I’ll admit that I’m weather-finicky if and only if we can get a respite from the heat. Sure, I didn’t like the nonstop rain, but some balance in the weather force would really make for a more pleasant winding down of summer—and better runs.
While my will power had an all-star day on Tuesday, I wasn’t expecting a repeat performance today. I ate a Think Green chocolate chip bar with a pint of water around 4:45 p.m. and then jetted (or shall I say Jetta-ed) home for my next run.
The ride home didn’t bode well for the workout ahead: I was breaking a sweat just sitting in the car with the windows down. And not only was it hot, it was super muggy. I had a few moments in which my mind fought back and forth about whether I should run, sleep or yoga, but I stopped thinking, got dressing and went running.
Right away I noticed that my calves were tight, which is strange for me because my calves are never tight and they felt fine all day long. I stretched for a bit and then started my opening 4 miles r-e-a-l-l-y s-l-o-w-l-y, about 10:30/mile. After the first quarter, I picked it up to about 9:00/mile for the next half mile around my neighborhood. I pushed it up some slight hills and tried get some kick into my run, but the sun was taking it out of me. And by the end of 1.5 miles, I started wheezing. I hate wheezing.
So, I took my pace down around 9:30-10:00/mile and finished the rest of the 4 miles before I headed inside. It was just too darn hot and my body just wasn’t having it. Not only was my breathing all wrong, my hands and feet were swelling too. Ugh.
I ate a protein-rich dinner and chowed an apple with cinnamon until the sun chilled out around 8:15 p.m. It felt like I was cheating on my workout—taking a little over an hour break—but I would have felt worse if I just didn’t finish it at all.
Then I took to the streets again to start my 4 x 1:30 aerobic intervals… but not before a half-mile warm-up. Again with the tight calves. Still I pushed through the warm-up and then built up to the intervals, which were much more difficult tonight than the past week and a half. My pace on the intervals and the 6 pickups that followed was probably double an good night’s pace, but I took everything my body was giving.
I guess all nights can’t be gems. Nevertheless, I finished my total 7 miles for Thursday’s training and am ready for a Friday of rest.
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Tired Legs Aren’t So Bad
If Monday’s cycling didn’t tire out my legs, Tuesday afternoon’s 50-minute power vinyasa yoga stop had them pooped. Because weather.com showed 4-7 p.m. as the only bright spots of the day (I saw sunshine!), I had planned to run my assign 7-mile workout right after work. But my body just wasn’t having it. I was hungry and fatigued.
Once I started making dinner, I was trying to rearrange my Wednesday schedule to fit in my 7 miles. And once I ate my salmon Florentine roulette with capellini dinner and then took a nap, I thought the night was lost. It turns out, however, it was just a power nap.
By 8 p.m. the sun was gone and the darkening sky and gloom were back. I strapped on my shoes, popped a strawberry Shot Blok and went on my way. The night’s workout included:
Once I started making dinner, I was trying to rearrange my Wednesday schedule to fit in my 7 miles. And once I ate my salmon Florentine roulette with capellini dinner and then took a nap, I thought the night was lost. It turns out, however, it was just a power nap.
By 8 p.m. the sun was gone and the darkening sky and gloom were back. I strapped on my shoes, popped a strawberry Shot Blok and went on my way. The night’s workout included:
- 3 miles warm up at 9:00/mile
- 2 x (2:00, 2:30) aerobic intervals (AI)
- 2 miles wrap up and warm down (8:40/mile, 9:00/mile)
I started running with way too much food in my stomach—let’s just say that I made too much capellini and I was happy to eat the leftovers—but the heaviness subsided after the first mile. In fact, I was surprised at how much kick I had for that warm-up… I thought it was going to be the week’s biggest struggle.
What made it even easier was that at around 2.75 miles there was a tall, dark and handsome guy standing at the end of one of the parking lots I jog around. He was wearing his running shorts and his New Balances, and he was waiting to hand me my imaginary water. It was Neil!
He knew how hard I had to push to get myself out the door (especially at night), so he joined me for the last quarter mile of my warm-up, which we ran at a steady and healthy pace, and the first AI. Even as we passed the drive to our apartment, he kept going with me. We ran a strong 2:00 AI and then jogged to recovery.
I didn’t think it was healthy for him to do too many higher-intensity runs, so after our recovery I suggested he jog it home as I took off for the 2:30. He must have covered at least a mile at a great pace, and I’m very proud of him. You go, Neil!
And I was kind of wishing I was taking the jog home with him as I hit :40 of the 2:30! These aerobic intervals are absolute killers—and that’s why I love them. I’m not running these sets too hard (as my instructions say, it’s a tempo “somewhere between comfortable and ‘Hey, I'm workin' a little here.’”), but I am beginning to feel their effects on my normal pace.
As I mentioned in a previous post, the AIs reinforce in my spatial memory what it feels like to stretch my legs, lift my knees and kick my feet back. It’s a nice change of pace from my tendency to slump into a lethargic jaunt for greater distances. And I remember the good stride when I start to slump. Plus, with the higher intensity bits, my 8:40-9:00/mile runs feel like cake. And I like cake.
The only uncakey thing about the last two miles was how dark it was getting. I’m not generally afraid of the dark (unless, of course, it’s in a cold, damp basement… but we’re all afraid of cold, damp and dark basements, right?), but my neighborhood isn’t particularly well lit. At all. I pushed to get the last two miles done and get myself off the streets. Where did summer nights go? I suppose I’ll have to start running earlier.
One of the dumbest things to do while pushing through the warm-up/don’t-want-to-do-this part of a workout: think about training you have planned for subsequent days. What was I doing, for example, thinking about my Wednesday morning swim when I started feeling heavy, tired and stitchy during the first mile of my warm-up? Being an idiot.
I thought at that point that there was no way I would wake up at 5:25 a.m. to get a lane, and, if I did, I would have to make it a short workout. But it wasn’t. I woke up just fine (a couple minutes earlier so I could get up, eat, dress and drive to the rec. center in time to be part of that group of people waiting in line get in right at 6 a.m. sharp) and swam my 4,500-yard/~2.5-mile workout:
- 1,000 yards free warm-up
- 10 x 125 yards alt. IM order, plus extra free
- 7 x 200 yards alt. free and one-arm fly
- 13 x 50 yards free sprints
- 200 yards free cool down
And it only took 1.5 hours. I spent most of the swim giving my legs a rest, which is what I will continue doing throughout Wednesday. They can use it.
Monday, August 20, 2007
Can I Please Ride a Stationary Bike in the Triathlon?
Rain, rain, go away! Take a day off and come back on Wednesday. Geez!
Instead of running the Perfect 10-Miler on Sunday, Neil and I headed out to the baseball fields next to our apartment and started building an ark. So, pair up and come over!
Actually, near early evening I had had enough of sitting around waiting for a break in the rain. I jumped in my [new] car, which had trouble starting and needs a new battery, and was about to head to the rec. center track when the universe gave me a break. It stopped raining. Without hesitation, I jumped out of the car and started my 5-mile run for Sunday.
It was drizzling when I started running and only picked up 2-3 times for a few minutes during the workout. Only after I went inside did it start to truly pour. Good thing it was a quickee!
I was still pretty jazzed from Saturday’s race, which pretty much canceled out the rain discomfort. I took out the first two miles with stretched legs and a steady pace around 9:00/mile. For the second two miles, I tried to pick up the pace while maintaining control of myself. It was steady again at 8:35/mile. Then I cooled down with around a 9:00 mile.
And that completed my first full week on a training plan. Not only have I felt more motivated to run because of the plan in itself (if I have something solid and written down, my guilt will never let me leave it undone), but because it offers me the variety that I was too running dense to realize I needed… or at least how to incorporate it.
This first week was pretty simple: about 20 miles total. But it’s helping me kick and scratch my way back to the 25-30 miles I was completing pre-sciatica June.
So, I’m sticking to that plan and have establish a pretty good strategy (for now) for swimming. What’s next? Cycling and diet.
On the cycling front: I took lunch to cycle 12 miles across vaulting and plunging hills on a stationary bike. It’s wholly different than real cycling (especially since it only took 30 minutes for me to ride the 12 miles… we all know that’s not accurate!), but it helps with my general muscle groups and reinforces the idea that I need to constantly pedal.
Sounds silly, doesn’t it? I’m hoping that and a new bike frame (to go with the racing tires that have been sitting in my dining room since… April?) might get me out of the cycling dungeon in future triathlons!
Now, when I say diet, I don’t mean it in the trendy sense. I’ve been a lifelong healthy eater and fish-a-vegetarian (I just don’t dig meat texture, it’s not an ethical thing—sorry!), but I think everyone needs a little training-diet-introspection. For instance, I hadn’t realized until recently how lacking I was in protein and other bit vital to rebuilding my body. Ouch!
For the next several weeks, I’m going to keep track of what I’m eating, how much and when. It’s a process I’ve regularly undertaken for most of my life (a habit I picked up from my dad, haha), but one that I can use to understand what foods affect my training and performances, when it’s best to eat and how much. Right now my eating habits are almost always based on general good judgment, but nothing targeted. We’ll see how it goes.
But I’m not going to lie to you: having cupcakes in your diet is not a bad thing. Did you see how well I ran (for me) on Saturday?
Instead of running the Perfect 10-Miler on Sunday, Neil and I headed out to the baseball fields next to our apartment and started building an ark. So, pair up and come over!
Actually, near early evening I had had enough of sitting around waiting for a break in the rain. I jumped in my [new] car, which had trouble starting and needs a new battery, and was about to head to the rec. center track when the universe gave me a break. It stopped raining. Without hesitation, I jumped out of the car and started my 5-mile run for Sunday.
It was drizzling when I started running and only picked up 2-3 times for a few minutes during the workout. Only after I went inside did it start to truly pour. Good thing it was a quickee!
I was still pretty jazzed from Saturday’s race, which pretty much canceled out the rain discomfort. I took out the first two miles with stretched legs and a steady pace around 9:00/mile. For the second two miles, I tried to pick up the pace while maintaining control of myself. It was steady again at 8:35/mile. Then I cooled down with around a 9:00 mile.
And that completed my first full week on a training plan. Not only have I felt more motivated to run because of the plan in itself (if I have something solid and written down, my guilt will never let me leave it undone), but because it offers me the variety that I was too running dense to realize I needed… or at least how to incorporate it.
This first week was pretty simple: about 20 miles total. But it’s helping me kick and scratch my way back to the 25-30 miles I was completing pre-sciatica June.
So, I’m sticking to that plan and have establish a pretty good strategy (for now) for swimming. What’s next? Cycling and diet.
On the cycling front: I took lunch to cycle 12 miles across vaulting and plunging hills on a stationary bike. It’s wholly different than real cycling (especially since it only took 30 minutes for me to ride the 12 miles… we all know that’s not accurate!), but it helps with my general muscle groups and reinforces the idea that I need to constantly pedal.
Sounds silly, doesn’t it? I’m hoping that and a new bike frame (to go with the racing tires that have been sitting in my dining room since… April?) might get me out of the cycling dungeon in future triathlons!
Now, when I say diet, I don’t mean it in the trendy sense. I’ve been a lifelong healthy eater and fish-a-vegetarian (I just don’t dig meat texture, it’s not an ethical thing—sorry!), but I think everyone needs a little training-diet-introspection. For instance, I hadn’t realized until recently how lacking I was in protein and other bit vital to rebuilding my body. Ouch!
For the next several weeks, I’m going to keep track of what I’m eating, how much and when. It’s a process I’ve regularly undertaken for most of my life (a habit I picked up from my dad, haha), but one that I can use to understand what foods affect my training and performances, when it’s best to eat and how much. Right now my eating habits are almost always based on general good judgment, but nothing targeted. We’ll see how it goes.
But I’m not going to lie to you: having cupcakes in your diet is not a bad thing. Did you see how well I ran (for me) on Saturday?
Saturday, August 18, 2007
Nothing Else to Do on a Saturday Morning But Win My Age Group
A couple months ago, I wondered how the hoopla I made of races affected my performance. Race after race I’ve described in gory detail how something in my terrified-of-running subconscious arrests my legs at race time. Salty recommended that I casually enter a race someday—without the mess of countdowns and gear-ups that generally precede race day. Now there’s an idea!
Someday several months later…
I woke up around 7 a.m. this morning, thinking it was a work-week day. What a relief to be wrong! After a couple 5:30 a.m. swim practices, I was actually wide awake. My training plan for today called for a 5K at race pace, so I had a Think Thin chocolate fudge protein bar, hopped in the car and headed to Hudson, where the Vertical Runner email mentioned the Joseph Monastra Refuse to Lose 5K race would kick off at 9 a.m.
For the first time, I took a real pre-race warm-up run. I’ve “warmed up” for races past, but it was typically a 25-yard jaunt that had more to do with leaving the car or finding a bathroom than gearing up my muscles. I wound through the First and Main area, thinking about the race and, of course, some cupcakes…
See: I had just vowed two weeks ago that I was swearing off dessert foods until I ran a race with an 8:00/mile pace or better. It’s been rough. My body just wasn’t feeling up to snuff this morning, so I wasn’t hopeful. Both of my hammies were tight, my lower back was hinting at some future discomfort, and the energy that pushed me to drive to Hudson had subsided. At least I’m sticking with my training plan, I thought.
I had expected to feel a little tight: the past week included the sprints and intervals that I’m not accustomed to doing. Results of good training take time and practice. All I wanted to do this morning was run my assigned 5K at a “race pace.”
Nine o’clock finally rolled around and we shuffled toward the starting line. Somehow, I ended up in the very front. The Hermes starter announced we would begin in about two minutes at the sound of her bell.
Thirty seconds later something like a secret starting gun sounded and we all took off! Hermes woman fumbled for her bell and rang it right away. We started off running down a slight hill and for two whole glorious seconds I was winning the race. Ahh. Good times.
After those first two seconds, the typical surge of people sprinting past me at the beginning washed by, and I tried to start this race a little faster than usual. My legs had cooled down since the warm-up, but I could definitely feel the difference between my typical racing legs and the ones I had today! Was it the "casual" race, the lessened hoopla, the intervals? Maybe the allure of cupakes?
The real obstacle for this current house-hunter: Hudson village. Not only are the houses historic, pristine and gorgeous, some of them are for sale! For the first half-mile, I was trying to stay focused and to keep up a faster-than-usual pace, but there were houses with turrets, curvy trim and for-sale signs! What’s a girl to do?
Well, I remembered what happened last time I got caught up in race-time house-hunting (ahem, finished nearly last in cycling), unglued my eyes from the sideshow and thought about my stride, my extension, my follow-though. I only had 3.1 miles to work with here!
I was only feeling a little bit tight about five minutes into the race, so I took my pace up a few notches—just outside my comfort zone. And then I wondered: was I running faster or was my body just not up to snuff? My thought was that it’s only a 5K—even if I get pooped, I can still jog it home, right? It was the first time I’d raced a 5K (last week’s tri leg was a bit different for me), so tackling it took a little playing.
The group had spread out by the time I could see the 1-mile marker down the road, and I was surrounded by a bunch of kids (not including a nine-year-old girl named Jessica who kicked the race in 21:52!). At first I thought I was running uber slow to be at the kids' table, but I looked down at my watch and then passed the marker at 7:41! That’s a minute off my typical first mile. Woo hoo!
Confidence renewed, I tried to stay focused on my pace. The first two miles were mostly uphill, and I was looking forward to the run back and some down-hills. So, I was pretty disappointed (as were several other people I could hear cursing the course) when we veered away from the downward route back. Darn it! My mind and legs were so surprised by the turn of events that the next uphill was a killer for me. I slowed down way too much and crossed mile two at 15:56 (8:15 mile-two split).
So, I can’t lie: at this point I’m thinking that cupcakes are out of my reach and all I really want is a cup of Gatorade and a nap. I had lost my pacer (she took off on the hill that killed my spirit—it wasn’t even that big!) and I didn’t have the mental energy with which I had started. Lucky for me, I knew that I had the physical energy to finish strong. So, I mentally smacked myself back to reality and just tried to stretch out my legs and keep a strong stride.
Mile three passed without anyone calling out the time, and I didn’t even want to check my watch. With about an eighth of a mile to go, a ten-year-old kid with shaggy hair came flying up from behind me! Greg, who used to work at Kent State and had already finished the race, was cheering us from the sidelines. I looked at him and said, “I’m getting beaten my a little person!” So, the kid turned on the jets! Way to go! I sprinted after him, but he finished two seconds ahead of me (he probably helped me cut a few of my own seconds).
My final time: 24:22 (pace - 7:50/mile; last 1.1 mile - 8:26).
I hadn’t realized it at the time—my mental math was wrong—but I was totally cupcake-worthy! While I knew that my time was in the 24:00 area, I didn’t have a clue how/where I had finished. I talked to a couple of people (including Vince from Vertical Runner—he’s like a celebrity—whom I thanked for hooking me up with a killer pair of shoes) and then headed home.
Once I was home, I checked for results. Nothing. I had some breakfast, did some work, talked to Neil, made lunch, and by noon, still nothing.
Finally around 2 p.m. the results rolled in: I found my time and that I had won my age group! Yeah! I’ve never won my age group, and have never expected to win it… accordingly, I didn’t even stay for the awards! I wonder what I would have received? Anyhow, Neil played “We Are the Champions” for me—changing the lyrics, of course, to “Gina is the Champion… of her age group!”—and that was reward enough. How awesome!
Admittedly it was a small race with a slower pack than most of the events I’ve entered. But I’m still proud… and I still picked up cupcakes! So, there were some additional rewards.
I bought a new-to-me car today (a 1998 VW Jetta GLS, which is the car I drove and loved before I gave up driving for a spell), and once the former owner, Emily, dropped it off, Neil and I packed in for an inaugural drive and for a cupcake run.
The cupcake order: seven chocolate lava cuppies for Neil and "Main Street Chocolate Fluff," wedding white and half-baked cookie dough for me.
What a day! I had two cupcakes and will have to freeze-save the rest for my next goal. What can I say: the cupcake-carrot on a stick works for me!
By the way: it turns out that we all started at the sound of a police-escort motorcycle backfiring instead of a secret starting gun on the grassy knoll. Ahh, Hermes.
Someday several months later…
I woke up around 7 a.m. this morning, thinking it was a work-week day. What a relief to be wrong! After a couple 5:30 a.m. swim practices, I was actually wide awake. My training plan for today called for a 5K at race pace, so I had a Think Thin chocolate fudge protein bar, hopped in the car and headed to Hudson, where the Vertical Runner email mentioned the Joseph Monastra Refuse to Lose 5K race would kick off at 9 a.m.
For the first time, I took a real pre-race warm-up run. I’ve “warmed up” for races past, but it was typically a 25-yard jaunt that had more to do with leaving the car or finding a bathroom than gearing up my muscles. I wound through the First and Main area, thinking about the race and, of course, some cupcakes…See: I had just vowed two weeks ago that I was swearing off dessert foods until I ran a race with an 8:00/mile pace or better. It’s been rough. My body just wasn’t feeling up to snuff this morning, so I wasn’t hopeful. Both of my hammies were tight, my lower back was hinting at some future discomfort, and the energy that pushed me to drive to Hudson had subsided. At least I’m sticking with my training plan, I thought.
I had expected to feel a little tight: the past week included the sprints and intervals that I’m not accustomed to doing. Results of good training take time and practice. All I wanted to do this morning was run my assigned 5K at a “race pace.”
Nine o’clock finally rolled around and we shuffled toward the starting line. Somehow, I ended up in the very front. The Hermes starter announced we would begin in about two minutes at the sound of her bell.
Thirty seconds later something like a secret starting gun sounded and we all took off! Hermes woman fumbled for her bell and rang it right away. We started off running down a slight hill and for two whole glorious seconds I was winning the race. Ahh. Good times.
After those first two seconds, the typical surge of people sprinting past me at the beginning washed by, and I tried to start this race a little faster than usual. My legs had cooled down since the warm-up, but I could definitely feel the difference between my typical racing legs and the ones I had today! Was it the "casual" race, the lessened hoopla, the intervals? Maybe the allure of cupakes?
The real obstacle for this current house-hunter: Hudson village. Not only are the houses historic, pristine and gorgeous, some of them are for sale! For the first half-mile, I was trying to stay focused and to keep up a faster-than-usual pace, but there were houses with turrets, curvy trim and for-sale signs! What’s a girl to do?Well, I remembered what happened last time I got caught up in race-time house-hunting (ahem, finished nearly last in cycling), unglued my eyes from the sideshow and thought about my stride, my extension, my follow-though. I only had 3.1 miles to work with here!
I was only feeling a little bit tight about five minutes into the race, so I took my pace up a few notches—just outside my comfort zone. And then I wondered: was I running faster or was my body just not up to snuff? My thought was that it’s only a 5K—even if I get pooped, I can still jog it home, right? It was the first time I’d raced a 5K (last week’s tri leg was a bit different for me), so tackling it took a little playing.
The group had spread out by the time I could see the 1-mile marker down the road, and I was surrounded by a bunch of kids (not including a nine-year-old girl named Jessica who kicked the race in 21:52!). At first I thought I was running uber slow to be at the kids' table, but I looked down at my watch and then passed the marker at 7:41! That’s a minute off my typical first mile. Woo hoo!
Confidence renewed, I tried to stay focused on my pace. The first two miles were mostly uphill, and I was looking forward to the run back and some down-hills. So, I was pretty disappointed (as were several other people I could hear cursing the course) when we veered away from the downward route back. Darn it! My mind and legs were so surprised by the turn of events that the next uphill was a killer for me. I slowed down way too much and crossed mile two at 15:56 (8:15 mile-two split).
So, I can’t lie: at this point I’m thinking that cupcakes are out of my reach and all I really want is a cup of Gatorade and a nap. I had lost my pacer (she took off on the hill that killed my spirit—it wasn’t even that big!) and I didn’t have the mental energy with which I had started. Lucky for me, I knew that I had the physical energy to finish strong. So, I mentally smacked myself back to reality and just tried to stretch out my legs and keep a strong stride.
Mile three passed without anyone calling out the time, and I didn’t even want to check my watch. With about an eighth of a mile to go, a ten-year-old kid with shaggy hair came flying up from behind me! Greg, who used to work at Kent State and had already finished the race, was cheering us from the sidelines. I looked at him and said, “I’m getting beaten my a little person!” So, the kid turned on the jets! Way to go! I sprinted after him, but he finished two seconds ahead of me (he probably helped me cut a few of my own seconds).
My final time: 24:22 (pace - 7:50/mile; last 1.1 mile - 8:26).
I hadn’t realized it at the time—my mental math was wrong—but I was totally cupcake-worthy! While I knew that my time was in the 24:00 area, I didn’t have a clue how/where I had finished. I talked to a couple of people (including Vince from Vertical Runner—he’s like a celebrity—whom I thanked for hooking me up with a killer pair of shoes) and then headed home.
Once I was home, I checked for results. Nothing. I had some breakfast, did some work, talked to Neil, made lunch, and by noon, still nothing.
Finally around 2 p.m. the results rolled in: I found my time and that I had won my age group! Yeah! I’ve never won my age group, and have never expected to win it… accordingly, I didn’t even stay for the awards! I wonder what I would have received? Anyhow, Neil played “We Are the Champions” for me—changing the lyrics, of course, to “Gina is the Champion… of her age group!”—and that was reward enough. How awesome!
Admittedly it was a small race with a slower pack than most of the events I’ve entered. But I’m still proud… and I still picked up cupcakes! So, there were some additional rewards.
I bought a new-to-me car today (a 1998 VW Jetta GLS, which is the car I drove and loved before I gave up driving for a spell), and once the former owner, Emily, dropped it off, Neil and I packed in for an inaugural drive and for a cupcake run.The cupcake order: seven chocolate lava cuppies for Neil and "Main Street Chocolate Fluff," wedding white and half-baked cookie dough for me.
What a day! I had two cupcakes and will have to freeze-save the rest for my next goal. What can I say: the cupcake-carrot on a stick works for me!
By the way: it turns out that we all started at the sound of a police-escort motorcycle backfiring instead of a secret starting gun on the grassy knoll. Ahh, Hermes.
Friday, August 17, 2007
Another Morning at the Pool
OK, I’ll admit it: I’m kind of digging the early morning swims (where was this urge when I was in high school and had 5 a.m. practices?). I even tried making it earlier today—around 6:05 a.m.—but it was still packed and I started my swim in the open end of the pool.
For the first 2,000 yards, in fact, I swam around a staircase to turn at one end. And if you thought my spotting job in the tri was bad, you don’t want to know where I ended up when I was swimming backstroke.
I extended my distance, nevertheless, to this 4,400-yard workout:
For the first 2,000 yards, in fact, I swam around a staircase to turn at one end. And if you thought my spotting job in the tri was bad, you don’t want to know where I ended up when I was swimming backstroke.
I extended my distance, nevertheless, to this 4,400-yard workout:
- 800 yards free warm-up
- 4 x 100 yards free sprints on 2:00
- 3 x 800 yards
- 1 x 800 yards IM
- 1 x 800 yards free
- 1 x 800 yards alt. one-arm fly and free - 12 x 50 yards alt. free and IM order
- 200 yards free cool down
To my surprise, doubling my pool frequency and increasing my weekly yardage eightfold has energized me. Hard swimming used to make me drowsy. I’d like to think that I have some magical will power or sense of motivation, but I think I’m still riding high on tri-fever. And I’d like to finish first in my age group for swimming next time, not second (or perhaps I should focus on not finishing last in cycling instead)!
Check with me in two weeks when I can’t stop napping ;-)
The only unfortunate thing with increasing yardage on morning swims is that I'm butting up against time constraints again. That's the reason I started swimming in the morning (my lunch hour only permitted around 1,500 yards) in the first place! My past two swims have been around 1.25 hours. Sigh. If only I could work training into my job responsibilities.
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