Breaking 130

Time keeps on slippin', slippin', slippin', into the future...

That clock is merciless. It just keeps counting down, oblivious to the feelings of those who look at it every day. Time is like that. It slows for nobody. Well, unless you have the resources to push yourself to something much closer to the speed of light than any of us will achieve on our bikes.

And training continues. This morning, there was an aligning of the stars as my workout and the plans of the Wednesday morning group were frighteningly similar. Swim 200s at race pace. As we were all in the same lane, anyway, it worked out well. The first discussions were about doing the sets on 3:45. Another guy saved me from having to humble myself by questioning that pace. So, they decided on 4:00. Which was a PERFECT pace.

If that was the pace they actually swam.

On the first interval, I came in at 3:20. And I was the caboose. Now, unless they were INCLUDING the rest interval in their calculations, having the slowest swimmer achieve an unheard of pace of 3:20/200 yards is a far cry from 4:00. Luckily, the pace slowed on the second set. Of course, 3:30 isn't that much slower.

I figured I'd get a break on the third set, since the guy who originally questioned 3:45 would be leading. It was only then that I realized he was wearing SWIM FINS. My head nearly exploded. That HAS to violate some kind of swim group ethics. Isn't there a rule that says it's impolite to KILL another swimmer by setting pace while wearing fins? On the fourth set, I realized the guy who led the first set was using a pull bouy.

I skipped the fifth set out of protest.

I led the last two sets. It seems the onset of cranial pyrotechnics is beneficial to my swim. I managed to maintain the 1:45 pace, and on the final set swam 1:34 for the first 100. That was, of course, followed by a 2:03 on the next 100. Still, I almost fell out of the pool when I saw the 1:34. And falling out of a pool is a real trick.

Next time I think about swimming intervals with this crew, I plan on throwing the match by pulling up with a hamstring injury. And no, I don't care that hamstring injuries aren't all that common in the pool. That's what I'm going with.

On a side note, remember to use caution as you get your bikes out onto the road. My brother-in-law got to spend most of the last two days in the hospital thanks to an inattentive driver. He was on his motorcycle when a driver nearly t-boned him. He managed to avoid that accident, but slammed into a second car at 40 mph. That two separate drivers failed to acknowledge another vehicle with the right of way is frightening. A fractured wrist and some severe soft tissue damage later, he'll be okay.

Just keep in mind that many drivers are unable to see anything smaller than an SUV when driving. Be safe on the roads so we can all make it to our races.