After my bike ride and mowing the yard last night I knew my allergies were going to flare up. I was surprised that they have not kicked in yet. I woke up this morning and my allergies were at an all time high. While letting the dogs out I began the Maurer Morning Sneeze Attack. Those that grew up with me know that I can rattle off a long string of sneezes in the morning. This morning I blasted about 30 sneezes in a row and they were forceful.
My head was congested. I had a headache and I could not breathe out of my nose. This was going to make for an interesting swim.
I drank a big cup of coffee and drank some water trying to wake up and get the body going. I left early to be sure to enter the pool right at 5:00 am. I got to the Y and realized…
I forgot my watch
I was bummed because I had speed workout to get in today. I pondered heading back home, but decided to just get the swim workout done by feel. This was a good test because I am going to need to be able to adapt based on feel come race day.
My warm up called for
300 Free, 200 Kick, 100 Free
I made some adjustments right away. I swam
100 Free – my head was so congested I could not breathe out of my nose. My breathing was a mess and I was so out of breath after 50. I stopped at 100 and moved to the kick hoping that I could loosen up my sinuses by warming up kicking.
200 Kick with boards – my legs were dead tired from the weekend. This felt good to just get them going, but I knew they did not have much.
6 Kick Switch – 50 yards
One Arm – 50 yard (rt for 25, left for 25)
200 Pull – working on my form. I need to fine tune my form and wish I did not miss class yesterday. This was good for me to work on stretching it out.
12 x 25 with 10 RI – This felt good and got me ready for my main set
Main Set
4 sets of
300 moderate 20 RI
2 x 75 fast 15 RI
I modified this part. The first 300 was a mess. I was so out of breath. I don’t know if it was because I was swimming too fast for my own good or my allergies or a combo, but I was so out of breath after 75 yards. I could not settle down. I felt like I was red lining and almost in a panic state. This swim really messed me up mentally. I finally finished gassed and dead tired. I had to do something to help get through this workout. I decided to do the next 300 using the pull buoys.
The 2 x 75’s went great. Each round I felt like I was getting stronger and faster. I wish I had my watch for these because I felt like I was cruising.
My second 300 I used the pull buoy and it went much better. I dialed in a good pace and just focused on each stroke reaching and pulling through the water. I am glad I adjusted because this set helped me on my next 300. My next 300 I went back to the freestyle and just forced myself to find a pace that I would not tire out. I felt like I was swimming slow, but I was probably at more of my T-Pace than I think. I felt much better and was actually able to exhale out of my nose which was helpful. I wrapped this up and nailed another set of 2 x 75’s and finished the fourth round with the pull buoys and a big push on the 75’s as my body was dead tired. My legs had nothing left.
The next set was 400 kick. It called for 100 easy, 200 moderate, 100 easy.
My legs were burning by the end of the first 300. The last 100 I swam on my back making sure my knees did not leave the water.
I ended with 100 cool down.
Despite the struggles, the workout went by much faster than I thought. Hopefully, I can get my allergies calmed down so I can have another good week of training.
Total Yards: 3200
Time – 65 minutes in the pool
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