Leap Day

Thanks to 30 Rock, we learned that "real life is for March," which meant we had to find a way to honor the superfluous 24 hours we were given.  The day turned out to be one of the worst of the year.  Temps in the low to mid 40s throughout most of the day, under torrential downpour.  It seemed to be let up in the evening in time for our Leap Day 4k on the track, but no sooner had we been lulled into a false sense of security, it began pouring again.

There were over 20 of us on the track, fearless warriors, running 4000m around the track.  As we passed the 500m mark, some of the most fierce lightning bolts illuminated the sky in hues of pink and purple.  The smart move would have been to call it, and head for safety, but we are anything but smart.  The rain continued, the lightning blasted all around, and 10 laps later, we had the first ever Leap Day 4k in the books.

February ended up being the most mild February I can recall.  And while it's still a short month, the extra day enabled me to eclipse a pretty cool milestone for myself - 103,000 meters in the water.  The crazy thing is that most of that came in two weeks, when I was over 30k for each week.  I've had some of the best swims of my life, and feel better than I ever have in the pool.  I did a 75x100 workout, and then the 100x100 one a week later.  I've swam over 7k (two swims) a couple of times, and this week it all came together.

Didn't swim Sunday or Monday, and Saturday was light, so by Tuesday, I was feeling pretty good.  During the warmup, I could tell I was on one, so the main set of 30x100 on 1:40 was very comfortable.  I started swimming quicker as the swim went on, so the last 6 I tackled on 1:35.  Then I swam 2x200 and swam the fastest I've ever gone for 200 in that pool - 2:55 and 2:56.  The effort wasn't quite all out, but it was hard.  I wonder how many I could have done on 1:40...

Woke up on Leap Day and was not pumped to get in the pool a mere 10 hours after that swim.  It was tough, and I didn't expect a great swim.  For some reason, I really struggle with Alyssa's 200 workouts.  Normally they're done on a Tuesday morning, which means the first swim after at least a 36 hour layoff, and I get shelled.  This wasn't going to be any kinder, 10 hours after a 4500m night when I was so "on" - but I was going to give it my best shot.

12x200, groups of 3, working down on intervals.  The first couple made me think I wasn't going to make the easy ones, so there was no way I would make the hard ones.  But I summoned my courage and got it done.  And after 3700m, that put me at an even 103km for the month.  My previous high month came in July 2010 when I swam 101km.  So this was pretty cool.  Meaningless, but cool.

With the 9 miles at the track last night, I finished up with 175 miles for the month.  A little more than I did in January, but I'm feeling so-so about it.  I need to get my running back on track, that's for sure. 

I won't even mention my miles on the bike for February, as it's shorter than a Rocks ride.

But, February is now behind, Leap Day proved that nothing is impossible, and real life can resume.