Maximum Weight/Low Reps Done Until Nov.

The gym free-weight workouts of maximum weight with low reps needs to be removed from my training plan. My shoulders and arms take too long to recover to have anything close to a good swim the next day. Even if they recover, it seems everything is tighter than they should be. I find myself stopping every 100 or 200 yards to rub the area where it's tight. So I'll set aside the workout until November, even though I was noticing good results from it.

I've learned every workout needs a period of time off during the year. Swimming is only enjoyable if I can take a few months away from it. Running is only possible if my legs and especially the knees get a break from the high impact for a couple of months. I look forward to going to the gym most when I haven't been in some time.

Visiting the Longhorn Half-Ironman Again This Coming October

There's only one thing that could get me back to do the Longhorn Half-Ironman again. If my brother called up and said, "Why don't we do it together?" He did.

There was a long pause of several weeks between the call and the registration. I think we were each feeling the other one out on level of seriousness. Yesterday, he registered. I manned up and registered as well.

I knew it would happen and that's why I started training a couple of weeks ago. I seem a lot more sore than I did the last time I trained for this race. I can really tell I took last winter easy.

Yesterday, I ran five miles in the heat to start to get acclimated. All I can say is thank God for Barton Springs. The 68-degree water is heaven for a dip and cooldown after summer runs.

Workouts for the day: (AM) 5K run, 1000 yard easy swim. (PM) weight machine circuits + 1 hour bike.

Phone Recluse No Longer

The Sprint HTC Evo 4G phone arrived last night.

• Android 2.1


• 1 GHz processor


• 3G and 4G capability


• GPS


• 8 megapixel camera


• 8 GB SD card

The Palm Treo never recovered from tagging along in the pool during my long swim. The dry rice trick didn't work. Many speculated on FB that I intentionally killed the Treo.

Separation of People and Toxins

"It may be that going forward we need to be thinking about the locations of industrial facilities and the locations of where people live and keeping a healthy distance between them."

Dr. Howard Frumkin
Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry

How safe is the air you're breathing, and where is it coming from? Tune in to "Toxic America," a two-night special investigation, with Dr. Sanjay Gupta, June 2 and 3 at 8 p.m. ET.

Changes Over Time

"When you finally go back to your old hometown, you find it wasn't the old home you missed but your childhood” ~Sam Ewing

I just went and looked at two blogs I read daily when all into triathlons and marathons and one now requires an invitation and the other has allowed the domain to drop so it fails. I feel like I went home to look at the house I grew up in only to find a parking lot.

It tells me to move on. Nothing to see there.

This weekend is the Capital of Texas Triathlon. I have no urge to participate. I am nursing the hip back into shape after the Austin Half and a busted knee. Even if I was well I don't think I'd want to visit the race again. With all of the sewage problems finding a way to the swim course I think staying out of that water is the safest bet at this point.

Both the knee and hip are 100% and I think next week I'll be in the pool several times a week with no expectations. Just swimming and running and maybe some cycling. My brother still wants to look at the Austin 70.3 as a possible fall race.

First Lunch Run in a Long Time

I was debating whether or not to go to the gym at noon and by chance checked the levels of particulates before walking out the door. Austin had a 0.2 level of particulates. No gym workout was going to be able to compete with the cleanest air in a long time. Halfway into the run I remembered I had taken an antibiotic in the morning and as the UV Index was about eight and this was the most sun I'd seen since last October, I decided to head back to the office.

The left adductor pain has subsided since the Austin Half-marathon with more stretching. Just another issue to add to the list of things to watch out for and treat.

Ugh!

from the Austin American Statesman the other day...

City might add admission fee for two free-swim hours at Barton Springs

By Sarah Coppola | Wednesday, January 27, 2010, 12:16 PM

Austin’s Parks Department might charge an admission fee during one extra hour in the morning and evening at Barton Springs Pool.

The hours of 8-9 a.m. and 9-10 p.m. currently have lifeguards but no admission fee, and officials say attendance has grown so large, especially at night, that they must keep a full shift of lifeguards on duty.

Read the rest and attend the public hearing on the matter.

Many of those attending before 9:00 am are runners soaking their legs after a long run. At least on Saturday and Sunday mornings. If the City starts charging at 8:00 a.m., I think I'll permanently be found soaking my legs downstream in shallow runoff waters of the dog park. The water is just as cold as the water in the fenced Barton Springs pool. There are more snakes, turtles, dogs, ducks and people downstream in the dog park, but in many ways it's more interesting. And, best of all it's free. Well, free until the City decides to fence it off and charge a fee for it too.