Exercise therapy

I had a long, fairly rough day on Tuesday. I knew I'd be on campus until 7 p.m., so I planned a swim workout that day to avoid going home in between. (The pool is open 7-9 p.m.) I was tired and crabby, but when I walked down the hall and smelled the chlorine, I smiled. Love that. I wish I could say that I had a great swim with no stress, but that's not what happened. Instead, I had to wait until 7:45 p.m. for a lifeguard to show up for me to even get in the water. I got home at 8:30 p.m. for the night...and for dinner. Which brings me to the point of this post...

Today, I had a similarly long day and had again planned on getting off work right before 7 p.m. I walked in ten after seven, and two ladies were leaving, very happy to see me. As it turns out, they were hoping I was the lifeguard because they had the pool before (we rent it out to other people when it's not open), and they were asked not to leave until someone got there to avoid locking/unlocking. I told them I was an employee and had a master key to the building, so they could leave and I would lock up if no one showed. I didn't stay more than 10 minutes because I was fuming! If you're supposed to be open at a certain time (and only a short time period), make sure you are there! I know it's student employees, but it's really frustrating. I'm glad I get the "service" for free...not paying a student fee or anything! Gah! So angry.

So I locked up, left and called people to vent. After venting to my dad about the situation, how I have a tri in two weeks (and it was too late to run), etc., he told me that no matter what I do, I should make sure to do something training-like and use my frustration. So I changed clothes, set up my trainer and got on. I did a hard 40-minute drill workout. I pedaled hard, fast and felt great. Between the awesome workout, and the final scene in Dirty Dancing, the one where Patrick Swayze jumps off the stage and starts dancing in the aisle, and everyone else joins in and automatically knows the all moves, I just felt so much better.

Moral of the story? Next time you're angry, frustrated -- even if it's brought on by a training or workout obstacle...USE it. And of course, surround yourself with people who are willing to let you vent, bitch and complain to them as a pre-exercise therapy sort of therapy.