Good Afternoon!
I was very suprised at my ability to get up early most days this week and workout. There have been a few days where I slept in that extra hour and change and went to the gym in the evening. Man was that a mistake. I put in two small pool workouts, however, with running, I did not even try to get on a treadmill on Wed (there were 12 people waiting in line and there must be about 25 treadmills at our gym) and Thu I just happened to get out of the pool and dried off at the right time to catch the one sole treadmill available. Of course we are in the full swing of "New Year's Resolution" members, and it makes for a horrible experience for the rest of us. Please do not get me wrong, I would love for everyone to have some sort of fitness goal AND see it through. HOWEVER, year after year I watch as the first 6-8 weeks of the year show me nothing but horribly crowded gyms. And then between mid-February and March, it just clears up, and you can finally again have little to no wait for a cardio or weight machine Mon-Wed.
If you are going to do it, see it through!!! I want you to meet all of your goals, but if you are not going to even going to make it through eight weeks, then don't waste the money or time. Sorry, for some of you may feel that is a polarized view on this, but I feel strongly about it and find it to be one of my pet peeves. (Off the soapbox)
So for some of you, there is a running backgroud that exists. Others have a cycling background, and for ther rest of you, swimming. I think the true test of fitness for people that are of the first two discliplines, jump in the pool! My fitness background stems from running. I could not run for months and get out there and complete a 5K or 10K. I would not be breaking any world records, but I could do it. On the flipside, I do know how to swim, but put me in a pool when I have not been in one in almost 7 months... I am outta shape!!! Maybe this is something we can have a debate on, but I think out of the three sports, swimming is by far the hardest sport to master and one that you have to be in top shape to do reasonably well in. I thought I was gonna die in the pool on Wednesday!!! Kinda comical actually.
This weekend is going to be busy. Patsy and I are meeting some friends tonight at a new trendy pizza place that opened in Midtown (Atlanta) tonight. The guy (Mike) is doing Rev3 in Knoxville with my friend James and myself this May. Sat is early bike ride (if the weather holds up) and then flag football @ 12:30p. Afternoon run afterwards, and then early run Sunday because I am in a poker tournament that begins @ 1:45p. My plan is to add swimming and cycling back in a little each week while also adding to the distance in each workout! Sounds like a good plan to me.
Just over two months until ING Georgia (half) Marathon. I think I should be ready for it. I am a bit behind in my training, but I would rather train up a mile or two short on mileage for the event rather than go all out and risk an injury. I am confident I will be ready to go. I am officially signed up for Rev3 now. So that is good, and I am looking at the next 3-4 tris and road races to see when I need to sign up for them. You guys all have a good weekend! I will be catching up on blog reading and trying to finish up my blog editing.
1 comment:
I don't know if swimming is harder to master, but I think people attracted to tris have, use and develop their leg power and endurance either naturally or as a priority. But kicking only contributes 10% of speed in freestyle. Bummer, huh?
Cardio endurance is still the biggest necessity for a successful swim, and I think you've got that down. You're prob just in need of stroke development so I'd suggest doing mostly arm cycles. Teaching your muscles to have a consistent, effective stroke even when your tired is usually the key to improving your entire race. Arm cycles with a pull buoy slows your stroke down and forces you to focus on technique for a bit and not get caught up in distance and timing as a measure.
If you get sore or tired too easily you may want to add some Lactate tolerance anaerobic sets specifically for swimming. Max out your heart rate with 5-7 50 and 100 sets with about a 3-6 minutes long rest between. To train your body to endure the swim even with lactate build-up do more sets with about 1-2 min rest. I know it seems counter-intuitive to do short drills to build up endurance (as apposed to distance sets) but if your confident you have a good aerobic base, and you're still getting tired...You may need to build up the 'fast twitch' arm muscles to help you have a fast, effective stroke and get your body used to max speed so your creatine and lactate energy system/production doesn't go off the rails and screw up the rest of the race. Good luck! See you at the ING...that is if you wait for me about an two hours after you finish :)
Valerie
Post a Comment