Holy Cow, Michael Phelps

My cousin Biz said that she thinks that Michael Phelps may be part fish - I think I agree. He is so amazing to watch swim - it is crazy. If you haven't watched him yet in the Olympics, check the listing to see when he is swimming or check the replays at NBC.com - he is a marvel.

I'm having a blast watching the Olympics. It's on like 8 hours a day and I love to watch it all....I can't stop - I may be addicted. Call intervention (which is another good show, but I digress).

I've been loving watching Michael Phelps (as I said) and was so happy when I found out the Raj got on the men's gymnastics team after Paul Hamm dropped out. Raj was an alternate, and, in my opinion, should have been picked for the team in the first place. He has had an amazing year and was fantastic at the trials. I love watching him to - he lights up the events. I can't wait until Friday - that is the start of Track and Field. I'm eager to watch the marathon, of course, and the triathlon too. It's a good thing that school is out of session - watching all the coverage is like a full day "job." Thank God for my DVR (like a Tivo).

Amidst the awe and inspiration of Olympians, my own training continues...

I took off Sunday AND Monday from training all together. Instead of working out myself on Monday, I went and helped out at a 5K Trail Run hosted by a local running group that I am part of. It was fun - I got to hand out the water while everyone ran by all muddy on their way to the water obstacle. It looked like a lot of fun. I think I might run it next week. It had just stopped raining when the run began, so the course was still very wet and slippery and muddy - and it looked like an absolute blast! :)

So, today I did my speed drills. The cadence drills are coming along - I maxed out at 53 steps in 30 seconds - couldn't have gone faster if I'd tried. But that is about 2 steps faster than last time, so that is still improvement. The acceleration glides were tougher, and I had realized, while re-reading, that I had been doing them wrong the last couple times. So I did them the right way this time - my glides were fewer, but again, when I was doing them before I wasn't counting right. They still felt good and I'm getting the hang of them.

Most interesting part of today's workout was the weather - it pretty much sprinkled the whole time. I didn't much mind the rain, but the wind picked up a bit a few times during my drills and I could feel it impeding my body.

This week I don't have a long run because I go to the track for my first round of 800 meter timed runs - they are designed to keep me at my pace and focus my body on working at tempo. This week I'll do 3 sets of them. I'm going to do them Thursday instead of doing my normally scheduled run cause Bruce and I are traveling to Rochester on Saturday for my uncle's birthday party. There will be a lot of eating - and although I have come to love running - I am not going to pretend that I might be able to squeeze in my run while there is fun and partying to be done! :)

So, one more day of training down: overall, a good workout. Now I'm going to go feed my Olympics addiction by watching the white water rafting finals and spend the remainder of my evening with Brucie watching Olympians make everything look really easy.