T51 - Reason #847 why UM is Nicer than UF- Swim/Run Brick

Miami

If I didn't already know it, UM is a lot nicer than UF. The gyms alone tell the story, but I went for today's swim at the UM outdoor pool at the UC, and it was freaking beautiful. Sun overhead, palm trees all around the pool, and nobody else in the water. Nobody. Go to UF's outdoor pool and you're lucky if you only have to share your lane with five other swimmers. I had to run the campus loop today too, since it was a short run, and that run is a more reasonable distance, has no hills, and is a lot more scenic. So UM, definitely a better training ground than UF. Once again, though, you get what you pay for. The UM outdoor pool, which I get to use free as Alumni, is also dedicated to a guy named Matt Gribble. I thought this was pretty funny.

Swim: 1 x 1750

2 Lipodrene

I was a bit rushed Friday with a haircut scheduled at 3 and meeting my friend Bob for the Marlins game at 5, so I decided to skip the 800 meter warmup that featured 200 meters of kick. Again, in the long run, I think a small loss. The swim felt great, I really powered through a lot of it, and kept count of the laps almost perfectly. But because it was a relatively short swim, and maybe because the UM pool just has more to inspire interesting thoughts than the indoor pool at GHFC, I had some random ass shit going through my head during the swim. A sampling:

"Hey, look at that, I can see Lake Osceola from here. Maybe if Chad Meredith had spent a little more time up here he would have made it across."

"I should Start a Chad Meredith Memorial triathlon that involves a Lake Osceola Swim. 'Swim the Lake Because Chad Couldn't.' All proceeds go to some anti-hazing charity or something."

"I remember doing lifeguard training in here when I thought 500 meters was a really tough swim. That guy was a fucking pussy."

"That is a big-ass diving tower over there. Looks like a giant cock. No wonder so many divers are homos."

"Speaking of homos, this is the same water that Greg Louganis trained in. That's pretty cool."

then

"Hey, didn't Greg Louganis have AIDS? Maybe I should be concerned."

then

"Dude, with the way you live your life, you're worried about catching an STD from a swimming pool? COME. ON."

All said, I couldn't have been happier with the swim. The pool even has a locker room upstairs, which I used to change over into my run attire, then shower after. Again, UM has some solid facilities.

Run - 30 Minutes

This was the shortest run I'd had in a while, and following a not-particularly-draining swim, I thought this might be a good time to just go all out for one lap around the campus loop. Never mind that it was black flag conditions (over 90 degrees and sunny and brutally humid), I had no legit reason to leave anything today. So I ran out to my car, had a gel, left my shirt and the remainer of my keys there, and hit the loop running. NOt jogging, running.

I couldn't help but remember doing a black flag run with Klueber and Johnson about 10 years ago, where I dropped both of them because they'd been out all night, I think at the outdoor pool, actually. I wasn't even a strong runner then (not that I am now, but a far cry from me in 1999) but I remember feeling like that run kicked my ass. As I did subsequent times running that loop on summer days, even up to last year when I used it as my course for training for the Miami Man Half Iron. But today? Another one of those sun giving you energy days. I used the iPod just to maximize the adrenaline, and let me tell you that shit worked wonders. That new Summer Run mix was some good shit.

This song "Big Sky" came on, which is hands down the best running song I've found in 5 years, and I more or less dead sprinted the entire back stretch from Doctors Hospital to my car by Gusman. I think that's about 3/4 of a mile, give or take. Anyway, this was hands down my best run of this loop ever, and the best short run of the cycle. I'd been waiting for another great workout, and Friday was definitely it. Always nice to crush a run that once upon a time gave you problems.