So Wednesday was the last day of swim class (though I didn't know it at first). We ended with a time trial of 100m, and I was a shade under 1:20. The first time I did it about six weeks ago it was 1:21, so there is some improvement. I should note that my back was very sore from doing 100 pull ups on Monday (did Holbrook, something like 23:31) followed by max number of pull ups on Tuesday (a paltry 20, my hands were all kinds of screaming at me). I don't like making excuses but I feel like it should be put on the record.
My first 50m was all kinds of awesome. My lane is next to the fastest swimmer, and for that first half I was actually ahead of her. The instructor said I did the first half in 35s, so on route for a 1:10 time. However I started breathing every stroke instead of every four strokes, and finding that moto to keep pushing was a little tough (it was hard to muster the popeye theme song that day).
But those first 50m were awesome. ...There are times when I'm running, and suddenly I'm able to kick it up a notch. I start to really, really move. Everything feels balanced, and it's easy. All I focus on is how awesome it feels to move quickly, to feel the wind blowing through my hair (back when I was sporting longer hair). I can usually keep it up for until I have to change direction, and usually it's near the second half of a run so it's not like I'm all fresh. Anyway, it just feels... right. It feels like fun, it feels carefree, like a game of tag, it definitely does not feel like work.
And that's how those first 50 meters felt. I wasn't flailing/drowning, I had learned enough technique so that I was pulling myself through the water, wasn't crossing the midline, kept the neck loose, and was kicking kind of hard. I was a torpedo, and feeling the water flow past me was awesome. Every time I brought my head to the side to breathe I saw the wake I was creating, and it made me feel powerful, made me feel fast. I was breathing every fourth stroke, but I didn't feel like I was forcing anything.
Obviously, things changed during the last 25m. My muscles were gassed and I was having a hard time pulling myself through the water instead of paddling, if that makes any sense. I was trying to figure out what to do to regain focus, but obviously that meant I really wasn't focused, and it showed in my time.
Coincidentially, today was the first day in training for the Oly weightlifting meet Crossfit Rise is hosting eight weeks from now. Our Oly coach Angie has set up three workouts to do a week for the next four weeks. They'll work on building strength. Then the following four weeks will be devoted to working on power, so we'll be lowering the volume and raising the weight. So it looks like I'm trading in my speedo for a singlet.
The only issue I have with this is that it will cut into my crossfit workouts. Honestly I don't care about not crossfitting (I could be wrong on this), but I don't want to miss crossfitting with Kristin, especially just when we started crossfitting together. Working out with her is awesome, and I don't really want to lose that right now. We will see what happens, but right now it's an issue I'm having trouble resolving.
Moving on, it's nice to train like this for a competition. It's hard to train for a crossfit competition because you need to work on so many different things. But for an Oly lift meet, you know exactly what to expect and thus can be much, much more focues on training. Like Angie's plan will have us peaking on our 1 rep max the day of the event. That is some pretty awesome stuff right there. I've never felt this way in training for a crossfit competition becuase we're always working on strength and speed and double unders and wall balls and lactic threshold and whatever else there is. I also really like the focus on technique and quality over quantity. This is an enviroment where it's ok to let go of the bar when lifting in sets of 4 reps, where you take your time and reset for each lift, trying to make it perfect. It's so my style it's not even funny. Now if I can only figure out how to balance this with crossfitting with Kristin I'll be a really happy man.
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