Monday, January 5, 2009

31 Degrees...

...on the pool deck this morning. The coach put ice in with the kick boards and pull buoys just to be funny. I giggled.

So yeah, after hating on Master's for a few years for various reasons (some lame, some not so lame) I bit the bullet and rolled my happy ass out of bed and into the pool for 6 AM Master's today for the first time in THREE YEARS.

Here's why:
-my schedule is such that I have no other time to swim and there is no 6 AM lap swim--bastards. -my personal best swim (25:53) came in 2005 after swimming Master's 3 days a week.

If you watch a triathlon, there is typically a small front swim pack followed by the main field with some stragglers in between. Furthermore, Xterra allows drafting (could you imagine if they didn't?) and I'm confident I can ride with the pointy end of my age group if I could get out of the water fast enough and get on someone's wheel.

I'm not swimming fast enough to make that happen.

So...paradigm shift! Get out of the water in a good enough spot that I can capitalize on my strong riding. Dropping 2-4 minutes off my 1500 meter swim time means I'm with the front pack A) not breaking water by myself ( I get left in "no man's land" a lot) B) I've got fast wheels to latch onto during the ride. The time I drop in the water translates to more time gained on the bike since I've got clear trails and fast wheels to follow.

Don't get me wrong, I'm still working my ass off on the running track and in the hills...the swimming is just going really well right now.

So I had a good time at Master's swim, so what?

E.

Jim's probably screaming at his computer by now: "I TOLD YOU SO!" ; )

6 comments:

Big Rig said...

Doesn't it make you feel like a stud to be one of a select few swimming under those conditions?

jameson said...

you're going to have a killer season. I don't think I have ever seen you this stoked and motivated to train.

we are going to be exploring my local trails sunday morning (730 rolling). let me know if you are down.

keep it up! I wish I had your motivation right now.

GW said...

I'm jealous of your AM masters sessions and freezing pool deck. Sounds far superior to my current 24hr Fitness pool filled with creatures from the athletic underworld.

jaltevers said...

Awesome Blog. I love reading about the training and its getting me to stay up on my little yearly goal. Thanks. I have a question...what are Masters? Is it a tri thing or a swim thing and what do they entail? Thanks.

Jman

Zippy said...

Jman- Sorry I didn't elaborate! "Master's" is short for the Master's Swimming program at my school; think of it like swim team for adults. They also have Master's Triathlon and Running: all coached workouts. Hope that clarifies.

jaltevers said...

Why yes it does, thanks!