First tough workout after a break

Wednesday I took totally off, Thursday I did 25 minutes of "flopping" in the pool, and Friday I did just under 20 minutes of very slow running on the grass around the perimeter of the park across the street from my apartment. So, I was well rested for today's workout. With all the free time, I was able to do a bit of leisure reading. Here's an interesting article about Svein Tuft, a professional cyclist with an interesting background.



First up today was 1:15 swimming, with the main set being one hour straight. The pool was a bit too warm, but otherwise the swim went well. I went a bit slower than I race speed, but it was still a tough effort by the end. Without the adrenalin, focus, and distractions of a race, it's tough to keep the speed up. I'm continuing to work on the high-elbowed catch, but that is going to take a while to get down.

Next up was 1:45 of running. Stacey and I headed to Maybury State Park for the scenery and varied terrain. It snowed about 4 inches last night and, following last week's thaw and subsequent below freezing temperatures, the result was 4 inches of light snow on top of a sheet of ice. Virtually the entire park was covered with ice! We could have literally skated through the park. After 15 minutes or so, we decided it was too dangerous in the park and decided to head out to the surrounding roads. By the time we made it out, Stacey fell five (5!) times and I fell once and caught myself from falling with my hands twice. Luckily, the snow on top of the ice dampened the falls' impacts. (On a side note, what's up with the bad balance, Stacey? Too much water in your ears from swimming affecting your equilibrium?)

Once we got out of the park, I could get into a better rhythm and didn't have to worry as much about traction. I ended up averaging 134 bpm, but was moving alright when on decent surfaces.

After posting this, I'll hop on the trainer for 15 minutes of recovery spinning.