(post written on Thursday but finished on Friday because author fell asleep)
Well. This picture gives it away. Today was a double swim day! Yippee! Believe it or not, it was self-imposed. Coach M asked for a swim where I don't just blindly follow the guys in my lane but actually pay attention to the clock.
She also asked for 10*100 on 1:35.
Now that should be doable, right? There are plenty of people I know and compete with and beat out of the water in a race that can swim 10*100 on 1:30. What is my problem? Well. Let me come up with 3 excuses:
1. I am talking meters not yards.
2. It's long-course.
3. We live at 7,000 ft and I am having a hard time breathing just sitting here.
So I am basically hoping that the 1:30 people are swimming short-course yards at a lower elevation. If they are not, then I am in serious trouble...
I chose to swim Masters in the morning because... Now I can't even remember why... Oh. Yes. Because Karl is leaving town on Saturday and I am afraid I might not be swimming much in the next 3 weeks. And because I love Masters. While swimming at the OFC in Utah, I realized that I am quite spoiled here. Our WAC has amazingly clear and cold water with little chlorine. OFC is murky and warm with tons of chlorine. At the WAC we have 6 lanes in the morning and 3 at night. OFC has one lane for Masters. I can choose from 9 practices per week at the WAC and from only 3 at OFC.
See? I am spoiled here in Flagstaff and I am planning to take advantage of it!
This morning I surprised myself and was in the water at 5:55! It might have had something to do with the fact that there was not really anyone there to chat with at length but I will take it. 4,300m later I jumped back out. Swim #1 completed.
(breakfast, getting kids ready, making lunches, sending Noah and KJ off, puzzles and games with Max)
Then there was a little 90 minute trainer ride to tackle. Max was happy to go to the Y kids' club and I hopped on one of their super nice Keiser bikes that can tell me power output.
The plan reads:
250 watts at 80-90 rpm for 90 minutes. Steady.
Really? That's it? No intervals or hills or accelerations? Yikes! I might have to poke my eye out! Have I mentioned that my iPod died a while ago and I now get to bring my ancient blue walkman to the gym? Yep. It is embarrassing but I have gotten over it. Good thing there is nice little spot on the aero bars for it and I don't have to stuff it into my chest area.
90 minutes later I have a stiff neck and a headache from staring at the bike computer. I managed to be very steady and only get out of the aero position a couple of times after I hit 70 minutes.
(Max watches some guys do Jiu Jitsu and then practices their moves by rolling around on the floor in the locker room while I shower. Nice! Then he drags me into the gym for some running races and dictates me around. Mom. Breathe like this when you run. - Ok. Will do. Whatever. Can we just go home and have lunch now?)
(When did this I-will-write-real-quick-about-my-two-swims-today post turn into a Let-me-tell-you-every-little-detail-about-my-day post? Not sure... Maybe I'm trying to convince you that there is indeed some balance in my life.)
5 o'clock rolled around and it was time to head to the pool. But Karl was running late and so I had time to stuff more than 1 warm oatmeal cookie into mouth. Bad idea! I am blaming Karl for this one!
Have I mentioned that I enlisted some help for this swim? On Tuesday, I started to worry about the 10*100. It really was not that big of a deal but I was bothered by the fact that I might not be able to stick to the plan. Yes, I am a stickler. So I recruited Jason Pedersen, a young ITU pro, who is logging crazy mileage in the pool in order to get his swim speed up to par with his (incredible) run speed. Super nice guy! He just stuck to the pace as I was trying to hang on to his feet. I did pretty well for the first 5 but then I ran out of air. As usual, it was not my arms or legs that were holding me back but my inability to fill my lungs with enough air.
There is a big sign on the wall that says:
Welcome to 7,000 ft. Catch your breath!
No kidding! Except that there was not enough time to catch my breath! When it was all said and done, I hit the wall 9 seconds too late. So I pretty much swam them all 1 second slower than I should have. Oh well. I gave it everything I had tonight. That is all I can ask for. Except that I am also asking Coach M for a re-do in January. The re-do will be performed in the morning and the oatmeal cookies will not be invited!
After a long hot shower, I was ready to crawl into bed and go to sleep. But, alas, I needed to go grocery shopping. Rats! It took me roughly 4 hours because I spent about 10 sleepy minutes in front of every shelf trying to figure out what I need. That is so not me!
Anybody still with me? Probably not...
Well. Good night then!
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