130 Days - Trek Store Misery Loves Company Bike Ride and T-30 Swim Test

Last night I finally made it to one of the Misery Love Company workouts at the Trek Bike store. This happened to be the last in store workout as they are moving outdoors next week so I was happy to make at least one. I was not sure what to expect. To be honest I was nervous as stupid as that sounds being that I am not the most efficient on the bike. I showed up and saw Jeff Paul which was nice to know at least one person. I walked in and got set up trying not to look like a fool and not to take someone's spot. I managed to get all set up without acting a fool and starting warming up. I looked around and noticed I was only one of two guys with shorts. That is something I need to get over, but it just has not happened yet. I was able to get a good warmup on the bike.

Here is the workout that we completed



I pushed harder than I normally do at home. It was great having so much motivation around me. There are some serious riders at these sessions. My data below does not match the workout above as I did not change the autolap on my watch from the one mile recordings. In 68 minutes I had a great workout and my legs were well worked by the end of the session. I kept pushing up on the gears so I was really grinding towards the end and trying to keep my cadence up as well. It was the perfect push and without the group I may have neglected another bike ride.

This morning I headed to the pool. I really did not want to do anything this morning. I had school work to get done for our big ELP Showcase Thursday night and I almost bagged the workout several times this morning, but I forced myself to the pool.

I jumped in the pool with very little motivation. I swam a light warmup of 100 free, 100 kick, 100 pull. I still was not real focused, but I just started hoping I would get focused. I eventually got my act together.

This morning I wanted to get in my 2nd T-30 swim test. I wanted to dial in my swim times as I begin to really focus on hitting my target paces the next two cycles of training. I went into this swim with a blank slate.

I went back to find the post from when I did the first T-30 swim test. I could not remember when I did the test and what I accomplished. I could not remember which I think was good so I was not so worried about my progress. I had to do some digging, but found the entry from January 13th, 2012 so it was almost perfect timing of about 6 weeks to test my splits again.

Here is the post from my first T-30

In my first test I was able to swim 64 lengths in the 30 minutes.

Today I swam more than that which I am so thankful for because I would have been angry had I not improved. Now what I don't know is if it is a good improvement, decent improvement, or not really that great.

I was able to swim 75 lengths today in the T-30 test. That is an 11 lap improvement. I am happy. This puts me at around 30 minutes for my swim in Racine, WI in perfect conditions. I hope to be able to knock off more time by race time, but I feel good about my current state in the water.

I recorded my time every 5 laps
Set 1: 4:10
Set 2: 4:07
Set 3: 4:07
Set 4: 4:00
Set 5: 4:00
Set 6: 3:54
Set 7: 3:52
Set 8(5 lengths): 1:50

My total swim time was 30:02
I swam 1875 yards

My total swim yardage with warm-up and cooldown was 2325


Reflecting on this I am happy. However, I know that I could start off faster than 4:10. I was tired at the end and my stomach was hurting, but I think I could jump out to at least a 4:00 split and pick up from there. That will be my goal when I test again.

Off to submit my data to my swim coaches to find out my swim splits and paces.

Have a great Wednesday. We are close to Spring Break. Back on the bike tonight if the hamstrings cooperate. They feel much better after the swim this morning, but they have been tight the last two days. I need to keep an eye on things.