A Good Leader

Well, I guess I should preface and say that I think we all know this isn't going to happen this week (Week 4 Planned workouts):

I think that 9 hours of training just isn't going to happen this week. And I'm 100% okay with that. I got an hour in today, I'll take tomorrow off most likely, get in another 3-4 hours Tuesday-Thursday and then travel/rest up for next Sunday's race.

I did some resting today as well. I was out late again last night, so Drew and I slept in. By the time I was up and had eaten something, I just didn't feel like doing two workouts today. Instead, I went grocery shopping, made homemade granola and started on dinner before heading to the Terrier swim.

I got to practice a little bit early and was talking to Sarah (one of our swimming coaches) about doing Alcatraz next weekend. I'm really glad that I ended up saying something because she definitely threw in a couple of things in the workout that I think will really help me on race day.

This was our workout:

Warm-Up
15 Minutes Continuous Swimming
8 x 75 (0:10 Rest)

Main Set
6 x 200 Descending (0:15 Rest)
8 x 25

Cool-Down
50 easy

Total: 2850 Yards

During the warm-up, I did a total of 800 yards (400 swim/100 kick/300 swim). The 75s were 50 swim with sighting and 25 kick. After I had done a couple of the 75s, Sarah came over and told me to really think about being at Alcatraz and trying to reach my head further out of the water as if there were high waves in the water. It definitely helped to think about that while I was in the pool.

I started in the slowest lane today (I just wasn't feeling like I was that fast) and by the time we got done with the warm-up, Sarah made me move over two lanes to workout with the "fast" people. I was in a lane with one other girl and she told me that I should go ahead and lead the lane.

Our first part of the workout was 6 x 200. On the very first one I forgot and only did 100. Oops. I didn't start out on a good foot leading my lane. The 200s were descending, so we got faster for the first three and then repeated for 4 through 6. I really pushed myself to get faster as we went on with the workout. Knowing that someone was behind me really helped me to push harder than I would have if I had been in a slower lane or not the leader.

When we finished up that set, the girl that was in my lane told me that I was a great leader, which was nice of her to say. I felt like I was having a really great swim and I know for a fact that it was because Sarah moved me over and then I ended up leading our lane. I'd been going to the later swim option at 4:30 on Sundays because it's more convenient for me to procrastinate longer, but there are fewer people there than there are at 3:30. Maybe I should reevaluate this?

We finished up with 8 x 25. On the way down the pool, we had to do head-up freestyle (another good thing to practice pre-race!). And on the way back, we had to do some breath control. The first one we got three breaths, the second two breaths, the third one breath and the last no breaths. The head-up freestyle isn't easy and I was definitely breathing hard by the end. All I wanted to do was put my head in the water and swim normally. It also made it harder to turn around and come back with so few breaths, but I managed to do it!

All in all, this was a fantastic workout for me today. I think it was a good confidence booster going into the race, which is exactly what I think I needed.

Swimming
Time: 1:00:00
Distance: 2850 yards / 1.62 miles
Pace: 37:30/mile
Calories: 632
Maximum HR: 182
Average HR: 163