Thursday, March 18, 2010

Do or Do Not.....There is No Try

Wednesday mornings swim workout has been one of my favorites from Coach Angela. My interpretation of this workout has many aspects.

First, it's a great race simulation workout. Go hard, settle in, bridge up to the next group, settle in, break from a group.

Second, this workout helps test your fitness. Instead of a straight time trial, mix it up and go hard and steady. Can you recover by keeping a steady pace or go hard when you need to? What is the time differences between a hard effort and a steady effort?

Third, do you have what it takes to rise to the challenge and push? Push beyond the comfort zones. Push beyond the tired arms. Push beyond the lack of oxygen the lungs are screaming for.

This is one of the hardest workouts in my arsenal. Over the weekend I knew I wanted to do this workout at some point. I pushed it from Monday to Wednesday because I was still a little tired from working the weekend and this requires a rested body.

I was getting pumped up for the workout. I was up for the challenge and wanted to test myself.

I'm happy to say I nailed this sucker. I never hesitated starting the next set. In the past I would need to refocus and commit myself for the next 1000 yards.

But this time my focus was solid the entire time. Maybe it was because I got pumped up about the workout. I felt that my stroke and body position was on target. I felt fast but under control. I was just below the anaerobic threshold that would be put me in deep hurt.

The table below shows the breakdown for each 1000 yard interval. I've included my splits for reference.

Interval First Second Third
200 hard 03:01.2 02:54.3 02:56.8
300 steady 04:52.2 04:40.9 04:42.3
100 hard 01:31.1 01:28.2 01:29.8
200 steady 03:07.8 03:09.8 03:12.3
100 hard 01:27.8 01:28.2 01:29.9
100 easy 01:44.5 01:40.4 01:48.8

Except for the easy efforts at the end of the interval I kept pace between 1:27 and 1:37. I can live with a 10 second swing. Actually I think it's awesome.

Next month I will do a fourth set. I may need an extra day to get psyched up for the workout.

All I know is that once again I will Do.

Game On.


4 comments:

Christi said...

Love the jedi references!!!! Great job on a great workout! I will have to try, I mean do that one!

Janet Edwards said...

Glad you shared the workout as I may have to try it! Way to nail it!

MissFit Island said...

You do not fear.

Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.

Big Daddy Diesel said...

The real question is do you like the old school yoda, the one that was all slow or the new yoda that went crazy in the last 3 movies.