A Great Swim

I really wasn't feeling "gung-ho" about this swim. Well, that's not entirely true. I was fine with the idea of the swim, but really didn't want to have to wake up at 5am to do it. I've been really tired lately and though my sleeping patterns are pretty stable, my cumulative fatigue seems to be getting the best of me at times.

I woke up at 5:23 without an alarm. I got up and proceeded to talk myself into and out of and back into getting to the gym, each step progressing more toward the pool (go to the bathroom, tell myself to get back in bed, put in my contacts, tell myself to get back in bed, brush my teeth, tell myself to get back in bed...) I feel like I made it to the gym the same way I make it through some of my harder workouts - I relied on my training. Ha!

Today was a big ladder set. I fed myself well (but not too much) beforehand and prepped food and recovery drinks for after. Stretched and set up my game plan and hopped into the fast lane, because no one was in it.

Each ladder began with a 50m drill. I chose to start with finger drag for two reasons: 1. I felt most comfortable/stable starting with finger drag as a "warm up", and 2. I knew this was my longest set and wanted to start with something strong that I could really focus on and reinforce as I went through each of the 9 laps. I feel that this was a massive success and I really gave myself a huge benefit by keeping my elbows high and thoughfully performing this set.

The progression after went as follows: one-arm freestyle with focus on hand entry (400), under water switch (350), right/left kick drill (300), finger drag (250), under water switch (200), fist drill (150), catch up (100), one-arm freestyle with focus on hand entry (50), cool down backstroke-100.

I found myself really focusing on each drill in order to find the "nugget" of information that would be utilized throughout the following set. This was incredibly informative and created some surprising results at times. For example, after swimming 50m of under water switch, I adjusted my catch so that it more closely resembled that of the drill and my pull benefited from the adjustment so much that I was going much faster... which made for an interesting first lap as I adjusted my breathing and tempo to accomodate the change. Also, I found myself automatically rolling the "lesson" from the last set (or last several sets) into the set I was working on, making for a more complete form alteration.

At the 250m ladder a guy got into the lane with me - the fast lane, as you may recall. This created some anxiety in me. I instantly thought that I should move to the next lane. I instantly began berating myself for being an "intruder" in the fast lane. I instantly became accutely aware of ALL of the other swimmers in the pool. And I pushed harder each 50m in order to stay ahead of the speedy swimmer who was gaining on me.

But I didn't leave the lane.

This was a huge psychological workout for me. Instead of exiting the lane (or the pool, as I thought to do once or twice as well), I pulled my focus off of him and back to me as often as I could whenever I strayed. I told myself that I was a good swimmer and was not in his way. I told myself that I only had a few sets left. Then I adjusted my workout to suit me, not him, and was able to get my final sets in, while also staying well ahead of him.

In the end, I completed the entire workout. I feel like I learned a lot throughout the hour and ten minutes that I was in the pool. The best part (aside from all the "greats" listed above) was looking at the clock and thinking, "Oh, I can keep going... I've only been in the pool for an hour." Only. Only an hour. What a dramatic change from a few weeks ago.