Sunday, July 8, 2012

Run-swim-bike-run

This weekend I had a special guest - my dad came to visit! Here's a horrible photo I took on my phone.


We were fascinated with supposed record breaking heat and obsessively checked the temperature all weekend. 

Record breaking heat is fantastic for running, as we all know. I saw it was going to be well into the 90s by 9am, so waking up at 4am was my only hope for long run survival on Saturday morning. Except that it was already hot when I left the house at 4:30, indicating that I was in trouble.

I was supposed to do 6 miles on my own before meeting Lily, but the heat was making me slow as hell so I only did about 5. We did 11 together, bringing me to 16.25. I can totally do twice that in two weeks at my 50K. 

Despite the heat, it was a pretty good run, a million times better than my horrific run last weekend. We had a plan of where to refill our water bottles, but they were empty long before that point and were dying of thirst. I found $2 in my shoe and it was like we won the lottery. The cashier at Royal Farms took pity on us and lent us the $.11 so we could buy the biggest bottle of water they had, which is one of the reasons I'm alive to type this very blog post.

You would think with all that, I would be dying for an ice bath, but I was still dreading it the whole way home. I even turned off the AC in my car to try to convince myself it would feel good.


I think my last ice bath was sometime around October, and this one was just as miserable as I remembered.

My dad and I went to the Maryland Historical Society museum Saturday afternoon. Although I'm a horribly lowbrow individual, once in a while I do participate in intellectual activities, usually at the request of others. I have a tendency to get really fascinated by history museums and try to read every single plaque and have to be dragged out of there. Then I'll usually go through a period, often lasting several hours, where I swear I'm going to start doing things like discussing the gross national product of China at parties and visiting the nonfiction section of the library. At some point, I'll remember that I have seen every Twilight movie on opening night, and accept that those things are never going to happen. I do find history interesting and really wish I was the type of person who could get lost in a history textbook, but unless historically accurate facts are included in some sort of love story, I'm probably not learning them. Therefore, it was enlightening to visit this museum and see the Civil War from a different perspective than Scarlett O'Hara's. 

Apparently there were other battles that Ashley wasn't even in.

I saw a poster that said something about "British Lions", and thought they were talking about the Lannisters, but then I remembered that the Lannisters are fictional characters, and I was at a museum, and something didn't add up. 

I think I need some sort of support group for people who get way too attached to fictional characters. Ideally, it would meet directly after chocolate addicts anonymous.

Sunday morning the tri club was hosting another swim/bike/run. I was meeting my dad for bagels before he left, so I wasn't sure if I'd have time for the run unless I did it earlier. Additionally, running at 6am meant the temperature would "only" be in the high 80s. I did five slow miles in my neighborhood before heading to the state park. 

I think this is the first time I've even been hot while swimming. Imagine swimming in bathwater, and that's what it was like. I only swam for 500 yards, it took me 15 minutes, and felt really hard. This is my second swim since the half ironman, so, major fail.

On the bike, the dream team was back together - Jackie, Lily, and me. We biked 14 miles in about an hour. I haven't been keeping up with biking, either, but I couldn't exactly bring it with me on my flights, so I'm saying it wasn't my fault. 

I ended up having time to join them for a two mile run, so I officially did a run-swim-bike-run. I mainly wanted to run so we could actually catch up. The problem with swimming and biking is that it's so hard to chat. Maybe running is superior after all.

Are you lowbrow, or intellectual, or somewhere in between?

Do you get attached to fictional characters? In my mind, Katniss Everdeen is a real person, and someday I will meet her.


12 comments:

  1. I really want to go to a museum with you now.

    I told Jeff that if he misses the birth, this baby will be Katniss Everdeen Kramer, so you might get your wish.

    I don't remember summer training being this miserable last year. I remember thinking Rosaryville was SO HOT because it was like a high of 92. Just 92 would feel so good right now.

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  2. I get SO attached to characters - the last being Harry Dresden. which reminds me - you need to read the dresden files books. SO GOOD.

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  3. this post cracked me up. i'm pretty lowbrow and hate anything dealing with history. i would love to be able to discuss politics, etc. but that would require me to read about it and my google reader is far more interesting.

    4AM on sat?!? i though my wake-up time of 5AM was pretty hardcore!

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  4. Big time lowbrow individual here unfortunately. I'm quite clueless on most things dealing with history or intellectual stuff. Maybe this week won't be quite as hot!

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  5. Wait, there's more to the Civil War than Gone With The Wind? I don't believe you.

    I'm hot and miserable just reading about your workouts this weekend. I hate ice bath's too. That's why I just have like 12 ice packs that I'll put in strategic places and watch tv for 20 minutes.

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  6. Breaking news: Ice baths are good for pain, but not necessarily helping you with recovery at all.

    http://camilleherron.com/2011/07/21/do-ice-bathsicing-really-work/

    That's why I don't take them anymore unless I actually need to be pain-free. The last time I took one was when I ran 22mi, then had a 10k race the next day. I wanted to be pain free for the race. But otherwise, they aren't speeding recovery and I figure I'm better off knowing how much damage I did to my legs ;)

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  7. I'm not big on the whole "history" thing either, and I know I'm way behind on the entertainment front, but I got drawn into "The Tudors" about a month or so ago, and have seen the entire series (4 seasons). It is "for the most part" historically accurate, and I thought it was quite engaging. I had always thought of Henry VIII as a fat pig man who just married (then killed) wives...but the series really brought him out in quite a different light. Thought you might be interested. It is available on iTunes and probably through NetFlix, etc. as well.

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  8. That picture with Dad is a winner. You should frame it.

    I'm failing at activities with absolutely zero movement in this heat, like sitting... Don't know how you manage to run/bike/swim!

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  9. I'm so low brow, I didn't know low brow was a word! :) Swims like that are the worst! Especially if it is a lap pool and it's hot. Monotony and heat aren't a good combination.

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    1. Don't worry, I wikipedia-ed lowbrow before I posted it to make sure I was using it correctly.

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  10. I have never taken an ice bath. You have not convinced me that this is a bad thing.

    Swimming in bathwater? That sounds rather unsanitary and not comfortable.

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  11. I'm still stuck at swimming in water that felt like bath water. That sounds miserable!

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Thanks for commenting! Comments make me probably more happy than they should.