2.23693629 Miles

This morning started like many Ironman Training Program mornings.  My alarm went off at 4:15AM, then again at 4:20AM.  I stared at the ceiling for a minute, asked myself, "Why am I doing this?", then made my way to the bathroom to do, yada yada yada, then get dressed.  I arrived at HealthQuest a bit earlier than normal, right at 5:00AM, made my to the pool and was able to get into a lane around 5:20AM (it was packed this morning).  This all sounds very mundane I am sure....who the heck cares about what time I woke up, what I did when I woke up, and what time I got into the pool?  But wait, this morning, albeit a very normal Thursday for me, was in fact very different for what happened next.  Today is the first time that I have every swam over TWO MILES!!!  It was actually 2.23693629 miles to be exact, in the pool you see below (although it is much darker when I am swimming there). 

I didn't realize it until last night when I was looking over my training program that I was moving up to the next set of swim workouts, the ~3,500m sets.  I was not a happy camper when I saw this, I thought I had another week before the move up.  Oh well, nothing I could do to change that. 

3,600m = 500M wu, 4 x 100m drills, 5 x 400m @45sec, 8 x 50m drills, 300m cd

What can I say about the swim workout?  It took forever!  I am sitting here tired and hungry.  The two bowls of Rice Crispies with a banana just isn't  cutting it and I am craving some additional nourishment.

Oh, yesterday, I should probably mention that I did my normal Wednesday BRICK in the early AM.  45 minutes on my trainer, just slogging along trying to get my legs moving.  It was not a good ride what so ever.  Then immediately after I did my 30 minute run which started out really well and then slowly went downhill.  I was happy to get home and into the shower, knowing that I was done for the day with my workouts.  It was also my turn to get the girls onto the school bus, which meant it was a pancakes-for-breakfast morning!!!  Yes, me and the girls were really happy about this and we ate like champs!

I still have an hour and a half ride (@ 15 min, insert 8 x 4 min Z4 @ 2 min spin) I have to do after work today.  It should be a good ride, at least I am hoping that it will be.

Have a great day and peace out!

I'm Not a Strong Swimmer

Let me lead off with the positives...I got in a good ride and run last night, managed to mow the lawn, played in the yard with the girls and didn't get to bed too late.  Now for the negative...I suck at swimming.  Yeah, I am just not a strong swimmer, plain and simple, but I will get to that in a minute.

Wednesday
Yesterday was a good day, work flew by, I managed to get a free lunch, and I arrived home to a happy family.  I was hoping that I wouldn't catch too much flack from my wife when I told her I had to do a 30 minute bike ride followed immediately by a 15 minute run (a BRICK workout).  The response was positive so I quickly changed and was on my way.  For the most part ride was uneventful, 15/16 minutes out and then 14/15 minutes back.  I believe I managed 9.15 miles in 30 minutes (a lot of uphill) with my average cadence around 95.  I quickly changed into my running gear and was on my way.  I felt good an was cruising along at 7:40/mile when I realized my heartrate was starting to get way too high.  Despite my desire to always try to run as fast as I feel I can, I tempered my pace and slowed to 8:30/mile, which seemed like a crawl.  I probably ended up running around 1.8 miles in 15 minues with my average heartrate around 152 BPM.

Immediately following the workout I figured I better get out and cut the lawn since we are going to be down the shore for the weekend (actually heading down tonight).  I spend the next 40 minutes, edging and cutting, making our place look beautiful.  I wrapped up the night playing some softball with my oldest and then Trac Ball (thank you for agreeing to play with me family!!!).  FYI, Trac Ball was a game we used to have when I was a kid and I recently found it on-line and I love it!  You use the racquests to throw a plastic ball which if thrown properly, you can make it curve.  It is really an awesome game to play.

The only think that could have made the night better would have been if the girls got to bed a bit earlier which would have allowed me to get to bed earlier.

Today
I was up at 4:35AM, damn you early morning!  It was a swim morning and a straight 2,500M was on the schedule.  I loathe the straight long swim.  Not because of the length of it, no it is because of the boredom that goes with it.  Here is the swim in a nutshell:  get in the pool, hit start on my watch, swim 50 laps hitting the "Lap/Split" button on my watch every two laps (100M) so that I can keep track of how many laps I have swam.  Swim until my watch say I swam 25 splits, thus giving me 2,500M.  Ugh, it was so boring.  The fact that after my first 200M my average pace was a tug boat-esque 2:10/100M (1:50/100yds) made for a very long swim this AM.  Total stats:  2,500M (2,734 yds) in 54:15, average 2:10/100M (1:58/100yds).

So, during my entire swim I was trying all different techniques, hoping to find something that would work a bit better, make me a bit faster.  I made a conscious effort to try and "push" my chest down into the water more, to look at the bottom of the pool, to reach and glide.  I counted my strokes per length (usually 21, but 23 for the slower lengths), I kicked more, I kicked less.  I know that the only way that I can really improve my swim would be to get involved in Master's Swim at my gym/pool, but the cost won't work for me and the times won't either.  I know that once our neighborhood pool opens, I should be able to hit up the swim team coaches for help (they are both swimmers triathletes and our daughters are in the same grade).

One the bright side, Ironman Arizona is still five and a half months off, so I have time to improve.  Also, I suspect that my first two triathlons of the year will probably be wetsuit legal, so I will have that working in my favor as well. 

Time to work hard for the money.  Peace out!