Small Dose of Spousal Reality

As ridiculous as it sounds, the Princess and the Pea actually gave me an opportunity to sleep in until seven a.m. this morning. Don't get me wrong, due to the efforts of my Lovely Wife, I was able to sleep in until nearly eight yesterday, but today it was a (relatively) late awakening for the Princess that allowed us both to have a few extra minutes of shuteye. Actually, I shouldn't speak for my wife, as the Pea woke up around six and got fed before allowing her back to sleep, but for me, it wasn't too bad getting up.

And wake up we did -- to another night of rainfall in one of the driest cities in America. You see, San Diego averages around four inches of rainfall per year and I think we've gotten nearly that many since I started this week of training. Not that I mind -- it has allowed me to eschew the sunscreen, feel strong (sometimes the sun down here just zaps the energy right out of you), and even bring my dog to the gym (the shade and cool temperatures means she can sleep in the back of the car while I swim). Plus, the 45-50 degree weather keeps the masses from the pool, which is where I headed this morning.

Another benefit to having a good night's sleep is that the Lovely Wife was motivated herself to get out and swim with me -- yeah! It's always a nice weekend morning when we both jump in the pool and do our workouts together -- both kids were up for the childcare (the Pea slept at least half of it), I had someone else to foist the inevitable diaper change on (the weekend is a long swim and it's nearly impossible for the Pea to not need at least one change), and then there's the obvious... you see, the Lovely Wife can swim. Fast. So fast, in fact, that as she was simply doing kicksets letting her arms hang at her side, she was still stretching her lead on moi.

But, it's actually a good thing. Sure, I get in the pool at first and I'm a little grumpy that a woman who just had a baby six months ago, works 50-60 hours a week, and hasn't swam since Halloween is lapping me, but after I let go of my angst a few laps in, I realize that it's nice to be at a point in our lives where we both can jump in the pool and be strong swimmers -- even if only one of us is fast.

1700 yard (approx. one mile) Base Swim

Before I oversell the night's sleep, there was one moment which could have derailed this entire project, at least for a week or two, but thankfully didn't. When I got up at around 1am to use the facilities, I stupidly walked into the door frame of the bathroom with my right foot. Oh man, did it hurt - a lot. As I sat down, I felt all of my toes and convinced myself that nothing was broken.

Then I sort of forgot about it until I pushed off of the wall at the pool on my first lap (of 34) this morning. OUCH! Turns out that the pain was more on the top of my foot (metatarsal bone?) than in my toes, but yowzer, that hurt. Without trying to sound like some sort of superman (which I clearly am not), I couldn't let it derail me -- to be fair, it clearly wasn't a broken bone or anything more than some Class five soreness, but it is the sort of thing that when you are in the wrong mindset might cause one to say "we'll take a couple of days off." I know deep down that I cannot allow anything short of actual physical injuries (as opposed to soreness or bruising) to get me off of the plan. There will be unplanned days off, to be sure, caused by such things as business travel, the common cold, sick kids, etc. and this was not going to be one of them. It is a beautiful morning (to swim, anyway, even if not by the subjective "warm and sunny" standard), your wife is kicking your backside in the lane next to you, both kids are happily playing, sleeping, or watching the Wiggles, and at least three people are going to read about whether you decided to slink out of the pool or swim your damned mile like you're supposed to. So, once again, thanks for reading my blog -- you really do help me push through the little setbacks that a year or two ago might have led to a few days of lazing around with the remote instead of finishing strong.

So, swim a mile I did. It wasn't completely comfortable, it was pretty slow, and now both the Lovely Wife and I both need some caffeine -- but I swam my first long, uninterrupted weekend swim of many to come and it feels pretty darn good. So what if my wife lapped me (repeatedly) -- I wouldn't want it any other way... and if I keep working at it, maybe I can catch up. Besides, tomorrow I have a date with a massage table -- ahhhhhhh...