Friday, November 20, 2009

First Swim Lesson, Great Long Run

Tuesday's swim lesson went really well. It was held in the endless pool, so TrainerChick was able to stand next to me and correct my form as I swam. Turns out I have good body position, but it goes to hell when I breathe, so I worked on rolling my entire body and tucking my chin in to breathe. Also, I was forcing the kick, so I worked on that as well. (TrainerChick: "Think mermaid!")

I ran on the treadmill right after since I was at the gym and boy was that a mistake. Had a terrible run. I do seem to remember that the treadmill I used is set a bit fast, so that might have been the issue.

Wednesday I got on the trainer for an hour easy. Kept the heart rate in the 130s. I find the monitor keeps me honest on the trainer since I can't measure distance. I was supposed to run after, but was SO exhausted from staying up late the night before that I bagged both that and Karate.

Yesterday was back to the pool to put what I had learned on Tuesday to practice. Unfortunately I was actually SLOWER than before. I know that I have to slow down to make corrections, but it was still very frustrating. Dr. Z suggested that I leave the watch at home for now and I'm going to use that advice. My plan goes by distance for swimming anyway. I'll start timing myself when the changes have been incorporated smoothly.

Today's long run went much better, which was nice. (Hey, I may not be much on the bike or swim yet, but dammit I can run.) I ran 6:75 miles in an hour despite a cold rain and a nasty headwind on the way back. It was definitely a "mental toughness" day, but I was rewarded by my fastest hour-long run in ages.

Tomorrow is a speed session at the pool and 45 minutes of intervals on the bike trainer. Sunday will be a much-deserved rest day with much watching of the football.

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