Denting the Statistic

Today was supposed to be my day off from exercise since I went to the gym yesterday in order to catch some of the Cavaliers/Magic game.

At times, it's hard not to exercise. Even though I was feeling sluggish and weary, the pool was calling my name. I wanted to practice front crawl breathing. I found a video that I had not seen on YouTube that had some helpful hints.



Since I stopped swimming on Saturday, I hadn't been to the The Poo in awhile -- maybe it's because they keep the water so dang chilly. I reminded myself that competitive swimmers like the water cool so I was surprised when a member of the swim team looked at me, opened her mouth wide with excitement and said the water is so cold today. I like the Mehlville pool with its unusual hardwood ceiling but...
I was watching the local news yesterday and they talked about how the swimming pools will open soon and that 60% of African-Americans don't know how to swim. One gentleman, the director of the city pools, says that lots of parents push their children to play football and basketball, a trend documented in Hoop Dreams.

When I went swimming on Wednesday, there were about 20 kids in the pool taking lessons. Several of the kiddos have been taking lessons for quite awhile and, judging by their skills, there will be a dent in that statistic very soon.

Was It Almond Butter?

I usually go straight to the fitness club or pool after work. Otherwise, I have time to relax and, possibly, forgo exercise.

Today, I decided to workout around an NBA playoff game. I've found that I can stay on a cardio machine for a very long time if a game is in front of me. I watched the first half of the Cavaliers/Hawks game which was pretty good but the Hawks have to play almost perfect to hang with the Cavs and it didn't happen.

I like the Lebron James MVP t-shirt. And did I hear that the Lakers lost the first game of the series to the Rockets? Whattttttttt?

I logged 85 minutes watching the first half of the game and a smidgen of TNT's half-time show. I wanted to stay longer but my thigh is already smarting from my other unofficial 'Dreathon on Saturday.

I finished off my peanut butter that came from Whole Foods. In the meantime, I decided to go back to my Algood p'butter and it didn't taste very well this time around. In fact, it tasted how I imagine Crisco would taste if you ate it straight out of the can. I can't believe that my taste buds changed so fast. I picked up some 365 Organic Peanut Butter and it's not what was in the Whole Foods container; the texture is completely different.

Hmmmm, just what did my benefactor give me? Was it almond butter? The 365 peanut butter was quite satisfying and I absolutely love the hint of sea salt but, now, I need to go on a quest to find out just what I was eating.

Shaking Things Up

Thanks to the Boston Celtics and Chicago Bulls for going into overtime.

Bulls Beat Celtics 105-103 in OT

Since I didn't want to leave the gym in medias overtime, I re-upped for 30 minutes on the treadmill. Overtime was good for me in more ways than one. Prior to going to the fitness club, I went to work for a few hours to catch up on some tasks and there was yet another task with an imminent deadline waiting for me. Ninety minutes on the treadmill will do wonders for work-related angst.

I've also been feeling the need to shake things up. Really, I can't expect different fitness results if I work out for the same 60 minutes even if I choose different machines.

I tuned in to see the Pistons play the Cavaliers. The Cavs did not run roughshod over the Pistons as folks had imagined. The broadcasters were teasing Mo Williams because his pre-game anthem is Phil Collins' In The Air Tonight. They thought his selection would be a little more hardcore but I can see how these words would inspire focus and determination:

And I can feel it coming in the air tonight, oh lord
Ive been waiting for this moment for all my life, oh lord

I'm sitting on my fitness ball -- something that I haven't done in awhile. I signed up for a thirty day challenge at About.com several months ago. One of my active challenges was to sit on a fitness ball which I used to do frequently in order to strengthen the ol' core. Methinks it's time to revert to some of the things that I used to do: army crawls, push-ups and planks. It's time to turn the automatic pilot off.