Day 236: Reassessing

Last night I dreamed in Scrabble tiles. Perhaps I've become addicted to Words with Friends. My friend CH and I have been playing around 6 games at a time. It's more than just the game for us, it's about spending time with a soul-sister from across a continent. The other day, I posted an unusual game on Facebook and was invited by one of my more intellectual friends to play. After I played "iodizes" for 73 points, he resigned saying that all he'd had for the past three turns were vowels.

Last night, I finally saw my results for Sunday's race. When I saw my swim time, I was shocked! I seriously thought I was out there so much longer! But it was within my high estimation. My cycle was a tiny bit slower than I had anticipated and my running was about 15 minutes longer than I wanted it to be. My transition times are terrible!

Total time:3:56:46.0
Swim: 40:27.4
Transition 1: 5:30.1
Cycle: 1:51:55.8
Transition 2: 4:51.3
Running: 1:14:01.2

After seeing this on the internet this morning, I set out on a long bike ride (54.1 miles) to the coast. Riding on that vast open stretch of land, where the sea claims the continent, clears my head and quiets my thoughts. I tease that my best thinking happens in the shower, but in reality the open road on a bike has infinite capacity for profound thinking.

About the time I got to the Huntington Beach board walk, I had a very clear notion of how to improve my race times. In our triathlon training class, we had an hour long core strengthening class. We worked a lot on our legs, strengthening them. Yesterday, online, I also discovered some great tips from a pro trainer. I think that a lot of time can be scraped off the bike and run, simply by really working on strengthening my legs. And running more. A lot more.

So far, my game has had a lot of vowels, but I know as I stick to it and play well, I can still have a great time. And when all is said and done, it's all about working through the hard stuff satisfactorily. And sportsmanship.