I am not ashamed to state, "I am freaking tired of the damn pool!"
I thought perhaps I was just a bit tired or stresed out this week and that was affecting my swimming. Oh no no no. I am simply tired of swimming down and back for 90 minutes a workout.
Then when I realize that the 60 freaking laps I just did equals just two loops in Canyon lake, I get a little misty eyed. Mostly because I am crying from boredom but nonetheless.
I can not imagine the Cabin Fever that my mid-west friends are experiencing in their pool swims. I at least can start going back to the lake, albeit with gloves, cap and booties pretty much next week, but to not be able to open swim until May or June. Ay' Carumba.
So its a marginal swim week. Three workouts but none with any significant distance. Total distance of 5,000 yards, mostly due to my complete lack of discipline to go another lap without strangling the splasher in the lane next to me.
What say you?
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- I've been pushing the limits of my endurance my whole life. I've been called a UNcommon man for my relentless pursuit of doing something bigger than I (or most) could possibly imagine. As a soldier, a marathoner, ironman triathlete or hiker, nothing is extreme enough. Finish lines are great, but the true adventure is what it takes to get to the starting line.
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10 comments:
I love to swim, be it pool or lake..-))
I'm with Shelley on this one. However, I've trained indoors enough this year. To much time on my trainer, in door mini-oval and the pool. I'm looking forward to spring that's for sure.
Benny
The better you get at swimming, the more enjoyable it becomes. Not sure if I read your numbers correctly, but if it took you 90 min. to swim 2000 yards, you have a ways to go. But if you meant 90 minutes for 5,000 yards, well, then you're doing great.
But regardless of yardage, why would you be doing 90-min. swim workouts? I rarely, if ever, swim for that amount of time (OK, so 3 years ago I did do a few 5,000 yd. workouts, but the most I do now is maybe 4,000 yds.). 90 minutes is for a bike ride or a long-ish run, but too much for a swim workout, IMO. That is just mind-numbing.
I'm tired of my bike. But then again, today I was thinking about how I was in a relationship with her (it). I haven't sunk to the low point where I came up with a female name for the bike but I can say that I will be faithful and not stray.
Swimming 2000 or 3000 yards at a stretch is boring. I agree.
You may want to mix it up with some intervals and drill sets.
I know there are schools of thought that in order to prepare for IM you should be swimming long straight swims. But I disagree, I think you'll get more out of doing intervals sets and stroke to improve your stroke efficiency. You'll make fitness gains, swim easier and the workouts will be more fun (isn't that what this is all about anyway?). Remember that your fitness from your running and biking will cross over into your swimming.
Just my 2 cents.
Swimming 2000 or 3000 yards at a stretch is boring. I agree.
You may want to mix it up with some intervals and drill sets.
I know there are schools of thought that in order to prepare for IM you should be swimming long straight swims. But I disagree, I think you'll get more out of doing intervals sets and stroke to improve your stroke efficiency. You'll make fitness gains, swim easier and the workouts will be more fun (isn't that what this is all about anyway?). Remember that your fitness from your running and biking will cross over into your swimming.
Just my 2 cents.
Ugh. I need to get in the pool a LOT more. It's the sport I train the least in. I find it the hardest to get over that initial inertia of not wanting to get wet. Anyway, on my long swim days, I love my SwiMp3 player.
I agree and disagree with JP.
Agree on the doing intervals rather than long, straight swims. The only time you need to do the long straight swims is when you are within last 8 weeks before an IM, then you do a 3800M TT 2 or 3 times. Or if you have a 1/2 IM coming up then you might do a 1000-1500 yd. TT a few times in the preceding weeks. Other than that, plenty of 3,000-3,500 yd. swims with lots of interval work thrown in there.
DISAGREE on swim fitness carries over to bike and run. Perhaps some of your overall aerobic fitness from running and biking carries over, but swimming is technique, and there ain't nuthin about running or biking that remotely resembles swim technique. Not to mention swimming is primarily an upper body exercise, whereas running and biking are leg-driven. Even the extent to which biking and running fitness carry over to one another is doubtful. While the legs go through the same circular motion, different sets of muscles are emphasized in one vs. the other, and biking can't prepare you for the pounding action of running and neither can running prepare you for the constant quad force. Of course, for long-distance fitness, the stronger the biker you are the better able you are to run "normally."
If you have an injury, then ANY aerobic activity will help to maintain your aerobic capacity during the downtime, but you still need to come back to the other activity slowly, since muscles used there will have suffered some disuse atrophy and lost some of their energy-generating mitochondria.
YMMV
Sheila,
You make my point for me here in the second sentence of your comment. Overall aerobic fitness is what I was referring to, specifically the function of the cardiovascular and respiratory systems. And I certainly do not mean to imply that swimming is an adequate substitute for biking and running as a training strategy or vice-versa. Obviously, the specific muscles used in each activity are different.
Well after my horrible ocean swim I am so excited to be back in the pool tomorrow. However, I can see how it can get boring after even an hour. I know 5000 yards may not sound like a lot, but that is still an impressive total.
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