My Training... Random Thoughts

Random thoughts... In no particular order...

~I picked up my bike from the shop today. It's got a brand new chain and new aero bars (they said the old ones were so corroded they might just snap themselves off)... and it's so clean... like so clean... I cannot wait to ride it on Saturday! The handlebars turn really easily again and the brakes don't stick when I pull on them. Ahhhh. What a pleasure it will be to ride a machine that functions correctly. Oh, and Ryan said he was pretty sure there was something living in my bottom bracket. He was like, "I don't know how so much stuff gets stuck up in there through that tiny little hole unless something was in there pulling it up?" Lol. Maybe it was a leprechaun. They're known for pulling tricks like that, no? Anyway, I'm pretty sure my bike is a good pound lighter now and probably a mph faster. At least. :)

~This morning I hosted a little ocean swim clinic at the boat ramp in Kailua. There were 7 of us there and it was good fun. Most of them were marines so they are pretty hard core and didn't even flinch when it started raining just as we were about to get in. The sun wasn't up yet, the wind was howling, but they dove right into that white water chop like it was nothing. I love coaching marines. What bad-asses. In the end though, the conditions weren't that bad this morning. I've been in a lot worse. See? That's the beauty of training in tough conditions- most of the time you can say, "I've been in worse". That breeds confidence. And I have to say, while we were warming up I could see the sun cresting the horizon with every breath and it was just awesome. That's the way to start the day, you know? It almost didn't even matter that I swam right into a man-o-war and felt my whole neck and upper back go numb. Welcome back to da ocean, huh?

~The best part of the swim was the ~10 minutes of race pace effort we gave running into the water and swimming around a couple buoys then running out of the water, 100M across the sand then diving back into the water at full speed to repeat the loop two more times... Greg and I were racing pretty good... on each other's feet... trading off the lead on each lap... I felt nauseous starting each loop again after running in that sand but there was no way I was going to let Greg go so I was working my tail off. That is hard, you know? Getting out of the water and running and then straight back into swimming fast again... triathletes should practice that because it's not uncommon to have to do that in races... but yet we almost never practice that and then are shocked in races when it is so hard.

~Speaking of running... did you catch that?? I ran in the sand today. Not only that, I put running shoes on after the swim and actually ran along the road! No pain. Yep. Mama's back in the game. Kim and I jogged together and chit chatted the whole time and before I knew it time was up and it was like this huge sigh of relief that whatever spasm was in my calf has finally been released and I can run again. Cross my fingers I've got this figured out now... all I have to say is that eccentric calf dips are the bomb and I'm doing them obsessively. Because they work. Yep.

~Did you know that calf injuries cause saddle sores? I didn't know that either. But it's true. Injure your calf and sit out of running for ~10 days and you end up with these nasty little sores on your ass and find yourself stealing your not-yet-potty-trained toddler's A&D Ointment. Thankfully I finally had a day away from riding today to let this thing try to heal.

~I am infinitely more effective at work when I have a good training session in the morning. I accomplished more today than I did in the previous 3 days combined. I think if bosses required their employees to start their work day with a solid ocean swim and then an hour of running they'd find their employees to be way more engaged and effective. Just sayin'.