Swim Take 1

10-30-16

Okay, Friday Morning I got to LA Fitness around 5:20 or 5:30am. The front desk staff needed to take my picture (boooo) and when I asked them to let me know so I could smile, the guy behind the desk laughed and said twas too late. That did not instill me with confidence. The pool was empty and I remember someone saying it was heated to 80 degrees. Apparently I want all water to feel like a hot tub; when I got in, it was certainly not warm enough for me! It took me a few tries and full submersions for it to be comfortable. Instantly my mind was racing: TriFortWorth website said we could wear wetsuits if the water is 75 degrees or below, holy crapy, if I think 80 degrees is cold, I’m going to HAVE to wear a wetsuit. Great another expense. (Those bad boys are expensive!)

While in the pool I did a variety of “drills” such as swimming using only my legs one way, then only my arms the other. As a lifelong ‘nose holder’ during swimming, I experimented with blowing out and trying to keep water from filling my sinuses. (not so much). At one point I tried to do the professional swim, where your face is in the water until you need to breathe under your armpit. Yeah, that’s literrally all I know about swimming. I closed my eyes, because of course I didn’t have goggles, and Immediately ran into the lap lane divider doo-dad. Well… E for Effort? I decided to hold off on anymroe face in water tasks until I had a pair of goggles. Also, I didn’t want to lose a contact at the bottom of a pool at 6am. 

I had a full and obnoxious day of work, then met Amy P. at our usual spot along the Trinity River. The plan was to do 6.2 miles so I could submit my 10k time to Virtual Strides. (I signed up for a Dia de los Muertos ‘race’ on Virtual Strides at the beginning of october and now it was time to turn in my time and get my super freakin awesome medal. When it comes in, I’ll post it!) I was tired but felt okay. Amy on the other hand was irritated about work and set our first mile at a 9:45 pace. Which, if you know me, was the equivalent of chasing Usain Bolt down a gravel path. I kept up with her, but it did not bode well for the next few miles. All in all, we finished in 1:08:14. A typical time for me. I’d like to get faster, but know I will need to make adjustments in the way I train. (i.e. shorter distances).

The following morning we had planned a 16 mile run. I was doubtful about my ability to complete this as both my IT bands were irritated after our last long run. We devised a plan to run 4miles out, turn around and run the 4 miles back. That way if I wanted to crap out, I could and she could continue. I’d thought I would bring the bike and ride that along with her, but when I got up early the next morning, I couldn’t figure out how to get it off the trainer and since it’s Raz’s bike, I didn’t want to jack anything up.

True to form, I could only do the 8 miles and I was cooked. I think it was a combination of increasing my overall training load and not eating enough. Nutrition has always been one of my biggest struggles during events. I’ve always had a weak stomach and get nauseuous easily so I don’t want to eat before/during a run. I’m working on it though.

I’m not kidding when I say I was cooked.  I went home, rinsed off ( didn’t even wash my hair!) and fell on the couch. I spent the majority of the day in and out of consciousness and eventually went to bed around 7:15pm. Now I’m up at 6:30am on a Sunday because I want to go to the pool when it opens, around 8am. My goggles and swim cap should be delivered today, so I think I will go work on my backstroke and some aerobics in the pool. I will do things like lunges, scissor kicks, jumping jacks, high knees (while holding the girls down), etc. Overall I need to increase my ability in the water and I figure this is as good a way to do that as any. I’ve decided I need to be in the pool 3x a week as this is my weakest area.