Thoughts for the day

I posted on my Facebook account that my plan for the day was a 4 mile run on the hamster wheel and 1600 yards in swimming in pool.

I set some of my friends into a tizzy with that one. Apparently, I made it sound as if swimming 1600 yards was cake for me. Here was my response:

OK, let's be clear about something. I am not - nor did I mean to imply - that I am swimming 1600 yards non-stop. But I had to have a yardage goal or I would get to 400 and say "ok, I'm done." I hit 1600 yards, but did it 1-50 or 1-100 at a time.

I hate swimming. Really. I do. It’s boring and it’s hard. It’s not like when you were a kid and you jumped in the pool and just splashed for hours. Now, I have to pay attention to my arm stroke, pushing the “T” down, turning my head just the right amount to get a breath. Ugh. It’s all just too much.  But let’s start at the beginning.

I jumped on the hamster wheel this morning after doing some work around the house. My half marathon training plan said to do 3 easy miles today, but after 3 days of splurging, I needed to jump start my healthy mindset again. I started with a 3 minute warm up. Not wanting to kill my legs yet, I started at an easy pace and after 2 miles started changing the speed and incline every half mile. Now before I reveal my time, keep in mind. I’ve never said I was fast. I finished 4.2 miles in 44:07 minutes burning 511 calories.

After my run, I came upstairs, cleaned up, packed my bag and headed to the Riverplex for my swim. My first 600 yards were 12-50s with a 30 (or maybe slightly more) second rest. Then I moved to 100s with a 60 second rest. After 900 yards, I had to go wrestle an alligator. No, not really, but that’s what it feels like when you have to go to the bathroom and deal with your wet bathing suit. All of the water from my hamster wheel run had finally kicked in. After that, who knows.  All I can say is every 50 yards I clicked my little lap counter finishing after 32 clicks….or 1600 yards. Whawho!

Just for posterity I finished with a 50 yard backstroke to help release some of the tension in my chest and arms.

Now to get ready for 2 hours of volleyball tonight. Whoot Whoot!