Perfect Day

Today was the perfect fall day in New York, the kind of day that really makes you want to run. I have a long run scheduled for tomorrow so today's had to be kept short. I was kicking myself a bit for my planning, but I'm sure this won't be the last opportunity for ideal running weather. I still have many miles to put in before the marathon, which is 42 days away.

I finally got some sleep last night after an exhausting week. I slept as late as possible, but still had to get up early enough to make it to the pool. I did a one-armed mile (1800 yards) broken into three sets. I started with 450 yards to get warmed up and find my rhythm. The first 200 or so is always the hardest. My heart pounds, I have a hard time breathing and it takes a few laps to settle into a somewhat smooth stroke. I rested about 1.5 minutes after the 450 and then did another much more comfortably. I was running a little tight on time so I rested for 1 minute and did the final 900 continuous. Given the severe limitations, I'm really happy with what I'm able to do. After the prognosis of no real swimming for at least another 2-4 weeks, I'm going to just keep doing what I'm doing. After my left arm heals I may need to do one-armed drills on that side to balance everything back out. I think I'll need to work with my coach again to assess the damage I've done as well.

After finishing the swim, I headed out for a quick run to prepare my legs for tomorrow's long run. I'm planning 15 miles and will be running it around a 1 mile race. I'll run to the race as a warm-up, do the race, then finish the run after. I did just over 4 miles today and it was another good one. I keep waiting for something to go wrong, but it keeps going well. Increasing my mileage will be the test so I don't want to get too comfortable just yet.

My ITB has been acting up a bit so I went straight to the gym after my run to work on my legs. I'm going to need to get back to doing this a few days a week during my final training. When I was in PT for this injury, I had to do the strength routine every day. Since it's been under control for awhile, I think a few days a week will do.

I spent the rest of my day shopping, something I used to love to do, but now I'd rather spend the time training. But it was necessary. With fall weather arriving, I desperately needed to buy jeans. Shopping for jeans ranks about as highly as shopping for swim suits and generally isn't very fun. But today it was. I was able to buy jeans 4 sizes smaller than I wore this winter, all thanks to my training over the past few months. I feel better than ever before and it's great motivation to get through this recovery and keep it up.

Swimming
Distance - 1800 yards
Time - 41:42

Running
Distance - 4.29
Time - 36:52