Best soup on the planet...

Last night my legs got the absolute best running workout I can ever remember. It will be a long time until I forget that speed work session. I did the calculations and if I extrapolated my average mile pace to a 5 km race, it would have been an 18:22. I went as hard as I could without injuring myself and this morning both my calves were straining equally. Getting out of bed and walking down the stairs was a little rough. I was glad today's workout was a swim, I'm a big proponent that the cool water helps aid recovery.

I left work early and went for my swim. I was happy with it. About 15 minutes into it I saw Steve, my 1987 Hawaii Ironman buddy. I told him that I met another couple of other guys at the pool, John and Hugh, and John is training for an Ironman after only doing sprint distance races. I was encouraging Steve to sign up for the Syracuse Half Ironman next September. I told him the best way to get in shape is to set a scary goal. One that forces you to train or die.

Steve likes the social aspect of training and I told him that I'm sure there will be lots of rides and runs he could join next year with all the guys training for Ironman. Steve said he needed to get a bike and wondered if I'd go with him to help pick one out and I said "no problem". I said I already know the bike, the Cervelo P2C. Providing of course he feels good on it. I guess I'm a little bias owning one myself.

Today was a speed swim session and at the end I had to do 20 x 25 meters, one easy, one hard. On my last one, I really went hard and focused on pulling as much water as I could. I ended up doing that 25 meters in 18 seconds. If I was able to maintain that speed it would be a 1:12 per 100 meter pace. Now at least I know how fast that pace feels. I realized today that I "could" be a faster swimmer if I was go hard like I do when biking and running, but going hard in swimming hurts to much. Maybe one day I'll learn to enjoy swimming pain.

When I got home I had swimming hunger pangs. I never get them from biking or running, just swimming. The odd part is that swimming burns the least amount of calories and makes me the most hungry. Yesterday Alice made a big pot of homemade beef vegetable soup. She is a World Class soup maker and nothing's better than second day old homemade soup. I had two big post swim bowls of it.

This morning, I summoned up the courage and stood on the scale, the first time in weeks. The last time I stood on it, I was 185 lbs. Today I was 181.8 lbs with a 22.1 % BMI. It was a pleasant surprise. I've now had 6 perfect days of eating and 19 days without a beer and it's starting to show. My goal is 177 lbs and 19 BMI before Clearwater.

Speed Swim - 1:09:13 / 3000 meters