Well, Wednesday saw no workout due to the marketing ploy that is Valentine's day. We hung out instead.

Yesterday morning's run was squelched by record cold temperatures. We ended up running to the gym, doing circuit trainin, then running home. Alltold, we ran about 4.5 miles. It was miserable cold. My faith continues to wane in my orthotics... I am having some blistering and pain issues. Do these things really work? They were great at first and are now giving me fits. Maybe I need a second opinion.

I can't wait for the weather to turn normal or at least warm. I hate this cold and rainy crud. Becca and I are racing in a duathlon this weekend. I am so out of shape it isn't even funny. Maybe we make this a fun one.

Finished yesterday with a 2000 meter swim with pro triathlete David Morgan. It was an awesome and fun workout... challenging but fun. I love swimming with outher people.

Observation: the 24 hour fitness pool in Mesquite, Texas = NASTY. The highlight was the bonus item bandaid laying face up in the middle of the lane! I think I have been spoiled by the greatness of the Landry Center.

This morning we did not get up. We had a Young Life Committee meeting last night that put us home late. Additionally, it was 26 degress when I woke up... NO WAY!

Well, so much for consistency... in posting anyway... I have been active but just have not had time to keep up with my log or observations of training. In fact, I just finished a run this morning and feel a little guilty of doing this instead of spending time in the word. Oh well, Jesus knows I love him.

Here are the runs so far for Feb: (All are very slow for building base and breaking in my gimp foot)
- 2 miler on the 2nd (short of time apparently) 18 min
- 5K 30 min on the 5th
- 3 miler alone morning run 25:40 (8:33 pace felt great)
- 5k Race with Becca. Chose to run with her the whole race. We had a blast running this together not worrying about the time. It was 32 min.
- This morning we got up and ran 30 min in the neighborhood.

We finally got up together to start the workout. It did not happen without some debate and motivating comments. I hope we can keep this trend up. It was very cold and windy this morning and not the kind of morning you want to get up and begin a routine on. I am feeling pretty good in the run. The only negative is that I am losing faith in my orthotics. They are really bothering me and especially my right foot. The heal rubs funny and is starting a blister. I am going to give them to the end of Feb and go back to get them adjusted. I thought about scrapping them but afterall the stability did end the clicking in my gimp foot, so they must be doing something right.

Another observation... I am not losing weight like I normally do. I know this is due to the lack of proper eating. The years of crash dieting and salad eating have burned my desire to eat healthy. I wish I had not worn myself out on salads so much. My focus to eat right keeps getting put off for some reason. I will work on that next week.

Ran 40 Min last night. Not the most comfortable run. My feet are bothering me a little with the orthotics. I hope I am just breaking in. I hope that these issues work themselves out before too long. Other than that I felt great.

Following the run Becca and I went to the pool ans swam 2000. It was a really boring workout. I found myself wanting to cheat and quit. I wish we had a longer pool... the kick turns are wearing me out... I hate getting water in my nose, especially with a headcold.

Still have not lost any lbs... I am getting a bit discouraged at this... it seems like the weight came off faster in the past. For the amount of work I am doing, I would have thought to see some results by now. I guess I'll just keep pressing. I really wish it would stop raining and being cold so I could ride!

Sorry for the boring entry... just wanted to get it on the log. Have a great day!

Ended up finishing the week strong. Friday, I went with a ride with the Bishop, Phat Daddy, Phil and Carl (hot). The pace was good but the company was best. I really enjoyed this one. We rode 28 at 16mph.

Saturday, Becca and I ran 40 minutes and went the pool to swim. I only ended up with a 1500 swim because we were running late. The highlight of the weekend was the Young Life Committee retreat. I hope to blog about this event a little more on my other blog, so look for it later. We did not run or do anything Sunday. I felt like crap Sunday and took a much needed 4 hour nap, ate dinner and went back to sleep. I feel better today. Today is the first morning I have not had a headache upon waking up. I was a little depressed this morning for some odd reason... think it might be the Devil. I know for sure he did not like the events that took place in favor of Christ's kingdom on the retreat. We have Young Life Club tonight (first of the semester) so there will be no training.

Okay, so I skipped the workout yesterday... Worked late and came home deflated. Oh well. Today was better. We started off the day with another feeble attempt to get up in the morning. Again, we slept in. For me it was the ole snooz-a-roonie routine for an hour (6 minutes at a time)and a startling surprise to see the clock say 6:45... especially when I had a 7:30 appointment. So I started the day in a mad rush and it never slowed down. Back to back appointments and fire drills until I got home at 6:30. The good news is that we promptly went for a run upon my arrival. It was great! Becca left her ipod at work so we got to talk while we ran. It was actually quite nice to visit and catch up free from the distraction of the computer, TV, Dogs, ringing phones, etc... It was probably one of the more fun runs on record. We ran 35 minutes. The distance is unknown and frankly unimportant. The pace was slow and comfy.

Following the run, we went to 24 for a swim-a-rooskie. Here is the breakdown:
- 300M Warmup
- 10 x 50 Kick alternating fast and slow with 15 sec rest
- 200M easy freestyle
- 10 x 50 Pull drill with paddles with 15 sec rest
- 2 x 100 sprints 30 sec rest between
- 300M cool down

The swim was great. I tried to quit after the sprints but Becca made me finish. I am glad she made me tho. The pool was super crowded tonight. There was only one other person in the there that could swim more than a 25 without stopping. I first noticed him on my last set of pulls. We finished at the same time. He was a huge guy, pretty cut and spoke with what I thought was a Russian accent. In the locker room he struck up a conversation about my new TYR swim bag. He then begins grilling me about what I am training for... he was basically begging me to ask him the same. I was on to him from the start so I decided to refrain as an experiment. I listened and answered his questions but remained completely self absorbed... I asked him nothing. He could not stand it and eventually began spilling. Turns out that he is also training for a triathlon... an Olympic. But he has done a half before. He runs 6:45 miles in the half and does not like the bike. He is thinking of getting a new bike this season but is not sure. He swims 1,500 everyday and runs on the treadmill in the afternoons. Today he missed his usual 5:00 so was in here tonight to swim his 1,500. I am thinking... "is this guy for real?" He began spilling his life story basically. Then I started to see myself... I have done this before... mainly out of insecurity, but I have. It was entertaining at the least. I mean he was only in the pool for my last 700. Before I left, I introduced myself as me and he shook my hand and introduced himself as Juan. I was amused and smiled to myself as I shouldered my new bag and exited the locker room. I met Rebecca in the lobby and launched into the tale of the Juan the Russian triathlete. That made me giggle a little. I am excited to do the Ironman and want so bad to have the distinction, but if I ever get like Juan, someone please slap my fatass!

First of all, I would like to issue an apology to the Bishop... When I said I called all of my cycling buddies buddies, I did not mean my Mountain Bike Buddies. I was notified that the great Bishop has roadie tendancies so I will be releasing a new version of known cycling buddy list v2.1.30. Sorry Bro!

Training on Monday is always difficult for me... Becca and I planned to get up early and hit the pool. We found ourselves in a groggy converstion at about 5:00AM justifying why that was not a good idea. So we skipped it and replaced the workout with idle promises of making it up. We did, however, make the run after work. We ran a little short on tim, but did manage to work in a short 2 miler (better than nothing!). Following that we had our first leader meeting for Young Life this year (which I am really fired up about this year). Following the meeting, we all met to watch the awesomeness of Jack Bauer and 24. I heard that Jack Bauer counted to infinity.... TWICE! Oh and he can also divide by zero... and when Jack Bauer gets into the water, he does not get wet... the water gets Jack Bauered instead.

Anyway, this morning Becca and I successfully talked ourselves into not going to the gym. We just got home too late and we can just go the gym tonight, no reason not to grab a few more z's... By the way, this has to stop! I have to figure out a way to get up in the morning!

Well, thanks for hanging in there waiting for a report. The sad thing is that there has been nothing to report for some time. We have had rain, ice and sleet falling for the past 9 days. I was able to squeeze a 1000 meter swim and 5K run in on Thursday night (slow 31:33). Other than that, just been trapped inside and unmotivated.

Saturday, Becca and I braved the 33 degree temp and rain to run in the too cold to hold 5K at White Rock Lake. After being a couch spud all week, this run hurt me. I managed to throw down a 27:24 5K, pretty good for me, but not setting the world on fire. I had some left leg/ankle/foot pain issues in the run. I think this kind of strain is too much too soon. I will regress back to slow slow and steady and continue to build base.

Today the sun came out for the first time in a while. It was absolutely beautiful outside. The only negative was a little north wind. I called all of my known riding buddies to arrange a ride, but they all crapped out and had other "important" things to do... Oh well, I went anyway and rode 25 miles to the lake and back averaging just under 17mph. Going out, my average was 20.7mph, but that darn north headwind made coming home suck.

Hopefully the weather will hold up and I can get back on track with everything. It is still early, so I am not worried. The main thing that I really want to accomplish in January is to loose some lbs! If I can make the necessary diet changes, that should be no problem. I am up a few pounds for some reason at 233. My goal is to drop 30 by August! Thanks for reading.

Well, today was not a very fun day at work... it was bitter sweet... I won a deal and lost a deal, so I guess I broke even. Anyway, it was hard to come home and get motivated to workout after receiving a beating all day. I got home at 7:30 and headed to the gym for a swim. I did some leg weights tonight. I doubled up on the left/weak side. I did the whole stack on a calf extension a few extra times to try to get my left foot up to par. It is definitely weaker and less stable or controllable. Who knows if it will help, but what the heck? It is supposed to get cold and rain this weekend so I am a little bummed out... hopefully I will be able to get a ride in. Anyway, tonight I felt like crap in the pool. You know, like a turd floating slowly in the waves... yuck. I swam 1600. It was shy of my 2000 mark, but the events of the day weighed me down too much. I need to get one of those water proof mp3 players or something. It was a hard swim, but mostly I think I am tired. Not my best day... lets just hope there will be few of these going forward. I think I am going to go to bed and start over tomorrow. I had some good therapy in a few PBRs and working on my bike in the garage... I think that always helps!

The thing I like about Norm is that he can fix just about anything... he reminds me of Macgyver... he even has one of those swiss army knives. I have seen him poke and pry with the cork screw to fix a variety of problems. The other thing I like about him is that his fixes usually include duct tape and/or rubber bands. Last night, we were out at Arbor Hills for the Tuesday night single speed ride. Things were going well for me until the pin on my chain tensioner broke on an uphill section of the trail. I was just out of the saddle and the event sent me sprawling to the ground. I hit my jaw on the handlebar on the way down... I think it knocked me silly because it took me a second to compose myself and get to my feet. I thought my ride was over, but not so with super Norm! It was as if he already knew what to do... he could not fix my new aching head and jaw, but he sure enough fixed the chain tensioner... with a couple of rubber bands. Of course, the rubber bands were cut from recycled inner tubes. He always seems to have a few in his pocket. In fact, there are several employed at any given moment , holding lights, wires and of course chain tensioners. He is genious! I even saw him repair a broken chain with his bare hands... simply amazing!

Okay, so last night:
7 mile single speed ride, about 45 minutes. Not the best workout, but allot of fun! It was a little muddy and cold tonight. The crash was a ittle painful but I'll live! I have a nice baseball sized bruise on my hip that Stephen says looks like a nebula from some far away galaxy... I had no idea a bruise could have so many shades of purple, blue and red! I missed my swim workout due to having to work late... Oh well, that is just one missed swim this week!

Tonight:
5K run, 32:57:17... ran slow tonight. Becca kicked my ass, I was a little winded. I followed the run with a 20 mile bike ride. Got some new speedplay pedals, so I just had to try them out. Averaged 15. The wind was 21 out of the south with 30 mph gusts going out. Comming home was a blast... be stayed around 22 and sometimes 25+ with the tail wind. Great ride!

I am getting some slack about my cycling. I will say that I am adding some cycling workouts to gain fitness and lose weight. For the record, Becca (and David) I have not missed a run workout and I have only missed one swim.

I am excited about my pedals. I hope the added float from the speedplays will save me from injury and run pain.

Training update:

This week was a little light on training. It was a short week though. The important thing is that I AM training!!! I am a lean 230, but training!

This will be somewhat of a bulk entry so forgive me for the lack of commentary. Also, just for the record, I have not been totally inactive since my last training entry. My weeks have included a few weight workouts, treadmill runs and at least 30 miles a week of mountain biking, which consists of a Tuesday night single speed ride and Saturday mornings at Grapevine's North Shore. My wife keeps reminding me that the time has come to hang up the Mountain bike and get down the roadie... She's right. It has been something I have been dreading. Mountain biking and my new love of single speeding is just so so much fun. Oh well... they are just two on a long list of sacrifices I will have to make to get to that finish line in Louisville. It is funny how much ironman is on my mind. Just tonight , I meditated on it while running -- visualizing myself and wondering how I will feel coming out of T2. Also in the pool tonight, I wondered if I would be smooth and fast, having good form in the race following the countless meters I will have to swim between now and August... or will it be like the near death and drowning experience I had in McKinney? (See Archives) One thing is certain: I will be a much different person, athlete, employee, etc. once I get there. I find myself looking at the more philosophical aspects of Ironman, knowing and hoping that it will be the journey that will be the most beneficial and no so much the pinnacle that is the race. The race is just there so I can earn the tattoo, right?

Anyway, here's the summary for 2007 thus far:
Workout 1: 1/2/2007 - Single Speed Mountain Bike Ride at Grapevine, at night (Hard Core Baby!) 12 Miles, cold as hell, felt GREAT! One hour and twenty-ish minutes.

Workout 2: 1/3/2007 - Little Easy Swim Brick: 800 Meters (ran short of time) followed by a quick 10 miler on the road bike. Yes, the road bike... I have decided to ride the LeMond Steel this early season until I can get some new aero bars and a proper fit.

Workout 3: 1/4/2007 - 3 mile run, 28:12, 9:20/mile pace - felt okay, orthos felt good, no foot, leg or hip trouble... even though I am 30 lbs overweight.

Workout 4: 1/5/2007 - 30 Miles on the road bike 2:04:32. Slow night ride to White Rock Lake via Meandering Way with hills. The trail had some washout mud and was slick so we tried an alternate route home, which ended up taking us through the ghetto on busy roads at night... not too bright, but an adventure nonetheless!

Workout 5: 1/7/2007 - Sunday Super Brick! Missed Saturday's ride due to a late night at Carson's Live on Friday... Becca just had to go dancing... Anyway Stephen and I did a loop around the lake trying to beat a cold front that was supposed to be hitting... we rode out to White Rock only to have the front show up early... The ride back north and home was miserable with 30mph gusts. Yuck! Anyway 30 miles, 1:50:31. This was followed promptly by a 3 mile run (Brick) 31:24 (slow). Felt great, just a little sore in the aductor region and left hammy.

Workout 6 (today): 1/8/2007 - 3 Mile run with Becca. Felt great! 28:04 (Becca's getting fast!) Followed by a swim. Only did 1500 meters tonight. Started off focusing on form and staying relaxed and long. First set was a 1000... just felt great to be in the water. Finished with 200x2 fast and a 100 swim down.

Feeling good about everything to this point. I will be really working hard on building some core strength over the next several months. Hopefully the lbs will start coming off soon... thanks for reading!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Hello? Is this thing on? Well, as you can see, I have been very busy. Not busy in a good way, but busy working, getting fat and going in the opposite direction of ironman. I want to start by saying, to you, my friends... sorry. Sorry for not returning phone calls, emails, etc. The last month leading up to Christmas was one of the most intense and stressful months of work I have ever experienced. Hopefully, it is over for a while!

Anyway, on to business. I have not updated this in a while, but I want you all to know that I have been doing some sparse activity. Mostly just running here and there and mountain biking twice a week. ...you know, the old "I'll start Monday" thing.

Here it is, a new year... 2007! This is the year for my ironman. Training starts today. Time to quit fooling around! All the preparations have been made, equipment purchased, books read, now time for execution. GAME ON!

YAY I LOVE RUNNING AGAIN!

Today, yes today, after a long long wait, I finally got my full length rigid orthotics!!!!!! Doc said to ease into them for a few days, but I just could not wait to get it on and run. I am not sure if it is the emporer's new clothes, but I have never enjoyed a run (feet wise) as much as this one. My feet and knees felt great, aligned and sturdy. The only problem was from residual soreness in my calves from the weekend activities.

It has been so long since I blogged, I do not remember if I have already mentioned this or not... anyway, I tracked down an orthopedic surgeon that is a runner/triathlete... We talked about my goals of training for and completing the ironman and came to this: Goal Number 1. - DON'T GET INJURED!!!

Anyway, my floppy foot is much better after a month of PT and work on my proprioceptors. All of the exercises are ultra goofy, but I think they may be helping. On my first appointment with the orthotics guru, I received a soft and temporary orthotic. I wore them for a while and they made my feet sore... but they never seemed to help completely. Upon receipt of my new carbon fiber full rigid orthotics, the difference was immediate. He told me to break myself in an hour at a time over the next several weeks, but I could not wait... I ran tonight. And I loved it.

Tonight's Workout:
3 mile run with RD and her friend Cindy. The pace was 9ish. I really enjoyed it, but the bad news is this... RD completely ran me into the ground. She has been running (and getting hella hot in the process) and can now kick my ass. I better get my ass in gear!

Oh, I almost forgot... Today is happy new shoes day! YAY! I am out on the Brooks after a very short and not-good attempt to wear Brooks Trances... Back to the Asics Kayano.

Remember the old saying: "I'll start training on Monday?"

Confession: Well, here it is Monday and guess who blew off training. Ugh.

I did make an effort to be an ironman today, though. In talking with my Orthopedic Surgeon, Dr. Powell (ASOM) who is also training for an ironman... The topic of training came up. He Suggested a book by Matt Fitzgerald. I ordered it on Amazon today and will tell you about it when I get it. Basically, it is a cookbook for training for the ironman. This is just what I need. The plan is to do the base routine twice in a row, each time ramping up then into the fray. I am super pumped and will have to really focus to start and keep slow in the run to avoid injury. That is, if I ever start!

wOW! So it has been a while. Man, training took a turn for the worst. I am starting over today, Monday... yes another Monday start to training. For the past several weeks, life has been extremely hectic. I did get some training and cross training done, but the time to report here, to you, on this blog, has, been, well, let's just say, low priority. Not that any of my fans (you) are not my priority, just that I have not made time for you, so hate me.

Over the last few weeks, work has been very demanding. I had several 'until 10 or 11' work days. Super suck. I have been riding a bit, mostly mountain bikes. Friday after Thanksgiving, I had the bright idea to play tackle football with my Young Life highschoolers... what was I thinking? I managed to escape a trip to the emergency room, but ended up VERY sore. My hip flexors, abductors and feet were and still are killing me. In the middle of the game, I realized I was gambling with my ironman attempt. This occurred to me as I was running a little fade route... the ball was in the air, I was right on target... meanwhile I could hear/feel a six foot six, pimple faced, teenager breathing down my neck. He was at full sprint, head up, arms at perfect 90 degrees with hands bladed and pumping fast. It was at that moment that I remembered what happened last time I played tackle football in college. That game ended with me in the ER with a Liz Franc Injury (google it, its nasty). In fact, that injury is what has been causing me to spend countless dollars on physical therapy, orthotics, etc. Anyway, I "missed" the pass and the ball fell incomplete. The rest of the afternoon would be damage control and prayer. I cannot tell you how happy I was when we finally called the game. Whew.

The soreness kept me on the couch most of the rest of the day. Saturday morning brought immense stiffness. Nevertheless, I met Norm and we went for an epic mountain bike ride... We road all of Grapevine then went over to Nob Hills and rode all of it. We ended up with 35ish off road miles. That put me over the top. Towards the ended, I could not even lift my leg over the top tube.

I have been this sore before, but only a few times. Here's the deal... I love it! I means I am doing the right things... all except gambling with my ironman attempt, but the epic and painful rides are all necessary training... I LOVE IT!

Training Update

I have recently been referred to as someones "favorite non-training fat ironman to be." After hearing this, I realized that due to my lack of posting updates, the general public (yes, all 2 of you) thinks I am not training and fat. Let me dispel that misconception: I have been training very hard. Yes, cross-training, in fact. I have been working very hard on my intestinal fortitude training. Last night, I did three sets of frozen margaritas with a shiner bock super set at the end. Between reps, I added a couple of sets of fish tacos, chips and lots of salsa.

I have been in the throws of a major career decision and the stress and focus has caused slight deviation. I will have you know, though, that I have not had a single dip of Copenhagen throughout the ordeal. This is huge for me. My usual stress crutch is a pinch of snuff.

The only beneficial thing I have done since last week's mountain bike ride is continued physical therapy. We are working on my foot, ankle and proprioceptors. Actually, the therapy has cause a great deal of soreness. I guess it is working. Monday, I go for my orthotics and will finally get to begin my run training. I am really fired up about all of that.

Whew, what a weekend. What a great weekend. Didn't train much, but had a great weekend. I had a very good buddy come into town to visit. Instead of my usual Saturday morning bike ride, I power ate at Cafe Brazil... oooh MIGAS! My bowels will probably never recover. It was sort of a dreary weather weekend, so we moped around for most of the day, went to the book store and read and visited. My only Ironman training for Saturday night was a cheese eating workout followed by a wine drinking brick. This workout is for strengthening intestinal fortitude and a reverse core exercise. Let's just say I had a great workout.

Sunday morning we doubled up with another trip to Cafe Brazil... Oh yeah! I did ride Sunday, so that is good. I skipped church and got a short trail ride in. I rode pretty hard despite the belly full of pancakes, eggs, bacon, butter, coffee, last night's cheese... It was good. In fact I rode so hard I screwed up some spokes on my rear wheel.

Got home just in time for it to start raining. Then spent some time getting ready for Young Life club Monday. Then around late afternoonish, RB and I split for crazy Fort Worth to go hear the Fray play live. We ate at Joe T Garcia's and had a few cervesas before the show. I think I am officially finished eating for the year! The show was awesome! We got home at 1:00am, so I missed the Monday morning swim. I am just off to a stellar start!

Tonight's workout was a little different... I went with RD to Power Yoga before the swim. I thought the stretching would be great for gimp foot and strength for my core (which is rather large right now). I found myself hating myself for choosing Yoga about 15 minutes in. Someone please tell me how the hell that is supposed to be relaxing? The instructor kept saying (in an annoying calm voice like a kindergarden teacher) "find your happy place, just let go, go deep into your heart, release the day and all the negative..." Meanwhile, I am trying to balance on one hand with my body twisted and every muscle tense causing me to shake... I am sweating so much that I am sliding on my little mat... Yeah, I got your happy place right here, biaznatch!

Swim Workout #5: 1,650 Meters

• 300 Warmup
• 3 x 100 Free for Time (1:22.38, 1:38.44, 1:38.44)
• 200 Pull with paddles
• 200 Kick with fins
• 200 pull with paddles
• 200 kick with fins
• 250 swim down

Observations:

1. Yoga, is not synonymous with relaxing and stretching. It reminded me of Junior High Football practice where coach made you lay on your back and hold your legs out straight, toes pointed 3 inches off the ground for an hour. That is basically power yoga, i.e., flex in some weird and awkward position and hold it until it hurts then hold it for about three minutes longer. Yeah, it sucks.
   
2. Confession: I think Yoga may be the ticket to a good and injury free ironman
3. This is an old one, but found it once again: you can go just as fast with a slow stroke and good form as cranking hard with bad form.
   
4. I am seriously considering joining a masters program... maybe Plano Wet Cats. We'll see.
   

Setback: The First Obstacle

Today, I went for my much awaited Gait Analysis. Here's the short version: my gimp foot is all jacked up. Apparently the string of injuries I have had in my left foot over my life, including fracture, liz frank injury, ruptured achilles, IT band issues, and a torn adductor, are all interrelated. The end result is a floppy foot and a time bomb for a running injury. I am so glad I went. As the therapist set up the tripod to film me running, she said, "does that hurt?"

"What?" I was truely puzzeled.

"Running?" She said, "because it looks painful."

I am so glad I went. I am trying to avoid injury and apparently, the gait analysis was a great idea! Here's the problem: The Ortho said, NO RUNNING... until we get some therapy and especially orthotics in place. He said my love (or in my current history, hate) for running will drastically improve with orthotics. I am cautiously optimistic.

So I guess my training really does start Monday... Which Monday, I just don't know. I plan to keep swimming and cycling just the same... Just keep moving forward and make good decisions!

Took advantage of the time change to trick myself into getting up early this morning for a swim. As part of my goal setting program, I am going to be moving the bulk of my run and swim workouts to before work. This will enable me to have a life, albeit a pretty lame and dorky one, after work.

So anyway, I did manage to get up early this morning. On 7 hours of sleep, I trudged to the gym. I am pleased with the lack of humans in the pool on Monday morning, it was nice and peaceful until about 7:00 and the fats and such came out of the woodwork (good for them, right?) The water seemed to have far less chemicals than Friday, and by far less chemicals, I mean you could see the bottom. I swam incident and burn free, so that is good news... however, the maintenance man and management staff all deny that anything was ever wrong with it... I seriously don't believe them. Additionally, the maintenance guy did mention that he came in on his day off to check the pool... right.

Swim workout #4:

• 200 Warmup
• 200 Pull (w/ paddles)
  
• 300 Kick (w/fins)
• 400 Free 8:08:22
• 200 Pull (w/ paddles)
• 300 Kick (w/ fins)
• 400 Free 8:10:02

Confessions:

1. I am very dissinterested in the warm up and cool down, I feel they are a waste of time. Somehow, I think that may be stupid, but let's go with it for now.
2. Felt like crap this morning in the pool... especially in the 400 set. Just felt a little out of synch and such. This shook my motivation a little bit.
3. I wanted to quit after the first kick set (just being honest)
4. Got a little bored today
5. Had a bit of a breakthrough on the pull paddle drill. Felt like my form was great and balanced.
   
6. I am worried about my form and the possibility that I am training myself into bad habits. I think I need to swim with someone or a group soon.

Oh, I almost forgot... today is my gait analysis. I am very excited about it. If I could just get to the point where running is fun and pain free, life would be great! My run training is to begin officially this week. I took about two weeks off to let my shinn splints heal from the monster tri. I think I am ready. Hopefully these types of decisions will keep me injury free until August!