A Camel in Chicago

Good morning.

As I sit in my favorite worn brown leather chair I am watching the latest and cutest litter of kittens climbing up my back deck stairs and lookin at my dogs. These are Chicago wild alley cats. They reproduce all the time. Many of them like to hang out in my small, typical, Chicago lot back yard. They like to be under the deck. I actually like to see them. They are true survivors in all kinds of weather. The kittens are so cute.

After a great weekend of running 16 and biking 60 I decided to take Monday completely off. The only activity I did was walk the dogs and hit some golf balls. That time off made yesterday's workouts great.

I started yesterday with a morning swim workout of 1500 yards. I kept debating if I should swim in the pool or head to the lake with the wetsuit. I chose the pool only for times sake.

The swim consisted of a warmup which I like to slowly turn into a swim. What I mean is I start slowly and just build my pace with out stopping. So, I ended up swimming an initial 1000 yards in 19:45. I then did 5X100 speed work. My average 100 yard time was 1:45. Back in Dec/Jan my time for 100's was 1:58-2:00. Fifteen seconds increase in pace is a lot for 100 yards. I still want to get this in the upper 1:30's.

In the late afternoon when the heat was at it's strongest I went for my run. I love running in the heat. I dream about running in the heat during the winter. I think the Sun feels great and penetrating,healing. The temp was about 88 degrees with a slight breeze.

I decided to run 8 miles and just see how it would develop. It went well. As I ran sweat was poring off my V Team hat like someone left the faucet on. A terrific run and excellent heart rate:

Split Time Moving Time Distance Elevation Gain Elevation Loss Avg Pace Avg Moving Pace Best Pace Avg HR Max HR Steps Calories
1 0:08:40 0:08:37 1 0 7 8:40 8:37 5:45 123 136 0 91
2 0:08:13 0:08:14 1 14 0 8:13 8:14 5:04 138 145 0 98
3 0:07:54 0:07:53 1 0 0 7:54 7:53 5:52 143 148 0 97
4 0:07:52 0:07:53 1 0 18 7:52 7:53 6:00 145 148 0 97
5 0:07:28 0:07:28 1 19 0 7:28 7:28 4:49 145 151 0 93
6 0:07:46 0:07:47 1 0 4 7:46 7:47 6:32 151 154 0 99
7 0:07:42 0:07:42 1 0 0 7:42 7:42 5:26 -- -- 0 98
8 0:07:50 0:07:50 1 0 11 7:50 7:50 6:46 154 158 0 101
9 0:01:41 0:01:41 0.2 0 0 8:30 8:26 7:15 155 158 0 22
Summary 1:05:10 1:05:05 8.2 32 39 7:56 7:56 4:49 125 158 0 796



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" Beyond the very extreme of fatigue and distress, we may find amounts of ease and power we never dreamed ourselves to own, sources of strength never taxed at all because we never push through the obstruction."

* It takes courage to push yourself to places that you have never been before... to test your limits... to break through barriers. And the day came when the risk it took to remain tight inside the bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.” - Anais Nin