Loooong thoughts dump- hills, pears, laundry machines, swimming

So much to share with you:)

I went to see the sadistic PT on Friday and he said that my leg felt much better than the first time I went there. So he did not have to use that horrible sucky thing that left me with the bruise that was the size of my hand the first time I went there. He tried different chiropractic moves on me and I do not know why but I cannot constrain myself and I always start laughing when my neck and back joints start popping. That probably does not make me very mature but I just find it too funny.
He is again not here next week so we will meet again in two weeks but he said that it is ok since now my right side is not as tight as before and I do not need treatment every week.

Ouch, my legs! Yesterday I did an easy 40something min run and then 1h50min bike ride and then I forced myself to do another 20min run, so a little ~4min ru-bike-run brick. My legs felt as they used to feel after 3h trainer rides. I am indeed hopelessly out of shape:( I need to put my act together!

Today I did 45min run with 5x hills (I am sick of those easy longish runs. I want something more intensive!!! It that too much to ask for?), and then I did another bike ride. I did a new route, little bit longer than usual and then I mapped it here because I wanted to know how far I went. Only 32 miles?!? http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/83708789/?new_route=1 I did not have watch so I do not know how long it took me, somewhere around 2hours.
I did not run afterwards because I was not sure how my ITB would react to two longish runs in two days and plus when I am tired it is hard to lift knees and land nicely under the center of gravity and I was little worried that poor form might lead to bad landing and ITB would flare up.

I wanted to eat a pear between run and ride but I forgot and I was already hungry 10min into the ride. And I still had around 2hours to go….I remember my first summer in MI I used to do long rides and the thought of nice juicy nectarines was the only thing that got me home:) Now it was the thought of nice fish sandwich. Not that I crave such sandwiches but I knew that bread, butter, cheese, raddishes, cucumber, mustard, tomatoe sauce and herrings was the only food I had in my fridge.
I was on an autopilot the last 50min, I just pedaled without thinking and I do not remember much of those 50min. Must have been the lack of H2O and calories. But do not worry, I constrained myself after I got home and did not eat like 2000 calories in 10min like I usually do :)

I rode in wet pants. No no, I did not pee myself. I was not very warm and I wanted to wear something over my knees. You see, I have only one pair of running shorts, bike shorts and running capris (courtesy of PPC:) Thank you!) and I wanted to wear those. But I did laundry yesterday and I forgot to place those on a heater to dry. They were not too wet though because they were hanging in the laundry room for almost 20 hours but they were not dry either. So I wore dry bike shorts under those wet running capris. It worked out well. I do not like having a lot of gear, because honestly, how many pairs of running/biking wear one needs? You hand wash it after every use and it is like new. I still run in shorts I got when I was freshman in college and they are great. They cover everything they are supposed to cover and thus additional shorts would be a waste of resources (both natural and my money. I prefer to spend my money on fun stuff. As of today I am officially saving money for a trip to Kilimanjaro, or Himalayas. I have not thought it through that far. Anyone wants t go with me so I do not go alone? Or maybe I better start saving to be able to do some ITU racing outside the US.)

Which leads to another point - laundry machines. I do not know about your washing machines but mine in the US had 36min cycle. No matter which program I chose, it was always around 35min. Here (and in Slovakia as well, I asked my aunt last week) the cycle is almost 2hours. I forgot how long the cycle on my Parisian machine was but it was probably this long as well. Interestingly, the energy-saving program is little over 2hours, longer that normal cycle. The short cycle is around 100min. Which leads me to the conclusion that energy consumption depends on how long it takes to heat up the water. Maybe you all know this but I had no idea. I think that the energy-saving cycle is so long because the water is being heated up slowly. Which means that those American 36min cycle machines must be energy consuming beasts. Just imagine that. They heat up water in just few minutes. Wow! And those dryers! The North American consumer culture is horrible, a lot of waste and resources consumption without thinking, only to make things little more convenient. I am not saying that Europe is much better in this, but definitely little bit better. Although maybe it is because electricity, gas, water, fuel is more expensive here and therefore people pay more attention how much they consume.

I have realized that I do not like swimming with other people. Or more specifically, I do not like swimming intervals with people. Maybe if I knew those people, I would like it more. But since I am a complete stranger there I feel completely out of place and I do not enjoy it one bit. And therefore I am kind of glad that there is no swimming practice today. I know, not the right attitude but I am just being honest.

Wish me luck. I am defending my thesis on Wednesday! And then I am finally done with business school. Btw, almost all law schools have rejected me. But I knew that that would happen because I had applied only to top 15 schools and my LSAT score was pathetic. But since I got those application fee waivers I applied anyway because I had nothing to lose and did nto spend $1000. But that is no biggie, I have US visa interview on 23rd and work visa petition is submitted as well. So wish me even more luck for that visa interview. I hope there won’t be any problems and I can fly to the US sometimes at the beginning of May.