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January 28, 2008
Operation Swim Aggressively
Well we are back in Pittsburgh and all is well (and warmer). Our drive home yesterday was uneventful and actually went quite fast. It still took us close to 9 hours but the weather and traffic were both great making for a nice trip. I highly recommend podcasts for long drives. On the way home we listened to a sermon from an Australian church, an interview with Chris McCormack and another interview with Will Ferrell concerning his recent marathoning! Can't beat that mix! :)
Regardless, Sunday session at the clinic was superb! It was what I was most looking forward to - the swim - and let me tell you, it was very well worth it! We started off the morning at around 8 in the pool. We did all sorts of things - a warmup with pull and kick and some drills. Then some fartlek in the pool - YES, that's right - I said fartlek in the pool! Of course as a runner I've done about 10,000 fartleks but never swimming! When I told O that we had done fartlek he was quite confused. Not sure why I thought fartlek was only for running but it certainly makes sense for swimming as well. Sort of like in a race where you sprint to catch a pack or get on someone's feet and then relax a little, only to sprint again to get past someone (or, if you are me, to get back on track from sighting poorly and getting WAY off course. :)
After the fartlek there was a mini hard set of sorts where you weren't allowed to push off the wall and had to treat the end of the pool as a bouy that you had to swim around. We also did a set of 50s where everyone in the lane started at the same time so as to stimulate the general mayhem of open water swimming. It was GREAT, great stuff, most of which I had never done before. Loved it.
Of course we were also getting feedback from the coaches regarding stroke and were video-taped so we could later watch ourselves swimming.
It was just what I needed. And I learned a lot. I learned that, although there are some things to work on with my stroke, it's really not that bad. And I learned that my biggest problem with swimming is my aggressiveness in the water. As in I really don't have any and I really need some.
Here's the thing. I think I had myself convinced that I wasn't a very good swimmer and that my stroke was poor and causing me to be slow. I needed stroke work - that's what I told myself. And in the mean time I didn't really swim too hard at my races. Don't get me wrong - I was working, but I was no where near the hurt box. I didn't swim aggressively off the line in my tris last year and I didn't swim aggressively throughout the race because I lacked the confidence to do so. After quite a bit of thought on the way home, I realized that I've probably been hiding behind the notion that my STROKE was what was holding me back from being able to get out of the water with the main pack at my races. When in reality my mind and work ethic in the water is what is holding me back!
Now don't get me wrong. I don't suddenly think I'm ready to be an ITU pro and swim 17 minutes. Let's not get crazy here (besides the fact that I've also never run a 34 minute 10K...). But I am now refusing to believe (with much effort, trust me) that it's impossible for me to swim 21 minutes and be within reach of the top gals. I've finally tired of getting out of the water 4 or 5 minutes after the leader because guess what - that's NO fun! Sure running is my strength but at a level where EVERYONE is a good runner, I can't get away with that!
And here's the thing - why this is so important to me. I LOVE racing shorter distances. Although I feel the pull of Ironman, I really just don't think it's my cup of tea (yet). I love to race often and I love to race really hard. So why not stay short? Well, let's face it - a 25 minute swim doesn't really make me too competitive in Oly distance races at the upper age group levels. And in the Oly distance race, the swim is WAY important. So what shall I do? I guess move up in distance where getting out of the water 5 minutes behind isn't such a big deal. And I really did like the 70.3 races I did last year. But I'm not ready to give up on Oly distance racing either.
So I've now started up Operation Swim Aggressively. I know how to run aggressively and hurt and I know how to cycle aggressively and hurt so now it's time to learn how to swim aggressively and HURT! I need to get in the water and do my workouts aggressively and challenge myself. I need to stop accepting that 1:25 pace is the only pace I can swim for my long intervals. What I really need is for Jen Harrison to be standing on the pool deck getting me fired up for all my swim workouts but since that's not possible, it's time to start taking some responsibility for it myself! :)
So this morning I had a swim workout - 30x100 with some kick afterwards. I've always done this workout on a 1:40 interval. Why? I have no idea. I guess because I'm supposed to have ~15 seconds rest and I swim just about everything at 1:25 pace. UGH!
But today I decided to mix it up a little. I did the first 10 on 1:40 but the next 10 on 1:35. Then I backed up to a 1:40 interval for the next 5 but dipped back down to 1:35 for the last 5. Next time? All of them on 1:35. It doesn't seem like much but I have to start somewhere. It's just what I have to do. I need to swim at masters (and move up a lane every once in a while) and swim in meets and get my butt in some swimming gear here people! I need to stay GLUED to the lead pack's feet at my races and refuse to let them go no matter how much my body is begging me to let go.
And I can't thank Jen and her husband Jerome and Spencer Smith enough for giving me the kick in the rear that I needed and most importantly, the confidence that I can do it. Time to stop blaming it on my stroke and get to work!
Posted by beth at January 28, 2008 4:04 PM
Comments
this is the best discipline post i have thus far read on your blog beth. It's a real landmark, or watermark i suppose....
I seem to recall sometime ago writing something about the need to be a fish... can you fish :-) it out? I am curious to see what i wrote... go beth go!
Posted by: corrado giambalvo at January 28, 2008 5:57 PM
Hurrah! Nice job - what a phenominal breakthrough for you. We can be "swim buddies" together - you've inspired me. Thnaks!! Glad that you guys had a safe/great trip and here's to lots of FAST FAST FAST swimming.
Posted by: Marit C-L at January 28, 2008 10:15 PM
Beth:
What a great attitude and you already made it work for you today. Swim HARD!!! You are going to get results for sure.
-Danielle
Posted by: Danielle at January 28, 2008 11:05 PM
I can't take credit for this, but the masters swim coach in my area has a 40x100 workout that mixed up the send off intervals this way:
1st 10: 4@1:35, 3@1:30, 2@1:25, 1@1:20
2nd 10: 1@1:35, 4@1:30, 3@1:25, 2@1:20
3rd 10: 2@1:35, 1@1:30, 4@1:25, 3@1:20
4th 10: 3@1:35, 2@1:30, 1@1:25, 4@1:20
If you're into really long sets of 100's, that's a good way to break it up and force some harder efforts in there, especially on the back half of the set. You can always add maybe 10 seconds to those intervals if that makes more sense for you.
Posted by: Alicia Parr at January 28, 2008 11:18 PM
Great post Beth! I can totally relate since I have had the same problem with running. I am a swimmer who has historically busted out of the water in the lead pack, cranked it pretty well on the bike, and then jogged the run as women flew by me. I haven't known how to get inside of the pain box on the run which is really the thing that limits me the most. I have really noticed a change since my 30 runs in 30 days and I think that's because now I consider myself a runner. Once you FEEL like a swimmer and identify as one there will be no holding you back. It sounds like you're really motivated to BE A SWIMMER which is awesome. Maybe you should do that set of 100s Alicia suggested so you can walk away from that thinking "only a REAL swimmer could get that set done and I just did!". Go get 'em Beth!
Posted by: Ness at January 29, 2008 8:19 AM