Tuesday, January 27, 2009

What NOT to eat before a swim

One of the things I love about Cleveland is how ethnically diverse it is. There really is every different kind of person and background in this town. Which, of course, means great food. Ethiopian, Thai, Czech, Polish, Italian, Slovak...and especially, my FAVORITE PLACE TO EAT, Aladdin's Eatery. Mmmmmmmmm. Tasty Middle Eastern cuisine.

SOOOOOOOOOOO tasteeeeeeee.

But, my friends, that is NOT the best thing to eat before you crank out 3000 yards. Unless you want it to go like this:

Stroke stroke stroke breathe
BURP FALAFFEL
stroke stroke breathe
BURP GRAPE LEAVES
stroke stroke breath
FLIP TURN BURP BABA GHANNOUSH
stroke stroke breath
BURRRRRRRPPPPPPPP ARAYISS PITA

Yeah. Pretty much my swim yesterday. Lesson learned.

(still totally worth it, though)

Big disappointment in my swimming TT from Sunday, BTW. Boooooo hiss. I did the EXACT FRICKEN THING I DID LAST YEAR. And, my STOOOOPID cap came off three times. To quote the great movie "Christmas Story," the cloud of my obscenities is still hanging over Oberlin pool. Good thing no one heard me, since everyone else was swimming. Arg! No excuses. If Michael Phelps can win a gold medal with his goggles full of water, I should have been able to get through a 20 minute TT with my cap not sucking the life out of my head.

Needless to say, I also ordered a silicone cap for "Long Hair" from swimoutlet.com. It's that or get my hair cut short, which is just not an option.

Anyway, I guess I should still be OK with my performance. It was fine. But I am just kinda tired of being sorta fine in the water. I've been swimming like crazy lately...couldn't I have at least been a 50 faster than last year?! Arg. I swear I have one speed in the water...slightly better than mediocre. We can just call me TriSaraTops the Slighty-Better-Than-Mediocre-Swimmer.

/end venting/

There, I feel better now. ;)

I'm getting pumped for New Orleans, fo' sho'! Can't believe I am just about 2 months out. So basically, this is like June for me. I usually race in August, and I've never raced hard in April before. So I'm trying to get in the mindset of June. June's pretty serious. June's time to put the hammer down.

And the hummus and tabbouli.

4 comments:

The Alien said...

It's impossible for me to have anything on my stomach when I go swimming, my stomach hates it!! I've got used to eat a few hours before going for a swim because if I eat right before disaster can happen!

Michelle said...

Wow, you have access to Middle Eastern cuisine? We have Middle Eastern Taylor County cuisine! Your choice of pizza, hamburger and fries or pizza, hamburger and fries.

I think being a better than mediocre swimmer is pretty darn good! Wish I could be!

Carolina John said...

haha, i know what you mean. Greenville has a BMW manufacturing plant, and all of the suppliers make us one of the most diverse cities in the southeast. There is also a middle east restaurant here that i love love love. thanks for the tip about not going there before swimming.

Charlie said...

I have a bad Indian habit before workouts