OK so still working out this hamstring/adductor issue. Leaving no stone unturned in my quest to fix it and feel like maybe I've earned a freakin' PHD in hip and posterior leg anatomy with all the learning I've done... Still no running or biking though so don't have a ton of results to report there. Will let you know once I have some concrete info on what actually fixed it.
In the meantime, I've been swimming a ton so that's all I really have as a subject to blog about. :( NOT that I hate swimming, but, you know, I'd prefer to have some good stories about running at this point.
Anyway.
~25K swimming in the last 6 days and swim fitness feels like it's running deeper than ever. I remember one time years ago (seriously, like 15 years ago!) when I was swimming really well and I remember thinking I hope I'm never swimming this fast again... with the point being that the only reason I was swimming so well was because I had no residual fatigue from bike or run. Alas, here I am again with no bike no run so not surprisingly, swim goes fairly well.
For the first time maybe ever, I swore out loud when I saw instructions for one of my swim sessions this week. 80x50's?!? WTF?? UGH. I swear had it said 40x100's I wouldn't have blinked an eye but 80x50's just sounded like hell to me. So.Boring. And not even really THAT challenging. Just boring! I fixed it though... since 80x50's sounds way more BSC than it actually is, I figured I'd make it actually BSC by doing it all with bands. 80x50's, 1 hard/1 easy, bands only qualifies as BSC in a way that plain old 80x50's does not. (SEE? I go freakin' insane when I can't run. It's bad. have to find other ways to torture myself! Ha!)
Since it was now a meaty enough set to take a real bite, I enjoyed that set in a way I would not have enjoyed it otherwise. And I felt a sense of fatigue getting out of the pool that I have not felt in some time, so that was satisfying. Save for the gross old guy swimming next to me in his underwear, TRUE STORY I shit you not, I'd call it a really good session.
Followed that up with a truly hard 5K session this morning. Interesting I hopped in the water and ripped off my fastest 1000 w/u ever (yes I time my 1000 warm-ups but don't race them per say- I just like to have an idea of my current easy-ish pace). I found it truly interesting that 4K bands only set yesterday forced me to really find my power in my catch/pull and it totally translated over to today. Super cool. So then we did 4K main set and I will say that when your swim fitness is deep, you can push SO MUCH HARDER than when your swim fitness is low. Every time we got to a part that was supposed to be 'fast' today, I was capable of pushing until I felt nauseous. And then HOLDING that pace. I'm not always capable of that. Sometimes (ok usually!) I fail muscularly before I can really dig like I could today. So that was cool.
Of interesting note- why are men incapable of hearing and understanding how to execute a long swim set?? And why are they incapable of understanding how to pace one when it's going to be both long and hard? Why do they feel the need to bolt on the first part that's supposed to be the easiest of the day?? Do they think that all of a sudden TODAY they are superman and will magically be able to hold their fastest 100 pace for 4000 meters? And when they get out half way through because they're too tired to continue do they think that next time they'll be able to keep up with the girls who managed to rip through the whole thing?? Hint: Maybe it's better to swallow your ego a bit and swim at a pace that enables you to actually finish the session.
So ya, Nalani and I swim together and usually there are 2 guys who join in... Interesting today they were both CRUSHING us for the first 5x100's (you know, the ones that were supposed to be just 'steady')... then we got to the fast parts and um, Hey what happened you guys?? Missed school the day they defined 'pace'? Lol. Sorry. I just had to vent b/c it's frustrating to feel like someone is racing you on the 'easy' parts then has nothing left to even attempt to change pace when it's supposed to be fast. <Rant over>
Hopefully one of these days I'll have a more interesting post about biking or running.... :)
5 comments:
I go nuts with people not being able to understand swim sets or execute them. AGHHHHHH! It's all a pattern, you just have to do it right! Agh.
I swam with bands for the first time last Wednesday. Ugh...I think I need some work with them! Going to go through your old posts and see if I can find some pointers!!!
When you're using them how high are you able to keep your feet? Mine were about 10 inches below the surface. How good/bad is that??
Lost swim, need help finding it. You swam with me, please vouch for me and tell people I can actually swim even though my times of late prove otherwise. Oh, I used to teach kayak roll classes, and before the class, I would bet that all of the guy's girlfriends would get the roll before the guys. The guys wouldn't believe me and they spent the entire class not listening to me and trying to muscle the rolls. The girlfriends would listen to instructions, and then oila, roll! They would look to the boyfriends struggling and say look honey, I can roll! Too funny, men don't like to follow directions.
no worries...I have no interesting B/R posts either :) I hear ya on the men. Just yesterday...me...slow and preggers....passing a guy on the "descend" part of the warm up because he refused to take the first few slow. Not sure what he was trying to prove in masters....
Haha love the rant! It's funny bc it's true.
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