Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Joys of Self-Employment

There are plenty of things I can bitch about on any given day about being self-employed.  Whether it is paying quarterly estimated taxes or having to fight to get invoices out the door/paid or having to wear all the hats of this one-woman show - there are definitely less awesome parts of being the boss.  While there was some work to get done today, I took advantage of the fact I can flip off my boss and take a long lunch with my friends (and surveyors).  We snuck off just after noon for chips, salsa, cheese, tacos and margaritas!   Just one to take the edge of a sucky, rainy day. 

Went back to the office and worked on a report for a little while, but then decided to knock off at 3:45 and head to the ARC for a swim workout.  I do have a sprint tri coming up in two weeks and am weak on swim training!  I was in my suit and ready to swim about 4:00.  But the lanes were full!  And there were two guys sitting on the bench next to the wall waiting to get a lane.  Doh!  Even more annoying were the two guys that would swim a lap and then chat at the end of the lane for a while and then swim a bit more.  I'm like "Hey screwballs!  We're waiting out here!!" 

But I didn't say that.  Thankfully, the old man next to me was staring hate daggars at them until one guy finally gave up his spot for the old guy who then apparently bugged the other dilly dallyer to move it along.  So I got in the pool and tried to keep count of my laps.  Tried being the operative word.  I gave up part way through when I lost track thinking of the million other things I should have gotten done today.  Oops - guess my boss will be pissed.  I watched the clock and I counted a few times in between and looked at my average pace.  I'm sure I did at least 2000 yards in around 45-50 minutes so that is what we're going to call it for the total. 

YTD:
Swimming = 9600 yds = 5.5 mi
Biking = 471.5 miles
Running = 80.8 miles

8 comments:

  1. To keep me me from going off the deep end (no phun intended), I wont get into my thoughts on pool ettique, I just shake my head alot of the things I see in the pool area

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  2. If you have a clock and can see it every lap, you don't need to count laps. Easiest if it's digital. Also works for the pace clock as well.

    A 25 yard pool is brutal, but lets go with it to give you the idea.

    Picture a digital clock, and you start at 00:00. Swim 50 yards. At your pace the clock will be a minute and a few seconds. Lets say 5 because that's an easy number. You should know your pace to the second. Swim your second 50 y and the time will be 2:10. Then 3:15, 4:20, 5:25, 6:30, 7:35, 8:40, 9:45, 10:50, and then watch closely, 550 yards (11 laps) is 11:55, 600 is 13:00. So you know that at first, the number of laps is = to the number of minutes you've swum, then around 12 laps, it's the number of minutes minus one for your laps. All you do is keep track of the seconds to know if it's the number of minutes = laps.

    So if you swim exactly 50 yards in a minute, the number of laps will always be the number of minutes. This is your goal, for now, to try to keep your swim pace to where laps = minutes. Then when you start swimming a bit faster than that, the calculation goes the other way.

    Clear as mud right? Have another coffee and it will all make sense.

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  3. A pool that serves margaritas while you wait would make a bundle.

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  4. I am so thankful that my pool has more floaters and water aerobics in it than anything else that getting a lane is never more than a couple minutes wait!

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  5. "The lanes were full." If there were people stopping at the end to chat, I'd be moving in. Now. How many people in a lane is "full". I've swum in a 25 m pool with 5 other people in a lane, and a good time was had by all, and that's not particularly crowded.

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  6. I suck at counting my laps. That's why I have the garmin that does it for me, even though Keith would scoff at it. ;)

    And people need to learn to circle swim. I'm guessing the fact that they are just splitting that made the lanes "full"? Two people per lane is not much at all. If everyone is at similar speeds, 4-6 is fine.

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  7. That sucks the pool was so full. I get annoyed when people are all chatty when I want to swim.

    Don't tell your boss you were drinking at lunch. You might get in trouble :-)

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