Went back to the pool tonight. And no wonkiness!
(Another thought I had post swim was that usually before hopping in the shower I grab my toiletries etc and this involves some walking back and forth. Monday I went straight from pool to hot shower. This also may have had an affect?)
Anywho. Steelhead training called for a 2500 yard swim and a 3-5 mile run tonight.
So I decided to take it easy pace wise and focus on endurance in the pool tonight.
5*500 focus on form and keeping it easy. 60 seconds of rest and rehydration between each 500. All 5 (except the first warm up 500) were right around 8:30. I think I must have swam 550 on the first one because it was 9:30. I am really bad counting laps. I usually count by 50s. i.e. every 50 I start telling myself "that's 50 yards that's 100, that's 150." Well I forget to count a lot. So on the last 4 500s tonight I counted laps instead. I breathe every 5th "stroke" (I count one arm going through rotation as a stroke.) So tonight I counted 1,2,3,4 and on the breath the number of the lap. That seemed to work pretty well except for one set where I got lazy and found myself adding laps as I went down one length. Just counting sequentially you know?
How do you all keep track during your long swims? Does anyone else have this issue? I just can't seem to keep focused in the pool. I guess this is why I like running. I don't have to think about anything! Just press my watch split when I pass a mile marker and voila, instant stats.
Stopped by Home Depot on the way home from the pool to pick up some more flowers and dirt for our second flower bed. I really have no clue what I am doing but hopefully they will look nice for a summer.
After the Home Depot trip I headed out for an easy 30 minute run around the hood. Took the mp3 player with and just had fun and absorbed all the scenery. Checked out all the neighbors landscaping and got some ideas. Got to watch as the sun was setting on the lake. So pretty.
Tonight was a good night :)
Tomorrow is rest day then Saturday marks the beginning of the CTC virtual training camp. I am going to start off with a trail run on Saturday and a bike/run on Sunday. Extremely tempted to run really long with Wild Bill on Saturday but A is going with me so hopefully she will convince me to hold off and we will just do 6-8 miles. Sundays run will be on trails too, so that should be a nice break from the roads.
Hope everyone has a great weekend!
10 comments:
I lose count a lot in the pool. Luckily one length is 50 and one lap is 100 for me.
By the way the CTC VTC already started!!!
Let me know if you are going to run long next weekend.
Sounds like a perfect evening! Aren't these longer days just what the doctor ordered?
I always have trouble counting laps. I don't have a fool-proof way. I generally count 100's off, like this: 5-4, 5-3, 5-2, 5-1. 4-4, 4-3, 4-2, 4-1, etc..And then hit my split watch after each 500 to count the actual set. Confusing, but it seems to work for me. Have a great virtual training weekend!
I have the same problemo!! The Y is only 20 yards...so I have to think "5" for 100 instead of "4." It still screws me up. :) I've resorted to counting laps by 2's. That seems to help. Sometimes on the way down I think about something funny that happened when I was that age (18) so I don't lose track as easily--it actually kinda works!
i have the same problem counting laps. when i am swimming long sets i try to let my mind wander and not just dwell on the black line. then i spend two laps trying to figure out what lap i am on.
5 x 500 is a tough one... i did a 20 x 100 at masters on wednesday... it worked me! I had to take a nap as soon as i got home from work that night!
I lost count too. If i lose count, i will just underesitmate my laps instead of over esimate.
My mind wanders a lot in the pool. Takes a lot of focus to concentrate on my strokes.
I'm glad you left the pool in one piece!!
Hey Elizabeth,
I was reading your list blog (I LOVE lists meself!) and I noticed that you said there's only 6 in your agegroup for Steelhead?! But you look to be in your 20s?! Am I missing something here, or misjudging your age drastically?
Oh, as for counting laps, I "say" the number on each and every exhale... But sometimes I lose track too. :)
-Jessi
Don't worry about the exact accuracy of your lap counting. If you're off by one or two on a 500 or 1000 repeat, what's the difference? We're not dealing with molecular fusion here, the variability will be unimportant within small ranges if you miss a 50 or do an extra one. As you see, it's pretty easy to tell from your split what happened later. It's not like one day your 500s at a certain effort are 8:30s and another day at the same effort they're going to be 9:30s or 7:30s. I'd rather be focusing on my stroke than worried whether this is lap number 31 or 32 of a long endurance swim.
Yay! I'm doing Steelhead too. I hate counting laps. I have to be super disciplined. Usually I count laps in sets of 10. When I get to the 10th lap I start counting all over again. It helps some but I usually get lost between laps 5 and 6.
well, i'll probably post this on my own blog on monday, but i'll premiere it here first.
i don't have trouble counting laps, but, i despise having to count them.
so, i'm at today's master's class in the 'Lane of Shame', and it's me, and my swim buddy Fran (Miss Nationals age 70-74). no swim babe today. just me and fran. i mention this because fran always wants me to lead off, you're smart by the time you get to 70. and last week i volunteered swim babe to lead. you're smart by my age too.
so, the swim coach comes over and says here is today's main set, 30 seconds rest on each interval:
4x225
4x175 (odd lengths strong, even moderate)
4x125
fran turns to me, and says: 'lead the way'
TRY COUNTING THAT!
i had no choice but to think about the length/lap count the WHOLE time... swimmers UNITE!... we needs us some technology here!!
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