I Shopped. I Swam. I Was Tired!

This afternoon was fantastic weather-wise, so Drew and I headed off for an afternoon of shopping. I really wanted to get some bike shorts. I've finally broken down and realized that I probably can't spend an entire winter on the spin bikes in tri shorts. There is just not enough support and those are not the best seats. I feel like I failed in that aspect, but if I'm going to keep my legs cycling this winter, this was going to be a good investment.

Drew wanted to go and look for some new socks. He recently switched over from all cotton socks to technical socks and since he only has a few pairs of new socks, we knew that we should hit up the discount stores and look for deals on technical socks. We ended up going to TJMaxx and Filene's Basement to look for socks for him (and I figured I might as well just take a look too!).

This is what I ended up with:
Two new technical shirts, a new sports bra, 8 pairs of socks, bike shorts and an exercise ball book. I actually already own an exercise ball that I've never used before. After how tired my abs are today, I'm realizing that perhaps I should start using it more often. The book was $2.99 at TJMaxx so even if I only use it a few times, I think I'll get my money's worth!

This was Drew's loot:
A new pair of gym shorts, 10 pairs of socks, and a pair of compression shorts (not pictured, but I'm pretty sure he bought them. I just couldn't find them to take a photo).

We also stopped at our favorite store to buy bars -- Bed, Bath & Beyond:
I'd just like to say that only the seasonal Clif bars (on the left) are mine! I'm really excited to try these new flavors. The rest of the loot is Drew's. Although I might sneak one or two of those Kind bars if he doesn't pay too close attention. They don't have much in the way of protein, but the one flavor that I've had previously was really delicious.

After the shopping, it was time to head home and then off to swim practice. I will say that having swim practice at 4:30 on a Sunday afternoon isn't the most ideal time, but I make it work. Today Coach Dave was coaching the swim practice. I think I've maybe been to one other practice where he was coaching, so I wasn't sure what was in store. I also knew that my arms were going to be tired no matter what happened and I was hoping for an easy day.

As we were getting in the water, one of my teammates (Heather), was standing in front of a slower lane than she usually swims in. I told her that she was in the wrong lane, as she had told me two weeks ago! She moved over and swam in my lane (the middle lane). The swim today was a lot of short sets and I can't remember all of them, but I remember the warm-up clearly and I counted the main set twice and I'm sure that it was 1600 meters, so this is a rough estimate of what we did:

Warm-Up
100 free
300-broken into 75s (breathe right / breathe left / breathe every three / breathe every five)
200 kick - on your side (no board)
200 pull - 50 free / 50 back / 50 breast / 50 free

Main Set
4 x 200 free (each faster than the last)
4 x 100 kick (varying from free / back / breast)
8 x 50 free (moderate)

Cool Down
50 free

The problem with my description of the main set there is that while we did a total of 1600 meters, the longest distance was 200 and there were some 25s in there as well, but I just couldn't remember it all by the end. I could barely remember how to pick up my arms and swim after the warm-up. I really wasn't sure that I could finish the entire workout. I have never ever felt so tired swimming. In the very last 50 that I was swimming of the main set, I actually wondered what would happen if I just stopped and floated for a while.

I know that this sounds crazy and it probably is, but I really think that my abs being so sore impacted my swimming. Drew helped me realize today that it's my ribs that are sore where the muscles are just below the surface and I was having a really hard time inhaling or exhaling completely while swimming. That wasn't helpful at all in having a good swim.

I also led my lane the majority of the time. The 200s that we were doing were spread throughout the main set and each one was supposed to be faster than the last. I sort-of think my first one was done in 2:40, but after that I wasn't really paying attention. I was just trying to keep thinking about swimming and moving forward. And I never feel like that in the pool. Normally I'm super relaxed and having fun. By the time we got to the third 200, I was wiped out after 150. I had to let two of the three people behind me pass because I knew there was no way I was going to be able to keep up the same pace.

When we finished that 200, Heather looked at me and said "I think that whole thing was anaerobic for me." I told her that I was pretty sure I had been anaerobic since the warm-up and that swimming on it's own is mostly anaerobic since you aren't breathing half the time. Needless to say, the workout kicked my rear-end!

Now I'm off to get ready for work tomorrow and the gym in the morning. I'm hopefully meeting our friend Eric there in the morning, which is good motivation to get up and out of bed since Drew is out of town again.

Swimming
Time: 1:07:15
Distance: 2450 meters / 1.52 miles
Pace: 44:10/mile
Calories: 697
Maximum HR: 175
Average HR: 152