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Curse You, Innocently-Named Winter Storm Nemo!

Aaron
February 8, 2013
Category: 
Exercise
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This is not the blog entry you were supposed to be reading.  I had it all planned out - I would go to my first running session at 7:30 this morning; meet my coach, Jane; and then write a long and encouraging blog post about how I ran a quarter-mile and collapsed into a heap on the indoor track and then Jane was like, "Get up, you can do it!" and then I was like, "I can't!  I'm too out of shape!" and then Jane said, "No!  Believe in yourself!" and then I believed in myself and got up and ran a 10k straight.
But the Z-Center was closed.
So, thanks to Winter Storm Nemo*, I wasn’t able to have any running training.  I won’t be able to next week, either, because I’ll be in Houston for a conference.  I’m very disappointed that I can’t start my formal training until mid-February.  I’ve been looking forward to it, and I spent the whole week telling myself, “Don’t be nervous – if you do badly you can just lie about it in your blog.  And plus, you actively competed for this opportunity.”
I have been exercising on my own, which has been going pretty well.  I swim 2-3 times per week with friends (and my wife) who are doing the Rocketman along with me.  I swam a lot in middle school, but stopped when I realized how bad I look in a Speedo.  But even since, swimming’s been something I enjoy.  Most people I know don't want to do a triathlon because they don't want to swim.  But that's my best stage. 
As of right now, I’ve gotten to the point where I can swim a mile comfortably in about 35 minutes with minimal breaks.  I’m very happy with that pace, and so now it’s just swimming that over and over again to build up endurance.  And get use to the crippling boredom.**  I’m also working to improve my stroke mechanics with one of my friends.  It’s been nice to have those drills one day, with endurance swimming the other two.  I’ve also tried talking to the Z-Center about releasing an alligator into the pool to really increase the realism of my training, but they don’t seem to receptive to the idea.***
Well, time to get some lunch and head home to hibernate for the weekend.  As I said, next week I’ll be in Houston for a conference.  But, I’ll share my absolute favorite running memory on the blog sometime next week.  It’s also one of my only running memories, but I promise it’s a good one.
Stay warm!
 
* Why have we started naming winter storms this year?  Is it social media's fault?  (Always blame social media for things you don't like.)  Is it that the Weather Channel figured that their forecast prediction abilities were good enough, and so they had some spare time to have a winter storm naming contest?  And also, regardless of why we named it, I don’t think that “Nemo” is a very good name for a storm that’s going to dump over a foot of snow on Boston.  It just makes me think of fish.  How about “Winter Storm Thor” or “Winter Storm The Punisher” or “Winter Storm Stay Inside and Watch Movies or You'll Get Attacked by a Polar Bear, sponsored by Netflix”?
** I don't know how closely you've looked, but there’s nothing interesting on the bottom on the Z-Center pool.  You know, we’re MIT – maybe someone can invent waterproof LCD monitor lane markers.  So that way you can swim and catch up on the latest episode of Game of Thrones.  Or (I guess) show ads.  100k idea, anyone?
*** If anyone has Z-Center connections, or an alligator I can borrow, please let me know.
 

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runningswimming
Blogger "Aaron" is learning Running compliments of MIT Recreational Sports.

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