A Touch Higher Still

I took a bicycle ride the first thing Thursday morning. This one was a touch longer than Monday's with 17.29 miles going into the fitness bank. That, along with some blogging, coffee drinking, and book moving, occupied the rest of the it.

After lunch, I went to Plate City. It was 98 degree with a high dew point giving a heat index of 108. That is a little warm. I was due for some legs and decided to mix some treadmill running in with it. I peformed four sets of squats with a short treadmill run between each set. I finished with 1.39 miles of running. I called that one workout despite the fact that it invovled two disciplines.

I went to the pool and once again opted for the little one due in part to water temperature. Although for most of the year the little pool is the warm one, right now at 86 degrees it is the coolest water we have. Since I have temporarily misplaced my old Garmin watch that has my practices programmed in it, I can't do my 50s set on the really short turn around. There remains, however, much that I can do. I swam

  2,100 41:07 1:58

  3 X 50 @ WIFL 46, 44, 47

  500 for time 8:05 1:37

  100 back 2:29

  3 X 30 @ WIFL 45, 42, 45

  400 small paddles 7:56

  total: 3,400 yards = 3,107 meters

That was a solid practice. On the long warmup swim, I worked on basic fitness, low end endurance. The 50s worked pure speed which is always nice to have. The 500 for time is a stamina set that works heart rate and lactic acid buffering. The back stroke worked the back stroke, added a touch of volume, and allowed for some active recovery. The 400 cool down with small paddles, added a touch of strenth training and volume to the whole practice. In short, this was a practice that will make a difference the next time I get into the water.

No way, you say. One practice cannot make you more fit.

Yes way, I say. I will get into the water Friday and with no additional effort swim my long warmup probably three seconds per 100 faster or maybe more. I have always responded quickly to swimming which is one reason I am so fascinated by it.

Well then, why not do a practice like that everytime?

Because one simply cannot. One would shoot oneself first. The effort is too much.

So how do the world class swimmers do it?

They have teammates who are doing the same thing. And they have a coach on deck who is barking orders at them. That makes a difference. I am alone with no one to yell at me and no one in the water to push me. Sometimes I have Tyler and when we swim together, my average pace is much faster. But more times than not, I have to write my own practice and execute it by myself. Sometimes I write an aggressive practice only to decide once there that I don't have the fire inside to pull it off and I do something easier.

I was faster when I trained two days per week at DSU. Under Petya, we swam the 20 X 100 set at least once per month, and we swam it on sendoffs that I can't even make anymore. Under Cagri, we always did fast 50s and we also did sets that involved changing gears a lot. Swimming one 50 at one speed and the next at a different speed all within the same set. The other guys, all two of them, were always trying to beat me and as a consequence, I swam hard evertime there.

I am just thankful that I have constant access to water now, and I have it year round. Thank you, Jesus, very much.