Into the Wild

Day Four of two-a-day sessions. I'm starting to feel the burn.

The backs of my knees are tight, as are my glutes. But I'm sleeping really well at night, despite Trudy and Bam-Bam's best efforts.

This morning started off strong. I was supposed to run outside for 45 minutes doing cadence drills and skipping. But, it was 43 degrees (though the sky was crystal clear blue) and I was having none of that. Still, I completed the workout in the office campus gym's wood-floored dance/yoga room and on the treadmill. The session consisted of six, 30 left-foot steps in 19-20-second inverals followed by 60 skips (30 each leg) and a Zone 1 treadmill cool-down. Aside from looking like a complete ass (why should this day be any different?!), the session was more challenging than I expected. But I felt pretty solid at the end.

The session's highlight came via my iPod when I rediscovered one of my favorite inspirational songs from the past couple years: "Big Hard Sun" by Eddie Vedder from the Into the Wild soundtrack. (BTW, I highly recommend reading the book. It's a quick, powerful read that straddles the essence of purity of purpose and utter insanity. Not too far off from training for an Ironman, I suppose.)

It was the perfect song for today. Cold. Alone. Passionate. Silent. Strong. I listened to it at least five times in a row.

The second workout occurred today at 5 p.m. I'm lucky to have a job that is both supportive of my personal goals and respectful of work-life balance. I was able to duck out of the office and head to the YMCA-Burbank to check out their indoor pool. I knew I'd make it back into work to make up the hours, and the pool closed at 6. Win-win scenario.

The problem with the Y's Burbank pool is that it's only 20 yards long, so you have to re-calibrate your regimen. For instance, you have to remember that 100 yards is five laps instead of the usual four. Given that I'm not the best at math and that I was running short on time, I missed the prescribed 2,600 yards of swimming by roughly 600 yards. Still, I swam a mile and accomplished most of the workout. Here was the breakout:

-- 200 yard warm-up (supposed to do 300)
-- 4 x 100 yards easy swim (skip)
-- 4 x 150 yard kick, drill, swim (check)
-- 3 x 200 yards moderate swim (check)
-- 8 x 50 yards fast (check)
-- 200 easy swim cool-down (supposed to do 300)

Man, was I hungry after! Killed an entire Baja Fresh Burrito Mexicano and probably will have a protein shake when I get home from the office, where I'm writing this entry after wrapping up the day's work.

And then I get to do another double tomorrow. Spin and upper body lifting.

Right now that sounds about as fun as getting lost in the wilderness with no way out.

Then again, after less than two weeks into my Ironman training, that's sort of how I feel already.

I'm clearly deep into the wild.

350 days and counting.