The Triathlon Rx

The week is going by SO FAST! There is no way that I only have FOUR days of break left?! ¡Ay Dios mío! Truth hurts.

WELL. Seeing as how life goes back to “normal” in four days, I figured I better get my rear in gear and get ready for practice to go back to normal too. Collegiate Nationals are on April 17th, and without time to count the actual number of days between now and then, I’ll just say it’s gonna come up sooner than we think!

Over break, there has been a much more slacker relaxed attitude with the practice schedule. Yeah, I still get my time in, but I’ve also gotten to change up the cardio a bit and do things like the stair mountain. (Which I really grew to like actually! Might have to sneak that in on the weekends… )

My view from the top!

Here’s an early “Friday Confessional” for ya – I’m pretty sure I have been in the pool all of ONCE over this entire break. Part of practice going back to “normal” would involve me in a pool and 4000+ yards three times a week. I’m not saying I’ve entirely forgotten how to swim, but this is a pretty clutch time for me to be honing in on stroke technique and intervals. To pour on a lil’ more lame-sauce, I even got the ONE thing I really wanted for Christmas to make my swimming “more enjoyable” :

That would be the NU Dolphin UNDERWATER mp3 player. Haha one kid on the team called it “spoiled”. Since that was my one big gift and it was just over $100, I wouldn’t go that far.. NTM the word “spoiled” leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I would like to call it “dedicated” since the intention was that it would help get me in the pool more often and help keep me focused. Haha, well I guess I ALSO can’t go that far because I clearly haven’t gotten in the pool more. YET! For fairness sake, the first time I was headed to the pool with this lil guy, I had music all loaded and everything, decided to check it at home just to figure out the controls and everything, and nothing played! Turns out it plays only mp3 files (just like basically every single non-i-ANYTHING….), and so I had to convert a whole bunch of songs to transfer.

Here is ME, holding ME accountable. I am leaving to the pool the second I hit publish. I have my mp3 player loaded with a bunch of songs that better motivate my a$$ to swim hard. I will be crazy sore because muscle memory can only last so long, and baby, it’s been a lonnnng time. (TWSS. Bahaha. Sorry.) ”Base building” stops today tomorrow (I can promise today won’t be “fast”). Lubbock, Texas.. watch your back!

I will report back, complete with workout, playlist, and plenty of DOMS. If you find yourself in the same situation as this lil red head, I encourage you to wander over to the Train On Top tab at the top of the page, and explore your various training modalities that you may or may not be neglecting. As I just did with SWIMMING: VOLUME 1.

Going. NOW.
-E

Hahah lied. Had to do this first – Shelly’s having her first giveaway, and Katie’s having a giveaway too!

[EDIT-EDIT-EDIT-EDIT-EDIT]

Success!! I was really surprised at how easily I jumped right back in. I was expecting a not-feelin-it kind of workout, but the whole swim I felt like I was pulling strongly and efficiently. I LOVE IT! Annnnd, the mp3 player was a BIG HIT. Aside from kinda hurting my ears, because I pull the swim cap over the ear buds to stay in tight, I was really impressed with the sound quality and volume in the water! Expect a complete product review to come!

WORKOUT:

(I like to split my workouts into 1000′s – for some reason it just feels like it goes faster!)

SET ONE: warm-up
1000 yards free, straight. minus two stops to dump out goggua (goggle agua. oh so clever.)

SET TWO: kick intervals
200 kick flutter
200 free
200 kick dolphin
200 free
200 kick flutter

SET THREE: IM distance mixup
100 free
100 back
100 breast
100 free
200 free
200 back
200 breast

SET FOUR: SKIPS COOLDOWN
200 swim (free)
200 kick (alternating btwn flutter on back and sides)
200 IM
200 pull/hypoxic drills
200 swim (free/breast/free/breast)

I gotta get out the door NOW for spin with the boy, and make it home by 8:00 for Grey’s! Talk about a perfect Thursday! If you really do want the playlist from today, lemme know and I’ll throw it up there!

NEXT UP:

1. Reader’s choice playlist! Don’t miss your chance to get your song on there!
2. a GIVEAWAY!! make sure you keep checkin’ back!
3. NU Dolphin Underwater mp3 player

Ciao!
-E