Stroke of genius

Have you ever had one of those thoughts that, once conceived, you knew that your life - and dare I say it, the world - would never be the same? A moment of truth so profound that its ripples were bound to shape not only your life but those of generations to come? Well, dear friends, I had one such revelation this week. It can be summed up in one word - slurpees.

This weekend Karen had to go out of town, so we did our long swim on Friday after work. We didn't have much time (a 13,000 yard practice takes us about 3 hr, 15 min. The Homestead pool closes at 8:30, so we both had to rush over after work). I also didn't have time to eat much that day, so I grabbed a quick bagel and then stopped at a gas station to pick up some Gatorade. That's when I saw it - sitting inconspicuously in the corner, its juicy insides sloshing around in frozen splendor. The slurpee machine. It hit me - wouldn't a slurpee be a tastier, more concentrated form of Gatorade?

Just as expected, the slurpee proved itself to be a delightful little energy drink. The only problem was, I had only one and it lasted through only the 1st half hour of the workout. After it was gone, I made it through the rest of the practice with noticeably less vigor.

Outside of Halloween, there aren't many occasions where it's desirable to squeeze as much sugar into your body as possible, but long swims might be one of them. Next time I will skip the Gatorade and have 2 or 3 slurpees instead. Of course this will necessitate another kind of training...

Training for the inevitable brain freeze


Now, there are bound to be naysayers. Some might say that the icy waters of the English Channel would not be the place for the consumption of a frozen beverage. But that is the way with all great ideas. Did people not laugh when Galileo said that the earth revolved around the sun?

Week 9:

Mon: swim 5100 yds, 40 min abs
Tues: swim 5300
Wed: swim 4200, 40 min abs
Thurs: swim 4000
Fri: swim 13,000
Sat: run 7 mi, walk 2mi
Sun: walk 2 mi, swim 3400, 10 min core exercises

Total: swim 35,000, walk/run 11 mi, 90 min abs/core exercises