Richard is killing me!

Today was one of the hardest swim workouts I've ever done.

I got to the pool on time and was in the water by 6:15. It felt great - I hadn't swam since last Friday so my arms were fresh and ready to go. I warmed up, skipping some of the kick portion since I plan on biking later today and want to keep my legs fresh too.

This was the main set: 4 x 25, 4 x 50, 4 x75, 4 x 100, 4 x75, 4 x 50, 4 x 25, and within each set, we were to "build" our speed, which means you start slow and go faster with each one.

Well, I've noticed that Master's swim is a bit like track. No one seems to hear the "slow" part - they bolt and go as fast as they can to beat everyone else. If you're a runner or triathlete, it's just in our DNA to try to beat the person running/swimming next to us. In other words, it hurts like hell.

Marshall and Jade were swimming in the lane next to me and of course, I want to keep up with them so I tried to do that without pull-buoys or fins and quickly realized that wasn't going to happen. Plus, I felt a twinge in my left rotator cuff on one of the fast 50's and Kurt told me to use fins if I felt any pain. On went the fins (wa-la! I can go really fast with fins!).

I used to think fins slowed me down because my legs tend to sink but I noticed that if I actually kick with fins on, I go faster and there's less pressure on my shoulders. So I kicked and was able to keep up but it was still very hard!

I focused on my stroke a lot today. I tried to push all the way through as Tom told me during the warm-up. He said I wasn't following through with my stroke so I worked on that and it did seem to help. Each time I swim I focus on a certain part of the stroke and it seems like I'm getting better. I'm definitely rotatin more now and reaching out further as Richard has told me but not pushing through as much as I should. Having the fins on helped to focus more on my stroke and less on how far behind I was!

But I think I'm getting better. I actually can't wait until Friday when I can swim on my own, doing what I want to do, and going my own pace. Its great being able to say that.

Now, time to get work done and then hopefully have time for 30 mins on the bike with Coach Troy.