Day 86
Boston Qualifying Training. I was dreaming that I was in New York City with the family and my sister and her husband. I was watching William our youngest as we walked through Times Square and in a second he was gone, I could not find him. I was screaming his name, WILLIAM, when I woke up. My chest was heaving. It is a parents worse nightmare.
I slipped out of bed and checked his room, he lay there fast asleep. Sleeping children are like angels on earth, so peaceful. I look at my watch, 4:58. Time to get up anyway.
Pulling on my clothes I am hoping for a better performance in the pool than I have had these past few workouts. My last two workouts have been awful.
Arriving at the pool there is a bit of a pall in the air. Many of us who are preparing for the Huntsville Marathon in hopes to qualify for the Boston Marathon had found out yesterday that the registration had closed for 2010. The news came by way of an email from Corey… the subject, Very Bad News. There was no text in the body, after all what could be said, the attachment alone was all that was needed. Reading it brought the cold hard sobering fact that next years Boston Marathon was off the table. Damn.
Clearly there is disappointment, but there is nothing that can be done to change what has happened. I think back to my time at Vermont… I should have gotten it done there, but I fell apart. Does not matter, I can not turn back time. If I could, that broken ankle would never have happened.
I take about 10 minutes feeling bad, and decide that is enough. I know I want to get back my speed, now I have an extra 18 months to do so.
On the pool deck I share the news with Jeff who had not heard, though he is not running he understand the sacrifice and shares the frustration. Ann Marie si the first to jump in and start swimming, it is time to get in the pool.
The pool. The pool is the complete opposite of the track for me. I love track, I hate the pool. Hate is a pretty strong word, I really, really, really dislike the pool. The fact that I have had two bad performances in the last 8 days makes it worse. The problem is, the harder I work, the slower I swim and the more exhausted I am.
My form seemed like it was getting better, but now I am just thrashing about. Today I want to be better. A quick warm up and I am ready. Positive thoughts… I will be fast, I will have good form. We are doing 7 x 300 with 100 breakouts, Swim, Fins, Paddles. The first set I have difficulty getting the fins on and I mistakenly put the paddles on too… I am already 20 meters behind. Crap. Next set, I am good on the swim in fact I stay consistent on the swim part, but when the fins go on, I am lost.
The girls in the lane are smooth and their feet are like little motors with their fins on. The gap widens and by the time the paddles go on I am back again 20 meters. Double crap! It is so bad that by the last 25 meters on the last 5 sets, I have to just stop and turn around to stay with the pack.
What the hell is happening. I was doing well with the 100’s and feeling fast less than two weeks ago. If this continues I will be going back to the remedial lane. The 25’s followed by push-ups and planks are good, but I am weak on numbers 5&6. The rest I do fairly strong. Resolved steeled me on the last two. It did hurt my shoulder considerably, but my pride was stronger than the pain.
A quick shower and I hop on the scale for a nice surprise, 176! I smile to myself. Jumping in the car, I get Wil off to school and make breakfast for Jack and I, steak and eggs, followed by a tall glass of orange juice. Man it taste good and I can feel my body feeding the muscles the much needed protein for recovery.
Work, lift, play and a little more work will round out my day. Tomorrow is track. Good.
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