SWIM 1800y in ?? 45 mins?? with an 800 yard aerobic TT for pacing test: 16:44!
RUN 8 miles in 1:19, 2 runs up Iron St hill
NK led a clinic today at the Club pool, the goal was to learn your paces for swimming. Since I tend to swim the same effort and pace 90% of the time, this was a good thing for me to attend! NK's points: find this aerobic pace that you can hold onto but just barely. Add seconds to that to determine training zone paces. And use these times to mark increases in stroke and swim efficiency. Easy for her to say! But I'm here to learn!
My WU worried me a bit, it was lackluster and poor form. Well at least I'm setting the bar for improvement low.
After some more WU (300y, then 4x50 all out) we started the 800. I had some doubts about whether I should do an 800 or the easier 400. The excuses starting rolling: I'm tired; my poor form will only get drilled into my head; my form fades over time, the 400 would be more accurate. There's no reasons here. Just excuses.
It felt messy and I'm sure it was for anyone viewing from the deck (but no one was). My feet were low in the water, my catch non-existent, overall a mess. I wish some of Friday's efficiency had carried into today, but again I can't expect one swim to fix this. NK told us to dial it back if it started feeling like too much, and I did, but I don't think it was appreciable. Also I was in what I called the 'open water end' of the pool. There were four of us swimming with no lane lines and I could feel each swimmer as they passed by me. So yeah this probably slowed me a few seconds, but I can't blame that for my slow time. I expected it would take 16 minutes, but I wanted to be closer to 16 than to 17! ARG!
Regardless, it's my longest effort yet in this training cycle, what a great benchmark! A nice low one that'll be easy to improve on...
After the swim I was able to catch up with some Club members I haven't seen in some time, gawds it's good to be back to triathlon!
But for the run I was back to my trail buddy TV. He'd found a hill in south city that looked similar to the hill I'd be climbing in May's marathon. I'd briefly mapped out a run to include the hill, but I wasn't inspired. To be honest, if he wasn't there, I'm not sure what I would have done. Quit probably. I knew I'd run the 60 minutes of my plan one way or another, but I'd take the lazy option of a flat loop close to home. I just wasn't into it. (but on the plus side, his previous night activities at a bar kept him from feeling good too!! haha!!). It was different to be running alongside him, usually we're single tracking.
After 5 miles I was sitting the fence: go or quit. I wanted to go. I wanted to quit. I wanted to rest. I wanted to see this hill. I wanted to walk. I wanted water. And I wanted to find an open bathroom!
We kept going, it was only 3 miles to this hill and back. It's a beauty of a hill, just one block on a quiet street. I did two climbs, he did 3. He's my hardcore homie ;) I had a "ping" feeling in a hip joint that kept me from doing more. Is that an excuse or a reason? Gut says excuse.
When we got done, I felt great! So happy I did it, loved the HR blowup from the hill, enjoyed the sunshine, the park, the company, everything. No regrets.
But back me up as little as an hour and I'm having regrets about having to do it. Why do I doubt myself so much!? Why don't I think I can swim the 800 yards? Why don't I think I can run repeats up Iron hill? Why do I hesitate sometimes? Just GO.
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