Today is a day off. Hurray!
I gained a new respect for tri-athletes this week after doing spin class. Biking is hard work when you're actually trying! Not to mention having to do a run at the end of it all!
I swam 4km straight this week in 1 hour 15 minutes, and I swam my fastest 100m so far at 1:25!! I'm no longer in the slow lane at Brock Masters, I've graduated to almost swimming with the faster half of the team. Total mileage was 15.6km this week.
At Kiwanis Masters however I underwater-cried this week. Christine made us do another kick set/drill that was a combo of flutter kick and breast stroke pull among other things. It was really really hard to make it through the 6 repetitions she made us do. But when we were told that we misunderstood and were actually doing it 10 times I was sent over the edge. I've made a very strict pact with myself to never let anyone hear me complain about my training. This is all 100% voluntary. I chose this, so I don't get to whine about it. But I think something significant happened during that practice where I hit a wall and was screaming and crying with my face in the water as I started round 7. I was physically done. I was emotionally done. But that's where mental strength came into play and I kept going because I told myself I had to. I completed the work out, which was mostly fuelled by an intense hatred for Christine in that moment, but which I'm sure I'll be grateful for later. We are stronger than we think.
On April 6th (Easter Monday) I'm going to have a friend during my test swim. Her name is Anita and she's a mom and she's also looking at doing a long distance swim in the next year or two. I'm actually so thrilled to have a companion on that day. I don't think she'll be faster than me, but I also don't think I'll be lapping her like crazy. We'll hopefully be able to push each other on just the right amount.
Something I've taken to saying when talking to people about my swim is that everyone's mountain looks different. The most common thing I hear is "I could never do that!", and they're probably right, but there's lots of things I could never physically do either (Like do a back bridge, or run a marathon. Ha! Sorry lets get real, I couldn't run 10km.) Lake Erie isn't their mountain at this moment, it's mine. Sometimes our mountains aren't even physical things, actually most of the time they're not. I also can't compare myself to people like Christine who have done "bigger" things like Lake Ontario. Lake Erie is my mountain, and its plenty big enough for me.
I've told the world about my intentions now via Facebook. It's been awesome to receive so many messages of encouragement!
Saturday, March 28, 2015
Saturday, March 21, 2015
Training Journal #8
I had my first Tuesday morning Masters this week. Being in the pool for 6am is rough. Its kinda nice to watch the whole Kiwanis centre go pinkish orange just after 7am, but the dark, cold, winter morning is not my favourite way to start the day. Also kick-sets. Christine likes kick-sets.
Mileage this week was only 14km, but I had 3 double workouts (water and dry-land work out in the same day).
Looking ahead a few weeks I have my first test-swim on April 6th where I'll swim 7km straight. Usually in a workout you don't just swim straight. It is better training to do intervals, so that's mostly what I do. But this week I decided to do a 3km straight swim for some peace of mind. I did it in 57 minutes with 2 feed breaks of 1.5min each where I drank half a water bottle of carbs/electrolytes.
I'm filling out the paper work to send in to the Great Lakes Crossing Organization who will sanction my swim. That means they'll have a representative along as part of my crew and make sure I follow all the rules and at the end they'll record my swim as an official crossing of Lake Erie. As part of this package I'm sending in I needed my doctor to sign off on it. I was actually pretty nervous for my appt with Dr. Taliano. It's a bizarre thing to have to walk into a person's office who doesn't really know you and tell them what you're planning to do and then ask them if they think you're capable. I wanted to drop to the ground and do 100 push ups so I might look stronger before I walked into his office. Not that I could do 100 push ups. He was pretty excited about the whole thing though so that was nice. He sent me for blood work and the results came in the other day. I have low iron. Like REALLY low iron. Which was pretty shocking to me and I'm still not quite sure I believe the results. I eat meat, I have spinach in my smoothie every morning, I'm not tired, and I'm not the stereotypical frail little girl who is prone to fainting. How could I possibly have low iron??? Well apparently I do, and Dr. T won't sign off on my paper work until I bring it up. Christine was pretty worried too actually. Normal iron levels are between 30-150, or even up to 300 for high performance athletes Christine says. My level is a 7. They are both surprised I'm functioning as well as I am. So now I'm that girl who has to take iron pills everyday. Who would've thought. Also- iron pills do not make your tummy happy. I'm told it gets better. It better get better.
Mileage this week was only 14km, but I had 3 double workouts (water and dry-land work out in the same day).
Looking ahead a few weeks I have my first test-swim on April 6th where I'll swim 7km straight. Usually in a workout you don't just swim straight. It is better training to do intervals, so that's mostly what I do. But this week I decided to do a 3km straight swim for some peace of mind. I did it in 57 minutes with 2 feed breaks of 1.5min each where I drank half a water bottle of carbs/electrolytes.
I'm filling out the paper work to send in to the Great Lakes Crossing Organization who will sanction my swim. That means they'll have a representative along as part of my crew and make sure I follow all the rules and at the end they'll record my swim as an official crossing of Lake Erie. As part of this package I'm sending in I needed my doctor to sign off on it. I was actually pretty nervous for my appt with Dr. Taliano. It's a bizarre thing to have to walk into a person's office who doesn't really know you and tell them what you're planning to do and then ask them if they think you're capable. I wanted to drop to the ground and do 100 push ups so I might look stronger before I walked into his office. Not that I could do 100 push ups. He was pretty excited about the whole thing though so that was nice. He sent me for blood work and the results came in the other day. I have low iron. Like REALLY low iron. Which was pretty shocking to me and I'm still not quite sure I believe the results. I eat meat, I have spinach in my smoothie every morning, I'm not tired, and I'm not the stereotypical frail little girl who is prone to fainting. How could I possibly have low iron??? Well apparently I do, and Dr. T won't sign off on my paper work until I bring it up. Christine was pretty worried too actually. Normal iron levels are between 30-150, or even up to 300 for high performance athletes Christine says. My level is a 7. They are both surprised I'm functioning as well as I am. So now I'm that girl who has to take iron pills everyday. Who would've thought. Also- iron pills do not make your tummy happy. I'm told it gets better. It better get better.
Sunday, March 15, 2015
Training Journal #7
Its the beginning of March Break which basically means that instead of having to fit my workouts around possible supply calls, I have a week where there are just no excuses not to get er done.
This past week I had two significant milestones take place. Firstly I swam 4km in one workout. And secondly I ran for 20 minutes straight!!! See previous training journals to understand what a big deal that is!
Total swimming mileage for the week was 17.9km
I now have a training plan/calendar for the next 5 months. We're looking at the July 10-12 weekend as the preferred date for my swim. That's only 17 weeks away!! I've told my closest friends about it now. I plan to go public in the next few days. I think people are excited for me, but I don't think they understand exactly what it means to swim a Great Lake, and how could they? I don't even understand exactly what that entails.
Great news from Christine: I DON'T NEED TO DO COLD WATER TRAINING!!!! Not really. At least not yet. Lake Ontario is more unpredictable temperature-wise from Lake Erie and its possible to encounter 11 degree water in the middle of a swim in August simply because of the depth and turn-over of the lake. Lake Erie on the other hand Christine is confident will be absolute minimum 65 F (18 C). I'm only going to think of water temperature in Fahrenheit from now on because Celsius in terms of water means nothing to me. Air yes, water no. Anyways, I will be training in open-water in May where the temperature will be 60 degrees so by July 65-70 degrees will be nothing. Not exactly looking forward to that, BUT I AM LOOKING FORWARD TO HOT SHOWERS!!
The next 3 weeks of my training are actually quite low on mileage but the goal is to do some more dry-land/cross training before I continue to build into my swimming endurance.
This past week I had two significant milestones take place. Firstly I swam 4km in one workout. And secondly I ran for 20 minutes straight!!! See previous training journals to understand what a big deal that is!
Total swimming mileage for the week was 17.9km
I now have a training plan/calendar for the next 5 months. We're looking at the July 10-12 weekend as the preferred date for my swim. That's only 17 weeks away!! I've told my closest friends about it now. I plan to go public in the next few days. I think people are excited for me, but I don't think they understand exactly what it means to swim a Great Lake, and how could they? I don't even understand exactly what that entails.
Great news from Christine: I DON'T NEED TO DO COLD WATER TRAINING!!!! Not really. At least not yet. Lake Ontario is more unpredictable temperature-wise from Lake Erie and its possible to encounter 11 degree water in the middle of a swim in August simply because of the depth and turn-over of the lake. Lake Erie on the other hand Christine is confident will be absolute minimum 65 F (18 C). I'm only going to think of water temperature in Fahrenheit from now on because Celsius in terms of water means nothing to me. Air yes, water no. Anyways, I will be training in open-water in May where the temperature will be 60 degrees so by July 65-70 degrees will be nothing. Not exactly looking forward to that, BUT I AM LOOKING FORWARD TO HOT SHOWERS!!
The next 3 weeks of my training are actually quite low on mileage but the goal is to do some more dry-land/cross training before I continue to build into my swimming endurance.
Saturday, March 7, 2015
Training Journal #6
I swim like a lifeguard.
That is what Christine told me. Apparently that is not a good thing, but its also not an unusual thing, and it wasn't a deal-breaker for her. She had me run through a bunch of drills while at Ridley. I have to incorporate more of a body roll/rotation into my stroke, and I need to get my elbows high and my hand in flat. She gave me a DVD to watch, 2 hours all about how the properly catch the water with your hand for the most effective stroke. Riveting I assure you.
I have also re-discovered something -- I am really really awful at flutter kick. Christine had wanted me to do 400m of flutter kick. I gave her 200m and it almost killed me. There's a girl at Brock masters named Erin, and, mind you she has the fastest kick on the team, she is literally faster than me even when I have flippers on. It is SO sad. So I have to get better at kicking. End of story.
Christine is teaching me about the nutrition component of long-distance swimming. Specifically the way you fuel your body during a workout. I have purchased a small tub of electrolytes and a large tub of carbo-pro. Carbo-Pro.....a girl's best friend. I'm supposed to mix 3-4 scoops of CP and 1 scoop of Electrolytes into a water bottle and drink it over the course of a practice. I was nervous about how it would taste, I thought the carbo-pro would be like protein powder and have that dreadful chalky after-taste. But no! Completely tasteless. The difficult part is actually the fruit-punch flavoured electrolytes because they're actually really strong. I don't drink a lot of juice in my normal life, and I definitely am not used to drinking juice in the middle of a workout. I'm not talking like weak flavoured gatorade, I'm talking pouring too many juice crystals into a small container and wondering whether or not you're drinking syrup. Now, no offense to runners or any other forms of athletes, I'm sure it sucks to have this stuff bounce up and down in your stomach as you run. However, I am positive it is worse to drink the stuff and then do a few hundred somersaults aka flip-turns. This mixture will apparently become my best friend and will be the vast majority of what fuels me across Lake Erie, so I had better get used to it.
I've swam 15.5km this week which I'm proud of.
Wednesday we did a practice at Brock where we swam 16x100m on 2 minutes. Basically you have 2 minutes to swim 4 lengths but if you want any rest time you need to do it in under 2 minutes before you do it 15 more times. This is not the first time I've done this. We did it a few weeks ago and I came in at 1:45 pretty consistently. I have clearly already improved though because this week I was 1:36 or under every time. The fastest was 1:32. I remember in high school what a big deal it was to shave off even 2 seconds from your time, so I'm really excited about 9!
That is what Christine told me. Apparently that is not a good thing, but its also not an unusual thing, and it wasn't a deal-breaker for her. She had me run through a bunch of drills while at Ridley. I have to incorporate more of a body roll/rotation into my stroke, and I need to get my elbows high and my hand in flat. She gave me a DVD to watch, 2 hours all about how the properly catch the water with your hand for the most effective stroke. Riveting I assure you.
I have also re-discovered something -- I am really really awful at flutter kick. Christine had wanted me to do 400m of flutter kick. I gave her 200m and it almost killed me. There's a girl at Brock masters named Erin, and, mind you she has the fastest kick on the team, she is literally faster than me even when I have flippers on. It is SO sad. So I have to get better at kicking. End of story.
Christine is teaching me about the nutrition component of long-distance swimming. Specifically the way you fuel your body during a workout. I have purchased a small tub of electrolytes and a large tub of carbo-pro. Carbo-Pro.....a girl's best friend. I'm supposed to mix 3-4 scoops of CP and 1 scoop of Electrolytes into a water bottle and drink it over the course of a practice. I was nervous about how it would taste, I thought the carbo-pro would be like protein powder and have that dreadful chalky after-taste. But no! Completely tasteless. The difficult part is actually the fruit-punch flavoured electrolytes because they're actually really strong. I don't drink a lot of juice in my normal life, and I definitely am not used to drinking juice in the middle of a workout. I'm not talking like weak flavoured gatorade, I'm talking pouring too many juice crystals into a small container and wondering whether or not you're drinking syrup. Now, no offense to runners or any other forms of athletes, I'm sure it sucks to have this stuff bounce up and down in your stomach as you run. However, I am positive it is worse to drink the stuff and then do a few hundred somersaults aka flip-turns. This mixture will apparently become my best friend and will be the vast majority of what fuels me across Lake Erie, so I had better get used to it.
I've swam 15.5km this week which I'm proud of.
Wednesday we did a practice at Brock where we swam 16x100m on 2 minutes. Basically you have 2 minutes to swim 4 lengths but if you want any rest time you need to do it in under 2 minutes before you do it 15 more times. This is not the first time I've done this. We did it a few weeks ago and I came in at 1:45 pretty consistently. I have clearly already improved though because this week I was 1:36 or under every time. The fastest was 1:32. I remember in high school what a big deal it was to shave off even 2 seconds from your time, so I'm really excited about 9!
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