Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Anniversary Workouts (Don't Be So Dirty!)

Swim
1 x 200- Warm-up
10 x 100- 1:30
1 x 50- easy
4 x 100- IM
1 x 50- easy
4 x 200- 3:00

Run
time- 32:06
distance- 3.33mi

Today's main swim set was brought to you by the Tri-N-Hawaiian, maker of puka shell necklaces, slippahs, and spam musubi. Ok, so maybe not those three things, but the swim set for sure. (Note To Tourists- Puka means hole. So a puka shell necklace is a necklace of shells with holes in them. Aloha.) He recently had a discussion about finding his base 100 time, which led to my describing the above 100 set, which led to me realizing I hadn't done that set in a while, so I decided to knock it out. Did it well too, if I may say so myself. 1:30 base time, made the first five on about the 1:15-1:18, and the final five on the 1:20-1:22. So I was never dying for breath, but I couldn't let up much either. Bodes well for my Honu swim.
Now, some of you out there in the series of tubes which make up the Internets may be wondering, "Dirtbag, if you can do this set on the 1:30, why not knock it down to a 1:25 next time? You'll be even faster then." And you, dear reader, are right. I would be even faster. But lets say I put a lot of effort into getting my average 100 time down to a 1:25. And let's be clear, it would be a lot of work for those five seconds. That's a long time in a distance as short as 100 yards. But say I did it. Five seconds over 100 yards means 25 seconds over 500. 50 seconds over 1,000 yards. So over the Honu course, just over 2,200 yards, I would save two minutes. Over a race that might take me as long as six hours, working my ass off to save two minutes is a silly waste of energy. I will continue to work my 1:30 pace and get it nice and strong so that when I get out of the water I've held a good pace and used as little energy as possible, and instead put the real effort towards my run and bike.
Speaking of my run, yes I only did three miles today. Two reasons- First, today is Super Awesome Wife and my second anniversary and we had dinner reservations we would have been late for had I run any longer. Second, I'm not confident in the Achilles tendonitis yet and will ease back into distances, though not too slowly because I need to be knocking out double-digit runs pretty regularly here soon (read: now). It didn't hurt during the run but flared up a bit after my stretch. Feels fine as I sit here, so hopefully it was just reacting to being stretched nice and deep for the first time in a week. The discomfort has moved to the other leg though, so I guess that's some kind of progress.
Head's up, I intercepted an email from a Mr. Larmstrong recently and should have a reply up soon. He thinks he's so smart.
Happy anniversary, baby! Love you the mostest.

2 comments:

  1. I took your advice and did 5 x 100 on 2:05. Actually you recommended 10 x 100 but I was pretty beat. I will have to work up to it. I was able to get 1:47. I am pretty happy. I did 2000 total with drills. Thanks for the tips.

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    1. You averaged 1:47s over the five 100s? That's a respectable time to hold. I assume the first few were a little faster and the last few had some fade? And work up to it. Five today, six or seven next week, and so on. I think the Honolulu Oly swim is 1,000 yards, maybe a little more, so if you can get a set or two of 10 x 100 in you'll be solid. 2,000 yards is a good workout.

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