Welcome back to the long course!

We had been missing the long course at Eisenhower. The pool has been set up as 25 meters or 25 yards for months. Easter Sunday it was scheduled to be reconfigured again for 50 meters and I was looking forward to it. Silly me. When we got there yesterday and looked out, it looked way longer than twice what we had been swimming. The lanes looked forever long. Like in the next town long. Clearly we had been in the short course for more months than was prudent.

Feeling intimidated, I was just about to drop into lane one with the thought of just hanging on. Alas, Lisa Hiller must have read my mind. (That'll teach me to think.) She moved me right over to lane two. No taking it easy for me! By now, anyone reading this blog knows that this pleased me immensely...even though it meant more work. If only I had known how much work...I might not have grinned like an idiot.

There was to be a fair amount of kicking, so we donned our flippers and got to work. 3100 meters later, we were done the work. What a great swim!!! But boy oh boy, I was totally exhuasted! It's a great feeling, but not when you have to stand at Mass for an hour immediately following it. Most of the Mass I looked like a flamingo, standing on one leg and trying not to fall asleep.

Fast forward to this morning. More long course. Boards are out, so more kicking. For the love of Moses. I put my flippers on and with the first kick, I knew it was going to be a long, tough workout. Not only was I tired from the day before, but Mother of God the ankle was hurting. After finishing with the kicking portion, I took that fin off and swam with one fin on and one off. A little odd, but allowed me to almost keep pace with my lane mates. Almost, but not quite. A bit of a discouraging day. But the first time I did two swims in a row, and especially after the distance we did yesterday...I'm not too worked up about it.

Dr. Holly took care of a lot of my below the knee ailments today. She is very good about naming every muscle and tendon that she is attacking. I forget the names. But was so happy that when she pressed here, it made a place over there feel better. By the end, even my Achilles was feeling better. The test will be to run tomorrow. I'm taped up and ready to go.

And then there's the bike. I really have to get back on that damn bike. This week. One day, even if it is just for 15 minutes...I have to do it...I'm going to check the forecast and put it on the calendar...

Shook hands with a shared vow yesterday with one of my buddies that we would watch our portion control all week together. I'm happy to report, I resisted a second helping of lasagna at dinner yesterday in that spirit. And, in the same vein, did not finish my lunch today. Rather, I took some home to be savored tomorrow. So far, so good. The week is off to a good beginning...even if my yearbook pages are still not all finihsed...but that is a topic for another blog...