Week 5: Hot Tubs

Today was a recovery day after yesterday's 2x5k. I wasn't too sore, but I was really happy to have a day of rest for my hamstrings. They've been tight again lately with all the rain, so having a day of rest would do them some good. With that in mind, I got in a short lift and core body workout, then headed to the pool for a short swim.

It's been a couple weeks since I hit the weights for a full circuit, so I backed off a bit knowing I was going to be sore the next day. My legs started burning after the single leg squats, so I did 3 sets of double legs squats afterwards and completely set my butt on fire. Why, you ask. Why not!

From the weight room I hit the pool. 200 warmup, 50x4, 50 kick, 200 cool down. I shared a lane with a woman training for her first tri after a couple years. She has 3 kids, works full time, her husband is going back to school and she's still finding time to keep her training schedule. Awesome. I love being around winners.

After the swim I hopped in the whirl pool for a few minutes. While I was in there, I met a man named Mike. Mike owns a painting company. About 20 years ago he owned a retail paint store and decided to transition away from retail and into contracting. I stayed a bit longer than I planned just to get a chance to pick his brain on his experiences. When it was all said and done, his advice to his family, friends, and to me were to find something you love doing and figure out how to make money doing it.

I finally crawled out, said goodbye, showered and headed home to see my baby for date night.

Good people. Good advice. Good day.

Week 6: Red Poppy 5k

Today was my long run of the week. It was also Red Poppy Festival 5k day. Do I do the fun run or my long run?...Decisions, decisions. I decided to do both. So, I woke up around 8 and headed up to the race site. I went out for about 5k before the race, then joined the field of 200 at the start line to run the course.

The run before the race was really fun. I met a man named Mike. Mike had run in the Texas Roundup yesterday and was doing this race to support his friend. Mike started out excited and ready to run, then about 500m into the warmup decided he didn't have enough left in his tank to do the race and warm up with me, so he turned around.

Luckily, there was a couple running just up ahead of us. I say by to Mike and caught up with them. They were out for a 10 mile loop, so I joined them for about 20 minutes when I turned off and headed back to the race. Along the way we got to talk about them, them and more them. Normally that would be a bit of a stretch for me, but these were some pretty cool people. They met at 18, married at 21 and got their masters degrees together a couple years later. They took the first 11 years just to enjoy each other and see the world before deciding to have kids at 33. Now, they have 3 kids ranging in age from 5 to 18 months.

I asked them what brought them out this morning. She said she's training for Danskin and he's training just to stay in shape. Sundays are their "date mornings." They make time every Sunday morning to go out and run together. It's something they did when they met at 18 and have clung to it ever since. When I asked what has been the greatest lesson they've learned, they said, "Communication. Not just on the big things, but the little things. Communicating with each other all the time is so important. Also, keeping up your common interests. The things that brought you together are what will keep you together. You've got to work to keep them alive. When we met we were athletes and we've grown up together as athletes. It doesn't matter what it is, just work to keep it alive."

I couldn't have asked for better running partners this morning. I was kind of sad to turn off and head back, but I was glad to make some new friends along the way. It was a good warmup.

Back at the race site, the field was everything I though it would be. Small town 5k. Everyman field. No timing chips. No worries. I changed into my Servolution shirt and joined a couple other Celebration folk at the start line.

We took off at a 10 minute pace and sped up a little after the first quarter mile. Instead of signs and banners, they had locals standing on the side of the road waving and saying "turn here." I love small town races :)

At the 2 mile mark some of the people around me started fading fast, so I kicked into motivation mode and began willing them onto the finish. Huff, wheeze, stride, affirm, repeat. We rode that mantra all the way to the finish. Crossing the finish line, their smile returned, the pain faded away, and they realized it was all worth it. That's the great part about a struggle: it gives you something to overcome.

There are good days and bad days. They had themselves a good day. So did I. Maybe next year I'll figure out what a Red Poppy is.

Week 6: Brick

Shell and I got a chance to meet up with Kelley and Randee after work on Friday. I love getting around Kelley. One day I'll have to share her story, but let me just say that she's an inspiration in a lot of ways. Today, we were talking and she mentioned how she was swimming earlier that day. I'd been itching to swim for a while now. That was all she had to say to push me over the edge. Within 30 minutes I was in the pool hammering out laps.

I hadn't swam in a while, so I cut the swim short at 850yds, changed, and ran across the street to the track for speed work. 8x400 with 75m rest in between sets. I had such a good time during this workout. I love the smell of chlorine that comes out when I sweat on the run of a swim/run brick. Even after yesterday's cross-training workout I felt strong. The last 400 was stronger than the first. I was averaging about 6:30 miles. I'll take it. Afterwards I jogged back, showered, and slept like I earned it.

Great day!

Week 6: Goals

Today I wanted to mix it up a little bit. I had a 5 mile run scheduled, but I'd missed Monday's lifting session, so, given my time crunch, I mixed the two into a nice cross-training workout. Starting out at ROC, I made 1.5 laps around PRC stopping for a different activity. I alternated between 20 pushups, 50 crunches, and 20 squats. This turned into a great workout. The combination of strength and aerobic activity worked up a great sweat. Total time was 47 minutes. I made it through 3 cycles of the strength exercises. By the last one, my legs were a little sore, but feeling strong.

Somewhere around minute 20, I started to think about goals. I remember when I was in grad school, I was so set on finishing, graduating, finally "making it". Then, before I knew it, I was done. Looking up after my defense, I realized that I'd overcome some good challenges, but it hadn't really gotten any closer to where I wanted to be.

I don't know if I was really expecting to get a paycheck at the end of my defense, or if I thought there'd be one taped to the back of my diploma, but somehow it just felt odd to come all that way and not really be anywhere.

Maybe you can relate. I guess it's kind of like if you've ever driven by a house where the grass has grow up to the windows of the car parked in the front yard. If you grew up in Iowa, you know what I'm talking about. It seems like you always see that scene in front of houses with huge front yards. Every once in a while they'll get out the John Deer and spend an entire day cutting the grass.

Please don't take this the wrong way. Cutting the grass is nice. It's an accomplishment, but it doesn't change the fact that you've got a broken down Plymouth sitting on cinder blocks in the front yard. Focus. Good effort, wrong direction.

That's how I felt. At the time it didn't really bother me because there was still another step out there. It was time to get a J-O-B. In my mind, the degree wasn't an answer, it was just a prerequisite to success. After all, why would our entire society stress college so much unless it was the answer?

I'd always heard, "go to school, get good grades, get your degree, and get a good job." So, I did. A couple months later, I took a job at LSU. Check. Check. Check. Check. Now what? I went to work, collected my paycheck, dealt with the shock of taxes and fell into a routine. It was nice for the first few months, but something was missing. I couldn't shake the feeling that there had to be more to it than this.

Have you ever looked around where you work at the people who have been there a few years longer than you and wondered if that's where you'll be in a few short years? I did. I found myself staring right in the face of mediocrity and it terrified me.

I guess I was shooting at nothing and hitting it every time. I just didn't want to be average anymore. School, software, papers...I could spend the next 50 years doing the same thing over and over again and what would there be to show for it? I realized I'd put myself in a situation where I was never challenged to come alive. Benjamin Franklin was talking about me when he said, "Most men die at 25 and are buried at 75." Nature never stagnates. Either you're growing or you're dying. I wasn't growing.

Unfortunately all I'd know is what I'd been told. If one job wasn't working out for me, what else was there but another job? So that's what I did. Austin here I come. More money, different scenery, same results. I shot at nothing and hit it again. Thinking back, I suppose that the problem wasn't really the job. There's nothing wrong with a job. Everyone's gotta pay the bills, but if your the kind of person that aspires to do more in life, then it's pretty rare that a job will be the right vehicle to get you where you want to go.

I like the analogy of trying to get from New York to London on a bicycle. It won't matter who you are. You could be Lance Armstrong and it's still not going to happen. Having the right vehicle makes all the difference in getting to your goals.

I suppose that's why I'm so grateful to have found LTD. For me, and now my family, it's been a vehicle to get us where we want to go. More than that, it's been an educational system that reminds me to think, dream, and take action. It's given me opportunities to build friendships and develop relationships. It's helped me develop as a husband, a christian, a member of the community, and an employee. Through LTD I've learned skills that I've applied in every area of my life.

Shell's perfect. I'm not. I'm still growing and changing on a daily basis. I've learned to enjoy the journey and the struggle. I've learned that it's only through overcoming those struggles that I can earn my own self-respect. It's been a blessing and be sure that we're not done yet.

Week 6: Doing the Robot

I think spring fever is here. All day long I was itching to get outside. The weather was perfect: temperature in the mid 70's, light breeze, and a couple fluffy clouds in the sky to cut the intense Texas sun. Endurance sport is made for days like this. If it weren't for back to back to back to back meetings, I'd have gone crazy with anticipation. I almost pulled a Mick Swope during the third meeting and bowed out with appendicitis. Somehow I figured the buy guy would have seen me running by his office on the way out.

Finally, freedom came around 5pm. My hamstring has been giving me trouble for about 3 weeks now. I've cut my training volume back quite a bit to give it a chance to rest. That hasn't seemed to work too well, so yesterday I started taking a couple ibuprofen with my multivitamin (Double X) to deal with any inflammation that may be in there. I'm hoping that and some ice will do the trick. The only other thing I can think of if this doesn't work is to hit the pool. Somehow everything seems to heal better and faster when I'm swimming regularly.

I took extra time to go through a few hamstring specific stretches before heading out today. Today's run was off the schedule. I went out for 6 miles at an easy pace. That's about 2 laps around PRC. I made it through the first lap without really noticing anything at all. I was just caught up listening to my ipod. Towards the end of the second lap, I caught up to another employee in the middle of his run. What is it about guys that makes us want to run? I guess we're all just wild at heart. Without saying a word, we both instinctively broke out into a foot race to the top of the hill. He won by a couple steps. I told myself I'd run 5 miles further. Who knows. It felt good to race.

I finished the run with a light jog back to the ROC and some more stretching. Pasta for dinner and some great in-house entertainment made it a great night. I think I actually strained something watching shell break out into an impromptu robot listening to "God So Loved". If I'd had milk, it would have shot out my nose. I'm giving that 10 second section of her dance a 10 on the unintentional comedy scale and automatic entry into the "moments in life I'll always remember and tell the kids and grandkids." I can't believe how much I love this woman.

Week 7: Mid-week Run

Do you ever have those mornings when you wake up in the morning and just have to run? Today was one of those days. Last night I slacked getting up in the morning and didn't make it out after church to run. So this morning I woke up itching to run. At least that's my story.

Shell tells it differently. According to her, I woke up at 7am to let the dog out then somehow stripped naked and passed out (still naked) on the couch next to the back door. About an hour later she woke up and found me on the couch. Evidently it was chilly there by the door because I had wrapped the dog blanket around myself in what Shell referred to as a human breakfast burrito.

Like the good wife she is, Shell paused to take in the scene before kissing me softly on the forehead to wake me up. That's when she discovered that the burrito had some special sauce. That's also when she discovered that our dog, Teddy, has an unnatural love of special sauce. I'm a little fuzzy on this part, but Shell said that somehow, from out in the yard, Teddy caught a whiff and came running. He shot across the patio, into the house and onto the couch and started burrowing.

Shell said she would have stopped him, but she couldn't really do anything through the laughter.

So according to Shell, how I really woke up this morning was naked, shivering, wrapped up in blanket like a rudy's taco with the dog digging in my butt and smelling like moldy cheese...and I don't even like cheese. I think she's making it up, but who knows.

Anyway, once I woke up, I went out for a light 5+ mile run. 25 minutes out and back whatever that works out to be. I took the taco lover with me on the run. I'm beginning to wonder about him. No matter how far we run, he always stops at the same two places to poop. I don't know if he's holding out for those spots, or if it's an allergic reaction to the grass or what, but every time like clockwork, BAAAAAM.

The run felt great. My hamstrings were still feeling good afterwards. I stretched throughout the day and tonight I had a great dinner of tilapia and rice a la Shell. You know we usually have beans with tilapia. I'm wondering if she's thinking ahead to tomorrow morning.

Week 8: Long Run

Yesterday was a good day. We woke up and helped out with the 3-4yr olds during the 930 and 1130 services at Celebration. At 130 we went home and I had just enough time to get in my run before returning at 4 to help set up for the Revolve party that night after and help out with the lighting during the 630 service. Then, just when I almost had enough time to sit down for a second, we realized no one had started cooking for the party, so I got the opportunity to dust off my charcoal skills and cook up burgers for the party. I've not slept that hard in a while. I've also not felt more that I've earned the sleep than yesterday. It was nice finally finding some people who would let us serve them.

I really feel like one of the great sorrows in life isn't that we've not been blessed, but that we've been offered thousands of blessings and turned them all down.

Onto my run...

Today was the long run of the week. I had a 10k on the books. It was warm and sunny and I'd missed a pace race the day before, so I decided to go a bit longer today. I grabbed Teddy (or rather he grabbed his leash and followed me) and headed out for 30 minutes, turned around and made it about a mile back before Teddy stopped and plopped down in the shade refusing to move.

At this point I'm not so much worried about the run as I am about how to get us back to the house in the next 45 minutes without carrying him. I ended up letting him drink the rest of my water out of my hand and walk/jogging home. Evidently he recovered the last mile because when we turned the corner to our street, he took off. I'd say it was a good run all around.

Ironically enough, this morning I got an article forwarded to me out of the blue by a guy I work with. It was about how some researchers think that before we had weapons, we used to kill our food by running them to death. Teddy, buddy, I think you may be done with long runs until this winter.

Week 8: Speed and Strength

I've missed a couple days this week. Today I made wednesday's workout and threw in a weight session just for good measure. I started out at the McNeal high school track doing 7x400 with a 45 second rest in between sets. I averaged about 1:37 on the 400. That puts me at around a 6:30 mile, which was the pace I wanted for these 400's.

After the speed work, I headed over to the gym for a quick lift. I felt pretty good when I got there, so I stretched it a bit longer than usual.

2x16 Leg lifts

2x25 Bicycle crunches

1x10 Leg thrusts

2x8 @ 30 lbs Single leg squats

2x10 alternating Calf raises

3x6 Pull-ups

3x10 @ 135 Shrugs

3x8 @ 65 Standing rows

3x8 @ 79 Single arm bent cable rows

3x8 @ 15 Standing front raises

3x8 @ 35 Dumbbell military presses

8@135, 8@155, 8@165, 6@185 Bench press

Afterwards, I was cached. I headed home for dinner with shell and a good night's sleep. Sleep didn't really come that early, but the dinner was slammin'. Shell baked tilapia, made spanish rice and black beans. Served with fresh tortillas. She did an amazing job on dinner. Thanks love. It was just what I needed.

25 Confessions of a Husband

Just for the record...

1. My favorite thing when I come home is seeing you walk up to me without saying a word and hug me like I'd been gone for a year.

2. I've never known anyone who looked good in everything they wear. If I had to pick, though, I'd say you've come the closest of the people I've seen try. (ps - sorry about last weekend. I know it was my turn at laundry day.)

3. Sometimes it scares me how good of a mom you're going to be. When kids see you, they just sit, listen and are deeply impacted. When kids see me, they think, "wow, who brought the human jungle gym?!" You're amazing.

4. I really do like tofu. Every time you cook it, it tastes great. I'm just morally opposed to vegetarian food for religious reasons.

5. Remember when we used to race to Baton Rouge in separate cars? That's one of my favorite memories ever. You're like Andretti, but hot, young, and my wife. If we keep racing, I think you might even beat me one day...if you're lucky.

6. My favorite "I love you's" come at night when you're not really awake because you're only saying what's really deep down in there.

7. I remember one day when I was younger, I forgot my lunch at home and someone brought it to me at school. I used to pray that when I grew up someone would do that for me when I was at work. Thanks for answering my prayers.

8. I dream bigger when I'm around you.

9. I love cooking for you because when we first started dating, you ate that nasty chicken marsala recipe I messed up. If you'll eat that out of love way back then, I know whatever I make today is going to be ok.

10. I love hearing you pray. It's like eavesdropping on a lifelong love affair.

11. In our house in Baton rouge, I could always hear you walking around. You walked like a tap dancer: heel-toe, heel-toe. At first I thought you were just a heavy walker. Later I learned you really were a tap dancer. In hind sight, I think both were right. You've made the biggest footprints in my life just by walking into it.

12. I have no idea how you use 5 towels a day, but whatever you're doing, keep it up. You look great, love.

13. Same thing with the toilet paper. I'm completely baffled, but keep it up.

14. I looked up 4 different Michelada recipes for you, trying to find one you'd like. Turns out you prefer the bottled mix. Thanks for Zing-ing so I could Zang. You always keep me on my toes; giving me opportunities to learn more about you.

15. You were right, I could totally eat sushi every day.

16. Teddy is completely convinced he's your guard dog. Watch out world. It's Teddy, your killer Miniature Schnauzer guard dog. woof

17. Sometimes you'll tell me a joke and I'll laugh. Then I'll remember how you told it a few hours later and fall over laughing. You're so good at telling jokes.

18. Sometimes I get dressed in the dark and I don't realize until much later that none of my clothes match. That never happens when we're going somewhere together...Thanks.

19. I love that you always sit up front where ever we go. I know that you need to, but I still love it about you.

20. I never understood what the deal was with you and the kitchen. Now I realize that you have such a desire to be good at everything you do that you only have 4-5 things that you'll cook for anyone but me. I have to confess that those 4-5 things are really, really good.

21. When you talk about your friends, you only mention the good stuff. I never understood that when we met, but now I realize that you're incapable of remember the bad in people. That amazes me about you.

22. I'm really not testing your drink for poison when I take a sip. I just like sharing stuff with you.

23. You really do do maverick-y things.

24. I don't understand anything about hair, but I think yours is amazing. For the record, I'm totally jealous that when yours falls out, new hair grows in to replace it.

25. I know you're really super woman. I'm just playing along because I love the hero inside of you too.

Week 8: Strength and Distance

It was a crazy day today. In fact, the entire week has been hectic. Shell spent the week in Baton Rouge, I spent the week finishing up demos of 2 projects, submitting content for 3 papers, writing a demo from scratch for a Friday SC09 deadline, and still trying to find time to work out. It was insane to say the least. The good news is I got everything but the SC paper done. We decided to push that to a poster submission to give us more time for results and some interesting research. I think the only thing I didn't do this week was sleep. I'm going to enjoy that sometime very, very soon.

Tuesday's run was uneventful: 40 minutes around tacc. Fun, but nothing notable except for the sore hammies.

Wednesday's run was cancelled due to insane weather and me tunneling in on my deadlines for the week.

Thursday's run was great. It was supposed to be 3 miles easy. I wound up running with Michael G and John after work. I started out on my own, met up with Michael, ran with him for 15 minutes until he had to leave, then caught up with John as Michael was turning away and ran with him during his workout. Total duration was 54 minutes. I felt great afterwards and my hammies finally started to loosen up. Once the run was over, I headed to the Y to do some strength training. Everything went smoothly. I ran through the same workout as always. Bench went up to 165, Front standing raises went up to 20's. Tri pressdowns were with the ropes. Met a guy from South Carolina at the gym. Pretty cool guy. He kept telling me he wants to find something else to do in the medial field because he thinks he's not getting paid what he's worth. I had to bite, so I asked what he thought he was worth. He said $25/hr. Maybe it's me, but even I know he's worth more than that. Who sets their own personal value at 50k/yr. Depressing, but common.

My Kind of Story

Today I realized that I'm somewhere between 1/3 and 1/2 of the way through the story of my life and there's still something big missing. What I mean by that is that it still lacks something to really engage people. That something is a hero.

I've been thinking through what a movie about my life would look like. Shell loves to imagine which actors and actresses would play the main roles. I'm less interested in casting than content. Perhaps it's my own vanity, but if there's going to be a movie about me, I'd like to be the most memorable character in it. I'd like to be the Rocky, the Maximus, the Neo. I'd like to be the hero. That's my kind of story.

Superstars don't work with Martin Short

If you don't know who Martin Short is, you might remember him as Jack Frost from The Santa Clause 3, or Ned Nederlander in The Three Amigos, or from SNL waaay back in the day. He's an incredibly funny guy, who's remembered for his great characters, amazing presence, and stealing the show in every movie he's ever done. Kind of like Seann William Scott (aka Stiffler from American Pie) but with talent.

Please don't take this the wrong way, but when it comes to the story of my life, I don't want a Martin Short in my movie. Why? because Martin Short steals the show. When people leave the theatre, they don't remember the leading characters in his movies, they remember how Martin Short overshadowed the other characters. You don't see Stallone, Gibson, Ford and DeNiro sharing time with Martin Short. Why? Because they play heros. They are the stars of their movies. When you watch Rocky, there's no question who the hero is. His character, his story, is bigger than life. No one overshadows Stallone in those movies, not even Action Jackson.

You see, the only time a bit character can overshadow the rest of a movie is when the movie lacks a real hero. When it comes down to telling the story of my life, I want to be Tom Cruise. Minus the insanity...and taller...and not a heathen. I'm just being serious. I want to know that I was the one who inspired. I want to know that I was the one impacting the world around me and not the other way around. I want to live the story of a man with two loves in his life: his wife and God. I want the story to reveal a man whose actions were not always perfect, but his intentions always were. I want people to look into my life and say, "That's how I want to live!" I want my story to show a man who was remembered for remembering other people. How crazy is that. I spent the first 22 years of my life as the athlete only to spend the rest of it being the cheerleader :) Irony. That's my kind of story.

My kind of hero

Shell and I were talking the other day and we found this really cool site where you can make yourself over as a superhero. You pick your outfit, your physique, your powers... It's pretty cool. I love games like that because they get my imagination working overtime. I started thinking about what kind of super powers I wanted to have. That turned out to be a tough question. There are so many great superheroes out there with so many great powers. How does one choose strength vs speed? Psychic powers vs long life? Then it occurred to me that I might not be asking the right question at all.

What really defines a superhero? Is it their powers; their costume; their personality? It seems to me that the how without the why doesn't really matter. To me, at least, a superhero is defined by his cause. Would anyone buy a comic about Boris, the young man with super strength who spends all his time chopping down trees in the Pacific Northwest and never leaves his house after dark? No, who cares about a beefed up lumberjack? Who cares that he has the powers if he's not using them to accomplish something greater than himself. If he never uses them to impact lives, he's not a hero. That's not my kind of story.

On the other hand, would anyone buy a comic book about a teenage boy who could absorb knowledge by touching books and used that to power to learn about history and law and fight injustice around the world. Would the story be just as good if he couldn't absorb the knowledge but instead got it reading normally? Isn't that the story of the Pretender?

Seems to me that being super isn't a prerequisite to being a hero. Heroes need a cause to fight for. They need something bigger than themselves. How they do that is secondary. They are heroes because they're willing to go when others stay. Stand when others sit, and speak when others remain silent. Hero and human both start out the same way, they just differ on the follow through.

Back to my superhero. What do I want him to be known for? How about always being there when you're most needed. How about the ability to make the people around you feel better when you're there than when you're not. How about the power to inspire. How about the wisdom to use your powers to raise the powers of those around you. If I were a superhero, I'd love to be remembered for those things. I'd read a comic about that super. That's my kind of hero.

My kind of hero isn't super. He isn't born winning the genetic lottery. He doesn't have powers and abilities that I don't have. My kind of hero is just a man who decided that he could do more and be more on a daily basis. Despite being tired, hurt, let down and abandoned, he decided to be a friend, a leader, a father, and a husband one more time. My kind of hero is human.

We spend so much time saying if. If I could do this. If I could do that. If I had that. If only... A hero's only if is, "If I've been given the gift of another day, what can I do bless the world." Excuses don't inspire. They only lower the quality of life in every place they're used. My kind of hero doesn't make excuses, they fight to make a difference.

My kind of story

So I guess it comes down to me deciding how I'm going to write my story. I read one time that every man's story needs a battle to fight, a beauty to win, and a dragon to slay. I think I've got all of those identified by now. The one thing I still need to keep developing is the struggle. You can't be a hero without a victory and you can't become victorious without overcoming a struggle. It's about time I stopped trying to get out of the struggle and started embracing it. My life is crying out for a hero and there's no one who can fill that roll but me.

In my life, there are many, many examples of people who don't believe in me. I can't walk down the street without hearing someone tell me I can't do this or I'll never succeed at that. What I'm learning is that every time someone doesn't believe in me, I get another opportunity to believe in myself. And you know what? That fires me up. I ought to give those people a hug because they're helping me fill in the 'good parts' of my story. They're helping me to be a hero in the making.

There's never been a story like mine and there never will be again. My struggles and my victories are mine and mine alone. The one thing I do know is that at the end of the day, when the horn blows and my life flashes before me, I'll look at the example I've been to the world around me and the servant I've been to my God, and I'll be able to say that my life was 100% my kind of story.

Week 8: Strength and Stretch

Something about the end of yesterday's run did it to me. My hamstrings were incredibly sore after the race and all day today. As much as I love plyos, I love not tearing a hammy better. Today was an ice and stretching day. I woke up and stretched. I went to work and stretched. I walked around the office a couple times and stretched... You get the idea. After a long, hot shower my legs were finally starting to loosen up some. Coincidentally, it's warming up again. Not sure if the temperature change outside from 85-45-70's had anything to do with it. I'd rather not have to find out again.