Mondays

Some Mondays, I feel like Garfield.

I tried to go to sleep early. I was in bed early, but there were so many things to read! I always get stuck in a book, just when I need sleep. Besides, somebody forgot to silence his phone last night, and I got woken up every time he got an email. And, it's going to rain all week, so it was gloomy in the morning and I have a headache. Is that all? I think I've complained sufficiently.

Punnett Squares are awesome. Today alone, I've had two non-science teachers poke their heads in and comment that Punnett Squares are the BEST. I agree. They are straightforward, intuitive, and relatable.

I learned some cool things about my students last week. First, they are awesome at Punnett Squares. The kids who are less strong at critical thinking, but are better at solving equations, were rock stars. Additionally, I learned that one of my students has sickle cell anemia, and another two are carriers of the gene (and also immune to malaria, which I pointed out, to their satisfaction). Now, all I need are students with hemophilia and colorblindness, and I've got all the practice questions I could ever use.

This weekend was an easy weekend for training, but I accomplished a huge goal of waking up at really early o'clock on a Saturday and going swimming in the outdoors. A local-ish triathlon coaching organization is hosting open water swims in a local-ish lake/YMCA campground (about an hour and a quarter from home). It costs $10, and that includes a free clinic. I signed up for the clinic, left home by 6:30, and was in my wetsuit by 8AM. I'll tell you what: the scale may say I've lost weight, but it doesn't mean anything until I put on that flashy neoprene for the first time all season. I've definitely lost some weight (8 out of 10 lbs so far!).

The lake was lifeguarded and well run. I had to show my USAT card (for insurance purposes) and I got a number written on my hand. I had to check in and out, and they promised to bother us by telephone if we didn't check out. I liked the security.

At the clinic, I learned new techniques for entering the water (some dolphin kick thing - I looked more like a whale), making tight turns around buoys, and sighting buoys (so I don't swim too far off course). I then got an opportunity to swim around a 400 m course twice (my first triathlon this year is 750 m). It was incredibly useful, because the first open-water swim of the season is always horrible. The water is murky, I can't see the bottom, and the mammalian dive reflex kicks in the moment I stick my face in the water, so my throat and chest tighten and I can't breathe. My goggles leak (I just ordered new ones) and the water is cold (not too bad though, the lake was close to 70). By the last 200 m or so, I got into my stride and was humming along to my favorite tunes while cruising along. My goal is to fit in one more open water swim, which will cut down my acclimatization distance a bit, so that by race time I don't feel like dying for the whole first half of the swim.

After the swim, I asked a staff member if there were any running trails at the campgrounds. He said, yeah, everywhere, just bring a GPS. And I did. I got in a nice off-road 5-miler, and it felt good. I then drove home, scrambled to wash myself and my wetsuit cleaned off, and raced off to SAT class.

On Sunday, it rained, so my 2-hour bike ride turned into 1 hour on the trainer watching Dance Moms. Not ideal, but I sweated.

This week is back to 100% training. It's a tough week, but I'll share it with you so you can hold me accountable:
Monday - 30 min. strength, 30 min. bike trainer w/ a couple hills (2-3 min @ higher resistance)
Tuesday - 4 mi run w/ 4 strides at the end
Wednesday - 30 min strength, 30 min bike trainer w/ 10 x 30 s sprints
Thursday - 4 mi interval run (1 mi warmup, 4x5 min fast w/ 2 min slow in between, 1 mi cool down)
Friday - REST
Saturday - 2000 yd swim (maybe open water), 7 mi run (incl. 3 mi medium-fast)
Sunday - 2 hr bike, 3 mi run easy

Let's do this!