Our time in San Diego comes to an end this Friday. In a few short days it will be back to runs that must start by 5:20 am and long rides in the blistering heat. And waking up at 4 am for work, which I haven't done in almost 4 weeks!
Today we went with Karin's sister, Megan, to her YMCA for a yoga class. The yoga class was great, as was the instructor. But boy was it hard! I think yoga is the hardest workout I have done. Every yoga class I take (which seems to average about 4-6 a year) is so hard! Perhaps because I only go 6 times a year. I mean, I expect it to be hard in terms of flexibility. But I am always surprised how hard it is in terms of muscle strength. I consider myself a strong person. I lift weights and do squats and lunges and load heavy things onto planes for a living. But yoga kills me! When I have to stay in a lunge pose I feel like I will collapse; and when we do downward facing dog I feel like all my weight is resting on my arms and they can't handle it!
I seriously think yoga might be the ultimate cross training for a triathlete. Clearly it builds strength; and flexibility is something that benefits triathletes enormously, but that a lot of triathletes don't focus nearly enough on.
The fact that it is so hard for me seems to prove that it would be very beneficial for me. It clearly addresses muscle imbalances that are not getting attention in my regular training. Which is, of course, why I intended to make it a regular part of my training regimen 9 months ago when I started Ironman training.
Today at the Y I tried something new as well. Masters swim practice. This is basically coached group interval swim training for adults. I wanted to try it a long time ago but when I looked it up in Phoenix it seemed that even the slowest level was faster than me. From what I have read, the way masters swim works is this: There are several lanes, and each is for a different pace. So, for instance, everyone who swims 100 yards in 2 minutes (a seemingly unheard of pace at masters swim, mind you) is in one lane. One swimmer "leads" the lane, and all the swimmers in that lane swim down the right side, like cars on a highway. A workout is set at the beginning, say 4 x 150, so everyone in the lane does the swim + rest interval at the pace set for that lane. (For instance, a 2:00 base pace with 1:00 rest would mean that the leader starts a new interval every 3 minutes. See, it sounds like I know things.) The benefit, to my understanding, is that you have to stick to your pace so you don't get left behind (or worse, screw up everyone else!), and that there is a coach telling you what to do.
Naturally I was nervous to try this, as it was way outside my comfort zone. But there was a masters swim starting 20 minutes after yoga class ended, so it seemed silly not to give it a shot. I approached the coach and told him I was a newbie, and an extremely slow one at that. He told me they used 6 lanes and lane 6 would be the slowest. He didn't say what pace that was, but I knew that would be my lane. I went to lane 6 and introduced myself to the old ladies in that lane. (Yes, all old ladies. That is who swims in lane 6.) I told them I was new to masters swim, but beyond that I didn't want to interrupt their in-depth conversation about the new liver the one may possibly get and how high her blood pressure was when she was doing dialysis. (Yep, welcome to life in LANE 6.) I assumed our base pace (the pace at which the lane would do intervals) would be established by the coach, or the people in the lane themselves. I was underwater when the coach explained the rest intervals, so I asked him to repeat it, and when he finished and I turned around, everyone in my lane had already started swimming! I didn't know what lap they were on and I sure as heck didn't know at what pace they were going! The whole point is that everyone goes at the same goal pace, and then all rest at the same time. Everyone does the workout together. I assumed there would be someone leading the lane so everyone knows when the rest is over and it's time to go again. So off I went, not even knowing my pace or when everyone else would be resting. After a couple laps I came back and one woman was resting on the wall, but the others were still swimming and I thought, crap are we resting now?? What is happening?? I had absolutely no idea what was going on! I was just frantically swimming at an unknown pace without even knowing exactly how many laps I had done! As this went on, I thought to myself--if I am just swimming intervals at my own pace and just following the written workout on my own, that is exactly what I do when I swim alone in the pool! I thought masters was coached and structured! I at least expected basic communication in my lane to establish the base pace and rest intervals. I didn't even hear anyone say "go." Maybe lane 6 is just so slow no one cares what happens in that lane! I had been very worried that I wouldn't be able to keep up at a masters swim, but it never occurred to me that I wouldn't even know what was happening!
So what did I do? Well, I swam under the lane rope, out of masters swim, through the free lap lanes (which were all full, 2 to a lane), and got out of the pool. So much for masters swim! Looking back, I suppose I should have said right away, "Sorry about your blood pressure; good luck with your liver; what is the base pace for this lane?"
Today we went with Karin's sister, Megan, to her YMCA for a yoga class. The yoga class was great, as was the instructor. But boy was it hard! I think yoga is the hardest workout I have done. Every yoga class I take (which seems to average about 4-6 a year) is so hard! Perhaps because I only go 6 times a year. I mean, I expect it to be hard in terms of flexibility. But I am always surprised how hard it is in terms of muscle strength. I consider myself a strong person. I lift weights and do squats and lunges and load heavy things onto planes for a living. But yoga kills me! When I have to stay in a lunge pose I feel like I will collapse; and when we do downward facing dog I feel like all my weight is resting on my arms and they can't handle it!
 |
| Lunge pose |
 |
| Downward facing dog |
I seriously think yoga might be the ultimate cross training for a triathlete. Clearly it builds strength; and flexibility is something that benefits triathletes enormously, but that a lot of triathletes don't focus nearly enough on.
The fact that it is so hard for me seems to prove that it would be very beneficial for me. It clearly addresses muscle imbalances that are not getting attention in my regular training. Which is, of course, why I intended to make it a regular part of my training regimen 9 months ago when I started Ironman training.
Today at the Y I tried something new as well. Masters swim practice. This is basically coached group interval swim training for adults. I wanted to try it a long time ago but when I looked it up in Phoenix it seemed that even the slowest level was faster than me. From what I have read, the way masters swim works is this: There are several lanes, and each is for a different pace. So, for instance, everyone who swims 100 yards in 2 minutes (a seemingly unheard of pace at masters swim, mind you) is in one lane. One swimmer "leads" the lane, and all the swimmers in that lane swim down the right side, like cars on a highway. A workout is set at the beginning, say 4 x 150, so everyone in the lane does the swim + rest interval at the pace set for that lane. (For instance, a 2:00 base pace with 1:00 rest would mean that the leader starts a new interval every 3 minutes. See, it sounds like I know things.) The benefit, to my understanding, is that you have to stick to your pace so you don't get left behind (or worse, screw up everyone else!), and that there is a coach telling you what to do.
Naturally I was nervous to try this, as it was way outside my comfort zone. But there was a masters swim starting 20 minutes after yoga class ended, so it seemed silly not to give it a shot. I approached the coach and told him I was a newbie, and an extremely slow one at that. He told me they used 6 lanes and lane 6 would be the slowest. He didn't say what pace that was, but I knew that would be my lane. I went to lane 6 and introduced myself to the old ladies in that lane. (Yes, all old ladies. That is who swims in lane 6.) I told them I was new to masters swim, but beyond that I didn't want to interrupt their in-depth conversation about the new liver the one may possibly get and how high her blood pressure was when she was doing dialysis. (Yep, welcome to life in LANE 6.) I assumed our base pace (the pace at which the lane would do intervals) would be established by the coach, or the people in the lane themselves. I was underwater when the coach explained the rest intervals, so I asked him to repeat it, and when he finished and I turned around, everyone in my lane had already started swimming! I didn't know what lap they were on and I sure as heck didn't know at what pace they were going! The whole point is that everyone goes at the same goal pace, and then all rest at the same time. Everyone does the workout together. I assumed there would be someone leading the lane so everyone knows when the rest is over and it's time to go again. So off I went, not even knowing my pace or when everyone else would be resting. After a couple laps I came back and one woman was resting on the wall, but the others were still swimming and I thought, crap are we resting now?? What is happening?? I had absolutely no idea what was going on! I was just frantically swimming at an unknown pace without even knowing exactly how many laps I had done! As this went on, I thought to myself--if I am just swimming intervals at my own pace and just following the written workout on my own, that is exactly what I do when I swim alone in the pool! I thought masters was coached and structured! I at least expected basic communication in my lane to establish the base pace and rest intervals. I didn't even hear anyone say "go." Maybe lane 6 is just so slow no one cares what happens in that lane! I had been very worried that I wouldn't be able to keep up at a masters swim, but it never occurred to me that I wouldn't even know what was happening!
So what did I do? Well, I swam under the lane rope, out of masters swim, through the free lap lanes (which were all full, 2 to a lane), and got out of the pool. So much for masters swim! Looking back, I suppose I should have said right away, "Sorry about your blood pressure; good luck with your liver; what is the base pace for this lane?"
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