Lately I have been going through a bit of a change on how I look at swimming. It is still not my favorite and I doubt it will ever be. But as things progress I find myself actaully looking forward to swim days on my schedule. So what has changed to make me come about?
The swim camp that I took a couple of weeks ago has helped. More tweaking of my technique was welcomed and helpful. My coach is now putting in the pool a little more and increasind the sets in the workouts. Better technique + more practice = results. I definitely think that seeing some good results and pulling it all together is helping mentally. I can feel the difference in the water, it almost feels smooth now.
I havent been worried about swim cutoff in a long long long time. Not since I first started swimming and even then it went away fast. I know I will make the swim cut off at Ironman Canada. But I would like it have a somewhat acceptable time and be feeling ok to get on the bike. Having said that, how much time do I invest in my swim?
Well that I will leave up to my coach. I would definitely not want to pull from the othe 2 disciplines. Given how much the swim portion accounts for in the whole day, I cant justify taking away from the other two. I will have to put in the effort that I need to when I am swimming.
This brings me to the title of this entry. For yesterday's swim I decided to head down to the Talisman to check it out. Other than the locker room, I didnt see too much change. I didnt explore much though. If it werent so much more expensive and far away I would swim here more often. They always seem to have plenty of open lanes so crowding is not a problem.
The sets for the day were warm up, the 10 X 100, 10 X 75, 10 X 50, 10 X 25, cool down. I had had a good swim a couple of days before and my shoulders were still feeling it a bit. But despite that I felt good in the warm up and then into the first set. Midway through I started to feel a bit tired. I think some of it was from getting up with my son at the crack o' dawn. what ever the reason I was just wanting to be done. There have been times where I called it a day and would just go home. But I decided to stick with it and "Git R Done". I have less than 200 days until IMC now!
In the end I was pretty tired but felt good about finishing the workout. I fueled up a bit, picked up my son from the dayhome, met my wife at our house and we did a family trip to costco. Then later on in the evening I got my run for the day in. I just ended up doing 40 mins on the treadmill. My left knee for some reason is giving me grief going up the stairs today, didnt hurt on the treadmill yesterday. Something I will watch.
Tomorrow is another swim/run day. My shoulders feel pretty good today so I am hoping for some good time in the water. But right now my bike is calling in I am going to go answer.
You are where I was. I knew I could do the swim, and knew I needed to work on the bike and run. But something to consider is that the swim sets you up for the whole day. It's really important that you be able to come out of the water ready to bike, almost regardless of the time. I struggled with that. It's great that the swim is coming round for you. Take care of the knee!
ReplyDeleteAwesome swim man, keep it up!! The swimming is HUGE now while the running/biking isn't so good. People underestimate the power of a good swim in a IM. It sets you up for a strong bike. If you get out of the water feeling shelled, it won't matter how well you ride in training you just won't be able to ride as well as others ahead of you. You won't enjoy it either like you should. I know it's hard in the pool, it's by far my least favorite too. hee hee Keep writing, I enjoy reading. I don't know how you guys do it with families!!
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