2017 - Check-In - 08 August

New snazzy C26 shirt! Tops!

Weekly Reflections and Focus

So, the reality is I don't know where to take this blog. I don't get the sense it is for anyone but me and that is fine. I like the journaling of events from a week to week thing while I am training, and now it has returned back to maintenance. So to that end, I am not sure what I want to do. Maybe its time for me to take things a bit more serious, but the issue is time. If I am not working I am with family or I am exercising.

So, the last two nights were night swimming. The first night was the first swim since my Sprint on July 31. So that is 7-8 days out of the pool. The first night sucked. Here's what I posted on Face book:

Sometimes, the waters humble you, today was that day. That swim sucked even though my per 100 Avg says ok. Pushing the walls of the box. Humbled.

Truth be told, swimming a persistent and average 1:46 per 100 yards is a SOLID for me. I felt like I was wading through thick and buttery mashed potatoes. I was tired and just not 'feeling' it. However, the following night, was awesome. I felt much better. I am working on isolating my initial catch - where my hand and wrist lay anchor to grab the initial 'catch' and then work on pushing books through the end. I am getting better at loose wrists and formally catching the water in an anchor initially. I am losing the book about my waist. I am currently isolating and focused on the wrist and will begin to bring it all together. For not being a swimmer, I think I am getting this thing down.

I finally got my C26 t-shirt. Awesome stuff for sure. That thing should get some good use and will be my go to travel and pre event shirt. Thanks to Robbie and Mike.

And so, for the little plug. From the Crushing Iron group, the coach Robbie Bruce began using a great tool and is seeing initial huge success with his beta into actual usage of the product for his swim coaching. Heres a link to the formal crushing iron web page . The testimonials just keep coming. So if you are a swimmer looking to improve or gain that edge. I strongly recommend using this and Coach Robbie's straight-forward no nonsense approach is refreshing. He cares greatly about what he does and can shape it to fit your needs and properly gauge the correct way to push you as far as your potential and your desire will allow. It's a general compliment to his passion, his work, and his approach. Ultimately, he allows you to maintain control of personal accountability, he just helps add some or a lot of 'special sauce'.

Anyway, my runs have been a bit hampered by my Achilles being tight. I went to the chiropractor and got a simple alignment. The weird thing was my right hip and my glute that has been on fire since about February. The chiro set me back aligned and I could tell it helped. Since my visit, I have felt the alignment wane as it normally does, but it has provided my body the time to re-center.

I had a solid bike ride the other day. I was able to just ride and enjoy a solid moderate but not my best speed. During the bike ride, while coming up Hollow Road, I had an impression to stop for a few minutes. Where this is not an unfamiliar prompting at times, I paid attention and pulled off the side. about the time I would have been making the turn to climb out up the hammer road, a car comes barreling down. I most likely would have had problems had I continued. 3 more cars over the next 2-4 minutes occurred. I am grateful for simple impressions and promptings. I find that often, folks ignore those feelings of intuition or gut reminders and just go numbingly into problems. I am grateful I have learned through personal experience, personal evidence and other things that I know how to identify the impressions as something more than me and I try to act upon them immediately if possible.

One more fun one. While running. I will clip this from Facebook.

Sometimes, when out for a run, you look down see your watch as it just gave a recovery advisor notice at approx. 75 of a mile and your watch says 5:15. So, you slow down do a fb live and get back to a moderate 8:15 min mile and then, you have an encounter with two burley dogs. The owner was a bit spooked b/c of the dogs being off leash and off collar. Grateful I know how to keep my wits around dogs. Being an owner of two dogs, I am also grateful that others try their best with animals and mistakes happen. Grateful tonight was not a mistake. I am sure the owner of those dogs was a bit concerned and was confused when I stayed put until the animals were behind a vinyl fence. If I wore headphones this may have had a different outcome as I wouldn't have heard the animal nor the frantic owner. Be mindful, be present. Grateful. Beautiful evening run in the waning hours of twilight at sunset. Grateful for an ever maturing perspective in life.

Anyway, I thought a check in was in order. Liz is definitely in the pregnancy is "tough" stage, and I am having to adjust things to help her. Dennis is finally getting into the swing of becoming a young man. He's en route and overall doing well. Juniper is a million miles an hour and just a great addition to our family. She soon becomes the middle child and I hope she enjoys that spot for a long time to come as she becomes a BIG sister.

Life is good. Things are SOLID. All in all, we are grateful and blessed where we are at. We are not perfect, and we are maturing day by day.

I've been listening to this song a bit lately: