Progress? Really?

If tonight's plan unfolds as planned, we'll find out tonight. (That's almost a tongue twister, or a very simple yet profound quote from someone ancient and/or famous.) Anyway, I believe I began to finally make some progress in the pool Sunday. It was my third visit back to the water and as I was wrapping up my mile I fell into a slow but comfortable pace that I was able to maintain for quite a few laps. I was still pausing for a few seconds to de-fog my goggles, but I didn't need to switch to the breaststroke to catch my breath. The funny thing was that being out of breath wasn't the problem. I was breathing TOO MUCH. I guess I was hyperventilating trying to take too much air in on each breath. What I ended up doing was concentrating on expelling the air I already had and just taking little "puffs" of breath every two strokes. I know I should be working at breathing every three strokes, but I'm just going to go with whatever works. I've done 2.75 miles on three visits and would like to get another mile in tonight.

Speed work last night was fun. Kind of. Frank and I were running with Patrick and one of his friends from school. Both good runners. Both fast runners. Both young runners. After a nice long warm-up we did 4 X 200 meter relays. It was all I could do not to get left in the dust. I'm just not a sprinter anymore. Give me some 800s any day over 200s. Yuck! And it was just too cold to be pushing that hard. I was having trouble breathing and my hamstring was bothering me afterward. Just too cold. We did eventually move onto some 800s. I held back a bit from what I did last week. Frank and I averaged around 3:24 or so for 3. It was mildly unpleasant weather to run in. We had tiny little snowflakes or pellets that stung when they hit you in the eyes. There was a wind that made the 28 degrees feel a little bit chillier. With a nice cool-down I had 6.75 miles in for the evening.

I've been trying to get on the bike as much as possible lately. I managed to get in 10 miles this morning in 40 minutes. Is there a secret to riding a bike on a stationary trainer? It's so boring. And it hurts. The lactic acid builds up so quickly for me. I'm just glad that when I get out on the road it's so much easier to ride than it is indoors. Give me hills. Give me a headwind. Just let me outside!

But inside is what I've got for the next few months. And it's what I'm using to burn off all the additional Holiday calories I've been consuming lately. The cookies. The fudge. The truffles. Not to mention sampling Christmas/Winter/Holiday beers from an assortment of brewers. Great Lakes Christmas Ale is by far the best. Sam Adams Winter Lager isn't doing much for me this year. Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale is good, but be sure to pour it into a glass. It's bottle conditioned, leaving a layer of yeast on the bottom. I still have some Sam Adams Cranberry Lambics to get into as well as an Old Fezziwig. (I don't want to "get into" old Fezziwig. I don't swing that way. Not that there's anything wrong with that. It's another Sam Adams brew named after the character from A Christmas Carol.)

All for now. Be on the lookout for a 2008 season re-cap, my take on this year's Ironman Triathlon World Championships, as well as the usual training updates.