8 more workouts!!

Well 8 more on my own and then I will be back in La Crosse, in the cold, but, with the rest of the Team.
Almost at the end of week 4 and still sticking to the schedule. Have only missed one day so far, but made up the sessions on the following day. Fortunate not to be suffering from the “crud” like Rob, Angie and Pam, just the odd touch of a sore butt. “Why a sore butt?”, I hear you ask. “Lack of foresight in bringing a pair of bike shorts to Mexico” came back the reply.
Had not thought I would be doing any biking down here during January, but managed to borrow a mountain bike from the guy living next door. No bike helmet, of course, so we made the pilgrimage to Cancun and spent the best part of a day trying to find a store that sold bike helmets for anyone older than 3.  Never thought to buy myself a pair of bike shorts, but I am not sure I saw a pair anyway. Going shopping in Cancun is more painful that riding a bike without the proper shorts, so there was no chance of returning to try and find a pair and thus the sore butt is gradually turning into a calused butt…maybe I will never have to wear bike shorts again.

On another note my Garmin stopped locating a satellites two weeks ago, although it still records my time and heart rate.  Had a two/three day exchange of emails with Garmin and tried their various tests and fixes to no avail.  I now have a returns number, but will need to wait until I return to the US to send it back.  They have promised to replace the unit.  Last December the heart rate monitor stopped transmitting data and I returned it and got a replacement very promptly.  The new HRM is quite different from the old one and seems to be a little more robust in it’s design.  I miss having the measure of distace after each workout, though, as this has generally been a very accurate way for me to judge improvements (if any!).  Now I just estimate distance, which, following the Rice principle, involves rounding (always to my benefit).
Was not looking forward to last Sundays swim, bike and run…in fact I was dreading it. The wind was quite strong from the south and I had to push hard against the current for half of the one hour swim. Not really sure how far I actually swam as even when the Garmin was working it could not record swim distance accurately.  The bike was relatively easy.  I can bike to the end of the island, about 4.5 miles, and then ride a three mile (approx) loop, which is somewhat hilly, over and over again, until it is time to ride home.  Started the run with heavy legs but after less than a mile I was feeling surprisingly good and did the rest of the run without any problem.  Of course I knew that once I got home I would need to rest before the real exercise of the day….cheering for the Packers in the afternoon.

Nice having a “rest” week,  but during my workouts this week my thoughts were of my nephew, Wayne, who was killed by a drunk driver, 4 years ago, on Jan 28.  He had wanted to do an IM and had started swimming in preparation.  He emailed me with his workouts a week or so before he was killed and said he was very happy with his improvements.  I often think about him and hope that I can do this one for him.

So although I am sticking to the schedule, I am exercising at my own pace (read, lack of intensity)…no one here to compete with, no one to push me along, no one to critique my form (clothing, color combinations, hair or lack thereof, etc)…but all that will change in just 8 more workouts.  Looking forward to being back with the Team, hating the thought of being in the cold.