30 For 30 in March is ON

Elle: So there was some post-Ragnar soreness to deal with. We did a SLOW run along the dry river, averaging a 9:30 min/mile, every step was a painful reminder of running over 18 miles in a 30 hour period. A couple of days later, a nicer 5-miler around the University of Arizona, and I was starting to feel my legs again. But enough of the warm, sunny paradise that is Tucson, it was back to Boston!

Running around the lovely U of A

I arrived back in Boston at midnight to a cold, rainy/sleety mix. And first thing in the morning, an 8:30am meeting. I was mentally and physically exhausted. The contrast of the sunny, pleasant Arizona sky to the grey, frosty, rainy Boston streets was like a cold splash of water to the face. And after making it through the day, trudging home at 5pm to the toasty, womb-like apartment, the last thing I wanted to do was head back out, put on a swim suit, and jump in the pool. And since street cleaning has started, I knew there wouldn't be any parking spots when I got done with the swim, which meant I'd have to take the bus. Ugh.
But with this being the very first day of "30 for 30", quitting on the first day wouldn't really set the tone of achievement this month is supposed to be all about.

SO, I bundled up, and headed out into the snow.

My new Blue Seventy Vision Goggles

The bus was pulling away just as I got to the stop. Great. Luckily, another one came along about 5 minutes later. I finally got to the gym, went to the locker room, and there was music. Oh, that's cool, I thought, they've started piping music in here. Then I realized, no, it was a girl in the shower playing her music. On her phone? A water-proof radio? Who knows. It was kind of nice, although a bit strange.
I thought I had timed it so that I was arriving after the Masters Swim group was done. Nope, I arrived right with them. But luckily they leave one lane open, so I was all set. All set for an open water simulation, that is! Who knew the Masters swimmers could make such a ruckus in the water! It felt like every other breath I took ended up in a mouth full of splash. But I took it all in stride, and treated it like an open water swim practice. Which was good, I ended the workout with a feeling of confidence and accomplishment. I only did 1500M, and it took about 40 minutes (I took my time on the drills), but I was proud that I had even made it to the pool tonight. Also, I bought a new set of goggles from the nice people at Triple Sports when we were in AZ, and was excited to give them a try. And they didn't disappoint - they were comfortable and didn't leak. Sweet.

THE WORKOUT: 1500M Pool Swim
200M: warm up
200M: swim buoy drill
200M: catch-up drill
200M: fist drill
400M: 4 x 100M (on 2:15)
200M: strong effort
100M: cool down