Saturday, January 16, 2010

Thursday, January 14th, 2010

Day 11.

I missed the Tuesday swim, so here I am Thursday morning on the swim deck. Besides, Mike said this day would be fun when I saw him yesterday. I am interested in what Mike considers fun.

I found out quickly, a good strong warm up followed by 10 x 3:00 minute fast. We have 6 in the lane and split the duty. The first 3:00 minutes we hit 1:75. Pretty good, this equals the guys in lane 3. Not bad. We stay pretty even with them as a group, but I am wearing out fast. I pull twice and I am nearly spent.

We do a quick 100 EZ to bring our heart rate back down and it is off to the next set. 5 x 100, and here is the deal. We need to do one of our 100’s as fast as we can. All out campaign to go first. I know if I do not go now, I may not have anything left.

A consensus is met and off we go with me in the lead. I throw out all caution, I start hard, my stroke is good and strong, I am pulling the water hard and my legs are turning. Hitting the turn I get a great kick of the wall, I go deep and pop up past the flags, my arms are turning the water, my legs are kicking while I concentrate on keeping my knees together. At this point my heart is already beating so hard I briefly think to myself, well this will either kill me or I will know that I have a pretty strong heart… keep swimming. The wall is coming, and I take a quick gulp of air and turn. This one hurts as I am running out of air, I still have a decent turn and length underwater. I have created a small gap between the swimmers behind me. I kick in another gear. At this point I am having difficulty getting enough air. I am fighting and keep telling myself that can put in a strong 100. I am looking for the wall, my breathing is erratic. The wall approaches and I have terrible turn. I have a short breath before I go under, my turn is shallow and I am out of air. I pop out of the water looking for oxygen. The poor turn disrupts my stroke, my stroke is gone, I bury my head in the water and increase my arm turn over to re-gain speed. My heart is about to explode, I can not pull in enough air to feed my lungs, I decide to forgo breathing with 15 meters to go I am pushing the water. My head is getting light and my sight is narrowing. I am giving everything I have. I have lost sense of where I am in the pool and I crash into the edge. I turn quickly to see my time as I am gasping for air, chest heaving, head pounding. Time 1:35! This is my best 100 in years. I feel great. Stacie comes in right behind me at 1:36.

I am feeling pretty good about myself, though I can barely stand. I think to myself, ha… top that. I gave everything I had.

My brief ego trip quickly turns to humble pie as over the next 4 x 100’s I watch everyone in my lane beat my time. My lane companions hit the following times, 1:34, 1:33, 1:28, and 1:25. Good for them. I believe the best time in the pool is a 1:01. Wow.

The bad part is that 100 left me useless for the last 4 x 100. I remind myself, I am stronger for this day.

Weight… 183!!!! F*%#

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