Iron Girl Gone Bad

The pool is shaping up nicely

It seems like I spend more time these days taking pictures of bodies of water (such as swimming pools) than actually getting in them and swimming laps.  I realize at some point this has to stop if I am going to race this year.  I'm always in the pool a couple of times a week by now.

 I could use the excuse that I am no longer a member of the Y and my new gym doesn't have a pool.  I could also say that the pool in the back yard has looked more like a fungus filled mud hole until a couple of days ago.  It looks very inviting now, but it isn't quite long enough to swim a good lap in so there's my excuse for that.

I have always been a pro at good excuses to get out of swimming too much.  In fact, the only time I have ever put in a consistent 3 days a week, at least a mile or more swim is when I have signed up for at minumun a half ironman.  More if I am training for an Ironman.  But not much more.  I just make one of my swims a long 2 hour straight swim.  Sprints, not so much.

I realize I could do so much better in a race if I got in the water on a regular basis.  My lack of water time was never much of an issue when I was a stronger biker.

That's the other problem.  In order to be a stronger biker, I know I need to put more time in on the saddle and that doesn't mean just trainer rides, exercise bikes or spin classes.   I love (loved) biking so I don't really have any reason for not riding except I'm just being bad.  I'm an Iron Girl gone bad.  It's a simple as that.

Donuts, alcohol, chips, sugary sweets combined with no swimming and very little biking.

Put me in time out!

Cream filled Dunkin Donut....

I eat way to much sugar including pigging out on Dunkin Donuts this week along with other kinds of sweets.  The other day I recklessly started tweeting about all the Dunkin Donuts I was eating and the next day the" Find Healthy Snacks Girl" was following me on Twitter.  Coincidence or is "big brother" watching?   Was this a sign that I need to become a healthier snacker or else??

I was so worried that the Murph and I checked our blood sugar levels with his dad's diabetic kit when we were in New Jersey a couple of days ago.   I was relieved to find that despite all the sugar, desserts, pasta and alcohol I had consumed all that day, my blood sugar was normal.

 But now what?  It is May and I haven't been in the pool since last October.   I have only been on my bike a handful of times and here I am wanting to qualify for the Ironman World Championship in Kona.  I am also planning on doing some races in June.  Less than a month away.  I know I can do it even without all the training and discipline I usually have by now because I have been racing for almost 15 years.

Will it be painful?  Yes.  Will my time totally suck?  Yes.  Do I need to get my procrastinating butt in the pool and on my bike?  Hell, yes!  Enough already.

I have a Running Nazi to hold me accountable for running.  I just need to find a Swimming Nazi and a Bike Nazi.  Then I will swim way more than I want and bike more than I want.  Then I will get on here and write blog posts about them cussing at them to make me feel better.

It's a perfect solution cause then I will get all the training I need and lots of writing practice too and they will never know that I blog about them.  The Running Nazi doesn't know unless I tell her and she doesn't care anyway.  (I don't think she cares)

My goal is to get faster.  To get faster I need to go shorter distance first and then get longer and try to stay fast.  Then I will be fast enough to qualify for Kona.

 I'm already fast enough in my dreams.  Blazing fast.  In my dreams I swim every single night.  At some point during REM sleep between frantically searching for my bike helmet, goggles, race number, and various other race gear (during my dreams for some reason I always forget my racing gear) and getting lost along the course.

 Getting lost on the course is a recurring dream since that time last summer when the Nazi and I got lost running without fluids in 90 degree F. temps in what should have been a familiar neighborhood.

Then the cat usually wakes me up from this dream/nightmare by pawing me in the face.

My plan is to just slip in and start training like I've been doing it for months.  Hopefully, my body won't notice.  I have been running fairly steadily thanks to marathon training so the running part is easy.   I have also been working out at the gym doing weights and at least 30 minutes of cardio every single day for over a year now.

It's all mind over matter anyway.  This should work, right?

Dive Into This Stuff

It's official - the pool's a mess.  There's been a mystery leak that started about 3 years ago and the Murph just ignored it and kept adding water to the pool.  The leak wasn't that bad, but any leak apparently needs repair immediately according to what we found out today.  It's not a good idea to let a pool leak go for three years.  Who knew?

At the end of last summer, the Murph had the pool guy cover the pool without cleaning it (against the pool guys advice) because we were moving to the coast for the fall and he had already decided to do a super clean/leak repair this spring when he opened the pool back up.  I can only imagine what the pool guy was thinking as he covered a filthy pool with yellowish black water last fall.

I'm surprised the pool guy even showed up today knowing what he was going to be dealing with.

I haven't been in the pool since summer before last except on a big float where the water wouldn't touch me.  This is because by mid-summer the water was a funny color, murky with yellow stuff floating around in it. I told the Murph he was going to get a fungus or something really gross if he got in the water.

He got in anyway.  He didn't get a fungus.

Yesterday he spent the afternoon scooping up dead leaves that had fallen on top of the pool cover.  Water had collected on top of the cover as well and now it's a mosquito breeding ground.

The pool guy came today and was mortified.  He and the Murph have a love/hate relationship.  The Murph loves it when he comes and gets the pool uncovered, but hates the prices he charges.  The pool guy loves the money he gets but not enough to deal with the pool's neglected condition.

Now The Murph is really going to "love" it when he gets the final pool bill.  I think the pool guy wanted The Murph to call somebody else to do the work, but he's been doing it for almost 20 years so he's stuck.  The Murph's not letting him get away that easily.  He's a loyal customer.

The pool guy couldn't do much today because he had to pump the water off the pool cover before he can get it off.  Then he discovered that the mystery leak has caused the pool liner to slip off and now he's going to have to empty the pool to stretch the liner back on or get a new liner.  Then he's going to have to dig around underground to see where the leak is coming from.

Yes, it's a MESS!

On a positive note  - once the leak is repaired, the liner is properly installed and the pool is filled with fresh water. maybe we will have a summer where the water is clear all summer long and we can actually swim in it without fear of fungus or other nasty infectious diseases.

Seriously, we had a party here last summer where more than one person commented on the "funky" color of the water and asked what The Murph was doing to it.  One person even offered to loan us some pool chemicals....