Hit the pool this morning! Rock on for actually getting out of bed when the alarm strikes.
1700 yards – 200 warmup, 1000 crawl, 250 bilateral breathing, 50 backstroke, 100 crawl, 100 cooldown. No busted heels.
Yesterday’s ride still has me pumped. Shaving time off of Friday’s time was a boost to the ego, and there were a couple of times when the bike was really singing. Watching cycling on TV has kind of changed my riding style. I used to ride much like I drove; coasting into corners and avoiding use of the brakes as much as possible. Now (traffic permitting), I’m riding a lot more aggressively. If I can see that the corner’s clear, I’ll accelerate into the corner, break as I enter the turn, and then hammer as I come out. All the while with Bob Roll in my head saying “What Billy needs to do now is to ride that thing like he’s stole it to see if he can hold off the sprinter’s trains…”
A further two observations from yesterday’s ride:
– I need to raise my seat about a half inch. Why? ‘Cause there’s a half inch of cushion missing off my rump.
– Cycling does use a totally different set of leg muscles than running.
I’m re-evaluating my interm training plan from now until I kick off serious marathon training, and thinking that I’m probably better off just concentrating on getting in a good 40-60 minutes in every weekday, a long ride/run on Saturday, and rest and yard work on Sunday. My goal at this point still needs to be losing the remaining 15-20 lbs that I need to shed to get into true “fighting” weight, with the secondary goal of making fitness as crucial a part of my personal life as checking e-mail. So expect a lot more riding in the near term – why? ‘Cause it makes me happy…