Day 1 - Beer & Wings?

I ate healthily all day and drank lots of water. I went home after work all geared up for my swim, got changed and realized "SH*T... I left my goggles in Michigan." I then pivoted my head and sighed as I stared at the ugly truth of what I was about to wear.

old-ass, crusty speedo goggles with crusty black foam and off-white, 

too-elastic, single-strap... strap

Shiiiiiiiiiit. Not too excited about this. I was given these goggles out of pity by a desk-jockey from the Washington Sports Club. I used them once, and immediately went to the sporting goods store afterward to pick up what I currently use, and are COMPLETELY satisfied with.

awesome new(er) speedo goggles

Distance Workout - 2500m
300m - warm-up
500m - 9:54 (1:59min/100m avg.)(w/1:00 rest)
500m - 9:51 (1:58min/100m avg.)
500m - 9:48 (1:58min/100m avg.)
500m - 9:39 (1:56min/100m avg.)
200m - cool-down (w/50 kick)

Not my best performance by a long-shot. I wish I would have hit my watch to mark all of the times I had to stop to either empty the water out or clean the fog out. However, that can't be completely blamed for the poor performance. My form was sloppy and I could never settle into a rhythm because constant fidgeting with the goggles. All in all I just felt sloppy like I hadn't really swam seriously in two weeks.

I can take something positive out of this. I had a similar freak-out moment to what I experienced during the swim portion of the DC Tri, albeit much less, when I was getting into my sets early on. The foggy goggles kept blocking up and letting water in. It elevated my heart-rate significantly and caused my head to start spinning with thoughts of frustration and a yearning to just say "f*ck it" and leave the pool until I had my other goggles back for Wednesdays swim. Thankfully, it was overcome and I finished the workout.

Annnnnnnnd then I went to the bar with two friends because we HAD to watch Monday Night Football, where I ate hot-wings and drank 2.25 bottles of Coors Lights (the bartender gave me 3rd for free, but, like a fat lady who thought 5 donuts were excessive so she just ate 4, I opted to nurse the 3rd beer until we left). And yes, the mountains being blue on the bottle ARE in fact a good way of knowing if the beer you are about to ingest is cold enough that you don't have to contemplate it's (lack-of) flavor on the way down.