Something to Sleep On

Life is interesting when we slow down a bit to enjoy what we are doing. Last night, I headed over to Stacy Pool, a small local (free) outdoor pool that is 33.3 yds long. It is heated in the winter, so it is currently about 80-degrees. With the time change, it was already starting to get dark at 5:45 pm, so a 6:00 swim was beautiful because when I started it was light and mid-way through my swim, night closed in. I was there to do a short 3K swim workout to complete a rather hard training day (short track workout in the morning, intervals on the bike mid-day and then a quality swim). Right when I got in, I felt spectacular. The water felt warm yet the cool air made it very comfortable. I felt like I almost 'floated' through a 1K warmup, to then start my set of 12x100s on 1:30 (goal being fast). I got through about 8 of them, feeling great and putting up very solid times, with only about 3 or 4 other people in the pool. I took a brief stop with 4 to go and I had noticed a very good swimmer had hopped into my lane. Derek Yorek, a fellow triathlete here in Austin and phenomenal runner, was in the lane next to us, so I 'invited' Derek and Bruce (my lane mate) to hop into the last 4x100s. We clipped them off, and since I swim solo all of the time, I realized how nice the company was on this beautiful evening.

I rested after the set, enjoying the leisurely pace of my workout and chatted with Bruce for awhile. What an interesting person he turned out to be! He was a swimmer in college, so we had that in common, but he went on to tell me that he has a PhD from University of Texas where he studied human biology, kinesiology and brain wave activity. This is something I was very interested in at University of Illinois, what they called 'psychophysiology'. He works for a company called "Intellibed", which at first may sound gimmick-ey, but essentially he and his partners in the business are trying to get the customer the best sleep possible via their product. Check out the site and product. When you that the company is backed by educated, knowledgable people it makes the product much more valid. I guess what I found interesting is that I met him, just a day after Derick had put an article on Durata's site regarding the importance of sleep.

I left the pool at around 7:00, feeling refreshed and invigorated. Not only because I had completed a quality, satisfying swim, but I realized how interesting people can be. It is so easy to rush through our day, complete our tasks and simply want to get through it all. But, every so often, it's good to slow down and enjoy what you are doing; talk to a 'stranger'. You never know what you may learn! Now, I think it's time for a short nap... just 20-30 minutes, of course. :)