November 20, 2007

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

I joined the gym today. Pool only membership, $37/month. The owner was all apologetic, though, as one of the pumps broke and the water was “cold.” 73 degrees, he said. They normally keep the pool at 80, which is fine for standing around talking, but too warm for hard swimming. The pool was empty and the water was absolutely the perfect temperature. I swam until 10 minutes after closing, and wish I had gotten there half an hour earlier. Total distance was 2100 m in about 48 minutes. Very easy most of the way, about 75%, with the occasional lap or two uptempo. I told the guy to call me if the pumps broke again.

Adapting to an athletic lifestyle has been a huge change for me. Over most of the last 10 years, and all of the last 4, I’ve averaged 1 run per month, tops (except for the third week of August at The Running School, where I’ll get 50-60 miles). In other words, train 1 day, take a month off. Repeat. This last year at The Running School, my running credit ran out. While in previous years I was able to get through all the runs and up all the hills, this year I couldn’t keep up with the kids and had to walk up the big hills. I wound up running in the back with the kids with stitches, or puking or who were just plain old totally out of shape. I was really hurting, and not enjoying it nearly enough. I had gotten too far from being an athlete, for too long. Even now, I consider it a huge longshot. There are so many different things that need to be done, and many others which need not to be done. And even when I was young and training seriously, there were many things I did wrong or not at all. Many of the big changes were accomplished earlier (geography, diet, job, house), so the only real changes I’ve made recently are 1) training every day, and 2) keeping a training log. I’m not so unrealistic as to think I can change everything in my life at once, so this will be an incremental process which should take up to a year to complete. If my body doesn’t fall apart, I should be able to see improvement for another year after that. Frankly, though, I just don’t see me having the discipline, self-confidence and structural integrity to pull it off. No way. No freakin’ way. Many days are still a struggle to get out. I’ve got no chance at all.

On the other hand, I’ve made it 10 days in a row.