I'd be lying if I said the pool on the roof of my building had no impact on my decision to move in here. But until I moved in, I didn't realize just how great it would be.

Some of the reasons are pretty obvious -- like how I can work from up there on my telework days and how I can come home from work and just lounge around and dive into a good book.



But the pool is also pretty great for, well, swimming.

Now granted, it's not a lap pool by any means, and it's actually not even in a straight line. It curves and bends at one section, and there are usually at least a few other people in it.

But, all of that makes for really good triathlon swimming practice.

I mean, you have to sight where you're going, and swim around other people like you would in open water. And there's no lane line in this pool, just like there's not any in a lake/river/ocean.

So why do I care about mirroring tri-swim conditions?

Welllll, all this cross training I've been forced to do because of my foot injury has actually gotten me kind of excited about the possibility of doing another triathlon. (I can hear coach Zach cheering all the way from South Carolina.)



I mean I still can't run, which is obviously an important part of a triathlon, but I figure if I keep working on the swimming and the biking, by the time I can get back to running again, I might be able to tackle a sprint distance tri.



And for whatever reason, I really, really want to try a tri with an ocean swim. I have no idea why. Swimming in the ocean scares the crap out me. Hello...sharks!

But the whole time I was at the beach in July, I kept being envious of all the people out in the ocean doing their swim workouts.


Swimming in the Bay...the closest I ever got to an ocean swim

I overheard more than a few people talk about upcoming beach tris they were training for, and I was like, man, I really, really want to swim, bike, run at the beach.

Now I'm well aware I probably won't be able to work a beach tri into my schedule this year. Most of my fall weekends are booked with Terps football and who knows when I will actually be able to run again.

But come spring and summer, I'm planning to keep my eyes open. I'm eying some of the ones at the Delaware beaches. Until then, I may try to find something small around here and later in the season, even if it only has a pool swim.

Just need my foot to hurry up and heal.