Ran 16 today with Dan England (thanks, Dan!) and I'm seriously paying for it now. It was a great run on a new course that I liked a lot. I ran from my house to WOW, which is 4 miles, and then Dan had a 12-mile course he took me on so it worked out great. But I was hurting quite a bit at the end.
Not sure if it's becaue I did the Spinerval's tape on Thursday or, well, because I'm 48 and training for an Ironman. I don't think 48 is old, at least in my book, but I'm no spring chicken either.
Either way, the last few miles were torture. My legs were just sore and tired. It reminded of the last few miles of a marathon. Which, I guess, is good since that means I ran through the same pain I might feel at the Ironman.
Need to write about yesterday because it truly was a milestone for me. I needed to get a good long swim in and instead of going to the pool at 6:00 AM, I made the decision to go to the lake after class and do an open-water swim. Only problem is, I would have to swim alone. Hmmm....
One of the cardinal rules of triathlon-training is to never swim alone in a lake. But I have been swimming pretty well and I felt pretty confident so I decided to go for it.
I got to the lake and things looked good - calm water, warm sun, golfers nearby. I got in the water and swam for a solid 20 mins before stopping (I think I was afraid to stop because I might chicken out). I finally stopped and looked around. No Loch Ness Monsters, no speed boats, no crashing waves. I was FINE.
I kept swimming but I noticed I felt funny swimming out in the middle of this lake by myself. On any other day I would've been fine but for some reason on this day, I had been feeling kind of lonely anyway so I decided to cut the swim short. I swam around the island and headed back.
Halfway back I decided to lengthen the swim and went back out, then changed my mind and headed back again. I got back to the dock and hoisted my body onto the dock (which always makes me feel like a walrus) and sat on the dock for a long time.
It was very quiet and all I could hear was the water slapping up against the dock. Beautiful day. I had only swam for 30 mins and needed to do more but just didn't have the guts to get back in. And for some reason, I felt myself putting my goggles back on and splash, I was back in.
I swam back out to the island and did a little circle and came back. Not bad for a newby lake-swimmer!
I didn't get as long of a swim as I would have if others were with me but I was glad I tried it. Maybe I can finally call myself a swimmer after all.
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