Colorado: Day 3....the "rest day"

After yesterday's unexpectedly high mileage, I thought it might be prudent to take a day off from running and do some of what they call "cross training". For a very long time I thought cross training referred to cross country running or biking. But as it turns out, it just means doing something other than what you usually do with the goal of being a more well-rounded athletic dude or being a less-injured athletic dude.

Today, my goal was get some more of that precious high-altitude exercise but give my running gears a break so I don't end up with any of the following absolutely delightful physical afflictions: ITBS(ilio-tibial band syndrome...been there), achilles tendonitis(been there), plantar fasciitis(been there, noticing a pattern?), or a stress fracture(luckily have NOT been there, fingers crossed). The plan for the day was some swimming, some yoga, and maybe something else non-impact if the opportunity presented itself.

This trip has really turned into what seems to be the official beginning of my training season. And what better way to kickstart a year of training and racing than with a week with a great buddy at altitude? Except here's the funny part. I've already done a 50k this season. Is it weird to anybody else that I'm "starting my training" after I've already completed one of the hardest races I'll do all year?

But I digress...

The day started off with a 5:30 am reveille to make it to Jess's swim class on time. We paid $7 for our day pass to the North Boulder Rec Center and were determined to get our money's worth. The swim class was an hour long and I got in 1400 yards, also my first swim since Julyish. My form is still more or less what it was when I did the Ironman, I was just a little shorter of breath than I remembered. Altitude and neglect will do that. One interesting thing for me is that I've never had anybody watching me swim before. Or maybe they watched, but they didn't know diddly squat about what a swimmer should look like, and if they did, they certainly never mentioned anything to me. I've always assumed that my form sucked, but it worked well enough to accomplish my goals, so I didn't sweat it too much. Long story short, I was curious what horrible things the swim coach would have to say.

"You don't kick much. And when you do kick your legs flail like a drowning horse(paraphrasing here). If you're going to not kick, at least 'not kick' more smoothly."

So I tried and I can't really tell if it was helping or not because I was fatiguing and everything else was getting sloppy too. Regardless, I appreciated the advice and it was a good workout.

Jess went to work, Del and I had some lunch and then returned to the gym. We ended up foregoing yoga for something else. Racquetball!

"Hey Danny, wasn't today supposed to be a low-impac..."

RACQUETBALL!?!?!? I haven't played racquetball in YEARS!!! We got a couple racquets and hit the courts. I was surprised to find out that I'm still halfway decent at the game. I still have some of my old technique and strategy and by the end of a 4 game series split 2-2, my serves were even starting to look less shitty. It should be noted that in my long and illustrious career of competitive sports, I have personally won ONE trophy. I got 2nd place in a racquetball tournament in high school. The guy who won had a mullet and was dating the girl I had a crush on, so we can safely assume he was an asshole through and through.

"That's great, but this doesn't really sound like much of a rest da..."

After racquetball, we spied the empty basketball courts next door and decided that we needed to be reminded how awful we are at it. The results are in. We are abysmal. I spent some time attempting to make 2 free throws in a row. It never happened. Out of curiosity, I wanted to see what effect all of this running had had on my jumping abilities. I was absolutely floored to find that I can get TWO knuckles above the rim of a 10 foot basketball goal. It used to be a "graze the rim with my fingers" affair. I'm making arrangements to enter next year's NBA draft. Either that or I'll walk-on at KU. We ended this embarrassment with a rousing game of HORSE that may or may not have lasted 30 minutes. The high point, though, was my insistence that I win with a half-court shot. Which I did. It was epic in absolutely every way imaginable.

"Um...Danny, you're kind of an idiot. All of these activities are high impact...more high impact than running even....seriously....jumping and trying to touch the rim of a basketball goal? More than an hour of racquetball? You're a moron."

I'm calling my rest day a full success. I admit that tomorrow I'm probably going to be sore in new and exciting ways, but I'm ready to run again.