My Heart Goes Pitter Patter...

And now thanks to my new Suunto heart rate monitor, I can track how many times it goes pitter patter per minute! No, that wasn't a lame-arse pitch; this lil' device not only detects your HR, it also syncs up with the heart rate monitoring Gods in cardio-cyberspace somewhere and projects onto this massive board on the wall in the spin room (in real time) exactly what zone you're training in. It's like an electronic report card on this bulletin board that shows your status alongside everyone else's in the room (those wearing a Suunto belt, anyway), which is entirely entertaining to watch the numbers fluctuate between sets. I tend to have a higher heart rate than most people on the team (I'm just SO excited!), so I steered clear of this all-telling gadget for a while in hopes to avoid ridicule and perhaps the realization that I may or may NOT be in as great of shape as my fellow A-types.

But as Scott says, "Your heart [rate] never lies." So sentimental, that guy (moment to admire....) I would say I got a B- on the accuracy of my zone training, which is better than the D+ I thought I would get (reminiscent of Spanish class in college-JUST passing). Numbers were good and I'm pumped (get it?) to put this tri-toy to use for future improvement purposes.

Speaking of shoulders, mine are on FIRE from, oh, I don't know--the 20923473022435 IM's we did in the pool today. I don't even know what "IM" stands for--anyone? Look, I'm all about using new muscles, but it's not even 12 hours after the workout and I can hardly put my coat on (enter Advil)! Of course, I made the big executive decision to jump a lane up, so the pace was a bit above average for me...luckily I didn't know what I was doing during the butterfly and breast stroke sets, otherwise my arms would have fallen off by now. I just did the worm underwater (aka: my silly version of under-overs) to increase my lung capacity and avoid injury from attempting those strokes (I'm not so graceful).

(Second to) last but not least, it's a SNOWPOCALYPSE in NYC today (please see pic of Scott and his wintry truck), so only the brave/bold peeps of Full Throttle (and apparently the Post Office) were doing their thang this morning. Since most of the team slept in, those of us that showed up felt like we didn't "technically" have to be there. So, a tinge of giddiness was in the air that was really snow-day-esque (work was cancelled for 99% of us). For a sport/team that's especially obsessed with numbers, fractions thereof and crunching everything in between, it was refreshing to welcome a Friday morning with no one watching the clock (Suunto gismo episode excluded).

Special shout to the FTE fam members making a bold move (pictured together): Dave (tags: former Google guy, witty, would read the phone book before letting anyone beat him in a run, raised in DC) and his lovely wife Heidi (tags: sassifrass, former noseplug newsy, would read the phone book TO Dave before letting anyone beat her in general, lighthearted).