We Have a Swim!

Bike Day
distance- 18mi
time- 50 minutes

I'm really pretty pleased with how I laid this down. But much more excited about the below.

Swim Day
1 x 150- Warm-up
5 x 200- 3:00
3 x 50- Sideline kick
5 x 100- IM
5 x 100- 1, 2, 3, Swim
1 x 500- 6:53
1 x 100- Cool down
total- 2900 yds

Ladies and gentlemen of Team Dirtbag and the Dirtbag Fitness Universe, your favorite Dirtbag is pumped. Excited. Rock and rolling. I've just registered for the Popoi'a Open Water Swim, a 1.6mi race on Sunday, June 19th.
Those of you who know me or who have been following this blog know that swimming is my forte. Of the three disciplines of triathlon, the swim is my least worry. This puts me in a strange camp among triathletes, since most of them come from cycling or running backgrounds. And it means that I get to watch everyone pass me on the bike and run. But not this time. This time its swim, swim, and only swim. And I couldn't be happier.
You may remember me having gripes during the training cycle for the Honolulu Tri about my swimming. I felt like it wasn't coming together during workouts. After today, I think I know why. I wasn't worried about the swim. My focus was on the other two events, because I know my swim will take care of itself. So when I was in the water I was working hard, but never as hard as I could have been. I was saving for the afternoon's bludgeoning.
For the next 20 days, there will be none of that. I will still be biking and running, of course. But my focus is going to be almost completely in the water. I want to do well on the 19th. Not kind of well, but really, really well. I looked at the finisher times from last year and the winner laid down a 35 something. I don't think that's a reality. But the guy who won my age group did a 40:35. That's right about where I estimate my time to be. Watch as I drop math on your heads:
The Honolulu Olympic Tri was 1640yds. 1.6 miles is 2800yds. That is an increase of 1200yds.
1640yds + 1200 = 2840
My swim time at the Honolulu Tri was 23:15. Let's assume I hold a 1:30 pace for the next 1200yds, which means I do that in about 18 minutes. That gives me a total swim time of 41:15.
23:15 + 18:00 = 41:15
BUT, this math does not take in to account the conserving I was doing during the triathlon's swim leg. I had two big sections to come so there was a lot of swimming at less that absolute capacity. And I still averaged a 1:33 pace. I know, I know, I know, I can push harder than that. Especially with people around me also pushing.
My only concern is during my last training cycle I only broke 2900 yards a few times, and not for a while. So today that distance was my goal and I felt strong the whole time. There was some stroke work in there, but I killed the IM set and the 200s. And check out that 500 time at the end. I worked that bad boy hard and put in a 6:53. Killer pace right there. The difference is there will be much more legs than normal. I save my legs for the bike and run during a triathlon, because my stroke is strong enough to get by. But no bike or run, no reason to save the kick.
So tomorrow morning I'm going to be back in the water for another big workout before my first day teaching summer school. I'm looking for at least ten good swims by the 17th, which is plenty doable. I'm really looking forward to trying to break it off during a short, intense training cycle. And I'm looking forward to going after some Masters swimmers and seeing if I've still got it.