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January 30, 2008
Bone-Chilling
Well we've taken a complete 180 and gone from a heat wave yesterday (I think the highs were somewhere in the 40s!) to being completely frigid today. What. The. Heck. The winds were so strong last night that just about everyone in the area lost power in some form or another and most schools had a 2 hour delay or were cancelled. O's school had a delay but when he got there there was no heat and only a back up generator for lights. Lucky for them, the power came back on before the kids arrived and school went on as usual. :)
Regardless, I didn't think too much about how cold it was until I went out for my run this afternoon. This morning was a swim - 500s and 300s and 100s and I even tried a flip turn. Flip turns and more bilateral breathing are on the to do list. I just have to force myself to do them or I will never know how/be good at them. This is when I hate not growing up as a swimmer. It's just no fair. I mean when swimmers become triathletes what do they have to learn? Everyone knows how to ride a bike and run! :)
So anyway, the swim was good and then I went to work where I looked outside all day and thought - WOW, look how nice and sunny it is! Little did I know that there was also about a 50 MPH wind. Make that a 50 MPH ARTIC wind.
When I was walking the 10 minutes or so to my car after work I first picked up on the fact that it wasn't 40 degrees any more. And then I stopped on the way home to get some gas and I almost lost a finger to frostbite while I stood out there at the pump.
Fast forward to the start of my run where I again feared the loss of a finger. IT WAS SO COLD. I tried thinking of warm and sunny places and surfing in Costa Rica but really I was just miserable. And then around 20-25 minutes into the run I turned out of the wind and I started to warm up a little and my eyes stopped tearing from the cold and things started to look up. See there, life isn't so bad afterall. :)
And although I've now just complained about the weather for the majority of this blog entry, I will say my running is coming along nicely and I'm quite pleased. I just can't tell you how nice it feels to run again at a decent pace and still be within my HR ranges. This is made much sweeter by the fact that all last year was pretty much spent at a frustratingly slow pace.
Alas - it's time to fold laundry! But not before I congratulate Eric Limkemann for his USAT pro rookie of the year award! It was announced just a few days ago and I was so incredibly excited to see it. I had the pleasure to know Eric when he still lived in Pittsburgh (he and his wife are now in Ohio) and he is such a great guy. Lucky for me he's also an incredibly fast swimmer (he regularly gets out of the water first in ALL his races - including those that have people like Andy Potts in them!) and helped me a lot with my stroke before they moved. Way to go Eric!
Posted by beth at January 30, 2008 7:30 PM
Comments
You made me chuckle with your "this is when I hate not growing up a swimmer" comment. Too funny. Note to self: don't make the same mistake when having children... And getting them in the water early is not enough, must have them join a swim team just in case they decide to become a triathlete!
Posted by: at January 30, 2008 9:00 PM
Beth,
Awesome that your running is coming along. Your patience is really paying off, isn't it?
Posted by: Meghan at January 31, 2008 3:54 AM
Nice job Beth! Flip turns, bilateral breathing, AND a fantastic (although teary-eyed, wind-swept) run!. Way cool.
Posted by: marit c-l at January 31, 2008 8:31 AM
Nice job Beth! Flip turns, bilateral breathing, AND a fantastic (although teary-eyed, wind-swept) run!. Way cool.
Posted by: marit c-l at January 31, 2008 8:31 AM
Hi Beth,
I randomly came across your blog looking on google for a way to get rid of google lines after swimming last week. Although not a big blog fan, I am hooked reading yours! Thanks for the training inspiration and good luck! :)
Posted by: Sarah at January 31, 2008 1:21 PM