Friday, March 10, 2006
I'm Now An Über Swimmer!
Well, okay, maybe not über but definitely elite within the context of the triathlon training schedule. So today was the long distance swim. The elite group was supposed to go 1000M without stopping. Given that prior to this, the longest consecutive distance that I had gone was only 400M I was quite worried.
I got in the pool and started warming up and began to wonder how this was going to be possible. I didn't want to warm up too much because I didn't want to tire myself out. So, I started into the long swim. By about lap 4 of 20 I was dying, and pretty sure that there was no way I would be able to keep going. I swam a lap on my back to regain some energy. By around lap 10, I started trying out different things on the various laps, catchup drill, focus on breathing, focus on looking down at the bottom of the pool (which in turn causes your butt to float to the top making you more streamlined). Finally I got to a point where I could keep a consistent pace without killing myself and before I knew it, I had done 1200M! At that point I figured if I added a few more laps, I might be able to hit 1500M - the actual race distance.
I realized that unlike most things in life, I could acheive this goal just by pushing myself a little harder. If only everything in life was this easy to control. In any case, this realization, and the fact that imaginary finish line was within sight, saw me through to 1500M (or maybe 1550 ... I lost count). Needless to say, I felt truly victorious today. This was something that I was not even sure I would be able to do 2 months ago!
I did a short cool-down, and then went for an 'optional' run on the treadmill. I only ran for 20 minutes - which is supposedly the time it takes your body to 'transition' to the next activity and let me tell you - running on legs that have been doing something else for an hour is a sensation like no other. Somewhere between the feeling of having no legs, to the feeling you get when you get off the treadmill and feel like you should be moving but you are not. Tomorrow we are doing a 30 mile bike followed by a run, and Sunday we are doing an 80 minute run... oof.
I got in the pool and started warming up and began to wonder how this was going to be possible. I didn't want to warm up too much because I didn't want to tire myself out. So, I started into the long swim. By about lap 4 of 20 I was dying, and pretty sure that there was no way I would be able to keep going. I swam a lap on my back to regain some energy. By around lap 10, I started trying out different things on the various laps, catchup drill, focus on breathing, focus on looking down at the bottom of the pool (which in turn causes your butt to float to the top making you more streamlined). Finally I got to a point where I could keep a consistent pace without killing myself and before I knew it, I had done 1200M! At that point I figured if I added a few more laps, I might be able to hit 1500M - the actual race distance.
I realized that unlike most things in life, I could acheive this goal just by pushing myself a little harder. If only everything in life was this easy to control. In any case, this realization, and the fact that imaginary finish line was within sight, saw me through to 1500M (or maybe 1550 ... I lost count). Needless to say, I felt truly victorious today. This was something that I was not even sure I would be able to do 2 months ago!
I did a short cool-down, and then went for an 'optional' run on the treadmill. I only ran for 20 minutes - which is supposedly the time it takes your body to 'transition' to the next activity and let me tell you - running on legs that have been doing something else for an hour is a sensation like no other. Somewhere between the feeling of having no legs, to the feeling you get when you get off the treadmill and feel like you should be moving but you are not. Tomorrow we are doing a 30 mile bike followed by a run, and Sunday we are doing an 80 minute run... oof.
// posted by Zack @ 5:23 PM 
