The Pain

Morning Workout
RUN
13.6 miles
Heart Rate Zone: Aerobic (Zone 1) / Lactate Threshold (Zone 2)

Random Comments: Another beautiful day in paradise, another great run. Little tweaks here and there from the tired legs of yesterday's bike ride, but really hard to complain about anything on a 57 degree day, sun shining brightly, reflecting off the big blue ocean by our side.

SWIM
2400m
Main Set: 12 x 50m (sprint every 3rd) / 8 x 50m (sprint every other) / 4 x 50m (sprint all) [15 seconds rest between each]

Random Comments: I've said it before and I'll say it again, I love this workout. It's focused on building speed. And 50 meters is just the perfect sprint distance. 25s are too short and 100s are too long. 50s are perfect - long enough to tire you out when going full speed but not too long to make you feel completely incompetent. And the set of 24 has the sprints paced out perfectly to keep the mind focused and the body working. And then just a suddenly, it's all done and over.
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There's good pain and there's bad pain. Bad pain, for instance, is walking around barefoot and mistakenly kicking the corner of a metal bed frame. Bad pain is hammering nails into the wall and learning the hard way that your fingers are too close for your lack of hammering precision. Good pain, on the other hand, are the aches and tightness of a long, hilly bike ride as you try to walk down a short flight of stairs. Good pain is the creaking and moaning of your body as you stand up after devouring a big post-run lunch. Bad pain makes you wince. Good pain makes you smile.

We had a long hilly bike ride yesterday. We had a long run today. My legs are tired. Very tired. They are in pain - good pain. Tomorrow morning we do hill repeats on the bike. Ten minutes of all-out pain, over and over again. It'll definitely hurt.

I guess there's nothing left to do but smile, smile, smile...