In 2000 I decided to sign up for a Triathlon. I can’t for the life of me remember why I wanted to do that. My workout schedule consisted almost entirely of swimming 4 or 5 days a week. I had run the San Diego RR Marathon in May of 1999 and since then had done little to no running. I didn’t bike at all. I thought I hated biking. The only bike I owned was a Schwinn Varsity 10 speed that I had paid 10 bucks for at a White Elephant Sale and let rot in my garage for 10 years. It had 2 flat tires and an assortment of other problems.

None the less I chose to sign up for this event and recruited a couple of other women to do it with me. They were 22 and 25 – I was 46. No matter. I got my bike tuned up and had new tires put on and I rode it a grand total of about 3 times before the Tri. I ran a few miles here and there. I had been swimming, though!

On race day I got in the water in my regular swim suit and soon found myself thrashing and in a panic, on my back floating, on my stomach breast stroking, treading water, sputtering and desperately wishing I were somewhere else. I did manage to finish the swim and get on my bike. I rode the bike like a tourist on Nantucket Island, and of course got passed by everyone. When I finally came in and did my T2 thing (which was really easy because all I had to do was get off the bike and take off the helmet) I started running and thought – YEOWCH! MY LEGS! But I ran on and hit the trail and it was hot and there was no water left and I was clearly way behind everyone else. I don’t believe I had any nutrition, either. I bonked at about 2 miles and pretty much walked about 1/2 of the rest of the thing with the occasional jog tossed in.
Time: 2:31
Place: 254 out of 260 women. 3 men had a worse time than me and one of them was 11 years old.

I hated the whole thing with every fiber in my body and swore I would rather run a marathon a week than ever do THAT again. Little did I know.

This year was different – way different. Same event, different contender.

Last night I got back from San Diego at about 9 PM. I had spent a busy day with Pookie, schlepping luggage and boxes and bags of stuff. My arms were sore (I will write up the trip another time). I started plotting reasons I couldn’t really do this Triathlon but chose instead to report in that I was doing it and to get my stuff ready.

4:45 AM came way too soon (as it always does) and I didn’t want to get up. Didn’t want to put my bike in the car, didn’t want to go. I had a million reasons – my arms were sore, I was tired, I had to go all by myself and that made me sad, and blah, blah, blah. Mostly I was just afraid – afraid of failing to do any better than I did last year.

I got to the park, took my stuff to the transition area and went to check in. ID please. Crap – the bike rides never actually ASK for the ID. I had to go back to the car to get it. Got my license, signed the waiver, got my bib, got marked and headed over to set up transition. At this point I was still equivocating over bike shirt vs. run shirt; jacket or no jacket; what food to take. I was driving myself nuts but I pushed on and pinned my number to my run shirt, put my food in my bike shirt and called it good. I line up my shoes and socks.

The guy on the mic kept yelling out instructions and telling people to “Rack your Bike and get your wetsuite ready!” WETSUIT – I DON’T HAVE A WETSUIT… THE REGISTRATION SAYS YOU DON’T NEED A WETSUIT. I DIDN’T WEAR A WETSUIT LAST TIME. Panic, panic, despair. I look around and see that about every 10th person has a wetsuit. The fact that about 95% of the other people are wearing tri suits and I’m in a 1 piece Tyr workout suit bothers me but only a little bit.

Then I had to figure out about the Garmin. I realized that I was very anxious about swimming with it but I really wanted to give you all the swim, T1, bike, T2, run breakdown. Then I thought it doesn’t matter. Do what feels right. Oh yeah – SHIFT FOCUS! I said to myself and decided to wear my HR monitor watch for the swim and put the Garmin on for the bike and run. Good choice.

Off to the water for instructions and to wait. The air was chilly but tolerable as I stood there in the suit that screamed I’M A TOTAL ROOKIE – SEE? LOOK AT MY SUIT! but I didn’t mind that much. I was too freaked out about getting in the water. You see, my dirty little secret is that I’m terrified of fish. Really. I hate open water swimming but oh well… too late now!

We watched as wave 1 took off and soon saw that they had collectively veered way over to the left of the target buoy. Those poor guys (18 and under) must have added another 150 yards to a 700 yard swim. Oops. It was an excellent reminder to look up early and often and make sure you are headed in the right direction.

I was in wave 6 which is women over 40 and teams. I lined up over to the right and at the back to avoid the churning and broiling and to give me ample room to freak out. 3-2-1 go! and we were off. The water which was only about 72 degrees felt great at first but I found my heart was pounding. Oh My Stars… swim, swim, swim… you are okay, you know how to swim, just keep swimming! Mouthful of lake water – ugh! rotate! pull! ….. I thought I was having a panic attack and then I thought no – you are cold – this is just happening because of the cold… KEEP SWIMMING and I did.. I kept swimming. I was pretty much with the women in my wave and was even passing some. Look up – find that buoy… keep going… rotate, pull, blow out, breath… no panic… and finally I got in a rhythm and I was swimming and I hadn’t freaked out or rolled on my back or started breaststroking other than to sight. Around the first buoy, past the second buoy and BRING IT ON HOME THIS WATER IS GROSS! And it was gross. I soon got to the part where the lake weeds grow almost to the surface and your hands touch them and THERE ARE PROBABLY MONSTERS HIDING IN THERE – SWIM – FAST! and I kept swimming. I swam hard and finally the weeds went away and there was sand and I swam some more and then I touched and ran out of that nasty water good and hard.

Swim Time 15 something. 15!!! That was 5 minutes better than I had expected. ROCKIN’!

I ran to my bike and my whole body was abuzz in that sports high buzzy way we love. My heart was pounding like hell and I felt a little dizzy but I remained calm. I forgot that thing about ‘pants first, then shoes’ and put my socks and bike shoes on and then had to pull on my bike shorts. Oops but keep moving, girl! Turned on the Garmin, strapped it on, got on the shirt, grabbed my unnamed bike and headed out. I have no idea what T1 was.

I rode, baby…. I rode hard because I had this idea that I should hit 18 mph only I couldn’t get there. I passed a few people whee! I was so proud when I started gaining on the first one and then I saw her face and realized she was at least 70. Way to go. But on I went. I let myself let up a bit at the start so my heart could come down and so I wouldn’t kill myself. The bike ride is 2 loops and the guys were passing me like crazy, heading out on their 2nd loop. I refused to be intimidated- that is their ride and I was on mine. The ride was unremarkable other than being a bit slower than I wanted it to be but it went fine and 1:03 later I was back in the transition zone making a switch. At this point my transition area looked like a bomb had gone off in my bag. Honestly – if I had left the management of my stuff up to a 14 year old who never puts anything away it couldn’t have looked worse. This came back to haunt me later but in the moment I got off my shoes while chatting with a guy who was already done (he did the whole thing in 1:26. Ih ate him), put on my running shoes, pulled off the bike shirt, got on the run shirt and took off again.

T2 1:45 or so it seems. I think that’s not quite right but whatever.

The run on this thing is hard because it loops around a couple of times. I kept thinking I was done but then there was another loop or another hill. The thing that made the run so much better than it was last time was the Forward Motion Race Club who came out to pass out water and encourage the participants. This is the club I believe I will join so that I don’t have to cry in my beer about doing these events alone any more. They were fabulous, yelling out ‘Way to go! Looking Strong!” and that meant a lot to me because I was tired. My Garmin was not functioning at all or so I thought. Also, I couldn’t switch it from ‘speed’ to ‘pace’ which turned out to be a great blessing. I just let it go and decided to focus on my breathing and my footfalls.

Finally I came into the home stretch and they had mic guy calling out the runners names which was SO fun. I thought I heard the guy say my time was 2:11 but the clock wasn’t running. I had a composite Bike/T2/Run time of 1:47 and knew the swim was 15 minutes and after doing a little math I believe that 2:11 is correct but for some reason my results were not in. The guy said they probably transposed my number or something – he’ll let me know. In any case I passed people on the run and I saw plenty of people behind me so I know for sure I won’t come up almost last again.

After I came down from my finishers high I gathered up my stuff that was spread all over hell’s half acre, put it in the bag and took it over to the car. I leaned the bike on the car and started looking for my keys. No keys. I pulled everything out of the bag. No keys. I checked every pocket. No keys. I left my stuff at the car and walked back to the timing desk and asked if anyone had turned in some keys. No keys. One last thing to do. I walked over to my transition area and there they were, lying on the ground – the casualties of my bag bomb. Phew!

Here’s the really good news – I rocked that run – rocked it!
Mile 1 – 9:59
Mile 2 – 10:34
Mile 3 – 11:08
Mile 4 – 10:18
last .25 – 9:59

Those are good times on a day when I get up, have coffee and toast and hit the road without the swim and the bike. Seeing those numbers still has me smiling. So I rocked the swim and I rocked the run. Not bad.

I realized when I was out on the run course that one of my goals, one that I had failed to articulate even to myself, was to have a better experience this time and I met that goal in spades. I feel great. Another goal was to finish with a time I felt okay about and if 2:11 really is my time then I’m happy. That’s a middle of the pack corrected time.

Miission accomplished. What I really like about this race is that when I did it last time I was 6 years younger so that must mean that instead of being 6 years older, I have gotten 6 years better.

I’m getting ready for my triathlon tomorrow and I’m realizing that although I have a lot of stuff and quite a few ideas I don’t really have a plan.

I decided to try putting my Forerunning in a plastic bag and wearing it under my cap for the swim and I just practiced this tonight. One ripped silicone cap later I think I’ve got it – ‘think’ being the operative word. I hope I don’t destroy the thing.

I’ve got food – a PowerBar cut up into pieces, a bag of Clif Bloks and 2 packs of Accel Gel. I have water and Gatorade and a bottle of Accelerade for after (never tried it before and don’t want to try it on the course.

I’ve got my clothes and fortunately I checked weather.com and it looks like this year will be quite a bit cooler than last year. I’m taking my windbreaker but I hope that all works out – ‘hope’ being the operative word. I don’t own arm warmers although I think they would be a better choice. I just hope I don’t burn up in the jacket because it is too short a ride to stop and take it off. Also, I have to figure out if I can load up the jacket pockets or if I load up the riding shirt.

See? I wish I had a plan… but I don’t.

If you are on the East coast and reading this in the AM be thinking good thoughts for me.

I was so distraught over not being available to Pookie as she packs and gets ready to move out of the house (you aren’t really moving out honey – you are just going to college) that I forgot about Hump Day Miscellany. I’m sure you are all feeling bereft so let me just fix that up for you.

Matter Uno – My Locked Up Leg

I had intended to swim/run on Monday, Bike/run on Tuesday and just swim on Wed. I tossed the bike/run on Tuesday for all the wrong reasons but it was probably the right thing to do. Wednesday I went to swimming knowing we were doing speed work which seemed like a great idea. This was the prescribed workout:
100 sprint; 300 yd. pull; 5 x 25 yd. easy (your choice of stroke); 100 kick
75 sprint; 300 yd pull; 4 x 25 yd. easy; 100 yd kick (descend from last set)
50 sprint; 300 yd pull; 3 x 25 yd. easy; 100 yd kick (descend from last set)
25 sprint 300 yd pull; 2 x 25 yd. easy; 100 yd kick (descend from last set)

I knew I wouldn’t make the whole thing because I didn’t have time but I wanted to do well on the sprints. I did the 100 in what I thought was 1:40 which isn’t brilliant but it’s okay for me. Then I got to the 75 and the coach was on deck with a stop watch so I let him time. 1:26 – BLAH! So now I was more determined than ever to nail that 50. I wanted to do it in 45 which is just about impossible for me but I was determined to make the attempt. I started out hard, flipped at the wall and immediately noticed my left calf tightening up. No big deal, I thought – I’ll just keep going – it’s only another 20 yards. About 10 yards later it really hurt and about 2 strokes after that I had to stop and grab the lane line. My leg was completely locked up. I could neither flex my foot nor point my toes. Ow. So I’m stretching several times a day and trying to do a little sodium and potassium loading before Sunday.

Matter the Second – Oh Happy Day!
So I’m in the office and I had to arrive sans breakfast (that’s French for I was hungry). I figured I could either walk across the street to Staryuks and get a latte and a bagel or I could see what was in the kitchen. My boss made the coffee (told you he’s a good guy) and I started rifling the cabinets. We had 2 choices of food – protein bars and Pop Tarts. I scrutinized the nutritional information and discovered that a single Brown Sugar and cinnamon Pop Tart has fewer calories and the same amount of fat as the protein bar. Oh Happy Day! I’m sure the bar would have been better for me but I blissed out on the Pop Tart, instead. Just the one, though – not both of them in the package. YUM!

Life is all about choices, right? Sometimes you make the right choice for the wrong reason and sometimes you make the wrong choice for the right reason. Like Grandma used to say “It all comes out in the wash”.

I have my sprint distance Triathlon on Sunday. I’d like to say it is my first but I did this event in 2000 and hated it with every fiber in my body. I was totally unprepared and horribly undertrained. I’m expecting this one to go a lot better. Getting there is not so easy, though.

My little Pookie (the youngest of my three children) moves out of the house to take up residence in a college dorm on Saturday. She is both excited and terrified. We are very, very close and she will be living far away and that makes her nervous. She had a great kayaking trip to Baja and made friends so there is no fear of not knowning anyone. She has several friends from high school who will also be there. No – that’s not it. It’s just the natural fear of jumping off a cliff into the water. You know you can swim, you’ve seen everyone else come back to the surface laughing, you’re pretty sure the water is a good temperature and as far as you know there aren’t any rocks lurking just under the surface. But still – it’s scary. What if something bad happens? Her lifeline will be 800 miles away.

To make this situation just a little more frightening my company is having a mandatory all hands meeting. Dinner Thursday night and team building all day Friday. The edict was no one leaves before 4:30 PM on Friday. That meant that I had to book a 7:30 flight and wouldn’t get home until 10:00. I was towing the line until yesterday when I jokingly chided Pookie for the long face and the inactivity and she burst into tears. Sometimes you just need a slap in the face to see the light.

I changed my flight on Friday – I’m leaving at 1:10. I called my boss and told him. I didn’t ask him – I told him. He’s a good guy and he understands so it’s okay.

So now I will leave today, be away all day Thursday and half of Friday, spend Friday helping her finish her preparations, spend Saturday flying to San Diego and back and then….. somehow get ready to leave very early Sunday for my event .

It’s a really good thing the folks from Accel sent me some gels to test. They came today. That’s one thing off my list! The rest will just have to fall into place. Of course I totally faked this event 5 years ago and lived to tell the tale so no worries about using a new nutritional product, right?

—-
Post Script –
Remember the one about the world’s most expensive pancakes? They also turned out to be the world’s most delicious pancakes (second item). And here they are:

Their worth might not be obvious but that’s because you didn’t see the kids all sleeping in their sleeping bags out on the campus grounds

And you didn’t get to hear the tale of how they helped SpongeBob find his house that had been stolen by the Coyote

Pookie giving a flawless, off the cuff account of her group’s adventure

And you didn’t get to see your baby smiling with her group of new friends. That alone, was worth the price of admission.

Lately I have been doing double workouts and even did the crazy mixed up mini-tri. My workout schedule for the last week has been:

Monday Sept 4 – Crazy Mixed Up Mini Tri

Run 4 miles
Swim 1500 yds
Ride 19 miles

That little exercise felt GREAT! So great that I took Tuesday off.

Wednesday –
Swim 2000 yds
Run 3 miles

Again – this felt fabulous. So fabulous I took Thursday off

Friday –
Swim 1600 yds
Run 2 miles.

I had to cut the run short so I could meet my friends for coffee. Never underestimate the value of cawfee tawk. Very important!

Friday afternoon I was contemplating doing another crazy mixed up mini-tri but what I really needed was to work harder on the bike and then practice running after riding. I’m so glad I did that. The ride wasn’t that great (15 miles with too much time on the trail slowing down and passing people with little kids and also stopping at cross streets) but the getting off the bike and running was an important reminder.

What I remembered is that when you get off the bike and start running your legs sort of yell “WHOA! What the hell?!!?” Seriously. I don’t know how else to describe that feeling of being all wobbly and unsteady like a new born colt getting up on all 4s for the first time. You’ve seen that, right? At least on TV or in the movies. Running after getting off a bike feels exactly like that.

I’m glad I got a reminder before I’m coming out of T2 next Sunday. I haven’t quite figured out my strategy for the week but I have a forced taper due to having to fly to Irvine Wed night, spend 2 days in the office, fly home Friday night and then fly to San Diego Saturday to help Pookie move into the dorms. Then I fly home Saturday afternoon and head for the Triathlon on Sunday AM.

Any tips, hints or suggestions for how to handle the other days would be much appreciated. Right now I’m planning on swimming and running (at least a little) on Mon and Wed AM. and I might go for a little run on Thursday or Friday. What about the bike, though? Think I should go for a ride on Tuesday? Maybe a short ride and a short run Tuesday AM?? If you have an opinion please weigh in. I’m kind of addicted to the double workout now – it just feels so good.

I can’t stop thinking about our blogging triathletes who are off to (and probably now in) Wisconsin for IronMan. I don’t have a complete list but I do know that:

TriSaraTops
Iron Wil
Chris Uy

RxIronman

are lining up.

I doubt they are accessing a computer but I hope they can feel the collective excitement from the rest of the blogosphere. Be strong!

One day when I was leaning on my virtual bud Bolder for some advice he told me a story that I can’t really remember the details of but the punchline is that as a man was running the marathon part of his Ironman and looking like he was really feeling it and his wife called out “Remember your reasons!” or something to that effect.

So everyone – remember your reasons and push on. We’ll all be out here cheering for you.

First of all I had to remove the Car Poll because it was tossing out evil pop-ups and I hate them!

Here are the results:

Answers

                                    Votes       Percent
1.  Subaru Outback Wagon with Bike Rack    17          47%
2.  Kia Spectras (cheap!)                   1           3%
3.  Toyota Yaris (very cheap!)              1           3%
4.  Toyota Corolla 4 door sedan             0           0%
5.  Honda Civic 4 door sedan                9          25%
6.  VW Jetta                                5          14%
7.  Other                                   3           8% 

“Other” translates loosely to ‘Get a sugar Daddy who will buy you a Mercedes’. Roger that. I’ll take beach house to go with the Benz, thanks!

As much as I love the idea of a big, expensive Mercedes it appears that the Subaru Wagon is the clear winner. As it turns out I’m going to wait a while to buy a car but it’s good to have the data. And oh – if you happen to know of a good Sugar Daddy candidate please send him my way. As long as he can put up with my training schedule he’ll do just fine.

Second – The World’s Most Expensive Pancakes were delicious. The trip down there was rife with aggravation. The flight took off over an hour late, the rental car lot took a long time to get out of due to trainee checking car at the exit, a very looooong train was moving through town just as I got to the intersection of the tracks and my street and I had to drive up to the 11th floor of a building to park the car. I finally got into my $86 Priceline special room at the Sheraton to discover that I was in a lovely mini-suite that I had no time to enjoy as it was now 11 PM and I had to get up at 6 AM to make sure I could pick up a disposable camera and get to the breakfast on time. Oh well.

When I got there the kids were still all sleeping. Turns out that 8 AM really meant 9AM but oops – they forgot to update the website. That was okay, though because I had the pleasure of photographing these barely awake kids – very fun! I’ll wait until the pictures come in to give more details.

Last – thanks for the bike advice and special thanks to Nancy Toby for discouraging my performance anxiety. But really – is that possible? I don’t think so. I am really wondering how I managed a 2:31 last time when well trained, fast people seem to do these sprint distance triathlons in 1:50 – 2:05. I figure the 700 yard swim will take me 20 minutes what with the thrashing and piling on that goes on at these events. Then the bike will take me an hour if I really bust a move (18 mile ride) and then the run will take at least 45 minutes (4 miles on trashed legs). The transitions will probably be about 5 minutes because I’m practically a transition virgin. So that’s 20 + 5 + 60 + 5 + 45 = 2:15 if I really work it. That’s only 15 minutes faster. Maybe ONLY is the operative word here? I don’t know. I’ll just move as fast as I can and see what happens, right?

And on that note it’s pillow time so I can get up and do another fabulous workout. I swam and ran today and loved it! More on that later, too.

I got an email promoting a cycling event in Marin California.

Friday Sept 29, 2006 (all info is contained in the link below – just click on the next line)

Eddy Merckx ride for The Oak Hill School

The infamous Eddy Merckx is joining ZteaM cycling for a 50 mile ride to benefit the Oak Hill school located in Marin California. Riders should arrive at the Oak Hill School no later than 11:30 AM at 441 Drake Blvd, Marin City, CA 94965. The police escorted ride will travel through Marin, out to Nicasio Valley and back down the senic coast highway 1 and finish at the school. Come chat/ride with Eddy and have complimentary sodas and snacks after the ride. Diretions: Get off 101 at the Marin City/Sausalito exit where Mike’s Bike is. Go west one block and make a left on Drake.

I won’t be there but if you are an Eddy Merckx fan and you live in the area this might be a fun event for you. It costs $100 and benefits The Oak Hill School:

The Oak Hill School is a specialized school in Marin City for children with autism and other neurologically based development issues. Children on the autism spectrum typically have difficulty communicating, which severely limits their ability to communicate, form relationships, access the world and live independently around them. As many as 1 in 166 children born today are autistic, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

A worthy cause by any standard.

When last I wrote I was lamenting the solid zeros in the Month-to-Date tally. Well I fixed that today. I ran, I swam and then I biked. Circumstances beyond my control forced the order but it was fine with me. We had masters workout at 8:30 AM and I figured if I waited for that I would be out riding or running in the heat and the heat just does me in so I got up early and hit the road.
I ran 4+ miles at an average pace of 10:32. For once I managed to slow myself down at the start and it really paid off. My laps were pretty consistent and I felt good the whole way. Why or why has it taken me so long to get that message??!

T1 was about 40 minutes what with the hydrating and the eating and the shower and the changing and the putting the bike in the car and the driving to the pool and the putting on the cap and the goggles. It all took time but it was okay. Fast transitions weren’t part of the program.

The workout was pretty tough and I had to wear fins because every lane had at least 5 people in it and I just had to keep up. I only managed to get my heart up to 155 but I was in zone (120 – 170) 35 of the 45 minutes I was in the water and we did have to stop once in a while to hear what to do. When I got out of the water I felt great!

Off to the locker room for shower #2 and a change into biking clothes which includes this awesome shirt I got when I rode my last metric century. In fact, the shirt is at least a small part of the reason I did the ride. At the bottom it says “Like a Fine Wine, It Gets Better With Age”. The front has the same design. T2 was probably about 30 minutes.

I rode 19 1/2 miles on the multi-use trail which in parts is heavily used by families and strollers. My speed was not what I was looking for – not even close. My max speed was 19 mph which was good but my overall speed was only 12.5 mph which is way slow. I’m sure it is due in part to having to slow down for people and for numerous crossings but still – I’m not thrilled with my time.

I was, however thrilled that I got out and did that little brick. When I got home it was sunny and warm and beautiful and I felt sunny and warm and hopeful. I have a sprint distance Tri on Sept 17. This will be my 2nd time doing this event. The first time was in 2000 (stop me if you’ve heard this one!) and it took me 2.5 hours. I was almost the last one in. I was horribly under trained and on a Schwinn Varsity 10 speed. But here’s the thing. IF I DON’T DO SUBSTANTIALLY BETTER THIS TIME I WILL FLIP OUT! Really. I need to do better.

So here are 2 biking questions for you people.

1). What single thing is the most important to help me improve my biking speed over the next 2 weeks? Cadence? Speed? Time in the saddle? Hills? What would you do? The course on this Tri is pretty flat – very flat compared to most of the terrain I bike.

2). Shimano 105. Good enough or just no good? If you have an opinion please let me know. There is a bike I’m interested in and the top of the line model has Shimano Dura-Ace components and sells for $4400. The bottom of the line has the same frame with Shimano 105 components and sells for less than half of that. I can see that the price differential is reflected in the cost of those parts but the question is, for a non-pro is 105 adequate or are they really inferior?

Tomorrow is back to work but then we get to hump day just 24 hours later. Ahhhhh…… I will use Hump Day Miscellany to tell you about my trip to San Diego although I’d like to wait until the photos come back. I do have photographs of the world’s most expensive, and possibly tastiest, pancakes.

Through the wonders of modern technology I am sitting in the airport with my laptop and wireless card, blogging. The Pookster Has Landed! In other words, my baby girl has returned from her kayaking trip to Baja, apparently just in the nick of time. The news today said that a hurricane was brewing exactly where she was. No worries here, though because she called me last night sounding buoyant and as excited to see me tomorrow as I am to see her.

I am flying down there, renting a car and staying in a hotel all so I can go to a pancake breakfast at 8 AM and meet all the people who were on the trip and hear all about it. I forgot my camera! Drat. I’m about to eat a couple of the world’s most expensive pancakes and I won’t even be able to take a picture of them. Perhaps I’ll stop on the way and pick up a disposable camera.

In other news – I looked at my workout stats and I have all ZEROS for month to date – arrrgghhh! I pussed out on my swim this morning. Bad, Bad, Bad… must not do that any more. Wednesday I had on my HRM and the best I could do was 155 and I was only in zone for 20 of the 50 minutes of the workout. Must.Work.Harder. So, more swims, harder swims, expensive pancakes, life story revealed, Happy Labor Day Weekend!