A Bad Day, And A Revelation

This week marks, more or less, the 52nd week since my most painful two weekends of running in nearly two decades of the activity. I ran a half marathon almost a year ago which was actually an enjoyable first eight kilometers, followed by a very uncomfortable fourteen. Not to be outdone, the next weekend's (scheduled) 16-mile training run transformed into a tale of two loops; one good, and one terrible.


Since that harrowing fortnight I've been on the mend. I've tried to do as many things as "right" as possible, in the hope I can return to full-fledged running craziness. There have been good days/weeks and bad runs/recoveries, transitions and changes, and - most of all - a changed philosophy about my own training.


This week was the first of a three-week cycle where the running or non-impact exercise was scheduled for fifty minutes. Everything went fine yesterday, mostly because it was a non-impact day. Today, on the other hand...


...well, let's call it a bad day. I felt beat-up at the two-mile point on the run, and had to shut down at the thirty-minute mark. I walked the additional twenty minutes so as to say I did fifty minutes of some sort of exercise. One thing I made the conscious effort not to do, this time, was to berate myself or punish myself for not being able to complete the run...at least beyond thirty seconds, and the time taken to mark my calendar entry with a yellow highlighter.


Too many runners are more likely, in the wake of a poor workout effort, to redouble their effort the next day. If the schedule called for an easier effort run, they most likely would scrap that effort to take the previous day's run on, just once more.


Don't do it. The best solution for a bad day is another day.

If the offending workout is a series of repeats, save it for the next speed work day...or leave it be. If a long run, do it on another course, or do the same course which kicked your tail before. But "a steak and a nap," an old friend's way of saying "be good to yourself," will give you time to look at some of the things which might be going wrong.


It could be something as simple as wearing the wrong pair of shoes, the wrong shirt (if you sweat like I do, that's more important than you think), or, strangely enough, the wrong terrain.


Who knew that a mulch-covered trail could cause me such pain?

It flies in the face of conventional wisdom passed along by generations of runners and coaches: Softer surfaces are better for distance running. That's why the Kenyans are such great distance runners, right? That's why ultradistance events are on trails, right? I guess not.

Exercise researchers, interviewed for a (July 19, 2011) New York Times article, concluded there was no direct correlation between running regularly on soft surfaces and decreased tendency toward musculoskeletal injuries. In fact, the researchers found that runners tend to adjust to the surface on the fly in order to maintain a consistent ground reaction (impact) force. So, we're less stiff when we run on a roadway, but our legs stiffen when we hit the softer surfaces.

So, from where does the discomfort, or injury come? Like any situation where one of my athletes has complained of aches and pains, I start to look at what was recently added to the training regimen. Running one day on a treadmill, the next on a mulch trail, and perhaps two days after on an asphalt roadway, may have caused too much "confusion." Simply put, there was too much new stress in the past couple of days for this (nearly-50-year-old) body to adapt.

It doesn't mean I can't run on the mulch trail. Just that I need to add the trail in smaller doses. Once again, at least in my case, the best solution for a bad day on the trail is to schedule the trail for some other day.

Alice's Restaurant

Went out for a run on New Years' Day with a couple of (former) athletes and good friends. Late into the run, my friend Beverly told me about a mutual friend of ours, Mel, who became so motivated by his performance at Ironman Florida he took up running with a passion. Next thing she knew, she said, he read Christopher MacDougal's "Born to Run" and began training for a "real" marathon. We spent the remainder of the run discussing the next book to recommend; she thought it should be John L. Parker, Jr's. "Again To Carthage," I held out for "Ultramarathon Man: Confessions of an All-Night Runner," by Dean Karnazes.

Listening to "born-again runners" is a joy. Most of them cannot help but reveal what they consider their personal (secret) revelation to the world around them. Most runners know there really are no secrets, other than 'train your heart out, rest when not training.' I also like to hear someone speak about running, as Arlo Guthrie once sung, "with feeling..."

Sometimes the feeling can make us parochial, even dogmatic, about what we think is best for our fellow runner. As a coach, I admit I've recommended running specialty shops, web sites, coaches, training plans, races, lodging, and - on rare occasions - shoes, equipment, and gadgetry. Years after my last lodging arrangement, I still get 'hey, just curious if you're booking rooms for such-and-such race' e-mails. From people who never trained with me.

"...you should tell every young runner to use (brand) running shoes and (device)," the boy said to George and myself over a beer last night. That's the type of statement to which my old coach, Dale Fox, would reply, "Oh? Really?" Rather than immediately shut my ears to what Steve (a.k.a. "the boy") said I decided to take a few moments and listen. Not so much to dissassemble his assertion like an assault rifle, eventually laying the greasy little parts in front of him. I trained for a few years alongside Steve's his father, so there's a familial obligation involved. I also appreciate the boy's "salta de qualitat," or recent leap in his run performances.

Shoe manufacturers can market their shoes with a statement saying "the way you should run," but normative statements don't get marketing gurus and advertising agencies in hot water. That kettle of fish is usually saved for the coach or the running emporium proprietor who has to hear from the athlete, 'so, what do you think of...?' So the shoe, which costs about 20 percent more than what the athlete already wears, is designed to make the athlete adapt their running gait? Ah, but if I were to focus the athlete on a faster turn-over and a shorter stride - the very same mechanics the shoe purports to encourage - would they give me the additional 20 percent they would have spent on the shoe?

Probably not. Shoes are sexy. Coaching isn't.

There are an abundance of gadgets on the market which are a great help to runners, but there are certain things a massage therapist will be able to do that a roller, stick, or ball won't. But a runner on a tight budget may consider self-massage items a good (inexpenxive) substitute for regular massage therapy. I have a retired friend who knows his way around a dollar. I guess when you can retire before 55 you have a blend of skill, luck and the ability to know your way around a greenback. Rather than spend 40 dollars on a self-massage modality, he took the same 40 bucks and made a bunch of very-workable self-massage sticks, giving them out as holiday presents a couple of years ago. I still have his stick in the corner of my living room, next to a 100-dollar massage kit. You can take a wild guess which gets used more often.

A new friend, Galen, ran (at least) seven marathons in seven days last week here. He told me he sees the strangest things at some of the distance runs he does. Probably the most frightening was the (his words) "runner wearing the Camelbak as well as the 'hand grenade' bottle belt."

Overkill? I think so. Galen told me he asked the name of the running store proprietor, probably in order to tell newbie runners "enter at your own peril."

So before I "rhetorically" sing a bar of "Alice's Restaurant" ('you can get anything you want...') and walk out of any conversation, I always like to remind friends that every runner is a unique experiment, a sample population of one. What works for you, works for you. If you see something cool and new, take the time to do the research or ask if you can give it a trial run before springing the big bucks.

That's probably one more race entry, from what I can figure. Races are more fun than gadgets.

Resolution? No. More Like Goals.

Back in the days of the old Emerald Coast Racing Team, our group would get together on Thanksgiving morning for a six-to-eight mile easy run. It was a nice way to kick off the season of feasting and sharpen up a little for the last 5K race of the year. Some time in the middle of the run we would chat about goals for the coming year; what marathon or half-marathon we wanted to run, what 5K goal time we wanted to beat in the spring...stuff like that. And even now, years after that group's dissolution, I still like to think about the accomplishments of this year and the challenges of the next, especially in the realm of running.

Not surprisingly, the topic of New Years' resolutions came to the surface while "chatting" with a few friends on a common social media site. Most of the resolutions seemed run-of-the-mill and typical for citizen athletes, with some ambition here and there. And that's a good thing.

I wrote a post about a year ago, titled "Resolved Not To Resolve," in which I swore never to engage in the overambitious, somewhat nebulous and somewhat self-defeating gesture of proclaiming a New Years' resolution. Suzanne, my wife, would probably say she's perfect as she is and wouldn't change a thing about me. The fact love is blind is good. Very good. I often hope, as a coach, friend, writer, co-worker, teacher, and supporter of all things endurance-based, to live a life that makes my fellow man see me the same way my dog sees me.

However, I'm still not going to make a resolution for the coming year, because that would suggest the fact I've failed at one or more things, slacked-off in a particular area, and decided to redouble my efforts to return to a former state of grace. Instead, I'm going to consider them as publicly-declared goals for the coming year. I hope each of you can find inspiration in one or more of the following categories:

1. Find an event, a race distance, or a venue beyond the familiar. Some places are notable for the (over-)abundance of a single event distance, or the same course every month. A friend is directing an event which consists of seven marathons in seven days between Christmas and New Years; she told me all of her participants are coming from outside the immediate area. The 5,000-meters (more or less) is king here.

When Suzanne plans a business trip, she now checks race calendars and hash kennel web sites with the same level of scrutiny as she does hotel accommodations and airline fares. If she can fit in a race, it's all that much more worthwhile. If I can't go she tries to bring me back a race shirt. If there's a really good race she asks me to consider taking time off. This year, for me, the trip race is a half-marathon in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada's capital city.

2. Give back to the community. Running is fun. Running clubs are fun. Running club politics, not so much. But that doesn't mean you can't help fold t-shirts at a packet pick-up for a race, or hand out water at an aid station. There are jobs so far back in the shadows that you may never hear someone complain, but without it the race director ends up with a half-dozen additional gray hairs.

This autumn I've taught a friend to measure courses; he gets a progressive percentage of the proceeds. If the race is for a non-profit we donate a portion of the cost back to the beneficiary (Thank you, Suzanne, for suggesting this!). Our second serious measurement job together was for a non-profit, which led to a race sponsorship, and our company's logo on the event shirt.

The national governing bodies for road racing (USATF) and triathlon (USAT) are always in need of volunteer officials to support their efforts. Nobody who gets into this makes a lot of money, much less a living, but it's - again - one of those jobs which someone has to do to give everyone else the chance to run.

3. Take care of unfinished business. A triathlon in Panama City Beach sent this writer to the emergency department for five hours a couple of years ago. The experience was enough to get into my head (not to mention my wallet) and stay there until the same time I was about 400 yards into a certain lake some five months later.

We all have one race or more that's kicked us in the chops. This year could be the year for payback. What do you have to do to make it happen? What kind of focus is it going to take? Might it involve an investment of time or a small amount of money? What's it worth to you?

4. Bring someone into the fold. I've always considered running to be the most democratic of sports. Even the most biomechanically-inefficient of us can participate, given a pair of shoes which does not damage us. The vast majority of elite runners I've met have been gracious and kind; there are jerks in the community, but no different than in "real life."

As human beings we're all social creatures. While there are people who prefer to train alone, there's still a need to be considered part of a community, even if on the periphery. Most running clubs can be selective, if they wish, about their membership, but I prefer to think the deepest circle of hell is reserved for those (social running groups) who willingly exclude others from their rolls...for no good reason.

(Forgive me, that was a "soapbox" moment.)

It might mean taking a walk with someone who doesn't run much. It could be running farther back in the pack at a 5,000-meter race. Or something drastic and out of the ordinary. Let your imagination, er, run wild. If I can accomplish all four of these goal areas I have no doubt there will be at least a few more happy people in the running community. Perhaps even in the community as a whole. What "big, hairy, audacious" goal have you slated for the new year?

Here's to a safe, mileage-filled, healthy and successful 2012!

Open Season on The Roads

I almost ran into a runner as I drove from my home to a local run group gathering last night.

Well, the term "almost" might be a little bit of a stretch. I was a couple of feet closer to him than I felt comfortable. I had my low beam driving lights on and cannot say I was distracted by anything. In fact, it wasn't until I was about 50 feet away from the guy that I saw anything.

I know my nearly fifty-year-old eyesight isn't the greatest, even at baseline. Top that off with the twilight conditions and the poor lighting on this stretch of road along the bluffs just off Pensacola Bay, it's amazing more runners (and bicyclists) are not injured or killed there.

In my own defense, when a guy runs out along the side of the road at twilight wearing dark gray and black thermal compression wear, with nothing light-colored, lighted or reflectorized he is not doing himself any favors.

The period between Thanksgiving and the New Year might best be called "open season" on runners, walkers and cyclists. Motorists are in a hurry to get from home to work, from work to shopping, from shopping to social function, and from social function to heaven knows where. Multitasking is something most humans do poorly, yet they do it regularly. That leaves the responsibility to the person not cocooned in a motor vehicle to either stay clear of where the distracted motorists are, or to make themselves very, very visible.

Lots of runners loathe the treadmill because of its boring nature; the same surface step after step. The same pace minute after minute. Are we talking about the same runners who go out for a run with headphones? Dude, wear them on the treadmill. Make a game out of the treadmill run; go hard for a song, then easy for a song. Sing along with the jams - I bet that will encourage everyone to steer clear.

Reflective clothing can be bought in a variety of styles (vest, belt, top), (bright) colors, and fabric weights. I recommend pairing reflective clothes with clip-on lighting; the more the better. At the least if you don't feel like wearing lights or reflective stuff, then a light-colored long-sleeved top is better than nothing. And definitely better than black, dark gray or dark blue.

And, most importantly, don't forget that cell phone with the camera, just in case things do go south on the run. You never know when you might see someone who needs assistance...or when you might need it yourself. If changing the time or the location of the daily run or ride to get away from traffic is not possible, then do what you can to make yourself seen out on the roads.

Same Time Each Year

This ALWAYS seems to happen to me immediately right before the New Year.

Every year. Without fail.

My wife worries about it, reminds me to be careful & prepares accordingly. Still, the same thing happens to me. The first year we were together - a week before I went to San Diego (to run a marathon & work on the Navy base at Point Loma) for three months - was the worst.

Last Thursday morning was not nearly as bad, thank heavens. My alarm went off at 5, after a short tempo run the evening before, followed by a couple of beers. I woke with a nasty glob-like feeling & discomfort at the roof of my mouth. In spite of my best efforts to fight the histamine-based assault on my upper respiratory system over the next three days, my breathing this morning is not good. It's nearly impossible to run when your throat is clogged the same way as if someone shoved a running sock down your throat. So my "easy" 30-to-60-minute run this morning was replaced with a trip to Wal-Mart for more & better medications. Better to nurse a low-level upper respiratory infection for a few days than try to train through it & end up with a full-blown fever, like when I was training for San Diego.

I've learned in the past eight-to-ten years to say no to an excess of parties & social functions. I don't have a hard time doing that; I'm socially-inept at baseline. But some environments are closer to a petri dish than others - ask any schoolteacher. I can be mindful of my exposure risk, & try to mitigate accordingly. But, it still seems my closest friends & contemporaries will wear themselves down during the holidays, catch something...and pass it along to me.

So where is the line drawn between the "go for a run" decision, & the "curl up on the couch & watch Man v. Food" decision? The chin.

If you have got the sniffles or some congestion in the head, an easier run is not likely to kill you. If the congestion is in the chest (If you are using what are called the accessory muscles to help you breathe, the answer is "yes, it's in the chest."), I'd recommend watching Adam Richmond get stupid with 15-dozen oysters.

But in case you forget this by the next holiday season, I'll stock up on the Vicks VapoRub.

A "Hit" Of Running

"Now, you're either on the bus or off the bus. If you're on the bus, and you get left behind, then you'll find it again. If you're off the bus in the first place-then it won't make a damn." - Ken Kesey (1935-2001), quoted by Tom Wolfe, "The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test" (1968)

A friend of mine recently completed the Honolulu Marathon, so his social network posts have been filled with the "typical" post-event stuff: A breakdown of his mile splits, a description of his delayed onset muscle soreness, & so forth. The most funny thing, however, had to be a cartoon video titled "I'm A Runner," which definitely is worth at least one viewing.

It's difficult to explain marathoning or distance running to a person who has likely never run longer than an hour at a time. The ones who have probably wouldn't do it again unless a loaded pistol was pointed at their head. Some would even tell the pistol operator to pull the trigger rather than face the alternative. Like Ken Kesey's Merry Pranksters in Tom Wolfe's "The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test," you're either on or not on the bus. Most of the world, except for perhaps once or twice a year, prefer to be not on that bus.

I've tried to explain every facet of running, from the sublime state of the Sunday morning social run to the absolute ridiculousness of beer-miling. Explain THAT to a world which prefers to watch the first two laps of a 5,000 meter track race, as Larry Rawson tells them to go to their high school track & run a 63-second quarter 12 or 13 times. Once again, most of them don't want to know. The socially inept, ham-fisted runner eventually turns co-workers & (former) friends into runners, all right...short sprints in the opposite direction when "that freak runner" is seen. After a while, at least I learned, to do my thing & wait for the questions to come.

Transforming otherwise sedentary people into runners is probably best done like Kesey & the Pranksters did on Acid Tests. Putting people "on the bus" isn't going to do it. But, give a little "hit" of running (like the Pranksters did with LSD) to everyone & anyone who might show interest, that might do the trick. They can't handle too much at first, lest the trip become bad; give them just enough to enjoy it.

With the new year approaching, it's not too hard to encourage the couch-dweller to make a change. So, take advantage of the opportunity. Give them a little "hit" of running from your personal stash. Don't worry, there's plenty left: It might be a hash run. It might be a trail run. It might even be a walk/jog in the park. But, make certain to give 'em the good stuff...they're not ready for "quarters 'til you can't."

POSTSCRIPT - DEC 24 2010

Adam Goucher and Tim Catalano, from Run The Edge (www.runtheedge.com) saw fit to link back to this particular post (or at least the video clip) after one of their readers commented upon it. Nice to know there's more "crazy" people running only fifteen miles because they can, etc., etc. Happy Christmas to you! MB

Lipstick On My Mirror

First, I want to wish each of you a Happy New Year, 2010. I hope you had a great holiday season & managed to stay healthy & happy. By now, I bet (or at least hope!) you have set at least one goal for the new year, or have made a resolution (if you’ve gone off track in some area) to change something in your lifestyle. This year I’m stepping away from some of the trial-and-error aspects of my training & reuniting with the tried-and-true ones.

I read something on the web the other night having to do with goal-setting – I’ve talked about setting S.M.A.R.T. goals before. This particular article added two more aspects to the goal-setting process, making the goal S.M.A.R.T.E.R.

S.M.A.R.T. goals are: Specific. Measurable. Achievable. Reasonable. Time-Focused.

And the E.R. added in stands for: Exciting. Recorded.

When I read the last two, I realize many well-meaning persons – even if they do make a smart goal – choose goals that have little if any excitement. How many write their goals down on a three-by-five card, sheet of paper, first page of their daily planner…or in lipstick on the mirror? Very few have something staring them in the face each day which makes them accountable for their plan of action.

That’s the difference between a not-so-exciting (e.g., weight-loss) goal & setting a more-exciting (e.g., finish a half-marathon) goal. Often the not-so-exciting goal outcome is the unintended result of achieving the exciting goal. It’s a lot easier to get up out of bed to go run ten miles on Sunday morning because you’re training for a spring half-marathon than it is to go run ten miles on Sunday morning because you want to lose ten pounds by Easter.

Speaking of Sunday morning runs; we've had a group doing an 8-mile loop, going out from a local park most weeks (weather permitting) at 7:30…give or take a minute. My Facebook announcement of the event usually says 7:25 (see Without Limits to learn why…). To make certain nobody is left behind we’ve regrouped every mile or so, or at the top of the hills… Once enough folks are familiar with the loop I can think about going out in pace groups, but for the time being I want to make certain everyone is accounted for. Some of my masters’ swimming & triathlon companions & some of the local RRCA club members have come for early season training. Most everyone heads off to complete their plan of the day, but we’ve left coffee/bagels on the agenda in case one feels compelled to recover with the help of caffeine, complex carbohydrates & other good stuff.

Weather conditions haven’t been conducive to track work lately. It’s depressing (for me, too!) to train in the dark & cold. But this is temporary – it’s easier for all to tolerate when we’re all suffering together. I’ll show up at the track if you do.

Resolution Versus Resolve

res-o-lu-tion -n. - 1. a formal expression of opinion or intention made, usually after voting, by a formal organization, a legislature, a club, or other group. 2. a resolve or determination: to make a firm resolution to do something. 3. the act of resolving or determining upon an action or course of action, method, procedure, etc. 4. the mental state or quality of being resolved or resolute; firmness of purpose.
Naturally, with the passing of the old Gregorian calendar year & the start of the new one comes a well-worn & often useless activity. More often than not this activity consists of two steps: Whine like a seven-year-old school girl about the failure, shortcoming, or character flaw which boiled to the surface in the past year. Make some cockamamie - & often unattainable - promise to transform failure into success, shortcoming into strength, & character flaw into character-reinforcing trait...oh, & all within the scope of the next 365 days.

After hearing too many of my old contemporaries go through this song-and-dance I resolved to do two things in years past: Rather than make any resolutions at the new year, I would engage in continuous improvement. When confronted by a person making a resolution without a reasonable goal...or a plan of action to reach it...I would challenge them to either develop & execute a realistic plan to achieve a reasonable goal or call them on their obvious lack of seriousness.

It makes me a little unpopular at holiday parties & races, to say the least.

My wife & I were sitting in a dining establishment on the beach the other day, talking about what we would like to achieve in the new year. She spent the previous Friday evening socializing with her closest friend, celebrating one of those milestone birthdays, & had partaken of a little more of the fermented, grain-derived beverages than she would have preferred...at least when seen in the light of the "elephantine" feeling she had during her Sunday morning long run. When your Friday evening beer intake slows you down all the way to midday Sunday, I guess you could say that is enough beer.

I'm not going to get all self-righteous here & say I don't like beer. In fact, I love beer. I'm in firm agreement with Benjamin Franklin and the Warsteiner brewery: Beer is proof that God loves us & wants us to be happy. Oh, and, life is too short to drink cheap beer.

My coach's coach, Bob Schul, never liked his athletes drinking beer. Bob was of the opinion beer made for slower running; of course, when you're a slow runner in the first place, what's the big deal? But as I've read more medical-based research in the past year, in running, triathlon & swimming magazines, it has finally sunk in through my thick skull that beer might be proof of the Almighty's compassion toward humanity, but can do a number on a human being's recovery from workouts. Who knew alcohol could slow the production of human growth hormone & delay workout recovery? And when you get to be my age, approaching a milestone birthday faster than I care to admit, recovery takes just a little longer.

But you're not going to see me do a complete & utter cut-back to no beer whatsoever. Ben Franklin might not have been into running, cycling or swimming fast, but he knew a good deal about human nature. Face it...life is short & we are dead a long time. So, if there's going to be beer passing my lips, it will pass my lips less often, & it will be of higher quality.

So for me, while 2009 was a year of trial & error, 2010 is more likely going to be a year of returning a little closer to the tried & true. Longer, easier stuff on the easy days; shorter, intense stuff on the hard days. Recovery as often as practicable. Cross-training as often as possible. And fun as often as I can get away with it. Because...if it isn't fun, then why the hell am I doing it?

The First Miles

Happy New Year to all of you - Ended my 2008 on a (fairly) good note, after two-to-three days of misery. The jury is still out, sort of, on what caused my 48 hours of GI un-fun-ness. I'm not ready to lay blame on a couple of food items I scarfed during the (post-) Christmas Luau; more likely the lingering effects of the flu bug I caught just before Christmas. It probably was the flu or some viral fiend, because I was still kind of feeling it even this past weekend.
The New Years' Day Pot Luck Run at our local running emporium was good fun, with some of the usual suspects on board, but a higher tri-geek-to-runner-geek ratio going down. Since we spent the prior evening at a runner-hosted New Years' Eve celebration, it's probable some of the possible participants of the next day's running event were, er, overserved.
The run was led out by one of the running emporium's employees, a nice (sliver over) three-mile, rolling jaunt. With sunny skies, a temperature in the high 50s & a very gentle breeze, there was not much to complain about...especially the obvious fact we live in FL & can go out for a run without YakTrax, three layers of tights, a balaclava from hell, etc., etc., nearly any time we please throughout the year. In fact, most of the holiday season was temperate, shirt-sleeve and/or (in my case!) short pants conditions.
The bug & its effect on my fitness level made the jaunt entertaining. I felt, throughout the entire run, like a Thor-Lo sock had been shoved down my windpipe. However, running a seven-minute-per-mile pace and sucking sock didn't seem like such a bad thing, given the realm of possible alternatives. A year ago I was in pain from achilles' tendon injury. Yes, silly, keep it all in perspective. Hit the track for the first real piece of track work on Saturday morning. I took most of December's workouts & made them long, boring, meat & potatoes stuff. It was a lot of mileage but at an intensity level (most of the time a 7:30-8:00/mile pace) that made it possible for everyone to hang closer together & semi-socialize. Not like any of us had any races coming up...save for Ferris, who was approaching a taper for his marathon & would benefit from something that easy in pace.
Since I was doing a solo workout it was going to be a relatively no-nonsense one. I wanted to see how many miles I could get in the course of an hour, from warm-up to shut-down. I managed to get in five miles worth of running in 31 minutes with 27 minutes of recovery time. Seemed like a good start to the year...at least until I tried to do my swim workout & cramped up in the pool. I managed to get 2400 yards (a good day!) in a little over 47 minutes, so it wasn't a total loss...more like the first of many lessons learned this year.
The challenge to doing two workouts during the course of a day is providing sufficient time for recovery, which includes nutrition & hydration. Several cups of coffee & a bagel with provolone cheese & hummus, as I learned, is a little on the light side when it comes to both nutrition & hydration.