Blame the Pool/Bomb the Run

Swim Day
1 x 200- Warm-up
5 x 200- 3:00
5 x 50- Sideline kick
5 x 100- 5, 7, 9 drill
2 x 300- 4:30
1 x 400- even- easy/odd- hard
1 x 100- Cool down
total- 3050yds

Run Day
time- 30:27
distance- 3.67mi

My regular pool is closed this week for maintenance.This is probably a good thing. "Cloudy" is not an adjective you want to use when describing your pool. But this means that instead of driving five minutes to the nearest 24 Hour Fitness, I have to drive twenty to the 24 in Pearl City.
Similarities: They are both pools. They both have three lanes. They are both 25yds.
Differences: My pool is outdoor. The Pearl City pool is indoor.
If you don't think that's a big ass difference you haven't swum enough. All kinds of things change inside. Its warmer, louder, more humid, and more people are there early because it's out of the rain (not a small thing when it means you get shoved to te outside lane by the wall while the ancient lady jogs [JOGS!!! JOGS!] back and forth. And yes that did call for a bracket within a parentheses.) and, oh yeah, it's warmer. You might be saying, "But Dirtbag, while I hesitate to ever doubt you, I do wonder, if I may be so bold, how can warmer be bad?" Well, good follower, allow me to enlighten you. And I admit, this could be a completely personal preference. Warmer air temperature and warmer water temperature mean my muscles are more relaxed. Too relaxed. Its hard to fire the big guns when they are nice and cozy. (Yeah, I said big guns. What?) Obviously, too cold makes them brittle and they shatter at the slightest movement, but cooler is preferable to warmer. And then when you poke your head up after each set, its just as warm. It screws up the headspace.
Or maybe I'm just a whiner.
But seriously, this pool is slow. "The pool...is slow?" you cautiously ask. Yes! Talk to some swimmers. Some pools are slower than other pools. The way they are built, their depth, the kind of lane lines and gutters, all of that makes a pool faster or slower. And the 24 Hour Fitness pool in Pearl City is simply not an ideal swimmer's pool.
I'm not making excuses! Stop looking at me like that.
At least I've entered the taper for my RoughWater Swim, which is why the yardage has dropped from 4k to 3k. I realized last night (read: "My wife pointed out to me last night") that the race is Monday. Holy cow! So soon. So more drills, less speed work, more stroke focus for the next two swims. You may have noticed there was no workouts posted for Sunday or Monday. Sunday I was super-stuffy and didn't feel like running and slowing my recovery. Monday morning I accidentally turned off my alarm and went right back to sleep. And Monday afternoon I had a doctor check-up that was dead-center in the middle of my workout time and nothing could be done. So I got an extra two days of rest. Wuss!
As for my run, it felt strong and quick. I set out at a quick pace, and decided to do my best to hold it. Came off well, I think. I had faith in myself, repeating, "I am a cardio machine," in my head to keep my feet spinning. My form actually felt better during the run than it did during the swim, and that never happens. My back straightened up, shoulders squared, chin was level with the ground, and the feet were spinning well. It was an Everything Is Clicking kind of run, and a good confidence builder. I need more of those coming in to the next tri. I'd like to get my 5k under 25 minutes off the bike. That would be killer.