swim coach was giving me pointers.  He's very good - gives you one thing to concentrate on, lets you swim for awhile with that, asks how's it going, and, if you're comfortable with that, gives you another thing to work on.  I got about 4 things to work on during that workout.

I'm not too certain about some of the similes that they use, though - am I pulling myself through the water, or pushing myself through the water?  Either I'm pulling on a rope or pushing up a ladder  - maybe I'm pulling myself up a rope ladder.

There is a "fingertip drag" drill swimmers do to work on form - you drag your fingertips across the water at the end of the stroke to ensure you are recovering properly.  It's amazing how solid the water feels as you pull* your hand along the surface.... I am constantly amazed by that fact, since you can't walk on water**.

............

Update - in spite of a wonderful swim on Tuesday, I couldn't get anything together on Thursday.  Not certain the issues there - I had an awful swim, my back started hurting and I left early. Couldn't get into any rhythm whatsoever. Since it is now a three-day weekend, and I'm recovering from some sort of stomach bug, I'll skip the swim on Tuesday and catch up on Thursday....

*or push?

** at least, I can't walk on water.  I do have experience with some people who feel they possess that attribute.....

Running along Rolling Hills

....or, I wouldn't recommend it.....

Ran Saturday in Worton, Maryland (look it up, if you can find it.....).  My first 5 miler.  Along rolling farmland in a brewing thunderstorm.....  Humid as well.....

I was at the bro-in-laws house and figured I'd put off the run long enough.... Ran from their house to a cul-de-sac about 2.5 miles away and back.  Wow, Maryland farm country really has rolling terrain.... It'll be good to practice a few times a month, I suppose, if I have the willpower and stamina.

My hip pain got better after the run (seems only to get better after movement, worse when I don't exercise much - not too sure about that), but my gluteus maximus certainly wasn't happy the next morning!

Can't say the run was one for the books, either.  I was passed by a golf-carting family "walking" their dogs..... not very sporting, but the second time they came past me, I asked if I could hitch a ride.... as they already had 3 on the cart, probably would have worn out the battery, though, so we all just laughed as if I was joking (little did they know!!!).

Didn't do wonderfully - 12-minute mile pace, but I finished it, so not too shabby.*  

Took Sunday off, but ran today - almost to the Washington Monument.... I did a 4-mile round trip, with, still, an 11-minute mile pace.  That includes traffic lights and walking, so can't complain at this point.

I'm toying with the idea of running when I wake up in the morning, but the effort it takes to get moving so early makes it a nearly impossible task at this point.....

ah well.....

To the pool tomorrow.....

*Not that I had a choice - I did have a standing order for a car if I was out more than an hour and a half, but, couldn't bring myself to plop down on the side of the road for 30 minutes..... no matter how much my consciousness kept begging for just such an event.....

My first Brick

I don't know where the name came from, but I did a brick today.  A brick is training in two of the triathlon activities.  I rode the bike for 45 minutes, then ran for 15 minutes.  Yep, not a lot of work, I admit, but I figure that's about half of what the real tri will be like in August (though, as you'll see, the run looks like it will take longer after riding a bike for a while.....).

The bike ride was pretty good.  I'm still having problems with my positioning - my left arm was tingling by the end of the ride - I'm not certain my neck/shoulder issues will allow me to ride comfortably on a road bike, but that's for further training and a physical therapist to determine.

I was also having problems shifting between cogs on the front derailleurs of the bike.  The shifting worked fine, but I couldn't get comfortable in the higher gear.  Hadn't really had that problem before, so it could just be chalked up to a poor day.  In an effort to better understand the dilemma, I looked up gearing on the web - this website talks a little about gear ratio, but I found it works better as a cure for insomnia.

I got to the run part..... now I know why it's called brick* - I thought it was because you're building on your training workouts, like building with bricks, but, as it turns out, it describes the way your legs feel once you get off the bike and start to run.  I think it would more aptly be described as a lead workout.  Or, better yet, a "thrown into the river wearing concrete boots" workout.  I could hardly move my legs, and the ski slope outside my house once again was levered up to the steepest angle possible - I'm not certain I actually put one foot in front of the other for the first five minutes - it was like a shuffle, rather than a run...  

After the first five minutes, I felt a lot better and actually felt like I was running (well, at my pace, jogging, I suppose, but I was at my usual pace....).  I checked it out on mapmyrun, and still was able to run within the less-than-12-minute mile pace**.

The funny thing was, as I was running, I ran into the "Capitol Hill Classic 10-k run" start which is at Stanton Park.  All these people were running or hanging out with numbered-bibs on, waiting for the race.  I got a lot of weird looks with my weird shuffle pace.  I need to find a running shirt that somehow advertises triathlon brick training, so people won't think I'm quite so weird***. 

I enjoyed that challenge.  I'll have to see if there's any advice against doing a brick maybe every weekend or at least alternate weekends.  I just need to get two bike rides in on the weekends, then, since that's the only time I get bike rides in.

*I looked it up.

**Just slightly less than 12-minute-mile pace.

**They'll know for certain I'm crazy.

http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/enrico%20contolini/Introduction_to_bricks.htm

Running away the stress

It's been a week.  Work has been as stressful as usual, but feels more stressful since I had to take a break from the workouts.  Today, after a particularly stressful meeting, I decided to begin workouts again.  The back is better, but I need to be careful.

Shoulder cramps began around 8 minutes into the run, spreading to the neck at around 12 minutes, but I didn't stop throughout the complete run - the route was based on the lights - if it was green, I went that way, rather than stop for traffic.

Funny, I shaved 20 seconds off my pace that way - wow, I feel so much improvement..... I'm still in the uber-11-minute mile..... I'll be impressed at a 10-and-something-minute mile.... got about 30 more seconds to shave off the pace before writing home.... maybe if I workout more often, I'd have a chance.....

On the bright side, it was a good week to take a break, since we had pouring rain most of the time, especially over the weekend, and I basically rested with a heat pad on my back.  Good timing for the pain, I guess...

I plan on swimming tomorrow morning, provided the cramping in my shoulder subsides by bedtime.

Nothing exciting to report otherwise, I'm afraid - mostly just trying to wind down from work.  

Another bonus for the running break - I wasn't tired of my songs in the ipod.  Though I have 264 songs in my Run folder, I haven't made it through the first twenty - keep starting the week anew at the beginning.... think I need to run more to get through more songs.....  There's good incentive....  I have to workout more so I can get through more songs......  maybe that will be my new mantra - or Run farther sing harder......  or A song a block keeps the pace on lock.... 

Probably have to work a bit more on that.....

What now?

I swam on Tuesday - I should have quit 10-minutes earlier than I did, because the old familiar ache in my upper back and neck reared its ugly head... I quit 10 minutes later and did an ice treatment in the evening.  Two days later it aches a little, not too much, but is present, so I won't do anything but stretch until that has passed.

This is part of the scoliosis / old injury issue that I am inclined to work beyond the pain until it sends me back to physical therapy.  But I am older, and a little bit wiser, and know better than to work through it this time.  Both running and bike riding can inflame it as well (the bike ride is just positioning that when tired, I lean on my arms too much.)  The run is a little trickier - It has something to do with my neck / shoulder - that I have a tendency to get a crick in my neck after walking long distances or running at all.... though it has diminished to the point of maybe going away mostly permanently some day.  

Don't want to push it at this point, so I'll rest until the ache is gone and run / bike / swim easily and quit immediately if the ache begins again.