One week of triathlon training is in the bag. My inbox has about 10 unreturned emails ranging from one to 30 days old. My typewriter has been idle long enough for puddles of dust to collect in the keys. I've just consumed half an order of nachos from Bennie's Burritos and am about to spend the rest of the night on the couch watching a New York documentary. I wiped a mossy layer of black dust from the fan blades this afternoon. I took half my nail off dunking the clothes deeper into the washing machine. This is how the summer goes. Well...
Not exactly.
At the pool on Thursday morning we learned some valuable lessons. First, always swim counterclockwise around the black lines in the pool when swimming laps. Which explains why on the previous Tuesday morning I found myself having to swerve around swimmers coming at me head on. This valuable nugget was given to us by a rather frustrated and attitude-ridden woman in our lane. Who knew.
The rest of the lessons came from a man with a much kinder demeanor. He smiled. He laughed. He had a long goatee with gray in it. He told us that the side of the pool we were swimming in were the fast lanes. Which could explain the woman's attitude at having to deal with us swimming both slowly and in the wrong direction.
He also told us to beware of the man in the green bathing cap. "Don't let him see you touch your toes down." And then he made the universal symbol for the slitting of the throat, the old finger across the neck.
The man in the green bathing cap was in the same lane as the woman with the attitude so we deemed that the "mean lane" and moved to the slower side of the pool to join the old ladies and people afloat with the aid of kickboards. Definitely more our speed.
The runs were hell. It's not that I'm so out of shape. It's as if my body and running don't agree. I feel heavy, thick, one moment that I could go forever, then next as if I'll keel over if I take another step. I got the right shoes. I tried proper form. I tried proper breathing. I don't think I'll ever run without suffering.
We'll see how week 2 goes.
