Tragic Sandwich

Enough. I’m tired of swimming individual lengths, and want to string them together into laps. On the other hand, at least I’m covering the minimum distance I’ll need to swim in the actual triathlon. Just, you know, not all at once. Worst case scenario, I swim out past the breakers and bob around in my wetsuit for a while before finishing the swim. But, really, that seems kind of embarrassing. I think I’d rather swim nonstop.

I was walking up Westwood Boulevard today and spotted Mr. Snowberry, on Weyburn. It’s on the north side of the street, just east of Westwood Blvd. And the verdict? Pass on it. The yogurt is chalky and just not good. Yoku Yoku, at Palms and Sepulveda, does it better if you want tangy yogurt that isn’t Pinkberry.

Okay, seriously. What is it with me and freestyle? Last night I couldn’t finish my first lap of that stroke. I wound up having to break laps into lengths, with breaks on each end of the pool. It helped, because I covered more distance (500 m total) than I would have otherwise. But I need to be stringing laps together, not breaking them down. This is very frustrating.

And I didn’t get to the gym today, because I had a vendor meeting, and then they said, “Hey, let’s go to lunch now!”

Okay, I’m no Ophelia. And I definitely didn’t drown. But the swimming portion of my training isn’t going well, and that’s frustrating. We went to the pool on Sunday, and I felt both slow and weak. I had trouble finishing my second freestyle lap, for crying out loud. On the other hand, after that I did do a lap of kickboard and one more freestyle lap.

I know what the answer is. I need to go more often. But I want to be better now!

Looking for an English pub? Stop by The Cat and Fiddle, in Hollywood. The shepherd’s pie is quite nice (although it may be a cross between shepherd’s pie and cottage pie, for those who are English cuisine purists–hah, I have made myself laugh). Also, the beer is good.

5.91 miles in 30 minutes. I am such an athlete! Well, except for the part where that’s not very far at all. And the part where it was a stationary bike.

Yesterday I went for a walk of 1.45 miles, and today we went swimming at UCLA’s Park Pool–I managed 500 meters, which is much more typical for me. Now I need to string more than 100 meters together at a time.

On the downside, I wonder if I might have a stress fracture. Probably not. Right?

…is something I’d better not try any time soon, because I barely made it through 200 meters of breaststroke. And by “200 meters,” I mean “four stretches of 50 meters with lots of gasping at each end of the pool.”

But, hey, it’s a start.

On Monday nights, James’ Beach in Venice has bottles of wine for 50% off. And they have a very extensive wine list. I wasn’t drinking that night (DayQuil and NyQuil in the recent past), but the waiter was very knowledgeable about food and wine offerings alike. The sand dabs with spinach, pine nuts, and golden raisins is a good choice, but the menu was full of things I’d like to try. This would be a great restaurant for a nice dinner, or a celebratory Happy Hour.

So a month and a half later, or something like that, we still haven’t gotten back to the pool. Tonight, that changes. Here’s hoping I remember how to swim.

Good news, however–a couple of weeks ago we were in the Bay Area and drove over to Pacific Grove to check out the course. The bay is less protected than I was expecting, and incredibly full of kelp. In fact, it’s so kelpy that I think I’m going to have to rely on breaststroke as much as freestyle. Better train for both.

Which doesn’t sounds like good news, but that’s what comes next. We drove the bike course, and it’s ideal. Not only is it along the coast, which is rugged and beautiful, but it’s almost entirely flat! So my fears of biking downhill will not need to be confronted–at least, not on a deadline. Seriously, it’s like my dream bike ride.

And then I’ll just need to walk 2 miles.