The Quote-Unquote Italics Of Masochistic Pain

Morning Workout
BIKE
2 hours
Heart Rate Zone: 3 x 20 minutes at Steady State Threshold (Zone 4) with 10 minutes easy spinning in-between each set

RUN
21 minutes and 13 seconds
Heart Rate Zone: Lactate Threshold (Zone 2) + Aerobic Conditioning (Zone 3)

Random Comments: This was our first quote-unquote "real" day of training since that gloriously hellish Auburn race, eight days ago. (Yes, I said "quote-unquote" as well as used the actual quotations in both a repetitive and redundant fashion. Truth be told, I like saying quote-unquote because it adds such a great emphasis to the words you're speaking, and the fact is that its hard to show italics and bold when you speak without contorting your body into ways that are rather unnatural, if I do say so myself. I used to say things like, This was our first italic-nonitalic "real" day of training. But, as you can clearly see, that just sounds plain stupid and I got a whole bunch of "wow you're wierd" looks. So I've conformed to the "quote-unquote" quotes. I guess I'm just a conformist. Look at me, I'm a follower. But back to the training activities this morning...) The bike ride itself felt great. Nothing like taking a week off from training to make such a challenging workout feel so wonderful. The other nice thing is that, even though Cat and I had a full week of low intensity, relaxing nothingness, our injuries were patient enough to stay the course. How nice of them. So here we are, the evening of Memorial Day, Cat's got an ice pack on one knee and, if I can see across the room correctly, she may have another one on her hip and one on her back. I just removed the one from my achilles and the other one from my calf. As soon as I'm done typing this nonsense, I'll moan and groan my way onto the floor where I will proceed to stretch my back (that only hurts in three places now), whereby Cat and I will climb into bed all eager and willing to tackle our 90 minute run and 3500 meter swim in the morning. And the funny thing is, I'm happy about it all. It's like an old friend that's been on vacation for awhile. Granted, perhaps the friend can get annoying every now and then, but I've got to admit, if nothing else this friend is consistent. A pain in the leg, but consistent.

Welcome to Ironman training, where masochism is the barrier to entry. Now excuse me, I've got to lower myself onto the floor and start my evenings italic-nonitalic complaining.
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Star Spotting Of The Day: Lily Tomlin, 9 to 5 actress extraordinaire and one of the best parts of the latter West Wing seasons

Location: Walking up the sidewalk right smack dab in front of my household.

What She Was Doing: Truth be told, I'm not quite sure. She may have come out of the house up the street and across the way. She walked down the sidewalk, across the street and back up the sidewalk from whence she came, albeit on the other side of the street. All the while she was carrying a couple of very large bags that looked kinda like baby car seats in garbage bags. It was a bit weird. I'm still not sure what it was all about. That Lily Tomlin, always the mysterious one.