I've been slacking. I could list excuses, but I won't. Although I have had environmental stress factors working against me, I could be eating better and working out more. The simple fact is that I'm making bad choices.
I signed up for another triathlon, so I've got four on my plate this year. They are in two groups of two consecutive weekends. I think I'll make the first race of each race pair the "priority" race, with the second race the "backup" race if I blow the first one.
Bike from work on the Standard Route with, Gerrit. The weather was horrid this morning, but cleared up nicely for the afternoon ride. The EIGHTEEN (yes) slices of pizza hut pizza I had for lunch weren't sitting well in my tummy, though. And I wonder why the pounds aren't coming off as fast this spring as last spring? :-).
Gerrit uploaded his ride info from his fancy new Garmin Edge. Wireless cadence, GPS, HR integration... I see one of these in my future. I have a bike computer that has cadence, but it is wired. And I have a GPS, but it is bulky. And I have two HR monitors, but neither is downloadable to my computer.
200 free WU, 200 breast, 200 back, then 400 IM... almost. The last 25 of the opening butterfly were done one arm. I tried, I really did, but I couldn't get my arms out of the water on the recovery. The 200 back was, of course, pure recovery mode, then I started to pick up again during the breast. The final 100 (free) was nothing to blog about, but what the heck, I can (almost) say I cranked out a 400 IM. 7:40 or so for the entire thing. Not exactly olympic pace :).
I finished with 1000 of mixed free/drill/breast/back.
Not a bad workout overall.
Racquetball with BK. Neither BK nor I had played racquetball in over a decade. In fact, the last time either of us played was when we played our senior year of college. Given the delay since our last game, I can't complain about the quality of the play. Neither of us will be joining the pro racquetball tour anytime soon, but it was a good 50 minute workout nonetheless. My right forearm was sore from bowling with [I/C]J & BH last night, but I didn't notice it too much once I got warmed up.
Right piriformis is tweaked again. I really must do something about it. It never slows me down, but it is annoying.
Afternoon ride from work on the Default Route. Both Gerrit and Mike were being girlie little sissymen, afraid to ride on the roads because the salt might melt their precious bikes. Pansies. It's probably for the best, though... some of the wind might have blown up under their skirts and shown the World something the World didn't need to see.
Short but fairly hard swim. 300 free WU, then 3x100 sprint (1:25 to 1:30 for each), then 300 of breast, each 100 coming in at 1:45, then 300 free (slow), then I just started goofing off. Several 25's underwater, a few 50's of butterfly, and some aquajogging to keep my HR up (sidebar: aquajogging might be the most boring activity a person could do).
During one of my 50 butterfly's, I finished the 50 with more than enough strength to take off again, but totally wussed out. Now I'm sitting here being mad at myself for knock knocking out a 100 fly like a Real Man would have done. [sigh]. Random introduction of a goal for 2006: A 400 IM.
Nice swim. Had the entire pool to myself. Found my happy mental place and managed to knock out a good session.
2x100 free WU. 2x[3x[100[free/breast/back]]]. Then "rest until clock is at 30, swim until you knock it down to 0, repeat", alternating between free and breast. It took 150 yards of free to gain the 30 seconds (50 seconds / 50 yard), and 250 yards of breast. I did this cycle twice. This was actually an interesting exercise. Rather than "swim X distance starting every Y minutes", I can take as long or as little distance as I need to "bank" my rest before using it.
One hour on the trusty old bike trainer while watching a DVD. No HRM, no stats. Occasional stand-n-sprint breaks, but overall this workout was nothing special.
Geojogging to the nearest geocache. It was only 0.47 miles as a crow flies, but I had to go ~2.0 miles each way via roads.
Long walk breaks meant I was only running for 30 minutes or so, tops.
Nice ride. Felt a bit stronger than I had the past few rides. None of us had computers, so we have no idea how far/fast we rode. Something in the 50 minute timeframe, I would guess.
Ride from work w/ Gerrit. Mike got slammed with work stuff and couldn't make it. We didn't leave until 2:30 because it was still in the 30's at lunchtime. It had warmed up to a balmy/tropical 41 degrees by 2:30, so... RIDE ON! Two mistakes I will not repeat, though: Wore cotton socks (my right foot is numb from cold), and forgot to wear glasses (my contacts are glued to my eyeballs).
Unknown stats. Wasn't going quite as hard as I could have, but I was going hard enough to promote fitness gain.