139 Days - Endurance Swim Workout - First Workout Over 3000 yards

I had been anticipating a week of rest this week the last few weeks as I have pushed harder and harder getting my body ready for race season. I am 139 days away from Racine, WI which seems like a long time, but it will be here before I know it. I also signed up for an Olympic Triathlon on May 20th which is only about 3 months away. This is not an "A" race for me, but it is still up there as a "B" race so I can practice what my body will be able to handle in terms of pushing to the limits.

Because I signed up for this triathlon on May 20th I had to re shift my training plans. The race is 12 weeks away. I want to be able to work on how to taper and so forth so my plans for a week of rest this week have been shifted. I am back to a full week of training. I will treat my Spring Break as a rest week since I won't be able to bike on the beaches. As I look ahead at all the crazy things coming up in the future months I start to get nervous about my training and how I will fit everything in. I know it does not pay to worry about the future, but I feel like I have to really stay focused and find ways to get things done when the odds are stacked against me.

This morning I woke up tired. I slept like crap and kept waking up. My legs were sore and knees tender from the big bike ride on Sunday. I had a big swim workout planned and I told myself to just push as far as I could and if I had to pull back a little, then I would have to do so. Despite being focused sometimes you have to listen to the body. I also have to realize that 139 days still gives me time for a rest day here or there without messing things up.

I put in an Endurance Swim Workout today to push the body. I only swam twice last week so I want to get in a big week of swimming this week.

Here is what I knocked out.

Warm Up
3 x 300(100 free, 20 RI, 4 x 50 b-3(breathe every 3), 20 RI)
Set 1: 1:43, 53, 50, 50, 48 - I was tight and sore and I took things easy
Set 2: 1:41, 48, 48, 49,50 - Feeling better
Set 3: 1:38, 48, 48, 46, 44 - Ready to go and had a good idea for my 50 splits for the next round

Main Set #1
3x

• 200 Pull - 20 RI
• 4 x 50 DESC 1-4 by :01with 20 RI

My goal was to get dialed in where I was close to an all out swim on the last 50
Set 1: 3:26, 45, 43, 41, 39 - Time decreased by 2 seconds instead of 1, but I was happy with the gradual decrease
Set 2: 3:25, 43, 42, 40, 38 - Started out much faster on the first 50 so I had to really work to keep time decreasing overall. I was breathing hard
Set 3: 3:28(I was tired), 44, 42, 41, 39 - I had to dig deep to push here. I was gassed and had to really push my body and mind to get this done.

Main Set #2

800 yard swim - odds easy, even 100 build

I was dead tired and knew I was not ready to build on the even 100's so I just focused on swimming a straight 800 yard swim. My goal was to swim a faster back 400.

I swam the first 400 split in 6:46. I checked my watch at 600 yards to see what my time was to mentally prepare for the QC Tri and was at 10:11 so I know I can swim sub 10 minutes for that race. I finished the 800 yard swim in 13:25 so I was able to pick up the pace on the back 400.

Cool Down
I chose to put on my fins and grab a board to end things. I was dead tired. I decided to push hard on 200 yard kick working on kicking from the hips while legs were tired. When I tire I lose all form so I wanted to mentally focus on keeping legs straight.

200 yard kick @ 3:#5
100 yard kick nice and easy to cool down @ 2:12

Total Swim Time: 52:48
Total Yardage: 3200 yards

I feel really good about my swimming. I love how I continue to push myself and see improvements in everything. I just need to get things moving on my bike and runs. When my sprint workouts start in a few weeks I think my running will see some big improvements. The bike will be there in time.

This was a great start to the week. GETTING IT DONE keeps on rolling!