Break Interrupted

For the last few weeks I haven't been doing any 'workouts'. I have occasionally shown up at swimming, always late, and I always am leaving early. I also swam in a lane at a pace easier than usual, and I swam at the back of that lane. The week I spent in SF I did a couple of super short easy runs-20 minutes on a treadmill at the hotel gym. I only did those runs because of this view.....

and when I got tired of looking this way, I looked that way..

My weekly totals of physical activity were around 2.5 hours. Lots of days of zero. The last time I was doing this little I had cracked ribs and was forced into a layoff. It is so much easier to accept when I am in control and decide to do nothing. I also don't sound so lazy when I say 'I'm in my off season rest period'. Hey, I make my athletes do it, so I too have to follow that advice. Okay, it takes way more convincing to get my athletes to take a break, I jump right on that bandwagon. (if only I could learn to mount a cross bike that quickly and smoothly!). So the point I am making or rather trying to make is that if I were to put on lycra and head out the door, it would be to take it easy and enjoy the fall air. Seems that my training buddy is on a different schedule than I am and she is done with her break and ready to go hard.

Friday we set out for a nice easy short run. 20 minutes tops with breaks to admire the flowers and in her case pee on them. At least that is what my plan was. I guess it isn't always about me because she wanted to go and go hard. I thought about stopping her and slowing her down but then I realized that there have most likely been plenty of times that she planned a slow, short run and I dictated a much longer and faster one. Trying to be a good training partner, I decided to sacrifice myself for her. Okay, maybe she wasn't too interested in doing a hard tempo run, she was just chasing the horses that had passed us, and boy was she having fun. That's when it hit me, sometimes the best way to give the mind and body a break is to just go out and have fun. I'll chase the horses with her but I am drawing the line at enjoying her favorite delicacy that the horses often leave behind on the trail. I'm not that good of a training partner!