Blogs : Beth Lutz

Unidentified Flying Objects

Friday, February 29^th

Run: 70 minutes (5 steady; 6x3 very hard w/ 1 steady; 10 medium; 3x3 very hard w/ 1 steady; 10 medium; 5x30/30; 5 steady)

One thing you can say about cross-training is that it’s never dull. Oh wait.  Actually, it is usually very, very dull. But on the occasion…

Today, for instance. I was running in the pool. I always run near the top left corner of the pool, right by the side in case I get a leg cramp or something. There's also a jet of water coming from the front of the pool with just enough pressure by the time it gets to me to make sure I stay in one place when I'm facing it. (This may not make any sense, but if you want to come to the Eau Claire YMCA I'll give you the tour.) So there I was, running in place, the only one in the pool actually; just minding my own business when a guy comes out of a side door and THROWS A BABY IN THE POOL! It hit with a huge splash that sent up a spray that drenched me. The guy looked like he hadn't realized there was an actual person in the water and said, "Oh. Sorry." I wasn't sorry. This was the most excitement I had seen in ages!

Behind me there was another splash as the lifeguard dove into the water. I surreptitiously half-turned so that I could see all the action. She proceeded to rescue the sinking baby which included (but was not limited to) diving underwater to grab it, getting it in a safety hold, bringing it to "land", stabilizing it on land, running (and almost slipping--that's why you're not supposed to run in the pool area) to get the spineboard (those things they strap people with potential head injuries into), ripping off the head immobilizer on the spineboard, putting the “baby” on the spineboard, telling someone to go call 911, then starting CPR. And I had a front row seat. It was great.

So apparently the YMCA periodically does "random lifeguard tests" to make sure these very important people are paying attention. This is a good thing, because with some of the lifeguards I've felt like I could slip beneath the waves with nary a look from them in my direction. Not that I've ever needed rescuing, but if I did...

So it was a good day.

Oh yes, the workout. This was a very, very solid workout. Three minutes is short enough to be going extremely fast the entire time, but long enough that it can seem like forever. It’s amazing how long a minute can be. I would look at the clock, look away, force myself not to look back for what seemed like forever until my eyes were irresistibly drawn to the big numbers on the wall—and see that 5 seconds had gone by. When I'm actually running, I don't try to distract myself so much as I try to concentrate on how I'm feeling, concentrate on my form and going fast, and staying mentally positive and tough. This strategy doesn't work very well in the pool, so lately I've taken to singing random songs in my head (my high school school song takes almost exactly a minute to "mentally" sing) or visualizing old races. Or, if I'm lucky, watching flying babies...

Elliptical: 40 minutes (random stuff to get my heart rate up but not be too hard)

Untitled Comment

7:55 PM, March 3, 2008 .. Posted by Molly

serreptuously, seruptitiously, serruptituously, sereptuously, seriptituously...