Highs and Lows

This really has been a week of good and bad performances in my training. After my last triathlon I have really changed my outlook on training to enjoying the highs and laughing at the lows. I believe that the odd bad workout re-affirms that you are training hard. Anyways.....


A few highlights from the week. On Wednesday, I had probably the best swim workout of the year. It was dominant! If I was swimming against myself the week before, I would have kicked my own ass. We were doing repeats of 1 x 400, followed by 2 x 100 and 4 x 50. I think we did it four times. Each time, my 400 split dropped. I think I got it down to 5:47, which is probably the best I have ever swam that distance in. I was in the zone. I took each 100 of the 400 to focus on something different. First 100 hard to avoid any drafting opps by my fellow athletes, second 100 focusing on form, 3rd 100 kicking it up a notch, and 4th 100 just trying to hang on. My 100 repeats were averaging around 1:23-1:25, which is pretty good after 400 repeats. Those who do longer repeats followed by shorter 100s and 50s know that it is pretty hard to find an extra second or two on the shorter reps after the 400s.

Friday was the exact opposite feeling. It was our open water practice at Thetis lake. It was ugly. I knew something was wrong with the positioning of my suit during the warm up. My shoulders were already sore after 400m, and the suit did not feel smooth at all. After attempting to adjust it in shallow water, it just never sat right. After a few 400m hard efforts out to the islands and back, I didn't know if I was going to make it on the last 1500m loop around both islands. I talked to Coach Dan and he said that if I wanted to stop, I should just loop around the first island (1200m) instead of the second one like everyone else. I couldn't say no to this but knew that the minute I committed to going out to the islands, I would do the far island, as it is not much more in the grand scheme of things! I finished the workout, but was dead last of the faster swimmers. The crew was surprised at my slowness. I am not as good in the open water as the pool, but today was extra brutal.

Post workout, Dan was telling me that I kick waaaay too much and need to settle that down, and need to find the rhythm that I have in the pool. I really got to work on it! I think I just have to stop being a wimp and bust my ass in the wetsuit, even if it feels 10 times worse than the pool.

Saturday was a tough 10 x 1km repeat session at Elk/Beaver. I felt good at the beginning with some 3:30 kms, but drifted up to 3:39 by number 10. I think I need to eat a bit more before this workout. By the end of the set we usually have been working out for over 1.5 hours, so I need to keep that in mind. I took Sunday off, as I had banked the workouts earlier in the week and had a nice one night camping trip up island. Tomorrow will be a nice run with Nick on the track as well as the Sidney TT. Should be fun!