5:00AM....The Norm

I don't know whether or not I should be happy with the way my mornings have been going this week.  The past two days I have gotten out of bed no later than 5:03AM....this is a good thing, this is exactly what I need to be doing.  Now for the twist, I have woken up at 4:50AM each of the past two mornings wide awake and ready to go.  I look at my watch and then make the decision to cram in ten extra minutes of shut-eye instead of getting up.  Why is my body doing this to me?  I guess I should be thankful that my internal clock is making the change to the early wake up (thanks to a couple nights of getting be sleep before 10:00AM).  But still, I feel like those ten extra minutes are so utterly important. 


Anyhow, I was up and at 'em this morning, got in the water at 5:55AM and put in a very tough swim workout for me.  I did a 400M warm-up (200 Free, 200 Pull), then I did a pyramid work out (50, 100, 150, 200, 250, 200, 150, 100, 50) with 15 - 30 seconds rest.  I did a 100M cool down, although I would have preferred to have done 200 - 300M but time was getting short and I had to get showered and get to work.  The entire swim was 1,750M in 36:38, the longest I have swam since the summer.


A couple notes about my swim:

• I felt really good in the pool today, my stroke is getting smoother and I am lengthening my body more.
• My catch and pull is so much better than last week, I feel like I am gliding through the water now, more like a sailboat, less like a barge.
• My speed is improving as well; I am no means fast but I am faster than a week ago.
• I need to start learning bilateral breathing....I tried it a week ago but stopped after three laps.

Looking to run at lunch today, hopefully left leg starts to loosen up a bit more.  It feels better today, but still not great.  I am worried that the impending snow storm (expecting 12 - 18" of snow) and the inevitable shoveling is going to kill my lower back.  Hopefully it is nice light now.  I hope to post some pictures of last weekends storm and tomorrows as well.  Ciao!

Afternoon Update:  Ran a little over 4 miles at around 7:55/mile pace (156 BPM).  I was really tired and just couldn't find a good rhythm.  Still managed to get it done though.  Oh, there is a second scenario that is floating around about the snow storm are supposed to get tonight into tomorrow, possibly 18 - 24".  Dang, I am going to have to recruit my daughters to help me shovel......then again, how much snow can a four and a half year old and seven year old really move?  I'm thinking not much.