Lava swim

It's warm outside, and that's great. But one would think that perhaps, with it being warm outside, that a pool operator of an indoor or outdoor pool MIGHT lower the water temperature to make the water a little more refreshing. That, readers of The Chicken Tender Runner, was not the case today.

I hopped into the pool this morning for a strength workout for swimmers... 2200m of pull, kick, and buoy swimming. When I belly-flopped into the pool, I was immediately struck by how warm the water was. BAD! If its warm when I haven't even warmed up, its going to feel like LAVA when I'm actually swimming. And LAVA it felt like. I pushed through the sets, but it truly felt like I was freestyling through an active volcano that had just erupted and released phoenixes and devils into the sky. It was hot. And I was suffering. My arms felt heavy and tired, I felt dizzy near the end, and I still had 300m left to swim! I felt like a BURNT CHICKEN TENDER. I decided that rather than die, I would just get out of the pool and step into a really cold shower. And I did. Whew.

Sunday I met with the MAN of The Netherlands, Dirk, for an "easy" ride. It wasn't hard, just when I ride with Dirk, I tend to push the pace a little harder. OUT OF FEAR. We cruised through Beach Drive and added a hilly loop. 22 miles or so, several minutes over an hour. It felt good. We were as usual the fastest people out there. We agreed that probably no one else out on the roads train as hard as we do. It's a good feeling to have.