swimming in molasses

track workouts! i am so jealous, although if i were to do one, i'd probably hate it too.

my bbbbbbf and wife (sorry, A, but the news has been on facebook!) mel is coming to visit from hong kong and i can't wait to see her!

jet lag and the urge to pee woke up me up at 3:30 a.m. (around the time A wakes up normally) but i lay in bed until 4 trying to get back to sleep. i waited impatiently for the sun to come up so i could go biking so i putzed around my place cleaning up. then when i went to pump up my rear wheel (which, incidentally, i had brought to EMS to get the inner tube changed for a reason that i can't remember) i amazingly and instantly deflated the tire and felt like a royal idiot b/c i couldn't figure out how to pump it. i was so annoyed..what an anticlimax! i thought about calling A but it was 5:51 and he would be on the track. i even hauled my lame bike to the doorman and asked him to give it a try, still unsuccessful. doorman laughed at me and said, "well, i guess you have to run." i guess so. btw the doormen (yes, all men) in my building are the best support team. they hold my keys and if i come back "too early" they tease me for not running long enough.

original plan was to bike for 1 or 1.5 hours and then run longer than i usually do for a brick to get ready for the half, then bike to the pool for a lesson. i ended up running for 2:09 but i went at my regular 1:30 pace for most of it. it was so wonderfully refreshing to be back in the park, and the weather was perfect, i felt like i was absorbing it. there are a couple of long hills so i repeated them just for the heck of it, and on my way down a hill for the second time, i ran into Old Guy #3 (there are 3 old guys i bump into at the park, #1 walks #2's dog and meets #2 halfway, and i have raced #3 up a hill a couple times and he has always kicked my butt) so we raced up the hill but i guess he was too tired today.

then off to columbia for a lesson that i had scheduled b/c i was anxious about losing form after not swimming for 10 days. when i got into the water to do a 50, i was like OMG i'm swimming! b/c i think i had half-expected to sink like a rock. abby, an assistant coach for the masters class, teaches kids so i really liked her analogies. it is funny though, whenever swim coaches imitate how your stroke should be with the rotation and all, i really don't get it. she gave me some really good tips but i find myself swimming surprisingly smoothly but incredibly slowly with a lot of effort.. here we go again!

i am so excited to be back in action! this probably sounds funny but it feels good to have semi-sore muscles again, and when maija said sunday's swim would be a hard swim i got all excited. in london i had done a slow 1:00, slow 1:30 and slightly faster 1:35 the last 3 days of the trip just to check if my ankles could take it. still a little sore but i think it is just something to add to list of Right Leg Pains, which include the sciatica if i run longer than an hour and the knee that feels like it is tearing if i take large strides. i actually tore something in my knee in college trying to learn how to breakdance which is only slightly embarrassing...