It's the Most Wonderful Time...

...of the year.

March Madness!

NCAA Division I basketball championships.

It began today.  The first two rounds over the next four days are probably my favorite period of sports spectating ever.  48 games in all, whittling down a field of 64 to a "Sweet 16."  This year, I'd like to see my Duke Blue Devils get out of regional semifinals and make it to the Elite 8.  They should.  They're seeded #1 in their region, which wasn't stacked with the toughest of competition.  Anything can happen, but the odds are in Duke's favor this time to reach the Final Four.

Even without my rooting interest in Duke, though, I love the NCAA tournament.  And now with CBS streaming all games live over the Internet (they did this last year too), I don't have to fake illness to stay home and watch...as long as my employer doesn't block the CBS Sports IP address or filter the media stream.

I took advantage of a long lull in the middle of the day to get a long workout in at the gym.  I started on the treadmill, planning on an easy jog for an hour but winding up doing a Fartlek, essentially, fooling around with various paces and form practice.  I can't quite get the butt-kick right.  I feel like I'm bringing my heel up high after pushing off, but from what I can see in the mirror reflection, my knee comes to a 90 degree angle at best.

Still, I'm striding much more comfortably these days and feel like an easy pace now is around 7.0 to 7.3 whereas before I'd keep it down around 6.5 to 6.7.  I might be just kidding myself and the proof will be borne out in longer runs, but I think an 8-minute mile feels sustainable and comfortable (in a sense) for at least an hour. 

After treading the mill, I took a few minutes to cool down and stretch, and then popped into Renee's spin class for the 2nd half.  There were plenty of bikes available, which was strange.  Usually it's packed and I'm lucky to find a single spot open when I don't join at the start.  The routine included some high cadence climbing and a stretch of steady slow climb.  Got my quads burning and bumped my HR up again, but I made it.

Jumped off the bike and did triple set of what's become my standard upper body circuit routine.  It takes about 15 minutes to cycle through one time, and I finished 3.  The last was very difficult and I was done.

I managed to take in some of the games while on the treadmill, including Villanova's close call over Robert Morris and the double overtime BYU win over Florida.  Either of those two lose and my bracket entries would be hosed.

Back at work now and would love to just chuck the rest of the day and go home.  It's beautiful outside.  But there's work to be done first.  Maybe I'll take liberties tomorrow.