I survived 2 solid weeks of training. I'm sore, I'm tired, but somehow I can't wait to hit the pool in the morning and get in a long easy ride tomorrow. Maybe it's just being in a new place. Training is fresh & new. I know that wasn't my opinion when I was 3 hours into a 6 hour ride today and was ready to get off. It was hot, humid, longest, sunniest day of the year, and every bump was starting ot annoy me. But you push on knowing that these days just make you stronger. this was one of my biggest weeks ever. It's not often I bump up against the 1400TSS mark in a week. Especially when my swim volume was a little down compared to some previous "big weeks". I did this one the hard way, with my legs.
I also did 2 open water swims this week. That's huge, since in a whole season, my only OW was usually races. Ultimately, they have benefits, but in terms of improving swim mechanics and swimming faster, they are counterproductive. But it's a fun change of pace at a time of the year where your a little burnt out of swimming laps indoors. I also expressed my dissatisfaction with the warm water at the YMCA. It was consistently 84-85F and Wed. I had to end a workout early. I cancelled my membership and am now going to a private health club with a 3 lane, COOLER, dedicated lap pool. No open swim, swim lesson or anyone but lap swimmers. It was 82-83F when I was there, but I hear it often cooler. It felt great. It also have cold tubs, and a hot tub too. Nice gym, yoga, massage therapy and so on. Plus it's much closer to where I'll be living. It's a place my wife will feel more comfortable working out at. Maybe that's the best reason of all. A win-win all around. Oh..and it's still 25M. It doesn't have the fancy gutter system, but the lane markers do a good job holding the waves down.
On top of everything, I did a mini "do-it-yourself" triathlon on Thursday. Lots of fun. I didn't really track my splits, but I laid down some good power and felt great on the run. My swim sucked. 1st time in Lake Michigan and had trouble finding a rhythm.
Best of all, I think I'm finally feel like I'm getting close to being IM fit again. That 150 CTL mark seems to be that threshold for me. I still need to drop a little weight to really get my run back to 100%, but I'm handling the volume OK.
Next week I have a abbreviated recovery week since this was a 2 weeks block. I travel back to Iowa for the last time (other than visiting April's family) next weekend. I excited about starting a new life here, but it is still hard to say goodbye to where you've lived for 11 years. Well, I'll be honest, I'm enjoying it so much here, it's not that hard. I don't mean that to be a negative, just that there's more positives in terms of my lifestyle and what I enjoy doing. Maybe it because of the way I was in a sense forced to leave. Being laid off, and not finding a job locally without a lot commute. In a sense, it makes you feel like the local area rejected you. I think too that at some point in your life, your ready for change.
By the numbers:
Swim - 3h13m, 13,998y
Bike - 13h44m, 291 miles
Run - 6h37m, 54mi
TOTAL - 23h33m
TSS - 1394
Hi Mike,
ReplyDeleteCan you explain the comment about OWS being counter productive for improvement vs pool swimming? Is it the discipline of the pace clock or impact of wetsuit on maintaining good position? Something else?
Sorry, slow getting to this. Swmming is at least 90% mechanics/economy. It's as much a skill activity as it is an endurance activity. You don;t really need ot work on your endurance. Cumulative volume will take care of that. The time is better spent doing quality sets where you can focus and engage yourself of swimming with good form. Open water you have to focus on sighting skills, waves, water temp, etc. There is benefit to learning how to find a rhythm, relaxing and sighting better. Those too are skills. It does not however teach you how to swim better, and a set of 300's or 500's will do more for your endurance than a continuous 45-60; swim.
ReplyDeleteThat being said, you can go out and swim intervals and simulate a pool workout. However, I find that the distraction of sighting takes away most of my ability to focus on my stroke. Lake Michigan swims are almost never calm water, so you have to pay attention to breathing somewhat. I also lose a lot of my "feel" of the water in a full sleeve wetsuit and I rely on muscle memory. That's fine, but it's not how you improve.
Later in the summer when water is calmer and warmer, I might swim OW more and get benefit out of it. Plus, I'm more than a little burnt out with pool swimming. I have a 3500M swim this evening I'm not looking forward to. I'll slog it out and fee a sense of accomplishment after, but it's still hard to get motivated, for yet another workout. My stroke just hasn't quite clicked the way I'd like and I'm pretty stagnant.