Chop Wood, Carry Water

This morning I jogged down to the pool for a short but solid swim session. Main set was only 1600m, done as 4 rounds, no extra rest between rounds:

250 steady @4:00
3x50's fast @:50

I swam ok, held pace even if it wore me out to do so. My swim fitness is declining at the moment but it's not the end of the world. That's just what happens when I only swim 6-8k/week.

At the end we tried to do the Top Hat Drill. I saw this video the other day and was super curious to try it and see if I could do it. Took me a few tries to learn how to breathe without losing the paddle, but I got the hang of it fairly quickly. It's not as hard as it looks like it would be. The key, I think, is carrying enough momentum, and breathing quick and early, which is how we should be breathing anyway. I did 2x50's without losing the paddle, which was cool. No flip turns in a long course pool, though I attempted a few turns, unsuccessfully. Looking back I think I wasn't doing them quick enough. You have to be quick about the flipping, just like you need to be quick about the breathing, to not lose the paddle. Anyway, fun drill! Give it a try sometime just for fun and let me know how it goes if you do! :)

Maia was dying to go run today since she didn't get to run yesterday. I was less excited to run. In good news she seemed to sense my energy and I kept repeating "Just jog! Just jog!" and it did feel like we went about as easy as we've ever gone and it felt fine to do that. Plus, we stopped a few times so she could smell cats.

Then I went to the gym. Sue posted another big strength session this morning which motivated me, so I put my girl pants on and lifted more than I've been lifting (24,000+). It feels a bit like cheating when you can use machines. Previously I'd been doing all my lifting in my side yard with a bar or dumbbells or a kettle bell or whatever, which I think is likely more functional. But if you want to lift a lot, you can do that with machines. I mean seriously, give me a lat pull down machine or a row and I can get a decent number out of that!! I walked out of the gym and felt like jello. For the sake of the Steel Challenge I might go back to the gym a few more times, but I'll likely keep the bulk of my strength stuff here at home. My issue today was that my legs just felt too tired to properly squat or deadlift. I needed to go do something different, so I did.