Monday, Monday. Isn't that a Title of an Oldies Song?

Today was Monday at its finest. I'd say most-special-moment-of-the-day award goes to when I put on my bike shoes for my commute home and they were still wet and gross from my AM commute and smelled about 10x worse than ever, if that is possible. Close runners up for this award goes to flatting on my way to swim practice, when I was already cutting it close, but at least now I had an excuse (and layers upon layers of bike grease all over me to prove it); getting caught in multiple downpours both to and from work (that takes talent and timing on both my part AND Mother Nature's); and re-covering my hands in bike grease on my PM commute just by touching the handlebars that were still grimy from this morning's debacle. I'm also a fan of that moment when I was furiously pedaling down by the Smithsonian as the sky got grayer by the minute and then, beyond the Washington Monument, I saw a giant sheet of rain covering Rosslyn as it slowly marched my way and there was NOTHING I could do about it - it was inevitable that I was going to get drenched. Sigh.

Silver linings?
A nice older gentleman helped me change my tire AND he even pumped it up for me so I didn't have to wrestle (and probably lose against) my CO2 cartridge. Thank You Good Samaritan!

Getting caught in the downpour helped wash away the nasty sewage I biked through, as one of the sewers along 4 Mile Run was obviously having a problem. Disgusting. Arlington County needs to do something about that hot mess.

The bike commute and all it's little issues was still better than using WMATA. Metro, take note, you are lower on the totem pole than a bike commute filled with flat tires, bike grease, heavy rain, and sewage.

The Hains Point outdoor 50 meter pool of awesomeness is back in business for the season! I did the Morning Masters last summer and it was so great that I thought about it all winter while I was swimming laps in the high school's indoor 25yd pool. The 90 minute swim practices were helpful last year in building my endurance and I'm convinced they helped make me noticeably faster, as I got a 7 minute PR in my IM swim (I'd always been in the same 2-3 minute window and never had a major breakthrough until IMLP 2012). I also learned all the strokes last year and learned to do them well enough to get me up and down the lanes. I do notice that I'm more sore after these practices than I am when I swim in the 25yd pool - you take alot more strokes in a long-course pool than short-course. The first day or two my left shoulder felt a little crunchy, but it feels much better today so I think I was just getting used to the higher volume of swimming. I'm seeing familiar faces in my lanes and each day I've been to practice so far, I've stayed to the bitter, bitter end, being one of the last out of the pool. The practices go by quickly, we stay on task pretty well and rarely sit at the wall and chat, as Flanagan will call us out if we do that, he runs a tight ship. I usually have just enough time to catch my breath and then it's time to push off the wall again. I'm getting in an average of 3,500-4,000m of swimming each practice, hopefully the extra volume will translate to faster times :)

Obviously not taken today. There are no downpours.