ants in my pants

A. brought my bike up from central nj so i was all fired up to bike when i was told i needed to go to a meeting at 7 a.m. in midtown. !$%&^%*#*! i have about 2.5 hours until i can get on the bike and am so restless! at least i avoided dragging along the doorman whom i biked with last time and ended up doing push-ups while waiting for him to catch up. i'm trying my best to stay motivated to work out b/c usually by noon if i don't do it, i won't do it (best to work out at 4 or 5 a.m. when you're still sleeping!)

btw shoutout to my bro muel (samuel) for commenting.. you are so cute! thanks for being supportive!

i don't remember much of yesterday's workout b/c i hadn't gotten much sleep the night before and threw myself off the bed and onto the treadmill. i started running but had to take a bathroom break and when i got back on the treadmill, was so tired of it that i went outside to finish the tempo run which was unsurprisingly slower. i think from now until A and i start fink's training plan, i'll do 1 tempo run on the treadmill to push myself and 1 outside to know how it feels to run faster on my own will. reading beth's blog about her run during the nyc tri was really inspiring.

then onto columbia swim. i think i'm growing up, i'm starting to embrace the challenge a bit more of swimming in an environment where it is not necessarily "fun" and just a lot of work to keep mentally cool. i'm pretty quiet during these swims which can be a little awkward in the communal shower and afterwards, and people aren't the friendliest to me..it must be my intimidating and aggressive demeanor.

the swim in general was fine, and i appreciated getting a little bit of one-on-one time with the wednesday coach, jim, whom i think is amused that i have started doing triathlons. my assignment for this weekend is to swim at least 1000m in a row staring at the line at the bottom of the pool and focus more on moving forward rather than fishtailing. sounds exciting, right, maija??

so tonight i'll work on trying to pedal faster and then run a bit afterwards. i'm most excited about trying out the china gel that i picked up from the yoga store that maggs recommended. really, putting on icy hot or something like it is the best part of the workout!

and it seems like the supposed hardcore hiking trip in england is going to be a few days of walking! 10 days w/o swimming/biking and i'm imagining my muscles atrophying. so i guess i'll pack a jump rope and sneak out for some runs or something while the others are sleeping and/or drinking. maybe pack a few bricks in my backpack..

----a few hours later---
all but the last 2 minutes of biking was fun today. i focused on going for at least 70 rpm's and found out a few things:
- i have a hard time counting up to 14-- i usually go "9, 10, 11, 14... crap!"
-my legs were confused b/c it felt like i was using different muscles but i'm sure i'll get used to it
-you switch gears a lot when you focus on higher rpm's (i'm sure the aquaholics are reading this and rolling their eyes.. "that's what i've been telling you!")

it felt a little reckless b/c i was focusing more on watching the cateye and counting than paying more attention to the road. hence, last two minutes, when i was turning left, i saw a groove in the road and thought, "hey i'm going to get stuck in it." then i remember flying sideways off my bike for a split second and landing on my left hip. ouch! a few people got out of their cars to ask if i was ok, and i didn't say anything but stared at the blood on my hands and on my shirt. (good thing it's A's shirt). i was bleeding from my right hand, left knee, left elbow and left hip. my first thought was, am i going to run after this? HECK YES! albeit slowly..b/c i didn't want to not run during a race if i fell off my bike. i must admit i was feeling quite foolish picking up my bike and going ever-so-gingerly back to my place. a few doormen at my building looked at me like i was an idiot when they helped me put my bike away and i put on my running shoes, but i was pleasantly surprised to find that my legs were pretty loose and relaxed. so long as i kept moving, i didn't quite feel the stinging. taking a shower and cleaning myself up later, however, was a different story.

i must have the most scarred legs out of everyone my age that i know. a few scars from falling off a mountain in tibet, one from the caribbean, one from when i was 10 and biked into a mailbox (such a promising future i had back then, huh?), a few bruises from last week's race and now these. good thing scars are hot!