Eight Weeks Out

I am eight weeks out from Chicot Challenge IV, not counting the event week, and things are going pretty well. Amazingly, however, yesterday I found myself gun shy from something that happened a solid year ago. I'll start at the beginning of the week.

Monday I did not swim because I had a meeting to attend on campus and a night class so swimming got squeezed out. I did get in a short run, but with Twin Rivers still down, there was no opportunity for a short, quick swim.

Tuesday, I decided I needed to redo the vVo2 max test that I did sometimes last year. This test provides some key training paces and is easy to conduct. Simply run as far as you can for six minutes and the average pace you can maintain is allegedly the slowest pace that produces your maximum oxygen uptake. The test itself is a good workout, so I did it with joy and then decided to take a peek at last year's training diary. Dude, I did the same test on the exact same day a year ago. Coincidence? While I was running, I was thinking about what else I needed to do for a quality running session this week. Yep, what I thought up was exactly what I did last year. I'm not sure what to make of that. Have I not grown intellectually/athletically, or did I get it right then? The revelation of the almost mirror image of last year's training with this year's produced an unexpected effect on me the next day.

I went to DSU because the weather looked like it might get bad. There I swam

1,100
5 X 50
100
150
200 50 easy  all X 3 on various breathing patterns
1,000
total: 4,200 meters.

I slipped away to the pond Wednesday afternoon and waded in unsure of what I was going to do. I had time to go pretty long, but I did not even bring my wet suit so I wasn't sure how long I could last, and I had felt a little discomfort in my shoulder, unexpectedly, Tuesday night in the pool. While I was swimming I found myself thinking constantly about last year when in this same week I developed an issue with my right pectoral muscle. I stopped after three laps, totally paranoid that I might do it again. Wow. A full year later and it was impacting me in a negative way. I just don't want to go through all of that again. The emotional turmoil of having such a big event on the near horizon and the inability to train unhindered was almost more than I could bear.

This morning I rode by Twin Rivers before I went to work. Yes! Finally they are pumping up the pool. It should be full by early night and swimmable by tomorrow or Saturday at the latest. That will help out training tremendously since I will have another avenue to swim and a very close one at that, the pool being only .9 of a mile from my front door.