Tonight I swam 2.4 miles in the pool. That is the distance of the Ironman swim. Ironman is 3 months from tomorrow; I have been slacking on workouts the last few days; and I am starting to get pretty dang nervous. So I needed a solid workout that would feel like an accomplishment and give me a shot of confidence.
It took me 1 hr 38 min. to swim 2.4 miles in the pool. The good news is this is 42 minutes under the Ironman Swim cutoff time of 2 hrs 20 min. That leaves me plenty of time to accidentally swim off course and adjust my goggles repeatedly when I get pummeled by the arms and legs of strangers.
The bad news is 1 hr 38 min. for 2.4 mile (4200 yards) is a pace of 2 min.20 sec. per 100 yards.
My "all day" pace is about 2min20sec per 100 yards. I can maintain that indefinitely.
That is an out take from my blog post from DECEMBER 23, 2012! That is almost 8 months ago! I have been swimming about 3 times a week (most weeks) for 8 months and I swim the exact same speed I did when I started! The. Exact. Same. Speed. Don't worry, I didn't cry. But c'mon! Throw an aspiring Ironman a bone! 8 months and no progress?!
Perhaps I am looking at this all wrong. I swam 2:20/100yd pace after a few weeks of swimming. 8 months has yielded absolutely no improvement whatsoever. In light of this discovery, it seems that rather than worry about not getting in enough swim training, I should basically forget about swim training, just do enough to maintain my comfort level in the water, and spend those extra hours of free time riding my bike!
Speaking of the bike...
I have vowed to ride my new bike while I am in San Diego (as it is the only bike I have in San Diego) and not make any final bike decisions until it is time to come back to Arizona. However, I am back in Arizona right now (We went to visit Karin's grandma in New York and couldn't get any flights back to San Diego so we are home in Phoenix taking care of a few things--car, house--before we try to fly back to San Diego tomorrow.) and tonight I rode Dale (my trusty old Cannondale) to the gym. Man it was like coming home! I LOVE THAT BIKE! Seriously, I don't know what it is but that bike and I have a special bond. I am so comfortable on it. Perhaps it is because we have been through so much together. Still, it is pretty amazing that I bought a bike on Craigslist and it is bigger than all of the bikes that professionals at bike shops have deemed right for me, and yet it fits me so well! I don't want to be unfair to my new bike (who doesn't have a name yet, but is soooo beautiful) because we haven't had as much time to bond as Dale and I, but as of right now, I have to say that if I walked in to my garage and my new bike and Dale were parked there and I was going for a ride, I would always pick to ride Dale. We are soul mates. Now, if that is still the case after another few weeks of long rides on the new bike, well it seems silly to have a brand new $1600 bike that will sit in the garage after November 17th because I am out riding Dale.
But, like I said, no decisions till it's time to come back to Arizona for good. I want to be fair to the new bike. I finally put tri bars on it (the whole reason I got it), which I have only used for a total of 2 minutes on the open road, because they are so scary, and hard to control. I use them a ton on the trainer. The new guy deserves a chance to win me over. Hopefully I will be back in San Diego tomorrow. I fear the new bike will know I cheated on it with Dale...
It took me 1 hr 38 min. to swim 2.4 miles in the pool. The good news is this is 42 minutes under the Ironman Swim cutoff time of 2 hrs 20 min. That leaves me plenty of time to accidentally swim off course and adjust my goggles repeatedly when I get pummeled by the arms and legs of strangers.
The bad news is 1 hr 38 min. for 2.4 mile (4200 yards) is a pace of 2 min.20 sec. per 100 yards.
My "all day" pace is about 2min20sec per 100 yards. I can maintain that indefinitely.
That is an out take from my blog post from DECEMBER 23, 2012! That is almost 8 months ago! I have been swimming about 3 times a week (most weeks) for 8 months and I swim the exact same speed I did when I started! The. Exact. Same. Speed. Don't worry, I didn't cry. But c'mon! Throw an aspiring Ironman a bone! 8 months and no progress?!
Perhaps I am looking at this all wrong. I swam 2:20/100yd pace after a few weeks of swimming. 8 months has yielded absolutely no improvement whatsoever. In light of this discovery, it seems that rather than worry about not getting in enough swim training, I should basically forget about swim training, just do enough to maintain my comfort level in the water, and spend those extra hours of free time riding my bike!
Speaking of the bike...
I have vowed to ride my new bike while I am in San Diego (as it is the only bike I have in San Diego) and not make any final bike decisions until it is time to come back to Arizona. However, I am back in Arizona right now (We went to visit Karin's grandma in New York and couldn't get any flights back to San Diego so we are home in Phoenix taking care of a few things--car, house--before we try to fly back to San Diego tomorrow.) and tonight I rode Dale (my trusty old Cannondale) to the gym. Man it was like coming home! I LOVE THAT BIKE! Seriously, I don't know what it is but that bike and I have a special bond. I am so comfortable on it. Perhaps it is because we have been through so much together. Still, it is pretty amazing that I bought a bike on Craigslist and it is bigger than all of the bikes that professionals at bike shops have deemed right for me, and yet it fits me so well! I don't want to be unfair to my new bike (who doesn't have a name yet, but is soooo beautiful) because we haven't had as much time to bond as Dale and I, but as of right now, I have to say that if I walked in to my garage and my new bike and Dale were parked there and I was going for a ride, I would always pick to ride Dale. We are soul mates. Now, if that is still the case after another few weeks of long rides on the new bike, well it seems silly to have a brand new $1600 bike that will sit in the garage after November 17th because I am out riding Dale.
But, like I said, no decisions till it's time to come back to Arizona for good. I want to be fair to the new bike. I finally put tri bars on it (the whole reason I got it), which I have only used for a total of 2 minutes on the open road, because they are so scary, and hard to control. I use them a ton on the trainer. The new guy deserves a chance to win me over. Hopefully I will be back in San Diego tomorrow. I fear the new bike will know I cheated on it with Dale...
No comments:
Post a Comment