DUH

My friend Kendra is really young (27!) so her birthday swim didn't take all morning (had it been Mark's birthday we would have been there all morning!).

We 'warmed up' with 7x100's easy on short rest (I went off 1:40). Problem was, the heater is broken and the water was like 72 degrees, which I think is quite cold! Main set was going to be to pace Kendra through 20x100's @1:50. Given the water temps that would have been too much waiting at the wall, so Mark and I did those as 25 fly/75 free. That helped keep my HR (and consequently body temp) up so I could get through the full 2700M without shivering to death.

Afterward I stood in a scalding hot shower for quite some time before feeling like I was thawed out. I guess I shouldn't complain though. At least I wasn't swimming in this.

My legs still feel totally thrashed today so I think my only running for today will have been my jog to/from the pool. I actually don't think that Gardens run is the sole cause of my legs feeling like they do... It's the combination of the strength training with the hard running that's the killer.  If it weren't for The Big Steel Challenge I wouldn't be lifting nearly as much as I've been lifting... in all honesty it's too much when combined with marathon training (DUH!). My competitive side gets the best of me in situations like these (where the competition is basically to see who is willing to work the hardest or do the most). I try to do it all but as I was jogging home from the pool today my thought was that the smartest thing to do would be to remove myself from that Steel Challenge. It's only one more week but the fact that I feel the need to skip running today is a sign that what I did there last 2 days was too much- and while the run was hard, I don't think it would have hurt me nearly as much had I not been carrying the fatigue from heavy squats, deadlifts, and kettle bell swings. There is a reason why athletes do their focused strength training at times of the year when SBR training isn't big/specific. Again, file that under D for DUH. It's like another lesson that applies to everyone except me, until I experiment and realize that yep, it also applies to me.