Random Thoughts...

...after the first full week of oval workouts:

• I am slow.  And, strangely, I am not concerned.  How slow am I?  Well, my endurance workout on Wednesday and my interval workout on Thursday were 3-5 seconds per lap slower than the comparable workouts last year...and last year, at this time, my thyroid levels had dipped again and I needed a med adjustment.  Last year, I knew something was wrong--I felt sluggish, couldn't get going, and had a hard time pushing myself.  This year, I feel normal--just slow.  My heartrate is a bit high (5-10 BPM higher max than in the same workout last year), but I feel normal when I skate; I can push myself, I get out of breath and tired (which I don't do when hypothyroid), I feel like I'm working hard.  I'm just not going very fast.  Last year I'd look at my stopwatch after a set and freak out when I saw a 45-second-lap; this year, I'm looking and thinking "hmm, I held 48's for all of the laps.  Not bad."  Whether I'm just out of shape or am actually "over the hill" and heading down the other side, only time will tell.  Whatever it is, I'm not worked up about it.  I'm not sure if this laid-back acceptance of my newfound lack of fleetness of foot is a good thing or a bad thing, but I do know that I'll be a lot easier to live with this year than I was at this time last year!
• Skating with someone is much more fun than skating alone.  I did my Monday and Thursday workouts basically alone; fellow masters long track skater Sprinter Boy did my Wednesday workout with me.  Wednesday was way more fun.  Even when you don't have a draft, it's better to have someone else out there.  In the interest of full disclosure, I must say that Sprinter Boy did lead one of the 5 sets; he could easily have led all 5 of them if I hadn't insisted on leading the others so I could compare my lap times to last year's; and the only reason I could keep up with Sprinter Boy at all (I am, after all, old enough--barely--to be his mother), is that Wednesday was his first time ever on inlines on the Oval). I need to make a concerted effort to find people to skate with!
• I have no idea how Gatorade makes any money on their recovery drink products, because I don't know why anyone would buy that crap more than once.  The clear recovery drink is tolerable, although it tastes just bad enough that I couldn't make it through the whole bottle.  The "recovery smoothie" in the little foil carton was truly vile; after two sips, I tossed the rest in the trash.  Gag.  Who decided that the product was marketable with that nasty flavor--and does he or she still have a job?
• The Oval has been playing music the past couple times I was out there.  This is not entirely unusual; occasionally we'll hear 50's tunes during our evening long track workouts, and sometimes we've been able to ask rink workers to put on some music while we're inlining.  This week, though, the music was...different.  I'm not sure what the musical genre is called, but the only song I recognized was some vintage George Winston.  I love vintage George Winston, but it's not what I'd expect to hear at a skate center/aggressive skate park.  I can only conclude that the mellow music is a sort of "Punk Repellent," rather like those ultrasonic rodent repellents.  Sadly, it doesn't seem to be working...
• There is a very unfortunate detour now on my route home from the Oval.  Traffic is shunted off the main road onto an exit ramp; at the top of the ramp is a stoplight.  If you go left at the light, you follow the detour.  If you go straight, you end up in the parking lot of a McDonald's.  Where they have ice cream cones.  Which are pretty tasty after a workout on a warm day.  Clearly, I need to work on my ability to turn left in my car, as well as on the Oval.
• Despite being slow, I may be getting back in shape.  I did a whopping 4.5 minutes of dryland after my skating workout on Wednesday, and wasn't sore at all on Thursday.  Hey, it's a start!
• Despite the Skate Park Punks, the slowness, the not getting home until almost 8 on workout nights, and the difficulty resisting the lure of McDonald's, I'm really glad that the season has started!