Saturday, February 18, 2006

Swimming time trial

I went to the Y today, but was a little pressed for time so my workout got pared down to the minimum.

I needed to run 2 miles to make my minimum of 10 miles for the week, so I did that first. Darn, these treadmills aren't any easier than the ones at my other club.

Then I changed for the pool. Ewww, a couple of Asian ladies in the showers (speaking together in some language I didn't recognize) were SITTING on the floor of the showers to wash themselves off. I'd be afraid that I'd contract a bad case of athlete's butt.

The kids (usually pretty well-behaved at the Y, which is good to see) were getting canoe lessons in the "warm pool". I had the "cool pool" all to myself in peace and quiet for about 20 glorious minutes. The water was beautifully clean and crystal-clear - that's a nice change for me compared to my other club!

I noted I only had about an hour left before I had to leave for home, so I decided to do a 60-minute time trial. Just back and forth at a comfortable, sustainable pace, staying relaxed. Instead of stopping at the end for breathers, I did a breaststroke lap every 5 to 10 laps when I felt like taking a little break. Back and forth, back and forth. Stay comfortable, relax, don't fight the water, keep your head down, balance. Reach.

Stopped with about 20 seconds to spare at 42 laps. That's 2100 yards - woo hoo! That's just 12 yards shy of a half Ironman swim distance!! Best lap 70 seconds. Yay, that gives me hope that I can do much better this year than the 1:22 that I swam at Eagleman last June! And if I can sustain that pace in November, it will get me out of the water at Ironman Florida with 20 minutes to spare before the cutoff!! Dare I hope?

It's a faster pool than my usual pool, though, with a deep end and sides that overflow instead of splashing back. I also was wearing a different suit than usual - my regular one has a square neckline that acts like a water-scoop. I swam about 5 to 6 percent faster today than in a 1000m segment on Thursday in the other pool.

It seems to take me a very long time to get settled down and comfortable in my breathing. I start out breathing on 2 strokes (left-right), then do most of it breathing every 3 (bilateral breathing, left-right-left), finished up the last 10 laps or so every 4 (left-right-left-right).

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Congrats! And I cannot belive someone would sit on a pool shower's floor. Disgusting!

Anonymous said...

*believe* sorry

Danny said...

that's awesome!

(i'm jealous!)

Recovering Alumni said...

That cutoff time has nothing on you. By November, you'll be going even faster!

Backofpack said...

Yuck! I hate to stand on the floor in the shower barefoot - I can't imagine sitting on it!

Sounds like you had a great workout this morning and good times too. Good job!

Fe-lady said...

congrats on your swim..!
Hey, the floor sitting in the shower...must be a cultural thing. Maybe they had never seen such a place before..! (ewww indeedy!)

Flo said...

Nice swim. Come November you'll be swimming like Mark Spitz (yeah, yeah, I'm showing my age :)

Kewl Nitrox said...

Good swimming!

tri-mama said...

Very nice swim-remember too that we will be in wet suits and salt water in Nov-you absolutely will do this-and with plenty of energy remaining to bike and run. I loved the kids in the car wash story-my kids are all at the scared, scared...ok, let's do it again phase.

Anonymous said...

Nice job on the hour swim!!!

Having a nice pool certainly helps to ease the stress of a time trial.

Dr. Iron TriFeist :) said...

You are on your way. The swim cutoff is yours! You've come SO far in your swimming. You'll only get faster.

Bolder said...

this post was disturbing in so many ways...

ok, it wasn't naked asian women...

it wasn't your excellent 2100 yards Nancy... booyah!

what was it that floored me?