Triathlon Training: Week 6 - Monday Swim - Don't Oversleep and Expect to Swim Well

My alarm went off at 4:23 this morning. I typically lay in bed about 3-4 minutes and just do a little reflection before starting my day. I like to say a few prayers about things that need to be taken care of, talk to myself about what I am going to do well on, and set a few daily goals for the day.

Today I missed out on this because I fell asleep during this time and woke up at 4:54 in a state of panic. I like to be at the pool ready to swim around 4:55 so I can start at 5. Some mornings the pool can be busy. I jumped out of bed mad at myself and scrambling to get to the Y. I missed out on my routine, my coffee, my 10 minutes of peace to start my day. I was at the pool swimming at 5:07. I hurried like like I have not hurried in a long time.

I knew this was not the right start to my week. I reflected on my great week of training over break and analyzed what I had been doing in my workouts and made some changes. I think it was the right change, but time will tell. I noticed that my swimming volume and running volume was way above my sprint triathlon training and my biking was still at the sprint triathlon training. Despite my struggles in the pool I have been surprised over and over about how quickly I tire on the bike.

I had a decision to make: Reduce run and swim volume down to the proper sprint triathlon levels or increase my bike.

I decided to increase my bike to help me get over my mental hurdle on the bike. I went back to the book I have been using as my primary guide(I have incorporate many things from a variety of sources, but follow the structure from one book mainly) and tried to match up the workouts of my run and swim to see what path I should be following. I found that I have been training for a Olympic Distance Tri at a structure designed to decrease race time. I have decided to bump myself up to this level from here on out. The only increase really will be in the bike. I will maintain the volume I have been doing on the swim and run and add the bike up to the proper level. I feel that this will workout just fine. I started with week 6 of the training and will use this plan for the next 6 weeks as my base builder. Starting week 13 I will then start my 20 week half Ironman training. Nothing major to my training except migrating from a sprint training approach to an Olympic training approach which really I have been doing except the bike.

So.......

Here is the workout in the pool this morning



I struggled this morning. It goes back to waking up late I think. My routine was rushed. I felt rushed and knowing I am not a strong swimmer I was rushed into thinking I would not finish in time. Due to this feeling of "rushiness"(not sure if that is a word) I never really relaxed in the water. I finished my swim in about 53 minutes, but it was not what I would consider a great workout. My breathing felt tight the whole time. I could not get to a relaxed breathing system. I had to take some longer rests on the 100 yard swims due to feeling rushed, but towards the end I was able to get in 200 yds at a time to make up time. My swim stroked has still been low around 14-15 when I count, but I doubt it stays that low when I swim intervals. I am really looking forward to swim class this weekend to see what I need to work on and find some answers to my sinking legs on longer swims.

In the end I GOT IT DONE!, made my way to school on time and look forward to a great week. It is going to be busy with the start of coaching 8th grade basketball, still coaching the Lego Robotics team as we qualified for state, making room for double workouts a few days this week, and finding that quality family time somewhere among all that. Going back to work after a long break is never easy. Happy Monday!