Last Big Day in the Pool

I signed up for another 5K this afternoon. It's the On the Waterfront 5K which takes place August 30th (the Saturday after my triathlon). On the Waterfront is a 3-day festival over Labor Day weekend with music and food and events. One such event is the 5K.

Three good things about this race:
1) It's run on the river-side bike path where I do most of my training. Nothing says "advantage" like knowing the course by heart.
2) The amount of people. Last year, they had over 250 participants (many of whom walked). This means I won't get lost or come in last place.
3) Every runner gets a free 3-day pass to the festival. Woohoo. (Too bad I have to work all that weekend!)

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The nice thing about doing all of this training for the first time is that I have so many personal records. And since my strength and endurance is slowly climbing, it gets easier and easier to surpass these records and set new milestones.

Today I went to the Y and ran 1.3 miles in 14 1/2 minutes on the treadmill. The reason its so slow is because I usually have trouble running on treadmills. I have a tendency to walk a lot, even though it's not hard. So I allowed myself to go slow today just so I would run the entire time.

Why did I stop running after 1.3 miles (a random distance) and 14 1/2 minutes (a very random time)? I couldn't tell you. But if I had to guess, I think it was boredom. There was nothing good on TV and I was just so "over" it.

After that, I went swimming. I started out doing my 350 meter minimum (7 1/2 laps -- race distance). I usually stop after that, take a break, and evaluate what to do next. But once I got to my 7th lap, I realized that I wasn't even tired and my arms felt great.

So I kept going. I ended up trampling my old record for longest distance swam without stopping. I swam an entire HALF MILE without stopping. Ooooo. When you say it like that, it sounds SO far. It came out to 800 meters / 16 laps. It took me 15 minutes.

This was a great swim for me because the pool closes for maintenance on Monday, so I won't be able to get back in there until 3 days before my race. I'm only 2 weeks into my Hundred Push Ups Challenge, but I think it's helping. My arms went twice as far as they are used to without getting tired. Go arms!

I don't want to toot my own horn, but I think I'm on my way to becoming the next Michael Phelps (who, last night I called RYAN Phelps, and this morning I watched win the 400m IM).





Alright, alright... so first I would need a sex change. Second, I would need to work on my level of awesome.

... The latter is on my To Do list.