900m swim all at once! (April 18 retrospective)

Well today was finally the day, I have been feeling stronger in the swim and decided it was just plain time to go 900m without stopping. I started out just doing a warm-up, but felt good enough that I kept going and was even able to finish strong.  What a huge confidence booster!  It took about 24 minutes so my pace was somewhere in the slow 2min/100m pace.  After a break, I was able to do a celebratory 100m pursuit with my swim partner.  As the slower one, I start out and then he starts later and tries to track me down while I try to keep it interesting.  Something about the flight or fight aspect of it appeals and I keep thinking that someday I will give him a run for his money.

Having the 900m off my back means that I can turn my focusing on form and speed knowing.  A couple more long swims are in order, including one even longer one to make up for any water current and other complications in open water.

(April 25 retrospective)
Both the swim partner and I weren't feeling great today, so we did 5x100m sprints (with long breaks) instead of a longer workout.  My times were in the 2:40-2:07 range, whereas the beast in the lane with me managed one 1:45--wow.  Speed work is exciting after the grind of longer workouts.  At the same time, I am not sure how much I can translate that into faster speed over a longer distance.  Arm strength and technique seem to be limiting factors more than breathing at this point.  It is nice to see the cardio come along, or is it that the musculature and technique are better so I am not needing to breath as hard?  With swimming, it is hard to tell.

Well, the blog is all caught up now, apologies to my loyal followers for falling off the blogosphere into no-internet-at-home space.  Now that the semester is over, and the Philly Tri is coming up, I will try to do better.

Amazing 10K with Cousins (April 3rd Retrospective)

Consider this a (very delayed) echo of my cousin the Concerned Scientist about how amazing it was to meet up with them and run Hain's Point under a canopy of cherry blossoms at their peak.  $7 to run a race is so great compared to the $35, particularly when you can just ride your bike to and from the race, can we say multi-sport workout?

Never has a 10K been so celestial, running under an arch of dark limbs and fluffy white and pink puffs stretching from either side and nearly touching in the middle.  I was lucky to have Concerned Scientist there so I ran the first half a little slower with him, so I didn't overdo things.  At around 5K I picked it up a little and ended up around 48 minutes.  Given that I haven't been running much at all, I felt pretty good about that, and figure I can expect that to be my split at the end of the Olympic length triathlon at the end of the summer.