Training Log Archive: cedarcreek

12 lengths of the pool, with 90 seconds recovery (2 minutes on a few, 60 on 1 or 2).

Felt a lot better than last week (when I did 14 lengths). My HR just seems a lot lower than last week, and the recovery faster. Toward the end of the workout, my HR had recovered, but my arms took another 30-60 seconds to de-pump. I think the first thing to go as I get tired is breathing on my weak side. My strong side is just smooth and natural, but as I get tired my weak side has to be this massive violent lurch to the left so I can get my head out of the water to breathe. I know I'm doing something wrong.

15 minutes on an exercise bike. Had to leave early.

I believe the twinges I felt a month or so ago in my arch were the begins of a more serious type of plantar fasciitis. I'm going to stop using the elliptical, at least for a while. After my night-o on Saturday night, I sat down at the computer to do results, and when I stood up a half-hour later, my heel was mega-sore. I might need to get some squishier O' shoes.

Event: OCIN - New Year's Races - Camp Timberhill
 

New Year's Eve Night O at Timberhill Camp (part of Rentschler Park in Hamilton, Ohio).

I finished with 43 seconds to spare. A bobble on the second-to-last control (the shortest leg on the course, basically all trail) almost put me overtime. I'm confident it was in the right spot, but the map wasn't so good to the west and south of the control---it may appear different in daylight, I suppose. I'm not complaining---This is a normal sort of issue for a local event.

I really should have spent the night there. If I'd taken a sleeping bag or a few blankets, I would have.

I don't know if it was the swimming intervals I've been doing (with very high HR), but I felt really good out there tonight. It took me at least ten or fifteen minutes to get going, but then I was able to push pretty hard and maintain a kinda high HR. (I was going slow on even minor uphills at the end.) I just noticed my normal gym workout seems to peak out at 155 or 160, and I just hate pushing on the machines. The swimming is kinda free high intensity---I don't have to think about it or push for my HR to go really high.

I paid more attention to the clock on the wall this session. I can't really see it without my glasses---I'm getting some corrective goggles that might help.

I did 14 lengths with recoveries of about 90-120 seconds. I need to edit my last session---no way was I doing 30 second recoveries. I did one 60 second recovery tonight and it was bad---I couldn't maintain form *at all*. My Hr was usually close to 180 after 1 length, but it dropped pretty fast down to 120 or so. I still had to wait another minute or so to let my arms recover.

I had a few laps where I was really smooth---long, streamlined, and fast---and a few more where I my form was just failing---slow, draggy (my feet would sink), and I had much more trouble breathing on my weak side.

I was trying to do 500m, but at 350 I was just done. I climbed out of the pool and was shaky and unsteady for a long time. I got on a bike for 20 minutes and felt a lot better after.

20 minutes on the bike after swimming, watching TV.

Finished reading "The Prohibition Hangover: Alcohol in America from Demon Rum to Cult Cabernet" (1), by Garrett Peck, Rutgers Univ Press, 2009. I got this after reading Daniel Okrent's book "Last Call" (about Prohibition). This is a book that covers a lot of ground, from Temperance Movements in the 1800s to Prohibition to explanations of the companies that make beer, wine, and spirits. It then continues on into the oddities of state alcohol laws including a recent Supreme Court victory that allows small vineyards to sell directly to customers in remote states (in some cases). I didn't know that the legal age to buy alcohol was 21 for most of America's history, but that empathy toward soldiers less than 21 going to Vietnam got a Constitutional amendment passed that dropped the voting age to 18 in 1971, and that states quickly dropped the drinking age to 18 as well. But then there was binge drinking and an increase in car crashes that led to MADD in 1980, and states soon after ratcheted the age back to 21, which is the oldest drinking age among first world countries. The final few chapters talk about so-called neo-prohibitionists who are trying to further reduce access to alcohol and about possible future directions for US alcohol laws. Having seen first hand the drinking situation at several universities recently, I'm leaning towards the side that wants to reduce the drinking age, perhaps to 18. (Canada is 19, the UK is 18. Germany is 16 for beer.) It's a tough call because if it isn't accompanied by some harsh rules regarding drinking and driving, it's going to increase drunk driving. I believe the current system where drinking is illegal but nearly everyone under 21 drinks is just the worst hypocrisy, and it encourages binge drinking in secret, so when someone does need a hospital, no one wants to take them or call an ambulance because everyone will get in trouble.

Anyway, it's a good book. The chapters are pretty quick, and they're informative. There were a handful of annoying technical detail errors, such as that Calvados is made by a religious order of monks: "Some of the most famous spirits come from European monastic orders, such as Benedictine and Calvados." He probably means Chartreuse, made by Carthusian Monks. But the errors are nitpicks. I really enjoyed it. (The last few chapters are a really good resource for high school and college students looking for a good controversial subject for a paper.)

C • prohibition 6