Morning Swims- my new bestest friend!

I guess in the 1930's thats what type of "sports" women were allowed

to do at the Hearst Gymnasium!

Thursday I woke up bright and early for a morning swim again- and let me tell you it was an awesome swim! I have recently tried to explain this phenomenon to people: of when you just have an excellent workout and the amazing high it gives you for the rest of the day. THAT workout was this morning swim.

For the past few weeks, especially with running, I feel like this training has been an uphill battle all the way. Nothing has come smoothly and I have never had the "in the zone" feeling while working out. Thursday swim was a final break through moment.

I got in the pool at 7:20am and started the workout that I had set out for myself.

It started with:

Four 100 freestyle each with a 20 second interval in between. These were at a quick pace to get the heart rate up enough so so that I needed the full 20 seconds to catch my breath.

Then:

Four 100 freestyle kicking with a kickboard. Facedown in the water so that I could work on my streamlining and be in proper alignment. These had a 15 second interval between each.

Then:

Three 100 freestyle zipper/ high elbow technique swims with a 10 second interval in between. These were at a slower pace so that I could work on my glide and my bilateral breathing. Something that doesn't matter so much when you are a 100% in the pool swimmer, but when you get out on the open ocean you want to be bilaterally breathing so that you are not lopsided and slowly start to swim off in the wrong direction. It happens- easily in open water swims!

Then:

I did a 100, 200, 300 and 400 back to back. With only a 10 second interval in between each one. And that is where I got in the zone. It was blissful! I am NOT a distance swimmer and always was a 25 meter, 50 meter, MAX 100 meter freestyle sprinter. So I have really been working on slowing down my initial pace and just working on my arm technique- cause that is what is really going to pull you through the long swims. So doing a 400 meter at a good pace, finishing in 8 minutes and NOT feeling out of breath at the end is a good sign. That means that in the pool I am doing a mile swim in 32 minutes- which is a good baseline for me to start at.

I also ended up swimming 2,100 meters that morning- which is a good workout

Any who, I felt really jazzed after that swim and went to work on cloud nine :).

Later that day I also went to a cycling class. I am working up to having a Trifecta Day- which is where I do all three sports in one day (however not necessarily in order or back to back).

So Thursday was a good day for me to end my workout on. Friday and Saturday I am taking the days off and Sunday doing a long ride. I am feeling pumped again; that swim was the ego boost that I needed to keep me going! Whoot Whoot!