Popeye
It seems age has made a presence in my life in 2010. It was only 30 days ago that my body and mind were humming along with little to no issues. Then as fast as the year changed from a single digit year of “09” to a double digit of “10” my body and mind modulated along with the next year.
Injuries are creeping up where they have not surfaced in the past. My sciatica has reared its debilitating sting between L4 & L5 causing a chronic pain that is more severe than in years past. The mind is not as sharp over the last 30 days as if a sheer sheet is covering over my head. My focus on work, home and training is foggy causing me to have to concentrate more than the years past to maintain who I am.
The concentration effort is extreme in order for me hold on to my levels from the past which exhausting and is causes early “turn in” at night to rejuvenate.
All of this maybe attributed to a new regiment of a counteragent I am taking, but I have two more weeks until I go to the medico for another round of prognosis.
In the meantime, I must not struggle with trying to be who I was but who I am, which is all I can be.
The alarm sounded at 4:50AM. The extra 5 minutes I was getting was wasted by looking at the clock every minute, so I am trying an experiment. I have set the alarm 5 minutes earlier to see if the alarm wakes me up instead of my internal clock snapping me out of a slumber. Therefore, the bellowing of the classic hits on channel 97.1 have been my only alarm over the last 2 days.
The routine was mundane this Tuesday morning. I am not complaining at all about the repetitiveness of the early morning hours. I find if the morning is “status quo” then I do not forget anything as I am leaving. However, if one-step is out of place, I tend to forget an item like my lunch, coffee, computer or water bottle. It never fails...
I arrived at LTF at 5:10AM and saw that Susan L, Chris and Jay were already on the pool deck. After the change into the suit in the locker room and returning to the deck, more swimmers started to congregate. It looked like we were going to have a full house today. It turned out that every lane had 5-6 swimmers ready to take on the workouts. Lane 5 was filling five swimmers by the time I approached. This meant I was swimming with the barracuda’s this morning. Michelle had been swimming when we arrived and I knew Susan L. was to join in this lane as well. The rest followed; Jerry, Seth and Calvin. Six in Lane 4 today. The workout in distance was a bear, but now with the presence of the fastest swimmers that I know in a LSU collegiate and Olympic swimmer along with the sharks in Jerry, Calvin and Seth behind me compounded the toughness of the current workout.
With the swimmers in Lane 4 I knew I would position myself behind Michelle and Susan with the 3 other guys trailing me. This way I would have the advantage of pacing off the barracuda’s and keeping Jerry, Seth and Calvin about a half a pool length behind.
Coach Mike’s Workout was:
200M Warm up
2 X 100M I.M.
150M Kick no fins
200M Drills
2 X (4 X 300M) @5:25
First 50M all out then 250M at Olympic Tri Distance Pace
50 Recovery after first set of 300's.
200M Kick with fins, no board
8 X 50 all out. 15 second rest on the wall
150M Kick with fins & board
100M Cool Down
The 300M repeats were challenging. The barracuda’s were sporadic in their intervals fast then faster…while I maintained each 300M at about 4:25. This sporadic behavior is common in the “true swimmers” of the group. It is not negative characteristic of Susan or Michelle that I would never say is bad about these two people I call friends. The competitive juices run in their veins from years of competition. There is a constant battle of the “big fish” in the lane. When you add Carmen to this lane the competitive tone in the pool is at an all time high, which signals me to move to a more reasonable lane. I am who I am and I am not one who belongs in the same category of these outstanding swimmers. These three women are strong and the rest of us mere mortals have learned a great deal from watching and swimming with them.
The workout ended and the hot tub filled up with the swimmers. Looking at the faces of most of the A & B swimmers that the workout we just completed was a tough one. We shot the stuff, set up tomorrow’s track session at AHS and talked to Coach Mike. Mike asked me what races I have set up this year and I said, Boston. “What else?” was his next response. I said, “nothing.” “No Tri’s?” he questioned. “Nope” I finished with. Mike could not believe that I was not planning any triathlons this year. I said, cycling maybe in my future, but the tri’s, no love lost.
This piece of me potential was left on the Augusta course and triathlons may not be my thing anymore. I enjoy the swim and the run and used to enjoy cycling, but all three? I do not know if that is who I am anymore.
However, it is only January. I have enough to focus on and do not have to worry about all that is going to happen in 2010. For now, I need to who I am and that is all I can be. Besides, this is Sarah’s year. Completing a Boston Qualifier and taking on a Half Ironman. Being a spectator, is that so bad?
Awesome Day!!
ReplyDeleteBeing a Spectator is horrid for folks like us. I know you not to be a mere spectator but more of an Encourager which is so much more than a spectator, and that my friend is an awesome position to take on. Thanks for sharing the lane this morning.