half-mary minus 3 months

Back when I thought RUNNING 13 miles might be the hardest thing I had to do this year ....

The week in review -
Monday - spin and yoga. I brought my bike shoes to spin class for the second time. The first time I was never able to clip in. I've never seen anyone in the morning class use them, but I hear they do in the afternoon. At any rate, I only got one foot clipped in. I think maybe the clips are too tight on the pedals and they rarely get used. I really would like to spin in my shoes and work on the circular pedaling.

Tuesday - Yet Another Demoralizing Attempt at Open Swim. They are drawing down the lake at SMP. So it was fairly nasty, rather warm and all-around unpleasant. There was enough of a breeze to kick up as much 'current' as I've seen there. Sucks to only breathe on one side as I got a nice mouthful each time going in one direction.

I talked to a guy who's doing his first Tri Sunday in Lawrence. He had just learned to swim in January! When I saw him, he had the same "what the hell am I doing here" look on his face that I generally have there. However, he had already done two laps of the course. I figured he'd be good to go after getting the monkey off his back with the first trip. But he was still a little freaked. We didn't exchange names but I hope he has a great race Sunday.

I followed my sorry swim attempt with an hour on the MTB trails at SMP. It was fun, though I haven't been on dirt in awhile so hard to get in the groove. Plus I had to go back to the car to swap out my lenses ... the whole reason I bought those sunglasses was the changeable lenses.

Wednesday - I was feeling completely beat up so I skipped spinning and really didn't feel bad about it. I guess maybe I either swim more than I think at SMP or just moving through the open water takes more out of me. I did have a nice hard run at night ... 37 minutes to Loose Park and back. Not bad given the heat, humidity and the fact that I had not hydrated too well all day.

Today: A good four laps around the SMP roads. 18 miles at 16 mph. First two laps were 16.3. I hope it's as hilly as I think it is because climbing up past the dam is a killer on my lungs.

Then I inhaled four slices of Papa Keno's veggie pizza.