A Little Bit Farther

Just a quick note that I managed 550m in 23 minutes, so that's another improvement. Still pathetic, yes, but it's progress nonetheless. And I'm thinking if I employ the concept in this picture, while someone else drives the truck, I can cover huge amounts of distance rapidly!

Spring is Here!

It's Spring! The long, cold days of winter are over (not that it ever actually got that cold, but still). This is my favorite day of the year!

Also, it means Breezy Point is getting closer... 1749 hours, or 2 months, 11 days, 21 hours to go. Not that I'm counting.

As for the picture, all I'll say is, "Spring is here, spring is here/Life is skittles and life is beer/I think the loveliest time of the year is the Spring. I do. Don't you? Of course you do." And mention that I'm a big Tom Lehrer fan.

(And no ACTUAL pigeons were harmed in the making of this post)

ADDENDUM:

But if you like high-energy particle physics and are less fond of pigeons, you've gotta read this XKCD.

500m Nonstop!

Okay, this post is just plain self-satisfied happiness. All you good swimmers out there will scoff, but today I swam 500 meters without stopping. A trivial achievement to many, I know, but given that four months ago I couldn't swim 25, it's a big deal for me.

To be fair, it was alternating freestyle and backstroke (25m of each), but the key was that I didn't stop. Even when I thought I was going to pass out, I kept going, and finished it! That's the distance I need to swim for the Charlottesville Sprint Tri, and half the distance needed for the Breezy Point Tri. It's still a long way to go before June 1st, but it's the most progress I've made so far!

It WAS a little disconcerting the way the life guard (Mirjana, three-time Olympic swimmer for Macedonia) was looking at me, with a very concerned "Is he going to pass out" look. But she smiled when I was done.

Recommitted

Perhaps it would be more apt to say that I should BE committed, but as of yesterday I have filed all my recommitment paperwork with Team in Training, pledging that I will, in fact, be seeing this whole thing through.

This pack o' paperwork included my race entry form, hotel and food arrangements, wetsuit sizing form, TNT race clothing form, and other stuff, too. But it's all in, there's enough money in my account that they probably won't break my legs at this point (but the fundraising continues!) and I'm physically on my way to being able to do it. So... June 1st, here I come!

(Note the silence as June 1st fails to cower in fear at my approach).

Martha Jefferson 8K

Another race under my belt, and a fairly decent time even -- This past Saturday I ran the Martha Jefferson 8K through downtown Charlottesville. My goal was to finish in the top half, which I managed to do. I was 209th out of 437, with a time of 44:14. That meant a pace of under nine minutes per mile over about five miles, which is a PR for me for that distance! Woohoo! Nothing stellar, but decent performance for someone who is probably not genetically tuned to be a serious runner. I was 20th of 33 for my age group, so a little on the slow side there, but still...

The weather was, um, icky. Chilly, gray, drizzling (except the brief downpour 20 minutes before the race started), and utterly uninspiring, except that it made you want to get it over with quicker. I blame the weather for my relative performance not being better, because I presume the less-serious runners probably stayed home; attendance was a little lighter than I expected. So it was just the die-hards, and the folks (like me) not smart enough to stay home in bed on a dreary, wet morning.

All in all, though, I'm pleased about the race. It felt good, I had a decent time, and I at least feel my running base is now pretty solid (given that I sort of forgot about the race and didn't train much in the couple weeks leading up to it).

Brick

And now for something completely different...

(If you're not into Monty Python, I'm sorry -- you probably won't get the reference :)

It's mostly been all about the swimming the last few months, but I HAVE actually been doing other things, like, oh, say, cycling and running, too. (I've also been taking a boxing class, but that's just in case things get ugly on the course -- my right cross is getting pretty good.)

We did our first actual "brick" workout with Team in Training a week or so ago. For those not in the know, a brick is not just a building material, or what becomes of your iPhone if you try to hack it to use a different mobile provider. It's also a term referring to a combined bike and run workout. Why brick? Go cycle hard for an hour, jump off the bike, and try to run. Go ahead, try it. For a little bit, you'll feel like you're carrying a load of 'em. So we practice this somewhat painful transition in training.

The nice thing was, for this workout, we actually did more than the bike distance for Breezy Point (14.9 miles -- BP is 12.4 miles), and about the same run distance (3 miles, 0.1 mile short of BP). And tougher, because we biked and ran basically the C'ville Sprint Tri course (which I'm also planning to do, on June 22), which is a hilly ride and a hilly trail run. Breezy Point is flat, being in Norfolk. So, I just need to work on speed. Oh yeah, and surviving the swim so I can get to the rest. :)

I've Been a Bad Boy

I hide my face in shame -- I've been bad about updating my training log. BUT... that doesn't mean I've been bad about training! Quite to the contrary, I've gone off and done something remarkable. Amazing, even (at least to me). Somewhere in the last couple of months, I've actually learned to swim. Really! Okay, I've got a HUGE amount of work to do to be able to do more than backstroke the whole 1000 meters, but I'm getting there.

I'm now swimming at least three and often more times per week. I'm in my second round of lessons, and we're at the point of refining technique and working on endurance. I can tread water and/or float for at least 10 minutes in deep water. I may (possibly) have a chance of doing this thing! Woohoo! Thanks for all the support from everyone.