Wednesday was our last day of Summer II. I do admit that I was happy. Now I would get one extra day off before we go back to work Monday. Wow, what am I going to do with all of that time?
I met Vicki at the pool Wednesday morning. I did not have much planned, just a quick 1,000 or 1,100 in the big pool before heading off to school. The first thing I noticed when I drove up at 6:00 was how dark it was. Not dark but not as light as one would have thought. There is a site on the internet that gives the sunrise and sunset times for Greenwood, Mississippi. I find that fascinating. For instance, we lose 31 minutes of dayling in the month of July. Not only that, but slowly the loss of daylight increases each day until the winter solstice. I used the thing that the change in daylight picked up steam as the fall approach. Now I know that it actually does. Eventuall we will be losing about three minutes per day. Add that up for a couple of weeks and wham! out world has changed.
We swam, she 1,000 and me 1,100, and promtly left. I had to go administer exams, grade them, and average and turn in grades. I did all of that. But not before-- OK, I won't tell that, the part about the emails and phone calls way before grades were due and-- sigh.
So I came home, ate lunch, and rested. Then I went to Plate City where I did my leg workout interspersed with short shuffles on the treadmill. It was a solid session that saw me run 2.1 miles bringing my week's total up to 14.2. Yeah, trying to get ready fresh for Bikes, Blues[,] & Bayous and still get my 20 miles of running in is/had been no small feat. Looks like I might make it.
Thursday morning rolled around, and I was free. Sleep in? Not this time. I met Tyler and Vicki at the pool at 5:45. It was dark. We saw one of those monster bugs and T fished it out and killed it. God bless you, Tyler. Then we started our warmup set which was 800 straight. After that, we began the main set which was some 150s with a floating 50. What is a floating 50? you ask. It is a fast 50 that floats (moves throughout the reps as the set progresses). For instance, it went like this:
150 first 50 fast
150 second 50 fast
150 third 50 fast
150 first and last 25 fast (Tyler had to leave after this; V and I continued with)
150 first 75 fast
150 last 75 fast
400 cool down
total: 2,100 meters
So what is the point of a floating 50? Cagri, our former Masters coach at DSU, taught it to me. Stangely, I then found it more difficult than doing the whole thing fast. Now I find it more difficult than doing the whole thing fast. It stresses the body in different ways. You have to recover from the fast swimming while swimming. And it gives you gears, the ability to speed up and slow down. That ability comes in handy sometime in triathlons. I have found myself behind a pod of swimmers that I wanted around, and I had the ability to pick it up and pass them and then not die once I got ahead.
What next? You guessed it: coffee and cats. For some reason, however, I forgot to post. Huh? Maybe it was due to the fact that our lawn mower arrived. I contacted my lawm mower mechanic and told him that I had to have it back. He picked it up last week when the starter mechanism messed up. He worked on it then and got it somewhat fixed but said it really needed a new part. I told him to take it on. Well, the part being late, our yard was about to get out of hand so I thought if it will work long enough for one mowing, he can fix it right when the part finally arrived.
Giddy with excitement, I went out to mow. I eagerly pulled the starter rope only to meet resistance and then the cord would not retract. Sigh. The mower is a Craftsman, and I have had really good service out of them in the past. This one has a 6.5 horsepower engine that I know will run at least a decade and a half. But this is the fourth time (or is it the sixth?) that I have had this issue with the three-year-old mower. I am beginning to think of buying something new. Life is not good when your lawn mower doesn't work.
By the way, my last Craftsman was a hand-me-down from my dad. He ran it for six years and gave it to me when he bought a new one. I ran it for five years and gave it to a young man in my church when I bought my current one. The young man came to me a few weeks later and asked, "Why did you give me that mower? There's nothing wrong with it."
At least there was Plate City where I went and did my first upper body workout of the week. Then Simon showed up. I had contacted him about some stuff around the house and at Plate City that I wanted done. Praise God, we are started. Plate City is always moving forward.
Around mid-afternoon I went out for a run. Bear in mind that I need to go easy Friday. Since I had 14.2, I wanted at least four, five would be better. Despite the tough workout Wednesday, my legs felt pretty good, and I not only got the four, I not only got the five, but I got six. Not only that, but I got 6.81 which gave me my 20 plus one. Yeeha.
By then the yard was really bugging me so I contacted Forrest to see if I could borrow his mower. He said yes, but he was leaving home in 15 minutes. I changed my wet shirt and drove straight over. I mowed the yard, praise God, but when I was done, I was done. Think about it: I swam 2,100 meters, lifted weights, ran 6.81 miles, and mowed the lawn.
I. Slept. Well.
Thank you, Jesus.
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