Swimmin' Solo

Hi!

Well tonight was kind of a loner workout. I got caught at work late finishing paperwork and I was fearful that I was going to be 15 minutes late to meet everyone for swimming. As it turns out, Greg is in Hawaii, Leslie was sick, and Darryl has apparently caught the bug too. Talk about unmotivated to go swimming. Did I mention that it is -20 outside, plus a windchill. Well, I talked myself into it and I'm glad I did.

Tonight's agenda (from coach Iron Fist Greg in Hawaii), was 200 m warm up, 200 drills, then 5 x 300m sets with 45 second rest, and a 200 m cool down. As it turns out, when nobody is there you tend to, ahhhh, lets go with 'alter' the workout. Yes I did a warm up, maybe only 150 m. No I didn't do the drills, oops. What I did do though, is all 5 sets of the 300m swims, not even cheating on the rest. I was supposed to alternate without and with the pool boy (that's what apparently is correctly called the 'pull buoy' as I'm informed), which I also did. That thing is supposed to float between your legs lifting your body up so you can concentrate on stroke technique. Yes, it is supposed to make it easier. I HATE that friggin' thing. I think the majority of my muscle mass is in my ass and my legs since every time I use it I feel like I am drowning and barely moving. My shoulders feel like they are pulling a cement truck along the pool floor. I don't know how everybody likes them, I can't stand it!

Anyway, after my sets I started to cool down. I did half a length then looked at the clock and realized I still had 30 minutes left. Well, my cool down turned into a 200 m time trial!

The last time I did a 200 m test was about 2 months ago. I did my fastest one in 4 minutes and 38 seconds. For the super sprint triathlon in May, you have to tell them what your predicted time will be for the race. I figured if I tell them the truth I will be stuck in a lane with 8 people trying to get by them, so I might have fibbed a bit and told them my predicted time was 3:45 so I get to swim with faster people and let them worry about having to pass me! As it turns out my time tonight in the 200m was 3 minutes 53 seconds!!!! Holy cow, hey? That's almost 1/4 of my time gone in 2 months! I nearly fell over (maybe from the dizziness from jumping out of the pool) when I saw it! Now I have to get a hold of the race directors and tell them that I can swim in under 3:30! I was happy.

My shoulders are dead, my legs are beat, and my abs are cramping and sore from that TRX training system. I'm tired.

Take care everyone, and stop getting sick!!!!

Grizzly G