The best laid plan

Hanging on the wall next to my desk is an 8.5x11 scrap of paper with a rough plan that should put me in place to have some success in the Tri for Fun in June. The main focus is on two things. One, ramping up swimming volume a lot with a goal of increasing competence there, and making it so I can come out of the water without having taxed myself too bad just to complete the swim. Two, bringing up the overall volume so that a ~70 minute high intensity effort is routine.

Overall volume will not grow too much week over week, but in the next 5 months it will be up noticeably overall, hopefully without taking too much of a bite out of the rest of my life. Past experience says that if I can fit it in without stressing about scheduling, I'll feel a lot better day to day.

Longer days can't be back too soon.

Got home early enough to run before dark. Very convenient, that.

The Garmin's battery was dead because it is my only PC dependent device anymore. Gonna have to get some kind of Mac sync capability.

Bah.

Just drove all the way across town to go for a swim and the gym was closing as I got there. 7 hours earlier than normal closing.

Thanks for posting the change to your hours on your website.

Went for a hike with the dogs instead. That doesn't get to go in the workout log though.

The sweet spot

It used to be that the difference between running too slow and too fast was pretty obvious, and the spread was about a minute per mile. Lately the sweet spot is really tightly confined. It's between about 9:20 and 9:40. What's up with that?

COLD

OK, cold for the Bay Area. Still. Muddy trail was frozen in places. Barely cracked the zipper on the windbreaker.

Not one other person on the trail tonight. Just the dog, the snow, an LED headlamp and This American Life on the iPod.

Beer o'clock soon.

Still running

Not spending much time on the world's least popular blog here though.

First time I've logged in in almost a month. Still getting used to how my regular computer tasks work on a Mac.

Ran tonight instead of bicycling because the weather was threatening. It is easier to cope with on foot than on a bike, given the terrain around here. It did rain, so it looked like the right choice was made. Plus the dog got to go along so he was happy.

First night ride of the season

Charged up the helmet mounted lamp. Didn't bring enough warm gear. Took it slow on the descents and said hello to all the deer on the sides of the road. Thought my fingers were cold until after the ride was over and it became obvious that my feet were the true leaders in coldness.

Still haven't uploaded the Forerunner data because the PC I normally used for that has a virus that is proving most resistant to killing. Bah.

Meh.

Not much going on lately. Have been working in some swims amongst the usual run and bike stuff. Trying to work out pretty much daily. I think overall I'll feel better, have more energy and be in a better mood, and be more relaxed when I want to relax.

Ran an extra mile tonight beyond what I planned, just to get full use out of a single episode of Car Talk. A surprisingly good run companion.

Finally over jet lag.

Took longer than I would have thought. Had a good run tonight at what felt like a normal match of pace and effort. Things have felt off for the last few weeks.

Pancakes for dinner was mighty fine after the run. Wooo.

Back from vacation

Did an epic amount of walking on the trip, but only got in two proper workouts. They felt good. Running just beats walking for feeling good afterward. Not sure why but it probably has to do with working up a good sweat.

And hey, now I can say I ran across an entire country in one go. Cuz the Isle of Man is technically a country unto itself.