The clearing after the storm

Nothing crazy happened today... and I was cleared of damage in my wreck, the guy was trying to pull a fast one! Woohoo!

This was great motivation to get to the gym today, even though I just wanted to sit and watch my roomate play the new xbox game he got yesterday...

I got up to the Y and was surprised how fast I found my rhythm on the treadmill. I settled into a nice pace (6.5) and set off for at least 30 min. I noticed the older man (older than me that is) was wearing a "tri-okc" group shirt. He had been running for a few min more than me when I started, and we both were pacing at the same rate. I noticed he looked at my numbers a couple times, as I was at his. I hope you can see where this is stupidly going...

He increased, I increased. He increased more, I increased more. I was competing in the worlds most boring race on a damn treadmill at the Y. How stupid was this. we were up around a 7.5 pace when he increased more up to around 8 and I finally snapped out of my stupidity and slowed back down to a 6.0 pace. Im upset for 2 reasons:

1. I broke out of my rhythm, on a day I was wanting to put in a good distance, for some silly spitting contest on a treadmill at the Y.
2. The old bastard beat me.

I talked to him a little bit afterwards once he was on his cool down and I was taking a short walk break (< 1 min, I overdid it a bit). Im really glad he didn't call me out or mention our little race. Maybe he was just increasing his pace on his own, and not racing me, but in my mind, we were bitter enemies racing to the death. He talked about doing an olympic tri a little bit, and told me I should really join the local tri group. I may look into this more in the coming year.

I got off after 4 miles, got in a good 500 yd swim, left the Y, drove back to the Y to pick up my goggles I left in the showers, went home. Not a bad workout. I only had a slight pain in my right foot. Im starting to get a buldge on the pad of my foot around my 3rd and 4th toe. I plan on webmd'ing it later, but I am sure it will just tell me its cancer (like every ailment always is on webmd).

I mentioned earlier than I have been having some asthma issues in the cold. After reading a few sites, here are my solutions:

• Wear a scarf or something around my mouth and nose. This will increase the humidity and temperature of the air entering the lungs, which will help unrestrict the airways.
• I need to warm up more.
• The more I run outside, and less I overdo it up front (never an issue for me...), the more quickly I will acclimate to the cold, and the asthma should reduce.
• If all else fails, see a doctor.
• Stop being a baby, other people do it. (this may not have been as helpful as the others)

Here are a couple site that have good information on cold running safety and asthma info.

That's all for tonight. I am still working on setting up a strength training program, as well as finding some good triathlons for the next year. I will put up another post about those, as I have rambled on enough for one night.