Ah, spring. Despite its vicious vagaries which bring three foot dumps of snow in April, it's good to have it finally here. I'm especially grateful for spring as I was finally really able to move my training outdoors this week. Granted, the snow made it a bit difficult for a couple of days, but I persevered.
I was thrilled earlier this week on my first outdoor run from my house (as opposed to in a different city): while I still had to alternate running with walking more than I did on the treadmill, I was able to run over twice as far in the initial run segment than I was able to last fall, after months of near-daily long, brisk walks. Unfortunately, running on asphalt is killing my right knee, the one that was most injured when I fell a few weeks ago. At least I can still walk when I can't run! The only down side was that after being able to run outdoors this past few weeks, I was completely unable to force myself back indoors to the treadmill when it snowed. Thank goodness summer's coming.
Meetings at work prevented my swimming on Tuesday and Thursday, but I made it to the pool on Saturday. Leo, the Valdez Torpedoes Swim Club coach, had volunteered to work with the women doing the Alaska Women's Gold Nugget Triathlon. I was out of town the last two weekends, but finally made it this week. What a great thing for him to do! It was good to hear that I'm a reasonably decent swimmer, and he gave me some great tips on how to improve my swimming. He also gave us some drills for practicing those tips. I know I won't get in enough hours at the pool to make the best use of his time, but I could feel that my swimming was better even at the end of that hour. I'm looking forward to another session next week.
My favorite sport is still cycling, however. I finally got out twice this week for 8 and 10 mile rides. The grin on my face told the truth. Every year I marvel at how quickly I can get back into cycling shape and am able to ride just as far as I want to. It's a nice change of pace from having to force a positive mental attitude about running.
Now, if Mother Nature will just keep any more snow to herself, future training will be a pleasure.
