My morning swim.

I will begin my training in earnest soon.  I need it.  Today my alarm went off at 5:00am.  My clothes were staged - ready to dress and proceed to the pool.  Then I snoozed for an hour.  Rolled out at 6:00am, brushed teeth with eyes closed, grabbed a nice fresh towel from the guest closet supply (my wife hates it when I use the good stuff), then managed to get to my car over the packed ice in the driveway from the snow I never shovelled.  Listened to Radiohead's Hail to the Thief all the way to the YMCA, parked, got out, lifted the hatch to the Subaru and then realized I forgot my bag.  Within my bag I keep some swimming essentials:  my suit, my goggles, my lock.  There I stood with my fluffy nice towel and nothing else.  No nude swimming at the downtown YMCA so I proceeded to Starbucks for my grande Pike with cream, then home.

It may be a blessing in disguise.  Normally I keep my swimming bag out in the car regardless of the conditions.  I'll swim one day, throw my wet suit in the bag, put it in my sub 20 degree car, then go swimming two days later.  I literally have to twist and bend the frozen rigor mortis'ed Speedo to break it into shape.  Putting that baby on is cold.  Like a cold you don't really want to face. The searing pain only last a second though and it's usually a good motivator to get in the water and start hitting it.   

Escape from Alcatraz

On a total fluke I signed up for the lottery to get in the Escape from Alcatraz triathlon in San Francisco next summer.  I never win anything or have luck when it comes to earning something for nothing, but that all changed when I opened my email last week to the words "Congratulations, you've been accepted to compete in the Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon 2011". 

What have I done!  I have to swim from Alcatraz Island to San Francisco in freezing cold water.  That's cool, I'm a swimmer.  The difficult part is that the San Francisco Bay averages about 55 degrees at that time of year.  And the other difficult part:  two ton sea-lions.  I've never swam with two ton sea-lions in the wild before.  Or those other things that like to eat two ton sea-lions. I read on the events website that it's one of the most challenging events in triathlon.   I did once swim so far from the shore in Florida with my coach and another swimmer that we couldn't see the shore line.  We pasted fishing boats.  During one deep cold dive looking for conch shells, head splitting from the pressure, I heard a high pitched squeal, very close by.  Dolphins.    The three of came up and decided to swim back, fast.  I just kept thinking that sharks eat dolphins don't they? Sharks eat anything yes?  I will have to overcome some fear.  I'm respectful of open-water ocean swimming.  It's like running through a densely forested wild jungle in the nude.  

Needless to say I've been in the water the last two days putting in some yardage.  My life has been a complete mess lately on several fronts.  I'm even gaining weight - up to 187.  I'm not sure if I'm going to make it again to Wisconsin, but I'm swimming to San Francisco on June 5th.  It may be the last thing I do.  Or try to do!

writers block and atrophy

It's not really writers block.  I just have nothing to write about.  How does one write about nothing?  I did have a fairly pleasant run in the snow a few days ago.  Snow running is a nice change of pace when first getting out in it - but that changes as the winter progresses and running results in ice balls forming on your eye-lashes and frozen teeth in the wind.  I don't even enjoy the process of layering my body in lycra and polypropylene to fend off the advancing cold. Too bad you can't 'bank' the time and effort you've put into running, but unfortunately the day you stop running your body starts to atrophy.    One morning last week I got up in the dark and did sprints at the park in the pitch black.  There was another runner there, and I think I completely scared them to death as I was running all out sprints, not like a normal jogger.   I've been swimming here and there, likely twice a week.  No cycling.  I need to bust out the trainer and start riding indoors.  The thought kills me. 

I've been mildly weight lifting, gaining some strength I guess.  My IT guy at work starting working out, taking all kinds of protein shakes and other questionable compounds, and really started to look physically bigger.   My muscles don't do that. With great disappointment I write that I'll never be nicknamed "Meat-Pack".