a little snow

Well, we finally got our first snow here in SC. Sunday morning I woke up to a little dusting with more falling. But by 8 am it was sleet, then gone before the girls got up or I could take a picture. Then today I saw flurries when I pulled the car out of the driveway at 5:10 AM, but no accumulation. That is still more snow than we got in 2008 (none at all) and in 2007 we got about 3" total in one storm.

But get this: It was still enough to cancel the masters swim practice. Apparently, nobody knew. I think it's all going to work out ok, though. I showed up for the 5:30 practice at 5:35, after not knowing how long the drive would take with morning traffic. There were about 7 cars there, and I noticed one car still had somebody sitting in it. Then, every car still had somebody sitting in it. Then, some discussions took place that did not involve me, and every car simultaneously started up and left. I guess that meant the coach didn't show up thanks to the snow. So my first masters swim practice consisted of getting up at 5 am which should have been 4:45, and spending an hour in the car when I didn't need to. I almost slept in anyway, just thanks to the threat of snow, but decided that wasn't the triathlete thing to do.

I should mention that the county northeast of us got about 3", and when you get over the NC state line into the mountains (due north of me), and towards Charlotte (1.5 hours northeast) they got about 6" of snow this morning. Schools are closed, most businesses are closed, even government offices are closed today. And once again, I have to work. With no swimming this morning, I'm going to get out to the gym today. Maybe weightlifting, maybe bike or elliptical. But for at least an hour. If you are interested, the local TV station has a webcam setup that is currently showing the forecast and storm warnings too. It's downtown Greenville, I live about 15 mins outside of downtown.

The shin is feeling better, but not totally great. The right knee feels pretty good too, but not totally great. I'm still going to save the impact time for the 22 mile run scheduled for saturday. The training plan has a 5 mile run scheduled for today, so an hour on the elliptical is a rough equivilent. It's better to play it conservative for now.

I am also eagerly awaiting a couple of shipments. I found Bike Island recently, and ordered an indoor bike trainer from there that shipped out on saturday. I also got a set of cleats/pedals for the bike. I've got shoes already, but no clipless pedals for them to snap into. So it will be interesting to get that all setup. I still need to get a bike computer that will show me distance & speed while on the trainer, and would appreciate any advice you've got on what computer to get. or maybe I just need a heart rate monitor, I have no idea.

I also ordered a few new books from Amazon that should be here soon. Forces of Nature by Laird Hamilton looks really really good. It's his new philosophy book about surfing and how it gets him all zen'd out. America's fittest family shares mind, body, and soul secrets to living healthy and happy? I'm in. That seems really cool. And since I'm a sucker for free shipping, I tacked on Tri Power to push me over the total needed to get free shipping. I don't know how adding a $11 book to save $4 in shipping costs makes sense, but it works for me. I have been keeping my eye out for a good strength training plan specifically for triathlon, as I know I need to add more weightlifting workouts. And this book is the ultimate strength training, core conditioning, endurance, and flexibility plan for triathlon sucess. So how can you get any better than that? Have you read either of those? opinions please?

Have a great day! Flynn out (of the pool).