I have a 45-minute swim scheduled every Thursday morning. I don’t have to be in court until 9:00 a.m., and the club is across the street from the court. It’s a perfect set-up for me to get in a swim workout. But I still have to get up early (5:30 a.m.) to get to the club early enough to get in the 45-minute swim.This morning I woke up with a headache and cranky sinuses. I decided my body needed the extra hour of sleep more than it needed the swim. I’m not currently training for a triathlon, so the swim workouts are more for fitness than training.

Pretty solid reasoning, right?

I lie there for a few minutes. I become conspicuously aware of the fact I am not falling asleep. What’s the point of sleeping in if I’m not sleeping?

I got up and went to the club.

It wasn’t a great workout, but I swam twenty laps. After the first five laps, I concentrated on keeping my hips near the surface. I’ve let that part of my form slack. The problem is that when my hips are near the surface, I don’t roll as much. I concentrated on the hips while ensuring I was rolling; whenever I recognized my hips were starting to drag I’d focus my attention back on keeping them at the surface. I’m hopeful that if I do this for a few weeks, keeping my hips at the surface will feel more “natural.”

Keeping my hips at the surface requires my core to be more active, and that made it obvious how much I’ve been slacking. I need to find a way to work strength training into my daily routine, even if it’s just one or two moves a day. My back will thank me for it!

I went to Vinny’s for lunch and gorged on a Cuban sandwich. It was too much food – I really should have put half of it away for an afternoon snack. I have a bunch of fruit at the office – that’ll have to fuel my bike ride home tonight.

Ah, the ride home tonight …it’s predicted to be at least 80°F this afternoon. This will be my first ride this year without tights. Like the pelican I saw yesterday morning, it’s a sign of spring.

I am tempted to take the long route home, but the smarter thing to do is take the ten-mile ride. I slacked off during last night’s run. I decided to just walk. It felt a lot like I felt last spring when I was over-training. I need to be more aware of the signs of over-training if I’m going to train for the Badger Mountain Challenge 50 km. I’m hopeful that’s what happened last night.

This week’s long run is a ten-mile run. I plan to run home tomorrow night. That should be fun – I’ve never tried that, even though I’ve done longer training runs. It’s also why I’m not going to take the route along the south side of the river to get home. I want my legs to be happy – and I have to ride into work tomorrow, too.

On Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, I was under my calorie intake goal. Not by much, but every little bit helps! Sadly, I’m already at 1800 calories today, so it’s unlikely I’ll do the same today (damn you, Vinny!), but it’s just one day.

And as Miss Scarlet was fond of saying, “Tomorrow is another day.”