Fast Swim and Growing Up

I hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July Weekend.  The weather here was rainy and/or overcast the entire weekend, which at least meant it wasn't in the upper 90's, but was a bit problematic for outdoor outings.

After having great chat the RockStar Tri about triathlon training, especially in regards to getting faster, I fully intended to change up my workouts.  Didn't get to it.  But I hope to work on the schedule this week.  I got mad at myself on Monday because I hadn't done any training on Saturday or Sunday.  But I did do a tough trainer ride on Monday while Mr. Darcy went out for a 27 mile ride.  I did a 10 minute warm up, 5x1 one legged drills (each leg of course), 10 minute recovery, 5 minutes in the big chain ring on my toughest gear standing up and pedaling, 5 minute recovery, then alternated sprinting 5x1 minute in a slightly harder gear and 1 minute recovery, and then a 10 minute cool down.  I knew I was really pushing myself because the girls were asking me questions about the horrible "Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea" that Mr. Darcy bought them and I could barely talk. (I can't stand the movie, but I have to admit I like the girls' title for it "The Little Mermaid has a Baby.")  So I was happy with the trainer ride, angry at myself because I didn't do more this weekend - I realized I was doing the "I don't want the girls to be upset if I go, and I don't want Mr. Darcy to have to worry about being with the kids on his own." thing.  No one else's fault but my own.  I didn't realize I was putting the world other than what I wanted first again until Mr. Darcy said Sunday night he wanted to go for a ride on Monday, then Monday woke up and put on his bike clothes without saying much of anything to me or the kids, and then disappeared when we weren't looking.  I wasn't mad at him.  I was mad at me.  Why can't I do that?  Well, you know what? I can.

So this morning I did.  One thing I realized in talking to the RockStar is that I don't do training tests. As in ever.  I don't know what I am capable speed wise of doing.  That sounds funny I'm sure since I go and do stuff every day.  But that's about can I get it done.  I have no idea what I really am capable of.  I left the house at 7:05, which included an extra 3 minutes for Angelfish who asked me if I could stay a few more minutes, had no traffic (I actually wondered if there was something I didn't know about because there were literally NO cars on the road in the neighborhood.), and got to the pool.  I found a book (yes, you know me and books) that I'm now waiting for the next Barnes and Noble coupon to come out so I can get it - Swim Workouts for Triathletes.   I use Barnes and Noble because I'm a member and save oodles on shipping and the prices USUALLY are the same as elsewhere, although every once in awhile they are a little more expensive.  I like saving money when I spend money.  Anyway. One of the sample pages happened to be a training test for Olympic Distance or IronMan Distance Triathletes.  3x300 as fast as you could - without losing form and as long as there was not a greater time differential than 15 seconds between your 1st and last.  Well, I did the 3 as full out as I could.  4:10, 4:15, and 4:12.  Then average the times and then divide by 3 to determine an accurate 100m time for a longer distance swim.  I was happily surprised because I thought I'd only be capable of 1:32-1:36 for my 100m pace.  But with this, it tells me that my average is 4:12.18 for the 300m.  Divided by 3 to get the 100m pace, that's 1:24.06!  Happy girl... now let's do that in open water. I didn't know I could go so fast. : )

In other news, I'm sort of realizing that I'm a "grown up" these days.  I mean, I get it - I have kids, am married, have a job, etc. But I never REALLY thought of myself as a grown up.  Somewhere over the past few days this has been really hitting me.  Probably because I realized I will be 35 in just about a month.  35.  Not old, but not young either.  Hitting what's referred to as "middle age." (Although I plan on living to well beyond 70, thank you very much.) But the nice thing I realized about being a grown up is that this means I should be able to set my own rules.  I've been kind of looking at things as "I'm committed to do this because I'm a parent" or because "I have a job."  But in reality, yes I am a parent and I have a job that I need my paycheck from so I can send the kids to college and retire at some point, but I can set my own rules about how I do it.  So I'm going to look at what is it that I really want, and how best can I go about getting it.  Because as an old lady, I can set the rules of my life (I do realize there are limits to this though... I can't run off and join the Marine Jag Core without at least involving Mr. Darcy in such a decision).  A positive from getting older. 

Knock on wood my turning 35 won't also turn my hair grey.  Mr. Darcy (who will be 36 in September) got his hair cut yesterday.  It was overdue for a cut.  There was a LOT of white hair there.  I had noticed it earlier in the weekend and said to him that he was getting more grey hair.  He didn't seem to notice it... untill he saw it on the floor at the barber.  And that's when he said something.  Luckily for him, it's all cut short now so you can't see it unless he's just in the sun light the right way.  I can't quite do that with mine.  Okay, I could, but I don't want to have the Sinead O'Connor look.  It looked awesome on her, but I just don't have the right face structure for it.

I'm off to seize my destiny... HAHAHA!