How I spent the "Off-Day"

What I see every day here - at least I feel at home, and am glad I live and train here.

Monday is a kind of rest day for me from training as the pool is shut, and I need at least one day's rest. So how did I spend it? It is not the most exciting of days, and for brief moments of time I felt extremely isolated and depressed as many of my friends were racing over in Kona or even Florida (at least yesterday, or today depending on how you define time).

I mainly set myself a goal of doing some work, today, since I am less likely to spend half the day asleep, and I can get off to an earlier start. So after checking the blogs and listening to some music, I got started on my work. It was a fairly tedious job today. However, that aids my ability to focus, as if you can focus on something you don't really want to do, it will be much easier to do something you enjoy. Around 11 am, I biked to the nearby market to get some meat, fruit and vegetables (to make sure there are sufficient supplies in the house for my several-times-a-day feedings), and since it was almost lunch time when I got back, I quickly prepared something and left it in the microwave oven. A few minutes to lie down on the bed while I waited, and then a little more preparation before sitting down to my main feeding of the middle of the day.

Since I ate a little more than I would have been most comfortable with, I went back to my bed and, with Japanese dictionary in hand, read a few sentences that I had printed off my friend's blog. It is so nice to read the sentence directly in the Japanese. I can really feel what the writer was trying to convey. Finally, after some stretching (the easy kind on a 7ft bed) and a short rest, I returned to my office upstairs, and although I was a bit mesmerized by the Japanese music I was listening to, I eventually got back into my work. A snack around 5 pm had me downstairs again, but I now had to make a good effort to get the work I had elected to do today finished. I eventually only finished it around 9 pm, at which point I made more food. My feeding times are often quite boring, and the food is bland. Sometimes my wife cooks, but a lot of the meals I prepare myself, since even if it is only potatoes, onions and cheese, at least it is getting into my system, and getting me ready for the next day's training.

By the time I had cleared up and got back upstairs, it was about 10 pm. At this point I attend to my blogging, and try not to stay up beyond 11 pm, otherwise I will be more tired tomorrow. I wasn't alone at home. I did spend some time interacting with both my wife and our boys, but perhaps not a lot of time. I also read or listened to some discussions on economics (my major) on the Internet for about 20 minutes today, and read a little sports news and did a little of my own bookkeeping.

The main thing to look forward to at the moment is sleep and how I interact with the water at the pool tomorrow. I want to try to pick up the pace slightly on those longish swims. Ultimately, how far I swim is not too important, but getting a bit faster is.

Finally, congratulations to my friends who participated in the various running events at the Kona Marathon weekend. I wish I had been there.