Friday, January 22, 2010

Fun stuff coming up

It's the last couple days of my 3 week build....which means:
  • I'm wiped out....as evidenced by my craptastic swim this morning.  Did not make a single interval except the warm up, and I don't think those really count.
  • I get a rest week next week!  Woot!  Although this comes with a run test.  I'm looking at that as a good thing tho.  I expect to see some progress from my sad run test of a couple months ago.  Reminder to self: PACE IT!  Yeah, last time I did not do so well with the pacing and died off at the end.  I'm sure I can do a better job of that this time 'round.
  • Only one more workout this week!  A brrrrrrick.  I am somewhat reluctant to ride outside for it tho, even if the weather is clear, as I am lazy and don't want to have to clean all the grime off my bike that I'm sure to pick up from the still wet roads.
I signed up for one more "race".  It's an 8k on 20Feb.  Sounded like fun and coach said "sure", so I signed up.  *And* a guaranteed PR since I've never 'officially' run an 8k before. Bonus!

I've been frustrated with my lack of progress in the pool.  I feel like I'm just as slow as ever.  I'm not saying Masters isn't cutting it for me, because I've really only been going for a couple of weeks.  I just want to get someone to really look at my stroke and see if there are some obvious places that I need to concentrate on.  Am I still swimming "flat" or am I actually rotating a bit more now?  Am I being lazy in my pull?  What's going on with my kick?  Why do fast swimmers seem to swim so effortlessly and I feel like I'm killing myself to go nowhere?  You know, maybe get the answers to some of these great mysteries.  So I scheduled a swim lesson for next week.  It'll be interesting at the least, and at best I'll learn some key points to work on.  Can't hurt anyway, eh?

And while I think these are kinda fun and definitely make a point, I'm not sure I'd want to antagonize someone in a 3k pound weapon.  That could get seriously ugly seriously fast.  I definitely like the "Don't Run Me Over" one tho.  I have, morbidly I'm sure, been reading a lot lately about bike accidents and I have to admit that I would choose to ride on the one (boring) bike path near by rather than head out onto the roads. 

And now....I'm off to my next massage appointment.  Knock wood, but the shoulder is hanging in there.  I've been working a little on the biggest knots and it *may* just be doing some good.  Imagine that.

Happy Weekend All....and here's to some sunshine!

3 comments:

Molly said...

Oh boy, I wonder the same thing about swimming. How does it come SO easy for some people and I work so hard and go nowhere???? Will it ever improve? Let's hope so or we wouldn't feel like keeping our work up.

ShirleyPerly said...

Me too on the swimming. My swim instructor in Kona videotapes me and it's always a very humbling but good learning experience. I just can't believe what I'm doing sometimes even though I know better ...

Hope your lesson helps!

Liz Waterstraat said...

Don't be fooled - it doesn't come easy to anyone. Most that make it look easy started swimming as children so it is more natural to them. Like learning to play piano as a child, you learn the motor patterns early and they become ingrained. Think of swimming more like a child. A child doesn't think, they just do. And they keep doing it. More kinesthetic, less thinking. Adults overthink swimming and try too hard. Ask the swim instructor to give you TWO things to work on, then work diligently on them in the next few weeks. Too much information makes for too much thinking.