Swim: Moderate, Hard, Moderate

THE WORKOUT*: 2100m Swim
w/u -     500m of swim and kick sets
Main -  1500m of 3 sets of descending distances. Each interval of each set was based on a model of: moderate effort, followed by hard effort, finished with a moderate effort. There was a :15 rest between each interval.
c/d -      100 m
Total -   2100m

*We did not detail the workout here. It is mildly adapted from a workout in Gale Bernhardt's "Swim Workouts for Triathletes, Volume 2."

Elle: I really think I'm starting to get this 'swimming' thing down. I feel that I'm no longer resembling a donkey in the pool, but look more like an actual athlete. I've struggled with this portion of triathlon since I started, but after this workout, I felt good. It only took me about 50 minutes, which really gives me hope for the 1.25 mile swim that begins the Timberman Half Ironman I'll be doing in August. There's still a part of me that can't believe I'm racing a 1/2 Ironman this year. Exciting.

Webb: I have been downright pathetic in my run discipline so far. With that in mind, I was determined to squeeze in a run on Monday.  The only way I could do it was to do a pre-swim run. I decided a solid 30:00 on the treadmill would be sufficient so long as I put in three more run workouts this week. I set the TM for 30:00 on random hills at a pace (6.8mph) I thought I could handle no matter what the program threw at me. The idea was not to have a hard run. It was tough both because the grades hit 7.5% at times and because I have not been treadmilling in awhile. A good third of the workout was a mental exercise in distraction. After a quick stretch, I headed down to the pool.

Why did this swim feel so good? Was it the run? Am I in some weird delirious state where I think I can take a break from swimming and just come back and think it will be like old times? Whatever the answer, I don't care. I had a great swim even when my arms and lats were dying in the four short intervals of the final set. They were burning and hardly moving me through the water. I loved it! It is good to be back in the water.