5-14-08 (73 of 92) Does chlorine count as cologne?

After this morning's swim, I think I may have mis-estimated my distance from Monday morning. There was no estimation today.

5:00am - The alarm goes of (no matter, I'd been awake - off an on- for the last 45 minutes. Guess I still don't quite trust either myself, or the alarm.

5:03am - I ask myself "THE" question, and I get a surprisingly quick and correct answer: "Why am I doing this at this hour, again?"..."Because someone out there isn't, and on June 6th, you'll get to meet them - briefly."

5:05am - empty bladder

5:07am - see 5:05am

5:09am - clean up, suit up, roll out!

I was at the pool before the swim coach this morning. When I pulled into the parking lot, the pool windows were dark. Promptly @ 5:30, the sodium bulbs fired up. I was one of the first in the pool this morning, but I'd forgot my watch, and decided to just count laps. I had decided on the drive over, that I'd do a mile swim. I swam without hurrying - didn't swim slow, but I didn't rush, and when i felt myself trying to race the person the next lane, I made myself back off. The only breaks were a moment to clean my lenses, and every 10 laps I'd pause to move a lane floater to keep count (like on an air hockey table). I really tried to focus on 'lengthening the vessel' and not rushing my strokes. I'm averaging about 10 or 11 strokes per 25 meters - we'll see if this comes down any over the coming year.

I swam 66 laps (1650 meters). I hit the water right @ 5:30 and was out at 6:15, so 45 minutes to swim a mile. This is why I think I over estimated my laps on Monday. No matter - I've got the merit badge now.


It's odd, as days go by, each day I seem to be confidant/worried about different parts of the race. One day I'm anxious about the swim, other days I don't worry about it. Some days I worry that I'll break out too fast on the run, sometimes I hope I break out too fast. The bike alternately worries me that I'll be dead at the end and flub the swim, or that I'll have no juice left after the run, but rock the swim. All just nerves I guess. I think if I can find and afford it, I'll look for another race before the end of the summer - hopefully an open water race.

On days that I swim early, I can smell the chlorine on my hands all day long.

5-13-08 (72 of 92) BRICK

"What doesn't kill me makes me stronger"...I must be turning into freaking Charles Atlas, then. The brick today was rough in the transition. I was scheduled to ride for 41 minutes and run for 20 minutes. The bike was good - I started at the West Point end of the park and headed for the Lanett side. Once I left the park, I headed away from the house and explored a couple of other 'parks' on the highway. I really pushed harder than I expected to push, but that was a good thing. I covered 12.17 miles in 44:19 (at an avg speed of 16.5 mph). After I got back to the jeep, I locked up the bike and changed into my running shoes as quickly as I could ( but didn't time myself), then took off on my 20 minute run.

Bike:
Mile 1 = 3:53
Mile 2 = 3:43
Mile 3 = 3:31
Mile 4 = 3:41
Mile 5 = 3:20
Mile 6 = 3:39
Mile 7 = 2:59 (Holy CRAP!)
Mile 8 = 3:32
Mile 9 = 3:36
Mile 10 = 4:11
Mile 11 = 2:58 (Holy CRAP! again)
Mile 12 = 3:37
final .17 mi = 1:32

Wow! I kept some pretty decent speeds and consistent times on that ride - - better than it felt on the bike! Only 1 leg over 4 minutes and I think that was crossing the dam (lots of speed bumps/ripples) and climbing the hill after it.

Then I ran:

OWWWWWW..my legs growled at me from the first step...so how did I respond to their growls? I sped up of course hahahahaah - sadistic? maybe. fun? eventually.

I didn't really have a pace in mind, I just wanted to run what felt quick for the 20 minutes. I ended up covering 2.53 miles in my 20 minutes (avg pace of 7:58/mi - -hoooahh!!). The miles broke down like this (on a very hilly route, doing the turnaround at about 11 minutes):

Mile 1 = 7:41 (this first split had me REALLY pumped up).
Mile 2 = 8:14 ( about a 33 second change in pace, but that latter part of the second mile, I was starting to push the speed again).
Mile 3 (partial) = 4:11 for .53 miles.

The first part of the run was rough....even painful. But I remembered a quote from an Ironman Winner: "It's about handling the pain, if you can't deal with the pain, you need to find another sport".

I was tired, but I was happy with the workout. I do wish I'd done a little quicker on the bike, and that I'd gone ahead and run to 3.1 miles, but it's probably best that I stuck to the planned workout.

I also carried a hydration pack on the full workout (add another 5-6 lbs of load). I still have mixed feelings about it, but I'm giving it a fair shot.

5-12-08 (71 of 92)

Got up very early this morning, and went to the pool. I've had really bad luck with getting a lane in the evenings, so I think it's time to officially adjust my training schedule. I'm going to try swimming 3 days a week in the morning (when the pool opens @ 5:30). Then on Tues, Thurs, and Sat, I'll do brick workouts. I'm hoping this will free up some time during the week as well (not having to workout on Monday, Wed, and Fri nights could give me more family or LS.net time. I may still run with Steph on some of those nights, too. I'll need to sit down and do some figuring on the days of the week for each activity.

I hate having modify this close to race day, but if I don't, then I may only get 1 swim a week until the race, and since the swim is going to be my weakest leg, I think that'd be a bad idea anyway.

I was out of the house by 5:15 this morning as was a little apprehensive about being at the gym @ 5:30 - I guess I didn't really trust them to be open and have the pool ready @ 5:30am. I was pleasantly surprised that when I got there, there were already people working out in the weight room and others already in the pool. There were lanes open, so I didn't have to waste time before I got wet. I wore my swim suit under my shorts, and I was in the water almost as soon as I got the the gym. After I'd been swimming for a while I sensed someone in the lane next to me, and we were on the same lap rotation, I figured that I needed to use him as some motivation and not let him pass or swim away from me (even though I was already about 12 laps into my swim). I struggled to keep up with him for several laps, then I saw it - A SNORKEL!!! He was cheating in our imaginary race - how dare he ;). Anyway, I still held him at bay, and eventually gained length on him and pulled away after he'd fatigued a little. But I did get a little chuckle out of the fact that I was concentrating on breathing at the right times and stroking and he could breath as he wanted.

I didn't count laps (besides the 1st 22), but I did time a few of them and I was doing about 30 sec per length. I swam for 30 minutes, so that should be about 60 laps, a few of the laps were definitely faster, so I figure a total of 65 laps ( 1625 meters).

WOW, I just googled the meter/mile conversion...I swam a full mile this morning.!!!!!

1 625 meters = 1.00972819 miles

That's a training first and a milestone. I swam a mile, and I didn't die when I got out of the pool - - Ironman - here I come (in a couple of years).

5-10-08 (70 of 92)

Went for a swim at the gym today. Swam for a little over 20 minutes at the pool. I love my new goggles. I did the first part of the swim timed to 22 laps to make sure I could do the race distance with the TI method. That went well, and I did drills and easy laps for the remainder of the time. 22 laps in about 12 minutes. I think I'm liking the TI method.

Then I ran 4 miles with Steph, but it was HOT and HUMID. I did the 4 miles in about 34 minutes. The hills were brutal in the heat.

Mile 1 = 9:34
Mile 2 = 8:45
Mile 3 = 8:58
Mile 4 = 8:40

I've been trying to work on running negative splits for my runs. I've been reading the benefits of doing negative splits, and as they say - "you race like you train".

5-9-08 (69 of 92)

I did an open water swim tonight w/ Steph watching me. I guess it was more of a security blanket kind of situation. The water at the dam was COLD!!! I was only able to swim for about 13 minutes, before I was ready to get out of the water. I was getting used to being in the open water, but not being able to see the bottom is still hard to do. A lot of things in the water pull my attention away from swimming. After the swim, me and Steph went for a 3.01 mile run (00:27:15). Good run.

5-8-08 (68 of 92) late wet run

Still in recovery week mode, so the missed workout on Wed is not bothering me too badly. However, the long drive to and from ATL has my left knee aching a little. I ran an easy pace for 3.36 miles (00:34:18) at the dam, and the knee didn't hurt - in fact the run seemed to relieve some of the pressure on it. I stretched well afterwards, being careful not to put any sideways pressure on the knee during quad stretches. It was also my first rain run of the summer. It was just barely misting at the dam when I started - -not even enough to blur in the distance, and nice and cool. It was great - lots of wildlife around the dam. I saw a heron (in flight), about 8 geese, and several ducks skimming across the water. There was just barely a sheen of water on all the roads, and no wind ( so it didn't get too cool). By the time I finished it was nearly 9pm, and getting dark. Then I saw a red fox on the drive home. Anyway, I was glad I got to run after the day I'd had.

My swim workouts have me very worried at this point. I haven't swam a workout since last week because I can't get a lane at the pool after work, and I've not found a good place for open water swims that I feel safe enough (again - mental hurdle). I'll explore a few other places this weekend, and hopefully find a new home until swim season is over, or some kids drop out of the program.

Next race is the big one - only 24 workouts to go.

5-7-08 (67 of 92) - FAIL work

No workout at all... worked until 8pm and then had to go to be early to prep for Thursday morning road trip to ATL. See my twitter page to learn how much that sucked (www.twitter.com/aorthr33)
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