Saved by the Thunder

Why does it only seem to rain on days that I have a swim scheduled? It was sunny all day yesterday until I got off work at 4:00, and then the clouds are rolling in. Like Tuesday it looked like rain was imminent, but I headed over to the pool anyways to get my first Week 4 swim workout in. Here was the plan:

• 500m warm-up (4x25, 2x50, 2x75, 2x50, 2x25)
• 400m long
• 7x100m
• 10x50m
• 16x25m

Fearing the worst from the rain I skipped the 2x75 warm-up sets in order to ensure I at least got my long swim in. I asked for advice in the Swimming group on Fitocracy about getting winded too easily, and received some good pointers. I mentioned that I start off breathing every 3rd stroke, and eventually switch to breathing every stroke when I get winded, so someone suggested breathing every stroke from the beginning and continuing that the entire time. Another person suggested switching to breaststroke or backstroke every 4th lap as a way to "catch up" on breathing. I tried both during my long swim, and I think it helped. Breathing every stroke seemed more natural to me, though I think this caused me to swim faster than I otherwise should have, so I need to focus on keeping slow, smooth strokes. Doing breast stroke every 4th lap also helped, though not as much as if I had done backstroke, which I may try next time. However, doing a different stroke every 4th lap made it MUCH easier to keep track of how much I had swam, as it begins getting difficult after 200m or so. I completed the 400m in 7:45, a 1:56/100m pace. Good enough for me.

I continued breathing every stroke as I switched to my 100m sets. It seemed fine, and I wasn't getting winded, but my arms were getting fatigued very quickly. My first few sets I was averaging about 1:41 (very pleased with the time!), so perhaps I'm going too fast since I feel less winded. In any case the speed is unintentional; on the 100s I just sort of swim without thinking about pace, trying to focus on good breathing. I'm wondering if I'm starting to find my ideal groove to swim in, though my arm strength needs to catch up. It makes me hopeful. 

After three sets of 100 my arm fatigue was pretty extreme, so I decided to listen to my body and switch to 50s. I did four of those at an easy pace before thunder closed the pool. I must admit that I was relieved at the thunder. My body just wasn't feeling this workout, and I didn't want to cut it short on my own accord. 1250m is still a solid workout though, and every drop in the bucket helps.

I pigged out for dinner: homemade nachos, Half Baked icecream, and sour patch kids. Shut up.

Looking forward to the weekend: 40+ mile ride with Uri on Saturday followed by a swim, and then a long run on Sunday. The forecast is a high of 88 both days, though some cloud coverage would be welcome. I'm not sure how much I want to run: I think I'll either do a half-marathon at a pretty solid pace, or if it's cooler I'll push it and go for 20 miles. The women's triathlon is on Saturday morning at 4:00am, so I want to wake up early and watch that before going on my long ride with Uri. I'm also planning on buying some real cycling shorts before my long run, since the tri shorts have been killing me lately.