A couple of quick things.

I'm running really, really late this morning so I'm gonna make this quick then get my butt to work.

First, I finally listened to the Big Kahuna and Iron Wil's podcast - excellent!! I really enjoyed it. If you haven't heard it yet I highly recommend it. I think it was an hour and the time just flew by. I listen to a few different podcasts and this one will definitely be at the top of my list every week.


Next is my running. I'm working on running in my aerobic Zone and I've been struggling. To keep my heartrate that low I been doing a lot of walking and I couldn't quite figure out what was going on. Last night I think I got it. I don't warm up enough. I'm not a huge fan of warming up, I generally want to get to it. Actually I will start the activity I'm doing slowly and then build up and call it a warm up. Well last night I could not run without my HR spiking so I decided to walk. Even then my HR was all over the place and I thought maybe I'm tired, overtraining, blah, blah, blah. Then, about 15 minutes in, my HR settled down and would not increase. I noticed this and kept trying to make it move. Finally I started running real slow and sure enough, it increased slightly but still stayed within my aerobic zone. So I think I've solved this puzzle, I just need to warm up lots more than I think. I recover really, really fast so I tend to think I must warm up that fast. Uhhh, nooo!!!!


Then there is the swimming. Friday is technically my day off but I do swim in the mornings. I take it slow and just do some easy drills. I work more on building endurance than trying to get "better," it's my version of a long slow run. Anyway, I'm doing my laps and daydreaming and talking in my head (okay really, is there anything more boring then doing laps in a pool??) when suddenly I realized something had changed. While I had not been paying attention my body seemed to dig up a swimming form from high school (I was on the swim team). I noticed that my 50m times were better by 10 seconds and I was not working any harder at all. I started paying attention to my form and realized my stroke had altered slightly (mostly in the reach), I was gliding more, and my kick had lengthened (not sure how to explain this except my legs felt longer). Wow. I was so excited. I think I need to not pay attention more. I know there is muscle memory, but 30 years later??? I can't remember, how can my muscles???

Finally, there is the dreaded flip turn. Kahuna challenged folks to do this and I've been kind of avoiding it. As I said, I was on the swim team in high school (I wasn't fast even then. They never let me swim a race myself, I was always on a relay and I was in the middle. How sad is that??) but the flip turn was never my strong suit. But after my revelation during my swim this morning I decided today was the day. After my laps I stopped in the shallow end and practiced my turns. At first there was much water up the nose and lots of missing the wall (I was afraid to get too close), but after a few trys it started to come. I then swam to the deep end and tried it there. Uh, yeah, not so good in the deep end. I decided to quit but then said, no, I can do this. So I just kept swimming and kept turning. Eventually it started to come and by the time I finished I was doing consistently okay. From today forward I will use only flip turns when I swim. Not that these will help at all in triathlon since there are no walls, but it will help with my breathing control. (no sneaking extra breaths as I turn :).

Oh yeah, there's also my appetite. I have been eating really clean for the last 2 weeks. The worst I've had is a piece of dark chocolate after dinner. Yesterday and today I am starving!! I just can't seem to eat enough. After swimming I had to stop at Starbuck's and get coffee and a pastry and I'm still not full. Guess I'm going to have to increase my eating (of good food of course).

Okay, that's it for now. This took way longer than I thought it would. I have got to get to work or I'll never get out of here tonight. Have a great Friday.