30-30-30

So, I was bound and determined to get a 30-30-30 in - finally - on Wednesday. I took my Magic Pants to work, the sleeve, a Stinger (from Beth's collection), goggles, and shoes and - even though I was supposed to meet Joe for Wednesday Night Baseball, after the swim the previous night, I knew I was just going to do it.

I drove from work directly to the gym, got there at the top of the hour, changed, stretched lightly, and headed to the pool. Hardly anyone was around, so I got my pick of lanes. I stretched a little more, dipped my hand into the water, and then ... started. I dove in and had a few good dolphin kicks, resurfaced, and started nice and slow. One length down then two. My legs felt tired from last night's swim, but soon enough the cobwebs were kicked loose and I was going. Three and four and five and I barely felt winded. Six came, and I flipped over onto my back for a length of backstroke at seven. That done, my shoulders were sore from last night, too - so I flipped back into a crawl for #8, #9, and #10.

I was tired, and thought about flipping into a crawl. But no. Technically, #11 would be my final length come race day, and I wasn't going to end on back stroke. So I kept going. The dolphin kicks on the turns were going pretty well, too, and I was proud of that. So #11 came and went and I headed into the last length. The twelfth was strong. I didn't want to blow it out and die in the middle of my last event, but I was good to go. I put my head down, and switched to 4s, which made me go a little faster to get to the breath at the end. And then I was done.

I bobbed in the pool for a couple of seconds, a little dazed, and then told my self - you prolly can't do this on Sunday. So I climbed the ladder, got out, and made my way into the locker room. Twenty minutes to change and do the swim.

The great thing about the tri shorts is ... no changing. I toweled off and got mostly dry, and put on my shirt, pulled on my socks and shoes and then ... realized two things. One, I had forgotten to put my calf sleeve on, and two, I had forgotten my iPhone with the C25k app. I took off my shoe and pulled the sleeve on, and figured - I had already wasted enough time in this transition, I would run out to the car after the bike and grab my Android.

I grabbed the Stinger, jammed it in a pocket, went up to the video bike, adjusted it, and hopped on. I wanted a better, more life-like workout than the other night, so I chose "Race Day" and cued it up for 35 minutes, and started. I knew it was going to be a little different when the program exhorted me to go up to heavy resistance. I ignored it. Not ready yet. I got into a groove pretty quickly, waited before getting into a standing climb, and then started to follow the program a bit better - standing climbs, jacking up the resistance, etc. By about halfway through, I could feel my legs getting tired. So I pulled out the Stinger, ripped the top open, and gulped about half of it down.

It was interesting. Definitely honey - but something else kinda malty, too. And maybe it was because it had been in the car all day, but it was pretty liquidy, too. The gulp was more of a gush, really. I sucked the rest of the Stinger out, and kept going to make sure I had all of it that I could get, before stuffing it back into my pocket.

Maybe it was psychosomatic, but I felt like I could feel the lift after a minute or so. My legs weren't as tired anymore and things got easier. I was a little disappointed, though, that it didn't last longer. By the time the ride was almost done, I could feel my legs getting tired again, and I started thinking - how am I ever going to do this run? Maybe I need a second Stinger.

I got done with the bike, and then briskly walked out to the car, grabbed my phone, and realized - I had deleted the C25k app because it was so sucky. Fumbled through the process of re-downloading, and realized my calf was starting to get tight. Stretched it out a little, cued up the right week, and was relieved that it was 10 minutes of running, 3 of walking, and 10 running. So I started off on my warm-up, mostly to make sure that leg was good and loose. After about three minutes I thought - screw it, let's just finish this thing up. And started my jog.

I've never been so happy that I was only going 5mph. I think during the run I bumped it up some, but by the end - back down at 5mph. And you know, as I said earlier - I want to so be at 6mph. But maybe 5mph isn't so bad. That's 12 minute miles, and if I do that - especially after the swimming and biking - coming in somewhere over 36 minutes isn't too bad ... is it?

My calf did start to tighten up, but the sleeve kept it in pretty good control. It was a struggle the last few minutes, but not like the other times I ran. I was tired, and I felt it, but I didn't need to call on any inspiration to get through it, like that twenty minute run last week. All in all, it was a great feeling of accomplishment. So I celebrated by going to Fieldhouse and having a couple of beers and watching baseball games that I didn't really care about.

Beth is away this weekend, and I have a Ghost Tour and work Mobtown - but I'm hoping a I get to do this again before the 7th....