The Pool

Confession time: I hate going to the pool.  I do not hate swimming -- swimming is fun. I hate the horrible inefficiency of the trip time to workout time ratio.  Today's 36 minute swim cost me 80 minutes from the time I left my building to the time I walked back in the door.  So that doesn't even include the time it took me to put on my suit before I left and get fully cleaned up when I got home.  By the time I was getting in the water I could have been halfway through a four mile run!  If I had infinite money and space for buy fitness equipment, the very first thing I would do is install a single lane lap pool for my own personal use.  If I didn't have a trainer for my bike, that might be first on my list.  But I do.  And I have NO desire to ever own a treadmill.

Haven't seen this stuff in my shower since July ...

But I digress.  Today my friend and I convinced each other to get back to the pool for the first time in a long time (July for me, May for him).  I was surprised at how quickly I got back in the groove, but I was definitely getting tired quickly.  I ended up doing 5 x 200 yds (he did 250 yd sets since he's faster) and we took liberal chat breaks in between.  As much as I complained about having to walk to and from the pool in the very, very cold wind, it was worth it to get in my first post-tri swim workout.  I may even invest in a swim lesson sometime this winter to work on my technique a bit.

Today's workout also means that I hit my off-season goal plan for the first time (last week I was close but replaced the swim with an extra run).

Mon - rest
Tue - step aerobics
Wed - run (3 mi)
Thu - rest (for my "free space")
Fri - trainer (30 min)
Sat - run (5 mi)
Sun - swim (100 yds)

Trying to make more time for brain workouts too ...

I know I'll get off track with the holidays coming up, especially without easy gym access at home, but I'm going try to relax and not worry about it too much.  I'll at least have my running shoes with me!  And I have officially started working on my Chicago recap post, so hopefully that will be up soon.