Settled

Methinks the Great Polar Debate has been settled, courtesy of Polar. You see, I had contacted a rep for the company via Slowtwitch about his thoughts on the possibility of swapping bands & housings of the chrome & green S725x I owned for something more black & red, making the S725x, essentially, look like an S625x...though somehow cooler. This rep didn't think it would be an issue and made some suggestions as to whom I should speak at corporate and so on. I made the call and waited. And waited. A couple of days later, I called back, got somebody in some Asian country or other who was unable to understand my request; he said he would get back to me the next day. He didn't, so I contacted customer service via Internet chat. This rep seemed to understand what I wanted -- so well, in fact, that her response was a definitive "No, we will not swap bands and/or housings." Not that they could not, but that they would not. So much for customer service. All that in mind, I was still thinking about going with the S725x as my training tool of choice, but the color bothered me, as did the attitude of post-sales service. Well, the rep did say they would pass on my comments (a polished chrome bezel on a watch for all-day, outdoor activities?) to R&D, but that does me precisely no good for my current situation. So, the S725x will find its home back in its box, back in my closet, until I can get rid of it on Craigslist or something.

Dang. How much time & energy have I wasted on which <expletive> watch to use for training & racing? A fair amount, to be certain, but certainly not as much as I expended at the gym tonight. Because I "chose" to sleep yesterday evening, I hit the gym tonight to lift & swim. I ran into J---, the ultra-marathon man, on the floor, and we talked for a bit. It's obvious we have completely different training goals in mind, but, for there are still fewer people with whom I would rather run. After 40 minutes or so of lifting (I like the routine I've settled on but have swapped my StairMaster warmup for ~15 minutes of stretching, including some yoga poses), I hit the pool for 1500m of paddle drills, sandwiched between a pair of 750m swims. A 200m cool-down followed all negative splits, and I was done. Three-point-two kilometers in the pool tonight, and the only reasons I stopped were because I had to 1) pee; 2) eat, and Chipolte wasn't going to be open all night. Chicken burritos from that joint never tasted so good.

And now I am at home. A side trip to Borders helped get papers graded and a new book purchased -- Twilight, the first in the series of the same name. The kiddos at school seemed really stoked on it, so I thought I'd give it a shot, since it cost me precisely zilch, courtesy of a gift card from T---, N---'s sister. Thanks. :-D

So, now that it is creeping towards midnight, I will creep into bed and begin turning pages until sleep overtakes me. A 60-mile ride, house work, lots of grading, and a birthday party are all on tap for tomorrow. I hope to be able to spend some down time with N---, too; I've missed her terribly since we've both returned to our respective schools. Sigh.

Thanks for reading.