29 Min Swim - 58 Min Bike - 17 Min Run

29 Min Swim - 4:50am
1400 yds
48.28 yds/min

58 Min Bike - 5:30am
20.07 miles
20.76 mph

17 Min Run - 6:30am
1.7 miles
10 min/mile

It's very early (4:30am) on what should be my rest day, but I'm off to the gym to get in some swim/bike/run.  It's weird because going to the gym Saturday morning is something that I look forward to all week, even though it's super early and I know I'll be tired.  I'm sure it's because there is some novelty to it still, I wonder how long that novelty will last and keep motivating me out of bed in the cold to go do cardio for a couple of hours.  I guess it doesn't matter right now, because I got up fine this morning and had a great session.

When I got to the gym it was me, the guy behind the counter and one girl on an eliptical machine that I had never seen before.  The parking lot (above) was pretty empty, a far cry from the hustle and bustle that a weeknight at 5:30pm brings.  I like the peacefulness, the quiet, the ability to go in and just work.  I didn't see Frizzy McBlonde Hair or Brownie VonCrop Pants at all today, I don't know where they were.

I got into the locker room, threw my bag in my locker and hit the pool.  (Old Navy showed up right as I was going into the pool, he lifted for a half hour and then proceeded to do his usual circuit of every cardio machine in the place for 15 minutes a piece - nothing out of the ordinary.) Today is a shorter session becuase it's the end of my recovery week so it was only 29 minutes, but I was determined to work on my technique, flip all of my turns and drop my stroke count, at least a little.  I ended up flipping all of my turns on all of my 100yd intervals.  I also did them on a strict 2 min interval (start then finish 100 yds and start then next one two minutes exactly after you started the last one...if you finish in 1:45 you get 15 sec rest, if you finish in 1:55 you get 5 sec rest).  I was consistently finishing at 1:45 and taking 15 seconds rest and felt like I could have done these intervals ad infinitum.  My first 25 of each of my 100s was my best technique wise and my technique would fall off as I got more fatigued.  My stroke count was averaging 20 but I had a few lengths where I really focused and got it into the 17-18 range.  This still needs an immense amount of work.

I finished my yards and hit the locker room to put on some shorts and a shirt and headed to the spin bikes.  I hopped on my favorite (second from the right, back row) and started to pedal.  Spinning gives me the opportunity to listen/watch my Zune and do some people watching.  By this time in the day (5:45am or so) there are a few people filtering into the club.  One guy that I hadn't seen before was working with the cable machine and dumbells doing triceps, biceps and rows.  It was odd because he was only using one arm at a time and I wanted to tell him to just get another dumbbell and do both arms at the same time.  I should have shouted like one of those infomercials, "I can cut your exercise time in half!" and I wouldn't have been lying.  The other odd thing about this fellow was that he was wearing a weight belt, which is pretty unnecesary doing cable exercises and using 20lb dumbbells, but I'll let that slide AND he looked like he had in some chew.  Y'know, smokeless tobacco.  I couldn't figure this part out because I know people do stupid things, but dip during a weight routine seemed extrodinarily odd.  I was somewhat releived, but more bewildered when he went to the drinking fountain and figured out that it wasn't dip at all.  It was a mouth guard.  Why on earth does this guy need a mouth guard to use a cable machine and dumbbells?  Does he hit himself in the face a lot?  Does he expect that someone will come by and elbow him?  Is weightlifing a contact sport now?  Seriously, WTF?

Anyway, I finished my spin and hopped off and jumped onto a treadmill to finish out the trifecta for the day.  I started the run at 5.5mph and sped it up by half a mile an hour every minute or two until I got up to 7mph (8.36 mile avg).  This was a better running session than I expected after already swimming and biking for an hour and a half before starting.  This is the first time I did all three sports right after each other and I realized taht I think (with more training, of course) I can do this.  It was a nice realization because it felt like I did a mini-tri of sorts today and I didn't collapse or die or feel like I couldn't go on.  Hopefully that feeling lasts.