Megan Says, "Move Over"

So, yesterday ended up being a rest day. I got up nice and early and headed out to JFK Airport to surprise Drew and take the cab ride back into the city with him and hear all about his African hunting adventure. We got back to his apartment and made breakfast and just hung out all day. Part of me thought at some point that maybe I should go and do some sort-of workout, but it seemed like much more of a priority to just spend some time with him. Totally think that I made the right call on that.

At the Terrier swim today I got into the middle lane (out of the five available lanes) and started doing the warm-up. I normally switch back and forth between the middle lane and the next fastest lane, but it really depends on who is at practice that day because the relative speed of each lane will change based on who is there. This was the workout:

300 Warm-Up
8 x 50 Backstroke down, Freestyle back on the 1:00 400
2 x 300 Pull 600
4 x 100 Freestyle on 1:45
50 Backstroke on 1:30
4 x 100 Freestyle on 1:40
50 Backstroke on 1:30
4 x 100 Freestyle on 1:35
50 Breaststroke (cool-down)

2650 meters = 1.65 miles in 56:10
Calories: 657
Max HR: 181
Average HR: 163

After the warm-up, Megan said we would be doing 8 x 50 on the 1:15 in the middle lane. We would do backstroke down and freestyle back. As a kid and even when swimming in high school, backstroke was always my favorite stroke. I know some people think it's really easy because your head is out of the water all the time, but I always really loved the motion your arm makes instead of the floating on your back part. So, I was really happy to be doing some backstroke. After the first 50, I was at the wall and Megan said I needed to move over into the faster lane. I wasn't sure I was up for it today, but I also wasn't going to question her judgment. Of course, moving over a lane also meant that I had to do the 50s on the 1:00 instead of the 1:15.

There were not a ton of people at practice today, so there were only two other people in my lane besides me, which was nice. We finished up the 50s and then Megan passed out the pull buoys. I was thinking that so far the workout wasn't too bad and that I sort-of was glad for that. Then she told us that we'd be doing 3 x 200 pull. The catch? The first 200 we'd breathe every third stroke (easy). The second 200 we'd breathe every fifth stroke (not too bad). The third 200 we'd breathe every seventh stroke (was she kidding about that?). I was wishing that we could do it in the opposite order so that it would get easier instead of harder as time went on. I normally breathe every second stroke and I sort-of wanted to give up during the last 200. I did take a breath on the fifth stroke twice in that set, but for the most part I did the workout as instructed.

The main set was 1200 broken down into 4 x 100. Each set of 400 would be 5 seconds faster than the last. I knew by the time we got to the last set on the 1:35, I would essentially be swimming a 400 as there wouldn't be any time to rest at the wall. The 50 meter backstroke was supposed to be a slow, active recovery rather than just resting at the wall for a minute. I wasn't sure I was 100% in favor of that, but who am I to say what's best? Also, on the second 50 recovery, I got water straight up my nose at the turn and couldn't stop coughing before starting the last 4 x 100. I'm sure that didn't help my time any.

All in all, this ended up being a really good workout. I was so surprised to get home and to see how far and frankly, how fast I swam today, even though I didn't ever feel like I was going that fast or that hard. I always just felt like I was swimming at my regular pace. Perhaps I'm just getting faster in general.

Last week, Laura had told me that she was planning on going running in Central Park tonight as a taper run for her half-marathon. When I got home from swimming, I asked Drew if he'd want to go along, so we both met her and two other people, Bill & Sue. I was a little nervous that I would be too slow for the group and I knew that I wouldn't want (or be able) to do the entire 7.6 mile run that Laura had planned. I was hoping to do about a 3.7 mile run instead, which meant that Drew and I would cross the 72nd Street transverse and head back East, while Laura, Bill & Sue would keep going North to do the entire 6.0 mile loop.

Sue and Laura talked most of the time we were running together, which actually helped me concentrate on their conversation rather than worrying about the actual running. It was also nice because I thought we were running at a pretty comfortable pace for me, so I didn't feel like I was holding anyone back. When we got to the transverse and turned off to head back to Drew's, he said that his calf was acting up again. I asked him if he wanted to start walking, because I would feel horrible if he got hurt on my account, and he said yes. We also stopped for a minute for him to try to stretch out his calf. When we had walked to the end of the transverse and started to head back North, Drew said we should run again. We ran for about 15 seconds before he said that his leg wouldn't let him. So, instead, we just walked the rest of the way home.

I know from my hamstring incident last week that it is much better to just stop as soon as you feel pain instead of trying to push through like I had with my heel pain, so I'm glad for his sake that we stopped when we did. In total, we went 2.5 miles in 27:15 (10:54 pace). Some of that time includes when we were walking and Drew was stretching, so I don't think that pace is actually accurate. I'm fairly certain we were more on a 10:00 mile pace while we were actually running. Either way, I'm still really glad that I got out and went for the run, even if it was cut short. Even though I think it was silly to swim, shower, and then run, I still think it was a really good workout day.

Running Stats:
Calories: 367
Max HR: 189
Average HR: 176