Second week of workouts and a swim meet

Training continues to move along in the right direction. This past week included a down week for both running and swimming mileage/yardage-wise given the VA Commonwealth Games LCM meet June 20th.

The soupy weather persists, but I suppose it is great preparation for running in Wilmington, NC next week. On tuesday RVE teammates Sarah and Patrick joined me bright and early on the PHHS track. Sarah and I did 8 x 400 with 3:00 rest holding the best average we could, while Patrick floated with us for 400 and roared past doing 800s on our 3:00 rest interval. He is tapering for his 50K this week.

The 400s terrified me given I have not done speed in 6 weeks. Originally Coach Tom said to go 78-80, but I said no way. Given the weather he changed it to holding my best effort for sprint repeats. We started very controlled (88) and then steadily knocked them down: 88, 85, 86, 83, 79, 78, 78, 77 for an 81-82 average. I am pleased with the workout! We are going to repeat it in about a month, but shortening the rest to 2:00. The goal is to hold the same average with less rest.

I swam in my first LCM swim meet on Saturday in Christiansburg VA (Christiansburg Aquatic Center). The facility is nice and is home to the Virginia Tech Hokies' Swim and Dive Teams. Five of us from the Gator Masters Team swam and it was great fun to be at a meet with buddies. It removed the stress of competing completely. The meet was very small and short...so not much time between events. My order of events: 50, 200, 400, 100 meters.

Christiansburg Aquatic Center
Photo: www.hokiesports.com

I swam the 50 well (36.45 which converts to a 32.1 50 yard time (and is my fastest "old lady" time). Next, Marcia, Carolyn, and I were side-by-side-by-side in lanes for the 200. I went out way too fast (1:27 first 100) and died for a 3:06.17. YUCK. The 400 followed soon thereafter and I experienced my first race goggle issue. After the first turn they rolled down my face. I ripped them off and swam the second 50 with them in my hand (DRAG). Once I got to the wall I tossed them up, obviously forgoing my flip turn and then finished the remaining 300 the best I could. I felt decent for the rest of the race which is nice since I am terrified of the "longer" distances. My time was terrible (6:52.45) but I am proud that I didn't panic and stuck it out. 10-15 minutes later came the 100 which was not fast (1:24.61), but a great workout on the heels of the 200 and 400. I then counted laps for Carolyn and Kate as they crushed the 1500. They (and Marcia) looked so smooth as they knocked out the 30 lengths. I hope to be able to swim that far in a race one day!

Sunday morning brought a combined tempo run and long run. Sarah and I met at PHHS and ran around 5 miles at 7:45 pace for a warmup then used the track for 4 x 5:00 at tempo pace (~6:30) with 1:00 recoveries. Given I raced the day before I felt tired. I made it through the first 5:00 albeit off pace (a very slow first 200). The next two I only did 800 meters (3:17, 3:14). The last repeat I held on to Sarah (who was gliding through the workout despite running 20 miles the day before!) for a 6:20 paced effort. We finished with 26:00 of trail running. I will take it!

Afterwards I swam 1,000 meters at the BAC before a deep tissue massage to get the junk out of my arms and legs. The pool felt so refreshing after slinging sweat with Sarah all over the track earlier that morning.

Given the swim meet, I tapered a bit in both running and swimming.

Weekly total:
Swimming - ~15,000 yards including a meet (on 6 days)
Running - 34.5 miles including two workouts (on 6 days)

Goals for next week:
Swimming - 18,000 yards including an open water swim (Wilmington)
Running - 50 miles


Happy trails,