If It Weren't For The People

Morning Workout
RUN (treadmill)
Zone: 3x (7.5 minutes in Aerobic Conditioning (Zone 3) + 2.5 minutes recovery)

Random Comments: Yet another workout I love. A mere 7 1/2 minutes of really hard followed by a short recovery. I think I love these types of workouts because it is really more mental training than physical. It's about keeping the mind focused despite the pain. I focus best when there is "despite the pain" in the sentence. "Dig deeper" works too. Unless of course there is a shovel involved.

SWIM
Main Set: 10 x 100 meters (10 seconds rest)

Random Comments: God-DAMN I was tired for this workout. It was tough to keep moving. Which is why when we finished the 10 hundred meter repeats, I had us dig deeper and do one more despite the pain.
_______________________________________________________________

It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas (feel free to sing that line). I mean, it's as close to Christmas as you can get in the 75 degree weather of Los Angeles. I've been living in Los Angeles for over 16 years and every year it was tough for me to swallow the concept of a warm Christmas. It just didn't work. Christmas requires snow. It's just the way it is. So every year I'd high-tail it back east, or up to Tahoe or really anywhere that had snow.

Then, two years ago, I was blind-sided by Christmas. It snuck up on me before I had anytime to plan a trip. With nothing to do, I reluctantly decided to stay in Los Angeles. And you know what happened? My entire perception of Los Angeles changed. That year made me realize that Christmas time is the absolute, hands down best time to be in this city. Just about everybody gets out of town during that holiday week. As a result the streets are empty, the stores are empty, the movie theatres are empty and, for once, life is easy in this town. Christmas at home made me realize the reality of California: Los Angeles is a truly great place, if it weren't for the damn people.

So now I treasure the holiday time out here. Especially since I travel so much throughout the year, I really look forward to sticking around LA during the holidays. This year Catherine and I got a X-mas tree that, I must say, is pretty darn beautiful. I'll be spending Christmas with her family. And then, for a brief time, we're going to zip up to Tahoe and Mammoth for the days surrounding New Years. Well... maybe a little snow doesn't hurt after all.