Bears in the Super Bowl!

Can you believe it?!?

I spent Sunday afternoon at Sheila's house watching the game and eating Lou Malnati's pizza thanks to 1-800-LOU TO GO. It was almost like I was back home for a few hours.

Do you think the '07 team will make another music video like this one? I hope so




Da Bears da Bears da Bears da Bears da Bears

If you want a clearer picture ask my parents. I'm sure they would let you borrow the original VHS.

Swim Practice

I finally went to an actual Masters swim practice yesterday. Owie. It was a good workout with some longer distance sets. I hate longer distance sets in the pool, but I know it's good for me since 2.4 miles in open water is not a short distance. Swimming with other people is also a huge benefit for me. When I swim by myself I tend to get pretty lazy, but with others in the lane I guess my competitiveness runs wild. Well not really, but it is motivating.

One thing I have noticed while swimming is the difference in my stroke rate when I breathe to different sides. Let me explain. Per 25 yards(after warmup) if I breathe only to the right my stroke count is 19-20; if I breathe only to the left my stroke count is only 17-18. That's a pretty big difference! The right side is my natural breathing side, and I really don't like to breathe to the left unless it's an easy or short set. Unfortunately I am much more efficient when I breathe to the left. What could cause this descrepency? Any ideas? The best thing for me would probably be to use an alternate breathing pattern, but that's going to take some time to get used to. It would be interesting to have a video analysis of both breathing sides.

Back to the Pool

So I have been swimming again. After talking about it for months and promising Susan I would join masters I finally did. I'm still too scared to go to a practice yet, though. Maybe next Sunday I can hang in the slow lane. It feels good to be in the water again eventhough my arms feel like lead and my lungs seem twice as small as they once were. I know it will come back; at least some of it will eventually.

Running is going well also. I'm still taking it very easy. Acutally a little too easy this morning because I accidently didn't turn the alarm on last night and Tara called me at 6:10 wondering where I was. oops! I did make it out to Todd's Road last weekend and probably will again this weekend. I was a little disappointed to see only 6 women (myself included), and about 30 men. What has happened to Ernie's Harem? I think I have about 235 miles to go on my 500 miles. I have about 38 weeks until I reach the 2 year mark. If I run out there every week from now on I would only have to run about 6 miles each time. I won't be there every single weekend, but I also will rarely only run 6 miles, so maybe I can do it.

Beth, Jeff, Gary and I went for a ride on Saturday and I couldn't believe how horrible my legs felt. I have never felt that way on the bike before. So far it had only been sunshine and rainbows. I know this is my "newest" sport and the one that needs the most work, so I think I will focus some more on that in the near future. However I don't really enjoy riding in the cold, and the trainer that I borrow sounds like a 747 about to take off. Good thing Jeff has no downstairs neighbors yet. Eventhough it's loud I do enjoy spinning 3 wide with Gary and Jeff in Jeff's dining room/cycling studio.

I enjoyed reading Eric's post yesterday. I have been pushing a little bit to get workouts in lately, and he made me remember that it is only January. I just need to remember that it's base training season, and not to push too hard. Thanks Eric!