A minute isn’t so long

Right?

Yesterday I popped in the pool for 1000 yd time trial. Naturally, this “time trial” was a loose label since I wasn’t trying to go fast. No way. I was just trying to get through it. See, I haven’t swum 1000 yards since my last race. In Arizona. Sure, I accompanied the ‘hound on a swim at Twin Lakes a few weeks back but I managed to find a tri friend to float along with for part of the swim (she was on a date with her tri hottie boyfriend--how gross is that? Seriously.) (okay fine, it’s cute. Maybe I want nauseatingly active dates. Or maybe I want NetFlix and a PBR... I can never decide.)

But yesterday I got my jiggly butt in the pool if only to remind myself I still knew how to swim. It wasn’t pretty, but it wasn’t ugly: I was about 50 seconds slower than normal 1000 time and about 2 minutes slower than a real 1000 TT with TT effort. I was surprised I was even within a minute of my normal self since I felt like a 13 year old boy in the water--gawky, awkward, and other adjectives that use a “w” and therefore look widiculous. I guess that’s no indication of actual progress, huh?

So I’m back. Sure, my first Olympic got cancelled (good thing too since I had neither swum the 1500m distance nor run the 10k distance before since that last race). Sure, my calves now shake when I walk, which is slightly disgusting. But I’m riding this weekend with my enthusiastic if slightly frightening tri buddy. I’m lifting tonight. And Tuesday? I went to track to have my ass handed to me so bad that I still felt sick from the effort 2 hours later. Yeah, it’s that bad.

But don’t worry, I’m not getting carried away. 10-15 hours a week for the rest of the summer TOPS. No more long swims. No long runs (truth is I’m still afraid to run and break myself again. I’m clumsy that way). No 50 mile ultramarathons this fall and no ironmans (ironmen?) this summer. Just me, trying to stay in shape and de-jiggle my calves. And maybe get some buff guns to show off in sleeveless getups. And maybe get that TT back below 14 minutes where it belongs.

So no, I guess minutes aren't so long. But neither is the tri season. Time to hop back in the game.