Friday the 13th

As an environmentally conscious citizen, the first thing I did when I moved into my current home was to replace the old analog thermostat with one of those groovy new programmable jobs. I have it set to only heat the place during the one hour I'm out of bed before I leave in the morning, and the couple of hours I'm home in the evening before I crawl back under the covers. The rest of the time, it's set to "Eskimo Pie"...so if I wake up to use the bathroom in the middle of the night, I have to really hurry to finish up before the icicles start to form.

For some reason, I just couldn't get warm on Friday morning. Oh, the heater kicked on right when it was supposed to, and I should've been comfy during my breakfast and workout-prep rituals...but I wasn't. I even wore a ski cap on my head while I peeled my orange, and I turned on the space heater in the bathroom. These things helped a little, but I was still feeling chilled and creaky when I left for the pool.

I'm not superstitious at all, but it was hard not to notice that the aquatics staff was having lane-rope troubles when I arrived at the pool. On one of the ropes, the wire had gotten wedged into the side of the spool pulley, so the rachet couldn't be tightened...and therefore the lane line could not be installed. With the proper tools (ie, Vise Grips®) it could be fixed in seconds, but with wet amateurs flailing away at it with makeshift screwdrivers and bare fingers, there was bound to be blood. The lifeguard was the first to give it a try, and she ended up getting a flesh wound for her trouble. Being a professional, though, she was able to keep most of her hemoglobin out of the pool, and got herself bandaged up and back on the guard stand before any of the swimmers got wet.

I took my turn at it, too, trying to avoid puncturing myself or slicing off any limbs. (The worst part was that I didn't have my glasses on, and couldn't really see what I was doing.) Eventually, with a little help from a couple of other folks, I was finally able to work it loose, re-thread it, and get the lane rope installed. By that time, though, warmup was over and it time to start the workout. And I was still cold.

Please don't tell anyone on the swim team what I am about to share with you, OK? These folks hold me in such high regard and treat me with such reverent respect that you'd think I walk on the water rather than swim through it. I would hate to damage their dearly-held illusions by revealing that I am, after all, merely human. But the truth is that sometimes I alter the planned workout to selfishly accomodate the way I am feeling, and this was one of those days.

I had planned to have the group do another broken 1000 for time, but I knew that without being warmed up, I would totally suck at something like that. Therefore, I changed the plan, and we did a broken 500 instead. The good news is that I finally was able to get loosened up during this set. The bad news is, of course, that we didn't do a 1000. Everybody enjoys timed 1000s. Right?

Oh well. Maybe we'll do it next Wednesday. And if I remember to think about it, maybe for the Friday the 13th coming up in March, I'll try to think up some sort of "superstition-based" workout idea. I'll have to do some research, though -- all I can think of at this particular moment are black cats, walking under ladders, and opening umbrellas indoors; I'm not sure how any of those translates into a swim practice set.

Anyway, I hope you were able to suppress your triskaidekaphobia and avoid any sort of transfusion-necessitating labor, and that you got through the day with a spring in your step and a smile on your face. As for the other imminent event where folks have hopes of getting lucky (aka "Valentines Day"), well, I'll just wish you the best possible fortune on that one, too. Have a great day!