Back in the gym, for now

Currently, the Santa Ana winds are blowing here in Los Angeles, which means that the air is hot, dry and, well, gross. Since it's blowing from inland to the ocean, all the allergens, pollution and general malaise that float in the air are now headed straight for me.

Mainly, it's the hot and dry that causes my problems. Hot because, well, it's hot. Dry because the dry air makes me cough like I'm about to die. I had originally intended to do a 30 ish mile bike ride today, but upon waking up with dry eyes, a dry nose, and a dry throat, I decided to stay indoors. 

So, I went to the gym. Since I hate doing cardio at the gym (running in place is intolerable, even with trash TV to distract me), I did weights and then a yoga class to stretch out.


I haven't done much weight training since the triathlon season started, so it hurt. Way more than I remember weights hurting, but  then again the yoga hurt, too.  Mainly because of all the bending.

Then I went and sat in the steam room and felt awesome until I had to go back outside.


Hopefully, the hot and dry will be over soon - according to the weather report, it should only be like this for another couple of days.

Fall Means Furnace in Southern California

It's time for the annual Santa Ana winds, which means just when the rest of the country's getting pink-cheeked from the frosty air, we're cooking like proverbial hush puppies in the deep fryer of life.

The winds create a hot, dry heat that burns the eyes and makes anyone with allergies wish they were dead. 

I went for a quick run this morning before work - I'd intended to get up at 6 and run for an hour, but I overslept so I decided to do a half hour run. I stepped out of the house at 6:45 and it was already hot and dry.

I spent most of the run coughing due to the dry air, and by the time I got back from an easy, easy run (30% walking, actually) I was sweaty and gasping.

What I really want to do is go jump in the ocean and stay there until it cools off, but sadly, I've been working too much to get in more than a quick workout here and there. I've also been drinking what seems like gallons of water and not peeing at all, which I'm told is bad.

Local news is predicting the heat breaking over the weekend, which will be wonderful. 

Sunday is the Playa del Rey sprint tri. I'm woefully under trained, but it's just a sprint and it's so hot I don't really care, so I'm not sweating it much (insert groan here).