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December 28, 2006
5:37 for 1600 Meters and Flip Turns to Boot
I gotta just tell you straight - I was NOT feelin' it when I woke up this morning. Not at all. I was tired and really grumpy that I had to go back to work today (working at the shop didn't count yesterday because that's fun) and I was cold too. And Roxy tripped me when I was going down the steps to feed her. Humpf. But the day turned out to be quite a good one. Just goes to show - you have to give something a little time before you totally write it off. :)
AM swim workout:
Part of my grumpiness this morning could also have been due to the fact that I knew what I was in for with my swim workout. I knew it was going to be a killer.
3300 yds total @YMCA (250 yds warmup, 300 yds cooldown)
400 on 6
4x100 on 1:30 all done in under 1:18
300 on 4:30
3x100 on 1:30 all done in under 1:17
200 on 3
3x100 on 1:30 all done in under 1:16
100 on 1:30
1x100 done in under 1:12
10x75 kick w/fins on 1:20
Now, this is the most evil kind of workout for me because my weakness is swimming fast. Just like my running weakness. This was essentially like asking me to run quarters at :70-:75 pace. Evil. Pure evil. And even though the 400, 300, 200 and 100 in between the fast stuff was supposed to be "easy", those were all on a 1:30/100 yd base which isn't totally lollygagging if I wanted any sort of rest. But I of course know the benefit of it and of course I was going to give it my best. I gotta tell you - I wasn't too confident going into it though.
For the first set of hard 100s I just swam as hard as I could and much to my surprise I did them all in 1:16-1:17. Hmm. Okay, next set of hard 100s and somehow I was doing 1:15s! And then for the 2x100 hard 1:14s! What. The. Heck?! After that I was like "yeah baby - I'm gettin' er done this morning!". I knew doing the last 100 under 1:12 was going to be painful and given the fact that my fastest 100 EVER was a 1:10, I wasn't too sure it was doable. But I swam as hard as I could from the time I pushed off the wall and alas - 1:12.4. Not under 1:12 no, but gosh darnit, good enough!
After all that I thought I was going to have a heart attack. To say I was breathing hard is quite the understatement. Workout aside though, the highlight of the morning was doing my first flip turn of my life! My coach just basically told me I had to start doing them, no room for discussion. I've been dragging my feet about it because I don't see why it matters. All of my races this season will be in open water - no pool walls in sight! But when I protested he provided a list of reasons why I needed to learn how to do flip turns and that was the end of that. This morning I started by just swimming free down, getting as close to the wall as I could stand, doing a somersault in the water, pushing off the wall and then doing backstroke back (not worrying about completing the flip turn and actually turning around in the water). And surprisingly it went pretty well! My nose burned for about an hour afterwards with all the water I got up it but otherwise I was fine. And I even did a few real flip turns where I turned back onto my belly. I won't be trying them any time soon in an actual workout but I will keep practicing with them during my warmups and cooldowns and maybe, just maybe, I'll get it down.
Next up? Work. I wasn't looking forward to going back after having nearly a whole week off. But it turned out to be a surprisingly nice day - not too much work but not too little either. Perfect! And I even got home a little on the early side so that I actually got to do my whole entire run in the light!
PM run workout:
Luckily I had O to join me for this one. And boy would I need him. On tap was a 1 mile (1600 meter actually) time trial. I was actually looking forward to it but I knew it was going to be P.A.I.N.F.U.L. given the fact that I haven't run anything harder than striders for the past 2 months AND I probably haven't broken 7 minute pace for at least that long. Luckily I don't think my body knew what the heck I hit it with. In fact I still think it's in a state of denial and shock. :)
My goal was 5:50. Seriously - I didn't know what in the world to expect. So after a 20 minute warmup we set off at 5:50 pace. We went through the 400 in :86 and then the 800 in 2:51. At this point I thought 5:45 was possible. Through the 1200 in 4:15 and I was feeling okay so I decided to pick it up as hard as I could. With about 200 to go things started to get ugly. You know when your form starts to break down because your musculature just isn't ready for what you've lobbed at it? Um yeah - that was me. But I held it together and O and I finished in 5:37 (a paltry :82 last lap :). At first I was pretty excited about a 5:37. But then I started to think that's really pretty pathetic. Seriously - 5:37? But after further thought I decided that I really was pleased with it considering I haven't done any speedwork whatsoever, I was never that fast to begin with AND this past September I did a 1.5 mile time trial wherein I ran as hard as I could and ended up with about 5:58 pace. Shortly after that I ran under 39 minutes for a 10K in my last triathlon of the season. I know I couldn't have run 2 more laps today at the same pace but still...it was encouraging. One of my goals for the upcoming season is to run 10K in one of my tris in 37:30 (6 minute pace) so I think I just need to make 5:37 feel a little more comfortable and then it will be doable. We shall see.
Anyway, after the hard mile O and I jogged another 15 minutes home at which point I determined that I'm going to be very sore tomorrow. :)
And now I've written quite possibly the longest (and the most boring?) blog entry in quite some time. Yet, I'm still not done!
Get this!!! I got my new Triathlete Magazine in the mail today and there is another awesome TYR ad on the back, similar to the ad I ranted and raved about a couple weeks ago, but with a slightly different saying. This time it's professional triathlete Chris Hauth and he says:
"WHY DO YOU DO IT? IT'S PERSONAL. It's a constant question. Why put yourself through the pain, the agony, the physical and mental exhaustion. You try to explain. It's for the rush, the nerves, touching the sand, speeding through your transition, the camaraderie, the finish. But a simple explanation can never suffice. You do it for yourself, for the pain, the agony, the exhaustion, the finish."
Nuff said.
Posted by beth at December 28, 2006 6:56 PM
Comments
I think I learned to flip when I was in high school, so I can't be sure how I learned. I did get a phenomenal amount of water up my nose when I was re-starting as a master. First, my (then) sister-in-law suggested I keep my mouth open while turning. Oddly, it works; basically, it keeps you exhaling (or not inhaling, anyway) so you don't suck up the water in your nose.
Then last year, my brother started picking on me about starting my turn at a greater distance from the wall...
Posted by: pjm at December 28, 2006 8:36 PM
Thanks for the tip about keeping my mouth open. I'm definitely going to try it because...well...I just don't think it's good to snort that much chlorine in one day. :)
Posted by: Beth at December 28, 2006 8:40 PM
That was a pretty hard mile. It was cold enough out that your mouth hurt afterwards from breathing in the colder air for four laps. I'll take 5:37 any day of the week considering my current athletic endeavors....by the way, can I say I ran a 5:35 or so since I was on the outside of lane 1??????
Posted by: O at December 28, 2006 9:39 PM
No, you can't call that a 5:35 because you were CLEARLY drafting off me. In fact, I think you really ran a 5:39... :)
Posted by: Beth at December 28, 2006 9:40 PM
I'll have to try the open mouth method as well. I tried to teach myself how to flip-turn but all the water up my nose turned me off of it, even as I was breathing out my nose during the turn!
Thanks for the tip...
Beth you're awesome, I've been lurking for quite some time and well, yeah, you're awesome!
Posted by: amanda at December 29, 2006 2:15 PM