Thursday, April 29, 2010

Unplanned low-yardage week

If I know anything about training its this: you must be flexible with your training plan. This week, I was slated to complete 45,000 yards. Unfortunately, my to-do list this week included finding a house...which turned into buying a house...which apparently takes a little time! : ) So, rather than stress out about getting all my yardage in, it looks like I'm just going to do the best I can this week.

Tuesday I took the day off. And yesterday I only swam about 1800 yards as an "at least I got in the water" practice.

I'm going to get a longer swim in this afternoon hopefully. I think I can fit in a 3 hour practice. More later! : )

Monday, April 26, 2010

A little encouragement goes a long way...

Mark Twain said "I could live for two months off a good compliment." I like that quote.

I strive everyday to encourage and compliment others because I understand the importance of knowing you've got people in your corner, people who believe in you without fail. I get quite frustrated at those people I like to call "dream stealers". You know the type...when listening to another person's goals or aspirations, instead of a "you can do it," or "that's fantastic," they reply with a myriad of reasons why it can't be done. I think that there is plenty of pessimism in the world, why not encourage someone and add to their energy instead of trying to tear it down?

If you're thinking someone tried to dream squash me today...you are right. Mondays are usually my favorite day of the week, but today I was attempting to push through and get an extra workout in instead of taking Monday off (and my last day off was a week ago). My body protested and I only got through 3500 yards of my planned 6,000 yard workout. It happens, you have to let some workouts go. But then, as I was leaving the pool, eager to hop in the shower, wash away the slight disappointment and move on to tomorrow, a dream stealer engaged me in conversation. Now, I don't particularly like this woman, but I am capable of being polite even to people I do not care for. So she starts off by saying that she heard I was swimming Flathead Lake...and then goes on to list reasons why it is ridiculous. I simply put up my hand to stop her and told her I would be fine.

Now, I won't let someone like that discourage me, its not my style. But I do encourage all of you reading this to go out on a limb for someone, believe in someone, even if what they are attempting sounds crazy. I guarantee you, being a part of another person's support system is so rewarding because when they achieve their goal, you were a part of what got them there and they will be forever grateful.

Sunday, April 25, 2010

40,000 for the week!

Oh boy am I tired! : ) Today I woke up with a VERY tight IT band (from running), but luckily my workout for today consisted of a nice 4,000 yard recovery swim. With that 4,000 yards, my weekly total is at 40,000! I'm feeling fantastic! Today I am tired, but my shoulders are not really all that sore. I think my training plan is working as good as I could have hoped.

I'm still hungry nearly all the time....this youtube video depicts it quite well...I'm the German in this commercial...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8aogkvXy9Jc

Saturday, April 24, 2010

Double post

I post twice today, mosly because I am quite proud of myself and what I did today! As I mentioned this morning, I was competing in the Riverbank Run's Trifecta event, which amounted to about 10 miles of running. I had a great race number, 299 and the race felt decent. I took a short nap after the race and awoke feeling terrible. My IT-band felt really tight and I wanted to bag the whole afternoon swim idea.

But I didn't.

Nope, I drug my tired body to the pool and completed 10,500 yards in 3 hours and 45 minutes! The first 2,000 was kind of hard, but after that I felt loosened up and actually quite great. I had friends with me in the pool the last hour, which really helped. After swimming I ate a gigantic salad and some pizza and watched movies...that's my kind of Saturday night! : )

Running in the rain is kind of like swimming...

Didn't get a chance to write yesterday, but it wasn't that eventful pool-wise. Surprisingly, I wasn't all that sore from the mondo-yardage the day before (but I credit that to getting an embarrasingly large amount of sleep). Yesterday I swam a nice little 1,000 yards...just to stretch out.

Today I am participating in the YMCA's Riverbank run. I will be doing the Trifecta which consists of a 10K, a 5K and a 1 mile run. I don't particularly enjoy running, but it looks like it might rain and I like running in the rain.

After the run I will head to the pool this afternoon and attempt a 10,500 yard workout (writing it means I have to do it!). : )

Thursday, April 22, 2010

A double-sided index card day

This morning I got up at 4:30 and was at the YMCA from 5:00-about 8:45. I swam 9,500 yards! The first portion of my swim I did with a tri client, Shandor. Swimming with other people really helps make the time go by faster. I write my workouts on index cards (my coach in college used to write our workouts on index cards) and today the workout took up both sides. The first 6,000 went pretty smoothly, but the last 3,000 was a bit of a struggle. I am not having any pain in my shoulders, but my arms felt pretty heavy and I was really hungry. I ate some shotblocks during the practice and discovered that my new favorite flavor is Tropical Fruit. Yum! Although I did get yelled at for eating on the pool deck!

I rewarded myself with a fuddruckers hamburger and a chocolate milkshake for lunch...not the healthiest lunch ever, but I'd been craving one for a while. After my lunch I took a well deserved 2.5 hour nap. I'm feeling a bit sore now, but very satisfied with my workout today!

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Burning both ends of the night

Yesterday I swam 12,000 yards and it barely phased me. Hardly felt tired yesterday at all, which had me thinking I might have developed a super power. However, this morning, I was VERY sore and no matter how much I ate I felt starving all day! I was going to try and get 6,000 yards in after coaching this evening, but given my level of exhaustion by 7:30pm, I decided a nice light 3,000 recovery-like swim would probably be more appropriate.

The first 30 minutes felt terrible, however after that point, my shoulders started to loosen up and my stroke felt a little less forced. Swimming so late in the evening is tough, because I will turn around tomorrow morning and be back at the pool at 5 am. Luckily tomorrow I have the afternoon/evening off so I can get a nice nap in hopefully! : )

The weather has been pretty warm in Missoula this week and I am counting down the days until my first open water swim of the year (13 days--Foys Lake with Savannah!)...

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

50K for Karmyn

I've created this blog to track my last 3 months leading up to my Solo Flathead Lake swim. On July 17, 2010 I will be swimming from Somers, MT to Polson, MT, a distance of about 30 miles (0r 50,000 yards). I am raising money for 2 1/2 year old Karmyn Flanagan who was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia in November of 2009.

Since I made this goal back in January (so in 13 weeks) I have swam a toal of 209,800 yards!

I will be tracking my fundraising efforts and training on this blog. So I'll keep swimming and you keep reading! : )