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Sunday, May 1, 2011

May 1

FIT:
Ideally, would've had a long run today, but my legs weren't feeling it.  My knees were dingy... just need a bit of massaging in my Tibialis Anteriors, I think, and maybe my IT bands... nothing I'm worrying about.  They were just not in the mood for miles, either... maybe for sprints, but the day after a race isn't a day for sprints if you want to stay uninjured.

Instead, I swam.  The last time I swam was April 1 of 2010... it was very cold then... such that I stopped eventually not from tiredness but the cold.  It was a mental battle to endure it.  This time, it was cool but comfortable.  Temps range from the mid-50s to the low 80s.  Huge range, huh?  So it's cool, but the evening sun and the effort kept you plenty comfortable.

It's been over a year, so maybe it was a bit ambitious to think I could do an hour of swimming.  I did 45 min.  The first 20 minutes are the hardest - you do the first few sets, and you're like oh man, but then, your arms get used to working while feeling tired, and the last few sets go by quickly.  My heart was pounding fast the whole time.  The first set, I was trying to power through it, but I used lots of arm strength, when I should've taken advantage of leg strength... maybe.  I dont' know anything about good swimming form and physiology.  I could try to learn, but I swim only a few times a year, and I'm in it more for the cardio workout than for speed/performance.  I may be inefficient, but it's okay as long as it's making my heart work hard... so long as the inefficiency doesn't cause some injury.  If I ever take up triathalon, I'll look into it, but the psychological strain/effort of keeping my head down (scary) and breathing from the little pocket caused by the swell is something I'd rather save for running.

Workout: 6 x [3 laps (in my tiny, tiny pool) free, 3 laps breast, 1 lap fly].  The sun and the lack of flags made back not appealing, as much as my arms wanted to work in that direction to keep the effort balanced.  Man, those fly laps were tough.  It's tough just to execute some semblance of the stroke. 

Splits> 7:18, 7:33, 7:35, 7:34, 7:42, 7:39. 
Since I stuck to a lane and didn't go the full length of the peanut-shaped pool, it was probably just 17/18yds that I estimated once using a jumprope and a tape measure.  So I probably swam about 0.8 mi in 45:23.  Not bad. 

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