Webb: After Thursday night's trouble with hill repeats, I realized that our first full week of swimming did not account for the recovery week. I made a Friday morning decision to replace our 1 hour or so force-focused swim workout with another easy 30:00 drill-focus swim. I think this swimming every day thing is getting to us. I don't understand how swimming can have this much of a cumulative effect, but I am simply drained. Granted, I have not been sleeping well, but this goes beyond that.
Elle: I think part of it is that it takes time to get all the swim gear together, get to the pool, put on the suit, take the pre-swim shower, all before the workout starts. And then afterwards, the post-swim shower, getting everything together, and leaving the pool. That adds 30-45 minutes or more to the workout, which is quite the time-suck. Which might be a reason for why it seems more exhausting than it should.
FRIDAY WORKOUT - Pool Swim 1200M
w/u: 2 x (100 swim, 100 buoy, 100 kick, 100 swim)
Drill: 4 x 50 (fingertip)
Main: 200 t-pace
total: 1200 meters
Webb: Friday morning I was supposed to get up at 6:00 to be at the pool by 6:30. I finally had a decent night's sleep so when the alarm sounded, I shut it off and went back to bed. In my zombie head I quickly came up with an alternate plan to swim at lunch. Once I was awake I remembered why I don't do that. There is indeed a pool at work where I can swim. However, it is not reliable. There have been several times I have arrived to a sign that says "Pool closed today." Once a group of standing at the pool door all pre-showered up were greeted by a staff member who apologized for the inconvenience and sent us away. Here is my guess. The pool is staffed by college students. (I do work at a college.) I am nearly certain that from time to time, these kids forget their schedule or are too hungover to make it in the morning.
Thankfully the pool was open and it was a relatively quiet day at work. I popped over for the quick swim. Remember that the pool was 25 yards instead of our usual pool (meters), I swam an extra 100 yards as cool down. Damnit if 1300 yards does not equate to 1189 meters. I'm not obsessive but I sure would like to get in another 50 yards. Maybe I am obsessive?
Elle: I lugged my end-of-the-week self to the pool Friday after work, which is a lot harder than it should be. I guess I'll have to get used to Friday night being just another workout night, at least for the month of March. But it was only 30 minutes, and it went by quickly.
Day 10 Dilemma: To Run or Nap?
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| Maxwell doing what he does best |
Webb: The plan on Saturday was to do an easy aerobic run for an hour then head to the pool. I ran out to do some errands before our run. When I returned, Elle was all dressed up but not really feeling it. All of sudden, out of nowhere, I was completely exhausted and could only think of sleeping. The feeling was so overwhelming I allowed myself to be overwhelmed. It was definitely not a moment of "suck it up and go for a run," but "get some damn sleep son." With that I replaced my 1 hour run with a 2 hour nap.
Elle: Actually that is "we took a 2 hour nap." I had laid down on the bed with Max (master of the nap trap) while Webb was getting dressed/ready for the run. I think the cat and I looked so comfy and cozy that it just sucked Webb right in. Maxwell strikes again!
SATURDAY WORKOUT - 30:00 Swim
Webb: 68 laps
Elle: 60 laps
Webb: Well rested after our nap, we headed to the pool. I had an idea that we should just do a 8:00-10:00 warm-up then just swim. No drills. No endurance, speed or force focus. Just. Swim.
I wanted to do this for two reasons. First, it would be a good head-clearing session. Second, I knew Elle would hate it. However, that is what Olympic and 70.3 distances are about - swimming for 1500m or 2000m. At some point, we need to swim continuously over time. Because this is still our recovery week, we did not have a distance goal in mind. I definitely mixed in some speed to help me count the laps and to feel out my pacing versus my RPE.
Elle: I wasn't looking forward to a straight swim with no drills or sets, that meant straight swimming, no stopping, no breaks. I persuaded Webb that we should swim straight for 30 minutes, without a warm up, and that the first several laps would act as the warm up. So we just jumped in and didn't stop swimming until the 30 minutes was up. Maybe it's the 9 straight days of pool work adding up, but I was able to get into a groove, and go with it, which I've never been able to do before. And I wasn't tired at the end, I definitely could have gone on for a while longer. So I felt really good after today, like I've reached another milestone in my swimming. Woohoo.
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