Swim time trial
Today, my last real workout of this week (tomorrow’s off for travel and Sunday is a really easy run), was a 1,000 yard swim time trial. I was excited to do this for two reasons. First of all, many of my swim sessions refer to my “1,000 yard pace” and I had only vague ideas what that might be. And, second, I never swim sets that long, so this would be a good challenge for me. Recently, the longest I’ve gone is 700 or 800 yards in a set. I know that I can do 1,000, but when I’m doing those “long” sets, I psych myself out and begin to feel like I “can’t” do the whole thing.
This morning, after warming up, I got started. I was wearing my watch and wanted to hit the lap button after each 100. I knew that doing that might slow me down a fraction of a second or so, but I figured it would be worth it to see how my pacing went. My goal was to average between 1:40 and 1:45 per 100. As this was my first 1,000 yard effort, I mostly just pulled that goal out of thin air. After 250, I was feeling great, 500, 700, 900, still great. I wasn’t feeling tired or slowing down very much. I knew that I probably could have pushed it a little bit more even. For the last 100, I pushed it and in the end that was actually my second fastest 100 (see splits below). This tells me that I left a little too much in the tank, but I was still happy with my time and the way it felt. I cooled down with an easy 400. All in all, a good swim to close out the week with.
Last night, I got an email from Jon saying that my bike frame was in and they were working on putting it together. He said he didn’t have the wheels yet. So, on my way home from work, I stopped by Jackrabbit to see how it came out. Christopher was there, so he brought me downstairs to check it out. Even though it was up on the rack, not complete and without wheels, I was instantly psyched. It’s going to be awesome. I just hope the winter continues to give us nice (even if cold) cycling days so I can get out there on it soon!
Tomorrow we fly to LA to begin our whirlwind trip West. Charlie’s coming, which is an extra challenge, but my family hasn’t met him yet, so it will be worth it. We’re out there until the 30th.
Total time for 1,000 yards: 17:21
Splits:
1: 1:37
2: 1:43
3: 1:45
4: 1:46
5: 1:47
6: 1:47
7: 1:46
8: 1:44
9: 1:43
10: 1:40
Swim – December 22
Distance: 2,000 yards
Time: 45 minutes