My Band

Time is a weird concept. 

The sun rises, the sun sets.  We wake up, we go to sleep.  Time keeps on ticking, ticking, ticking.  Into the future.  I think I tend to notice time more following a bigger race.  For instance, 10 days ago I ran a marathon.  It feels like a lifetime has passed since then.  In the days following the marathon, I didn't run, I didn't ride my bike.  I took Sunday and Monday completely off, and then tried to get in the pool on Tuesday.  I felt terrible.  I actually got out of the pool after getting through just 1000m, something I hadn't done in a long time.  Wednesday I was able to swim a little more, 3000m.  I finally ran again on Thursday, an easy 6 miles with Kris.  It did not feel good.  Mostly it was just muscle soreness and tight hamstring/piriformis, but I was surprised at how beat up I was.

The weekend weather forecast looked less-than-stellar, which was good, because I committed to spending an inordinate amount of time in the pool.  Alyssa had 4 swims scheduled between Friday and Sunday, and, due to a tired Thursday morning, Coach Hill said "just do Thursday's workout on Saturday morning, and Saturday's workout in the afternoon."  The swims looked like this:

Fri: 3000m/2500m
Sat: 3100m/4700m
Sun: 3700m

17,000 meters in three days across five swims.  I swam 15,000 meters ALL of last January.  Alyssa's workouts are very specific, while for me, as long as I'm in the pool, physically touching the water, I think that's good enough.  She tends to have a lot of pulling, and a lot of work with the band.  I don't like to do either of these things.  Actually, I will rephrase.  I like pulling, but I've always been of the "keep it to less than a third of your total swim volume."  The Saturday afternoon swim called for 500-1000-1500 main set with paddles, pull buoy, band (PBB).  I PBB'd the 500 and 1500, but just swam the 1000. 

Perhaps most notable was how I felt better on Friday and Saturday afternoon than their respective morning counterpart.  And, even more surprising, was how awesome I felt on Sunday.  To quote Drake, I was "on one."  Too bad that many, many hundreds of meters were with the dreaded Band.  In fairness, it was a lot easier since I didn't do anything other than swim all weekend, but still, it was a lot for me. 

Needless to say, my body was pretty displeased with me on Monday.  I convinced myself to run again, and ended up muddling through 70 minutes just barely under 7:30 pace.  I kept thinking, "you better check yourself, before you wreck yourself."  And, when this morning's 6am swim came 'round, it was another exercise in futility.  Not only did I get smoked by Alyssa, I barely made our pretty generous time interval on our 10x200 main set.  I then decided to lift and stretch a bit.  I now have a new 2012 goal:

BE ABLE TO TOUCH MY TOES

Seriously, when did I become this inflexible?  Once upon a time I did actually go to yoga class on Wednesdays at the gym, and wasn't this bad.  After the meager lift/stretch session, I was feeling plucky and thought man, I should ball.  You know, pick up the rock and hoop it up.  15 shots and one made basket later, I was walking back into the locker room after jamming my thumb hard enough to make it bleed.  Playing basketball.  By myself.

With a light workout load over the weekend, I took the opportunity to engage in some fun activities:

1. Went to the Baltimore Comedy Factory (www.baltimorecomedy.com) to see one of my favorite comics, Iliza Schlesinger.  She won the last Last Comic Standing season, and until now had never had the opportunity to see her live.  It was hilarious, and a great start to the weekend. 

2. Went to the University of Maryland Indoor Invite on Saturday to watch some of my TWSS teammates run, and ran into some familiar faces along the way.  The "Save UMD XC and Track" campaign is still alive, but with $4.2 million to raise by July 1, it's still a big task.

3. Went to see The Artist with Alyssa on Saturday night.  When I heard about this black and white, silent film a few months ago, I was really excited.  This 90 minute journey back to a better time of film making was well worth the trip to Arundel Mills on a Saturday night (I hate going there).  Jean Dujardin was incredible, and was nominated this morning for Best Actor, and Berenice Bejo was an absolute star (she's nominated for Best Actress in a Supporting Role).  The film is up for Best Picture, and the screenplay got a nod for Best Original Screenplay.  If you have the opportunity to see this, do it!

This week it's all about college hoops, as I am going to the Maryland vs Duke game on Wednesday (thanks to Larry!) and then Seton Hall vs Pitt on Saturday in NJ with my dad.  Remember to keep the balance!