Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Weekday Outings

and other stuff....
Apparently, my 50 yard warm up before the Memphis Mile swim was not enough.  I got a nice little lecture Tuesday morning at swim practice for not warming up WAYYYYY more.  The thing is...I know this- I am not the type of person that is shoots out of the cannon.  I am like a crock pot that needs some time to get to my ideal temperature.  The sad thing is, I had no excuse.  I just didn't take myself seriously enough and sat on the deck talking to Julia until it was time for my heat to start.  okay, so could someone tell me what an appropriate warm up for a mile TT swim is?

No lectures at track last night, though, only hugs.  Coach Paul was glad to see me back for my first track workout since last February.  I was so excited to hear the workout would be 6 x 800.  Just kidding- really, no excitement at all (and he only made us do 5 x 800...whew!).  Luckily I had a pace all picked out that put me in the very, very back.  Johnson joined me in the back to keep me company...a simple jog, for her.    

Fortunately Johnson was in a talking mood, so we made some sort of weird subconscious goal that we would talk through the entirety of each 800.  And boy can we have some discussions while doing 800s- including cardiovascular system versus muscular endurance as a limiter.  Somehow we ran faster, not slower than planned even though we were talking the whole time (but please don't confuse "faster" with "fast".)  Coach Paul encouraged us to stop talking so much, but that just seemed to make us talk about the correlation between talking while running intervals and aerobic fitness.         

I rewarded Joy's unwavering demonstration of friendship during track by making an appearance at Boscos.  (gasp!).  Yes, I went out on a weekday night and silenced the whole table with my appearance.  I am NOT known for my social life.  

Laura, Damie, and Joy at Boscos in January 2008- I think this may have been the last time I went out to Bosco's on a weeknight.  Look how TIRED I am!  I am a mawmaw and should be in bed.  

But I finally must address the elephant in the room- JOY IS LEAVING!!!!  It really didn't hit me till yesterday that she moves away this weekend.  I think Dave is a little worried for me.  

Laura has a nice post on training partners, and I have been lucky to have the best.  There are people that I really like, but I don't like to train with them.  These four ladies in the picture below share much more than training blows.  (and I don't think it is coincidence that when one of us decided they were moving away, the rest of us starting making some moving plans of our own....)  

Anyways, cheers to us 4 for the amazing growth and development we have shared as friends and athletes in the past few years together.  

4 comments:

Laura said...

You summed it up so nicely! Completely beats out my post trying to be silly and not sad. :( Although I think I'm going to be very very lonely next week. Maybe I smell or something - everyone is leaving me! ;)

But in all seriousness, it IS good. I've grown so much the past few years with you amazing women as friends and I'm really excited about all the new adventures we all are emarking on!

Oh and here's to destination races to visit one another!

Marit C-L said...

YES - training partners are the best! Sounds like you guys have really lucked out - awesome!

Well - okay...so maybe a little more of a warm-up... However - it sounds like you had fun...and that can't be overlooked either. There's a time and a place to be super serious about stuff - but sometimes you just want to hang out, chat, and enjoy yourself. And that's okay! Next time you can warm up more if you want.

HOORAY for track workouts! I did my first group track workout since a long long long time ago! Sounds great!

kerrie said...

look at you! you just don't stop...all you needed was a little duathlon to get you going and then you follow it up with a couple more races and a return to the track!!!!
i know - isn't it sad to lose a training partner? you spend so many hours together suffering(and having fun) that you truly bond. maybe you can trick her into staying??

Joy said...

Track was such fun last week!! I'll be thinking about y'all tonight as I "work." I can't believe it's only been a week since then... feels like a month at least!