Whoa doggies, this was a tough workout this morning. I was dragging big time this morning and really thought about sleeping in. I was tired from a long day yesterday and not getting home until 8:00 after coaching my final 8th grade boys basketball game last night in Clinton. It was an ugly game. We did not bring our A game and against a solid opponent you cannot afford to do this. I learned many things from the game and I will reflect upon those later, but I was dead tired when I got home. Ava decided to wake up around 11:30 last night and cry for about 2 hours. I became quite irritated with her and just did not handle the lack of sleep well. Thank goodness for Amanda and her patience with not only Ava but myself as well. The alarm went off and I had to really force myself to get going.
I made my way to the Y to realize I forgot my towel once again. This is just karma for getting angry with Ava last night. Life works in a cycle and this was a little payback I believe.
The pool was pretty dead as we had some snow and the roads were not cleared. Chad was there and he is always a motivation. This monster of dedication played a soccer game last night, woke up and rode his bike at 4 am, swam at 5 am, and then lifted weights. That is insane. How he completes his little trifecta three days a week is amazing. I could not do it. I have to space things out.
My workout today was a Speed Endurance workout. Here is a the breakdown
Warm Up
10 x 50 free wth 20 sec RI – My shoulders were tight and it took a while to get loose. I swam the first 5 in the 48 – 51 second range just getting loose. Sets 6 – 9 I was at at 46 seconds and the last set I was at 43 seconds. I lost track of laps and actually swam one extra once I checked my watch. It ended up being 11 x 50 for 550 yards
300 yard pull – After a 20 sec rest I moved right into this working on reaching and pulling the water back. To swim 300 yard straight was harder than I thought. I have not done this much at one time before. It was good to work on my form when I tired. I finished this in 5:05
Main Set
400 yard at T-Pace + :03 w/ 20 RI – I have my goal of my T-Pace for the 100 at 1:30. I struggle maintaining this pace for an extended amount of time, but it is my goal to keep this swim rate for at least 600 yards by the time I get to the outdoor swimming. So, my goal would then be to swim the 400 in 6:12. I did not accomplish this as I swam this set in 6:29. However, I did not go all out. I was not exhausted when I finished up. Instead I was focused on my form and kicking from my hip as I tired. I was happy with my time. the 20 sec rest went by way too fast and I was back swimming.
4 x 100 @ T-Pace w/ 20 sec RI – I had to work somewhat hard to hit my mark on these. My biggest change the last week or so in my workouts is really sticking to the shorter rest intervals. I typically rested longer than needed, but with my watch I can stick to the plan. This really helps and I know will pay off in the long run. However, when my watch beeps so fast I want to throw it across the pool. I swam these sets in 1:31, 1:31, 1:30, and 1:29. I hit my mark on all of these. The first two the added second was due to finding the stop button on my watch:)
300 yard @ T-Pace + :02 w/ 20 sec rest – My goal for this was 4:36. I did not have these times dialed in ahead of time prior to my swim so I am not upset at missing my marks. I have them dialed in now and will hit them next time, but I swam this set in 4:48. I started to tired during this set. I actually felt my legs kicking at the knees(yes, I admit it coaches, I felt the knee kick for the first time….bring on the duct tape).
3 x 100 @ T-Pace with 20 sec rest – As I started to tire I had to dig deep to push. I swam these really good hitting my marks with times of 1:29, 1:28, and 1:29. I was one second ahead which made me happy until I saw the next set……..
20o yard @ T-Pace + :01 – The dreaded 200. However, it did not seem as bad after swimming the longer distances. I was gassed by this point. I swear I blinked my eyes once and 20 seconds went by already. I hit my mark swimming this in 3:02. I was spot on. YAHOO!
2 x 100 @ below T-Pace with 20 sec RI – The last set and I pushed hard. I had to beat 1:30. I swam the first in 1:24. I was dead tired and breathing hard. The last set I gave all I had and hit 1:23. My whole body was burning with lactic acid. I had to fight hard to keep swimming hard. It was the hardest push of all swims during that last set. It felt good to reach that point.
Cool Down – 100 kick with boards nice and easy. I took it nice and easy and felt very satisfied with this workout. It was nice to push my body and work out the daily frustrations I had created myself. I know that getting frustrated with things out of my control don’t help matters and this workout helped to clear my mind and move on.
My watch showed a workout time of 41:30 that included everything but the final cool down. Happy Friday. I look forward to big weekend of workouts to wrap up this week. If all goes according to plan I should be on my way to my biggest workout week of my life. The reward is a nice restoration week next week with some needed rest days.
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