Week of January 24 to January 30

A Long Forgotten Friend (the pool)

Over the past two weeks I have re-introduced myself to the pool.  In doing so, I've cut back the running mileage to about 40-50 miles a week (running 5 days), while putting in 4 workouts in the pool and another 4 on the bike.  I am slowly beginning to resemble an elite triathlete and less of a lawyer.   



My new office for the next few weeks.



The week of training was terrific.  I had some great workouts, and some not so great workouts, but in all it was a good week and moved me forward to getting stronger.  

My swimming, or lack thereof, was on full display.  Ever since I started to practice law I slacked on my swimming.  As a law student, I routinely swam 6 days a week.  As a lawyer, I maybe swam 20 times a year.  The slacking stemmed from a number of different reasons and lousy excuses, ranging from it's cold, to I am too busy.  I also knew I had deposited so many yards into the swimming bank throughout my waterpolo and prior elite triathlon days, that I could fake the swim portion of most age group races without ever really being in shape.  However, there's no faking anything at the elite level and if I want to be competitive, I'll need to have my swim form back to tip top shape. 

I've found a great group of fellow triathletes to swim with on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and in my first workout, the coach had us swim a 200 for time.   So there I was, after a 1500 warm-up, standing on the pool deck, dreading a timed 200.  This would likely not end well.    

The coach said, "on your marks, get set, go" and we're off.  I am swimming in the lane next to one of the faster swimmers of the group, and through 25 yards, I am feeling great; flip turn, and I'm still right up there; two more flip turns, and after 100 yards, I'm leading the group; at this point, I got a little cocky, I thought, wow, I am still fit, lucky me; well, I couldn't fool my current swim fitness forever and I would soon be corrected.  125 yards into the swim, the muscles in my arms, legs, and back could not cope with the intensity, and I started going slower and slower.  I quickly dropped behind the other swimmers.  The next 50 yards were a real struggle, but I finally finished with a 2:11.  My splits: a 1:00 first 100 and a 1:11 second 100.  I was beat.  We still had another 2300 yards to swim, and I slowly struggled through the workout. 

Even though I blew up in the 200, this was an excellent workout for me.  By no means am I anywhere near my old swimming self, but the '00 in the 100 yards reminded me that I can be fast, and with a bit of time, patience and the necessary yardage, I'll be back to swimming under 2 minutes for my 200s, and not destroyed for the rest of the workout.  My confidence was battered but I was encouraged that I could swim well.   It's just a matter of putting in the effort.   

My favorite workout of the week was the key run (Treadmill) on Wednesday:

20 minute warm up (3 miles)

3 sets of the following:

(A) 2 minutes @  9.3  mph @ 6% incline (one minute easy 8 mph)

(B) 2 minutes @ 10.1 mph @ 4% incline (one minute easy @ 8 mph)

(C) 2 minutes @ 10.4 mph @ 2% incline (one minute easy 8 mph)

12 X 1:15 @ 12 mph (45 seconds easy @ 7 mph)

10 minutes easy jog.

Felt great at the end of the workout.  Now back to some swimming!