A Falafal Mess
I went to the pool this evening to do my first swim test in quite a while. The goal was to do 5 x 100 all out and see what kind of times I could put down with minimal training. I made the unfortunate decision earlier in the day to dine at the local Mediterranean style restaurant near campus and indulged in hummus and falafel. Later in the day I stopped in at an open house in the bldg where I work and had a piece of pepperoni pizza and some chocolate treats so by the end of the day there was quite a chum of food mixing in my stomach.
Given my "no excuses" frame of mind I drug myself to the pool and got in even though Bill had to bail on me to do a mock interview with his career counselor. As I warmed up I felt my quads and calves burning from the previous day's run, I believe that yesterday I was all happy with that feeling but today it just hurt. It took about 1000 yards to shake off the soreness so before I bonked I started in on the 100s. The goal was to swim the last 100 faster than the first so I took it out at a moderate pace. Coming back to the wall I was disappointed to see 1:32 had passed. That was kind of slow. I decided to focus on body rotation for the next 100 and came in at 1:34 and realized I wasn't getting any faster. After the 3rd 100 my stomach started barking and I just finished the next 100 at the same pace since there would be no afterburners today. I did force myself to kick harder (imagining my feet as flippers) on the last 100 and came in again at 1:32 so victory was not mine.
The swim is my nemesis but I still love it. Next week... I'm laying down some faster times and there will be no falafel on the menu. I forgot how I used to eat bland oatmeal all the time when training hard. I want to improve my 500 free time and this is where I'm starting.
I had a great work day, we toured a facility where they are doing a bunch of collaborative research with nanotechnology and microreactors. The research is done with faculty from various Oregon universities and local businesses and is funded by state lottery money. Smart people are cool, most of what they said was over my head but it was incredibly inspiring to see the amazing things they are doing. One Oregon business is using the technology to make portable kidney dialysis units and they are really close to launching. This is great news for Bill's mom who spends a lot of time in dialysis facilities now. I hope this works for people like her soon!
Given my "no excuses" frame of mind I drug myself to the pool and got in even though Bill had to bail on me to do a mock interview with his career counselor. As I warmed up I felt my quads and calves burning from the previous day's run, I believe that yesterday I was all happy with that feeling but today it just hurt. It took about 1000 yards to shake off the soreness so before I bonked I started in on the 100s. The goal was to swim the last 100 faster than the first so I took it out at a moderate pace. Coming back to the wall I was disappointed to see 1:32 had passed. That was kind of slow. I decided to focus on body rotation for the next 100 and came in at 1:34 and realized I wasn't getting any faster. After the 3rd 100 my stomach started barking and I just finished the next 100 at the same pace since there would be no afterburners today. I did force myself to kick harder (imagining my feet as flippers) on the last 100 and came in again at 1:32 so victory was not mine.
The swim is my nemesis but I still love it. Next week... I'm laying down some faster times and there will be no falafel on the menu. I forgot how I used to eat bland oatmeal all the time when training hard. I want to improve my 500 free time and this is where I'm starting.
I had a great work day, we toured a facility where they are doing a bunch of collaborative research with nanotechnology and microreactors. The research is done with faculty from various Oregon universities and local businesses and is funded by state lottery money. Smart people are cool, most of what they said was over my head but it was incredibly inspiring to see the amazing things they are doing. One Oregon business is using the technology to make portable kidney dialysis units and they are really close to launching. This is great news for Bill's mom who spends a lot of time in dialysis facilities now. I hope this works for people like her soon!
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