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April 13, 2006
Flipper
I was hurtin' when I woke up this morning. I kind of felt sore and tired all over and wasn't feeling the swim. But I know it's always better once you're in the water or on the bike or on the roads, so I fed the pooch, got the swimsuit on and headed out the door.
I was a bit dismayed to see that I had a time trial planned for today in the pool. I felt a tad bit like a brick in the water and wasn't too confident I'd be able to swim as fast or faster than my last time trial. Not a good attitude, I know.
I did my usual warmup and then started into my 600 yds hard. I was struggling by 300 yds and really wishing I had choosen 400 yds as my time trial distance. But I survived until the end and (very) surprisingly swam a 7 second PR! Interesting. I think I may be learning how hard I can push myself in the pool, just like when you first start running and workout by workout, you realize that your body can handle more than you think.
400 yd easy, 200 yd kick easy, 200 yd easy
600 yd TT (9:16)
100 yd easy
5x100 yd hard on 2
200 yd kick easy, 300 yd easy
For the hard 100s I was swimming a little faster than usual, around 1:29 and 1:30 but on the 3rd one somehow pulled out a 1:26. I'm pretty sure I've never swam a 100 that quickly before. I know why - there was a guy in the lane next to me that was doing the backstroke and we started at the same exact time and I was trying desperately to keep up with him. We were dead on the whole way but when I stopped after 100 yds, he kept going. He was probably just warming up! Either way, he was wearing flippers which got me to thinking about flippers in general, and the fact that I don't really understand what their purpose is. I'm absolutely certain there is a reason for them, but they don't make sense to me. I thought at one point that they would be equivalent to wearing flats or spikes in a workout but then again you can't wear flippers in races so what's the point? Do they even make you swim faster or are they to provide resistance? Perhaps someone who actually knows something about swimming may enlighten me.
And so that was my swim. I was excited to exceed my expectations on a day when I wasn't feeling so good.
Dead cat update: It was still in our neighbor's backyard as of Tuesday. My co-workers had me worried that since it has warmed up it was going to decompose, smell and attract disease. Yuck. O called the animal control/police people again and they suggested we throw it away. We had actually thought of that ourselves (Tuesday is trash day) but became concerned that there is some law about throwing away dead animals. We just wanted to get rid of it so we decided we would just take care of it ourselves. I was gung ho, but when it came to actually getting the shovel and doing the deed, I chickened out. So O went by himself to do the dirty deed instead. It was gross, but now it's gone and there are no dead animals laying about. These, by the way, are not the same neighbors that had the dead deer hanging from their tree.
I'm about to leave work and the good news is - I have the next 6 days off!!!! What's up with that? I have Friday, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday all as vacation days from work, for the Easter weekend and as just a break. Plus I still have a certain 20 page paper to construct that is due in class next week. At least I'll have plenty of time to work on it!
Posted by beth at April 13, 2006 3:36 PM
Comments
Point of flippers: they supposedly help you develop more ankle flexion in your kick, giving you more power; they will *definitely* work your calves (think spikes, and also the way paddles on your hands both make you faster and make your shoulders work harder;) and with the extra propulsion, they can help with the streamlining and propriception (sp?) of moving fast through the water. My brother recommends fin swims in the taper phase for that reason; the coach here has the PE classes in fins a lot to strengthen their kick, since they're still developing their stroke.
Posted by: pjm at April 13, 2006 4:33 PM
We would wear fins to stregthen our kick. We would also wear them to get used to the feel of swimming faster. Taking them off and then doing sets without was never fun because it would feel like you were going so slow.
Blondie
Posted by: Blondie at April 13, 2006 8:56 PM
Disposing of that dead cat was one of the nastiest things I've ever done. Yuk!!!
Posted by: O at April 13, 2006 10:34 PM
What's up with your neighbors and dead animals? That's the weirdest thing! Sorry O. had to deal with that, not pretty!
Posted by: Meghan at April 14, 2006 1:36 AM
That is great about the workout. Your swimming must really be improving - imagine how fast you'll go when you actually feel good!
Have an awesome 6 days off :)
Posted by: barb at April 14, 2006 10:29 AM