Quit raining on me

SWIM: 1200y in 30 mins
BIKE: 24 miles in 75mins, 4th TT and a 2010 PR of 24:41 (2009 PR was 24:31)


Now that my normal pool is closed, I have to scout around for a replacement. The next nearest Y is the brand new Carondelet facility, which according to my sources only has 3 swim lanes. This is reduced to 1 swim lane when an aquatics class is in session, as it was when we arrived. So one swim lane with 2 swimmers. Not that crowded, in my opinion.


I flagged down one swimmer, she was cool with circle swimming. The second swimmer? A flat-out NO. What? Seriously? It's not like there are already 3-4 swimmers. How hard can it be to share? I asked why, discussed it, and in the end persuaded her to at least try circle swimming with me. Turns out she hates swimming with old people who don't know how to circle swim, can't say I blame here there, but do I look like an old person? I promised that if was really so bad, so horrible, she could tap me and I'd get out. She was willing to try this. And I never got tapped out. It all went fine. In fact, I never really saw the other swimmers or had to change pace to accomodate them. Went rather smoothly, if I may say so myself. She seemed to realize this, and later apologized while still complaining about the lack of lanes. However, she did it loud enough that those in the aquatics class took note. I smiled and tried to give the impression that I really didn't know this women. Wasn't hard to do, I really didn't know her, but the angry looks went to both of us anyway. In the end, all of this discussing reduced a 45 min swim to a 30 min swim.


While she was apologizing, an older women jumped into the now open lane. The apologist gave me that look of "have fun with her" and left. Confident that I could work around one other swimmer without problems I took off. My new lane neighbor was taking her time, resting at each wall, and had a wide froggy-stroke that threatened my hydro-space. Nothing I haven't seen before. Until about 4 laps in I suddenly swim right into her! As in full freestyle speed, mind wandering and thinking about the argumentative swimmer, SMACK. The quick stop in the shallow end brought my knee down against the bottom of the pool. And I was sure I hit her pretty hard. I came up spitting out the water I inhaled, and she said "Oh, I thought we were circle swimming!". I see know why circle swimming with old people is best avoided. So much for my 20x100y workout.


The ride was later in the day, when storms were popping up everywhere. The skys were clear as I drove out, but quickly clouded up about 5 miles from the site. The phone weather showed red/yellow/green swirling everywhere overhead. The wind picked up and rain started. The sky to the east threatened rain, while off to the west the sun was shining! Are we crazy for waiting an hour in the parking lot to see if the sky would clear? Probably. Did we get a good ride in anyway, with light rain? Yuppers! In fact, I have a 2010 PR of 24:41. There was a bit of headwind on the way out, a light tailwind on the return. One goal I had for tonight was to not do a "J" ride, with all the energy output at the begining and at the end. I'll have to look at the Garmin to see how that worked for me.