A little tired, softball and a sore throat

I don't get sick. I do not do well when I am sick. I don't like being sick. I refuse to be sick.

I hate it so much that I have not allowed myself to be sick for years. Not one or two but dozens of years. Maybe I define sick as something different. Sick is when you have to change your schedule - when you can't do the things that you want to do. Sure - I have been hurt, cut, bruised, bleeding and in so much pain that I could not do the things that I want to do - but not sick.

I'm not sick right now. On a scale of 1 to 10 I am at a 1. I have a scratchy throat. I did not sleep well last night. I was cold. I wanted to get up in the middle of the night and take a steaming hot bath even though the temperature in the house was in the 70's. But I'm not sick - far from it!

The softball game (the playoffs) was fun but it is over now. Many of us were already developing the 'Bad News Bears take the pennet' story lines. At our level of play it is just too darn hard to win games when you do not field a complete team. Automatic outs in the line up will kill you every time.

By the way - I really am not sick - just a tickle in my throat - but I do hate being sick.

Stadium lunges

Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work. - Thomas Edison

I have been getting to work early this week. No exercising in the morning and it seems like I have an extra hour. Not sure what to do with myself.

At lunch I went to the football stadium and did lunges up the bleacher seats. Not over doing it but a pretty demanding leg workout. And, I know that I should be in complete taper mode, but, I ran some 50 yard and 100 yard dashes at about 90 percent effort. It felt good. After the leg workout it was back to the gym for abs. I worked my abs a little bit on Tuesday but really hit them hard again. My midsection was sore. I try to work on functional strength as much as possible and swinging the bat in softball has really brought that to light. My left obliques are getting really sore after batting practice. I guess the side planks are just not up to the task. I have been investigating better oblique workouts. I have some old POWER 90 DVD's (the pre-cursor to the P90X) that have some killer ab workouts. I might need to dust those off. What is the point of doing these exercises if they do not translate to real world strength?

We did end up winning our second softball game by default again. The other team just did not show up - pathetic but we might make the playoffs!

70.3 NO - T minus 4 days

I had a great swim in the pool on Monday at lunch. A couple of 500's here and there and then a 1500 yard set. I was cruising and felt like I could just keep swimming. I was not timing the sets but I was feeling the water! That just does not come naturally to me.

We won our first softball game on Monday night. The frat delta delta sig pi something or other did not show up. They thought that the game was at 7PM - nope 6PM. Brains over brawn. Sometimes you get the W by just showing up! Here I come New Orleans!

Yesterday was just a strength training day - abs and chest. During the bench press I felt uber strong. I was crushing the weight. And with this taper stuff I have rested my legs for two whole days. I'm not sure why but my appetite has really increased even though my work load is way down. Struggling with the weight but I am okay with it.

I'm not sure why but my legs have been aching like I have worked them hard. They are rested. I'm not used to these feelings. My legs usually feel fine or dead - right now they are achy. I hope that these days off are allowing them to recovery fully and I will have one of those super compensation days - like the chest work out yesterday.

Another softball game tonight - we might actually have to play.

Group Ride and taper

I went to a crawfish boil Saturday night. Too much to eat. I got into a 3 hour volleyball game. It was just for fun - I had a great time.

Slept late on Sunday - after all that is what tapering is all about. I did end up going for a 40+ mile bike ride with the Sunday group ride. It was a cool day and I was wearing arm and leg skins. I let the fast group pull away and stayed in the back. No need to push it this late in the game. The fast group slowed and waited for everyone at Epley and I was able to bridge the gap. I still was not pushing a hard pace. For one of the first times I headed back at Sumral. I would have liked to continue the ride but I had softball practice a little later in the afternoon.

I got back to campus and just had time to change for softball. We threw the ball around and batted for about an hour and a half and then I headed home on the bike. Vic took my softball bag home with him since I was on the bike. It occurred to me, after the fact, that my drivers licence, school id and cell phone were in the bag. Luckily I had keys to the office where my bike was - glad that key was on a lanyard or I would have been walking.

With no way to get to the gym this morning (no ID) I slept in again for a little bit - probably a good thing. At lunch I decided to swim. I got 3000 yards and I feel strong in the water.

I am excited about this weekend.

The lake conditions for Pontchartrain Beach -: http://saveourlake.org/water_quality.asp

Fecal / Coliform = 24
Water Temperature = 68
Salinity = 5.8
Disolved Oxygen = 6.62

Softball?

Went for a 50 mile bike ride with Jodie on Sunday. It was at a good pace and we enjoyed the ride. I get a little antsy and had to sprint ahead a couple of times. My legs felt strong. Later that night they were a little achy - I guess just from the combined workouts of the weekend. An intramural softball team started up last week. The first game is Monday - we did not really have a team but we did get a short practice in on Sunday - 5 people. I do a lot of ab work in the gym but I can feel my obliques from the bat already.

I got up late on Monday morning and did not have much time in the pool. I saw Jen who had just won her age group in the Sunfish Duathlon. We chatted a bit and I only swam 500 yards. Oh well.

Monday's lunch was a nice and easy (8:30 pace) 4 mile run and then some back strength work. Hitting the weights was tough after a week off. It was really hard to hit the back muscles - my arms were fatiguing quickly.

Had a great time at the softball game on Monday night - even though no one on our team got on base. We were playing one of the fraternity teams - I think some of the girls must have played high school ball. We were just out classed but it was a fun time.

I got up a little bit earlier today - back in the groove - and got a solid 1500 yards in the pool - 250 warm up - 12 x 100 yards with progressively shorter recovery and a 250 yard cool down. I brought the wet suit with me to work and I am going to try to get out in a lake after work. There are thunderstorms on the horizon and this may be my only chance for the rest of the week.