Friday, August 31, 2007

Today's Workout: Where Triathlon and Buddy Cross

I intended to be up at 5 AM to get on my bike. From 1 until 3:30 AM I was battling my swim allergy--an allergy that happens only when I swim at the Y, not at any other pool, not in open water swimming. Needless to say, I turned the alarm off and decided that riding to work would suffice as the 60 minute ride on my schedule for the day.

During my battle of congestion which results from my swim allergy, I came to the conclusion that triathlon and sleeping with Buddy have a lot in common. When swimming in a congested lake (say for example with 2,200 people in Lake Placid) you want to protect your face. In the 4 years that I have been doing triathlon, I have been kicked in the nose once (I saw stars) and three times this year in two different races I had my goggles ripped off of my face. When things are tight in the water I try to always keep one arm in front of me to protect an errant foot or arm to the nose or mouth. Same with Buddy. Buddy insists on body contact and at 15 pounds (albeit I think the scale is wrong) that is a lot of girth making contact with your face. I've started keeping one arm out in front of me. He's content to make contact with the arm, this keeps him off of my face and enables normal breathing. Secretly I know he is doing this as part of my training.

ART treatment yesterday. We are now focusing on the sciatic nerve which is impinged up in my hip. Funny how when you lessen pain in one area the source of the injury becomes more apparent and the source usually has little to do with the pain you are complaining the most about. Curious but apparently true.

Tomorrow, another trifecta Saturday. Still working on where to bike.