Back in the Thick of Training and Happy About it

Back in Austin and back into the thick of training. My first day back I went a double. Today we swam for three hours. All and all workouts are going great. After having gone to the Duel in the Pool and resting a bit for that I feel somewhat refreshed and reinvigorated to train. As I get older I realize more and more that breaks are necessary. During college I would get three weeks a year and that was it. Looking back at that I wonder how I forged ahead with such little time out of the pool??? As Kris Kubik puts it, “Professional athletes and especially as they get older are like rubber bands, you can pull and stretch them hard and for a good while but eventually you need to let them loose so they don’t get too stretched out.” I can’t think of a better analogy.

A little practice breakdown… Yesterday I was really happy with the afternoon workout. The main set was a 12 minute swim then we had a few minute break and went an eight minute swim. The goal was to go as far as you could in those time limits. Kris said to me that for the 12 minutes I should be around 1100…I thought he meant that 1100 would be the max I should go. I swam and stopped at the 1100 at 10:59. This was a great time for me and there’s no doubt in my mind if I had understood him right I could’ve gone 1200 in 12:00. On the eight minute swim I went a 750…by that point I was getting pretty tired. We swam around for a while and then did the same set kick. I went 925 yards on the 12 minute kick and 625 yards on the eight minute kick. Leaving the pool yesterday I felt a great sense of satisfaction. There’s no substitute for good quality work that gives me the confidence in my training that helps me continue to move forward!