And so, this morning, after weeks of flailing on my own, I got to flail in front of an audience. You can't imagine my joy. Let me start by saying, anything before 5 am, is f-in' early. Not just early, but f-in' early. If the Coffee Time isn't open yet, that may be a sign that nobody should be awake.
After the briefest of introductions, it was into the pool for the workout. We were told to seed ourselves in one of six lanes. I chose the next-to-slowest lane. I chose wisely. The workout was 20x100, with 30 sec rest, of a variety of stuff: free, pull, kick, back, breast. I got some coaching from the coach, and fellow swimmers as we went, and made it through the workout, almost. While the fast people had been finished for a while, the slower lanes just kept plugging along. At the end of the session, I had done 19 of the 20 assigned laps. Considering that I was pretty strict about rest, and if my freestyle time would be ~2 minutes/100, and everything else much slower, my hour was spent in near constant motion. The last few lengths were tough, but what I found was that if I didn't do it right (or as close to right as I'm able as of now), I didn't go anywhere. So I had to do it right(er). I'm quite sure that I'll be feeling this around 2 pm.
Pros: Got a great workout. Learned how to do a kick only drill (bury your head to get the hips up). This helped my free form as well. Right now, to balance, I really have to tuck my head, almost to the point where I'm looking at where I came from, but it gets my hips up, so I can move. That's a trade I'll make for now.
Cons: 4:50 am is early. Took a karate chop to the throat from a passing backstroker.
Swim: 1900m (a new record, and how far I have to go for the 70.3)
Sorry to hear about the karate chop to the throat. Sounds like you made some good progress today :).
ReplyDeleteGood times.
ReplyDeleteGet used to the karate chops though. And the kicks, and the punches... It's funny how lanes are only expected to accomodate 1 person while racing, but can somehow magically expand to hold 2 columns of people, travelling in opposite directions, during practice. ;)
I would have guessed about 30 people total, split between 3 roped lanes, each with two groups heading out along the ropes, and coming back in the middle. As there were fewer slowpokes, our lane wasn't as bad as some others. Maybe THAT'S why you're supposed to keep your chin tucked, just like in boxing. :)
ReplyDelete