Planning to plan and plansssssss.....

Planning next year.

I have so many dreams and goals.

Baby steps , sure - but wonderful things for me if I can pull them off.

NO, I still have not determined what tri's I want to do but I am getting there. I will definitely do the Trek again- it was so much fun and close to home. And all chicks. And chicks, as you know, rock. No homo.

I have signed up for the Long Island Half Marathon, however - and I totally think it is doable. Now, I am saying this having cut down drastically on my running these past two months. But I still think I can do it and have fun.

I have been going to swim class but I am as slow as all get out. Not sure what to do about that, but I damn sure better have soe kind of technique by spring the way I have been drilling! I have found a really cool resource - the Coney Island Brighton Beach Open Water Swimmers. I chatted with a chick that swam with them last year - a novice newbie slow one like me (or so she says) and she really recommended them. I think I will give it a try come late April or May (once the water warms a bit). I am hopeful, as I want to enter a race on Staten Island that everyone says is fun and flat. The swim is in the bay. It would make for a good season opener; although I am not for the crazy crowded stuff. I will have to see.

There have been some ....interesting....articles in the New York Times over the past few months about endurance athletes....one about slow people in the marathon, and more recently one about Triathletes with injuries...this one. I am not sure why Triathlon has been singled out - and why they chose a 61 year old athlete to highlight ....

I also got a great book, a real meat and potatoes tri book "The Triathletes Training Bible". There is so much in there I don't understand yet but am starting to grasp the concept of - lactate thresholds and such....but realy I need to find a plan and stick to it!

Back to Business...kinda

I actually made myself sick.

So sick of NOT doing what I knew I should be doing (swimming, what else?) that I returned to Masters. Because I am a glutton for punishment. And I know that while I am not a great runner or cyclist, my swim is even further behind.

And of course, someone actually noted that I had been gone awhile, LOL! In a very kindly way however. It was a slow day and my part of the class (the slow baby group) was in what is my favorite part of the pool, the diving tank. The water is deep and I feel so much more bouyant, even though it is also cooler than the shallow end. I kept up just fine and as usual, felt grrreeeat afterwards.

That was last week.

This week the pool was set p for a long course - 50 yard lanes. Nice! I think I could swim that all evening - at my slow ass pace however. That was not to be, though.

We did several technique drills - on the back, rotations, onteh side left leading, on the side right leading, on the side left leading face in, same for right, underswitches.....I kinda like these drills. They remind me of how to trust the natural rotation of my body and help me regain my balance. Of course I get about a gallon of water up my nose as some point or another but these generally are not the "drowning drills" that we used to do when I took the JackRabbit class last year.

Then, we split into two groups and did sets - 6 sets of 100's. we used two lanes for this. I moved over into the next lane only because the first one had about eight people in it already, and there was only two so far in the next. The instructor said "I don't know that you belong here, but we will see". OK - I was gonna move right back over after that, but decided to see what happened.

Wow. I had on my zoomers - but about half the lane did - and I kept up! for all of teh 100's! Of course I was challenged and out of breath, but wow - what a workout! All the instructor said was "Nice" which was cool - in all reality after the fourth set I was done, but I didn't stop or slow down much. I expected her to tell me I was losing my stroke or something, as when I get tired I tend to flail but I tried to remain conscious of my stroke throughout.

When we were done (Thank you Lord!) my ankles were somewhat sore from the fins. I took them off and did a slow 100 to cool down which was blessedly sweet, I felt like a manatee.

I am only going 1x week now, as Thursdays are taken up with other things. I should try to get to the gym at least once a week to supplement it - either that or put up with the dirty old men at Parks and Rec and do my Saturday mornings there again. The last Saturday I was there, I knocked out 1.5 miles. I was also asked out on a date by a 70 year old.

(sigh)