I arrived at the pool today at my normal time for my 11:30 swim.  A few of the regulars and I jumped right in and began swimming.  As I swam, I noticed a few wanders along the pool deck.  Newbies.  Resolutioners.  Unsure of what the next step should be, they walked back and forth in their baggy suits that no doubt still had the scent of sand from their last trip to the beach.  A few would hesitantly approach a lane and timidly stand at the edge hoping someone would stop so that could ask if they could share a lane.  The bolder ones would dangle their feet over the edge of the pool hoping to get the attention of a fellow swimmer.  And still others took a seat in the bleachers and simply waited for a lane to open.

After the swim, a couple guys in the locker room were talking about all the additional people at the pool lately.  They were all wondering how long the resolutioners – the people swimming because they made improving their health a New Year’s resolution – would last.  It reminded me of Shawshank Redemption.  You may remember the scene.  The one where the new prisoners are arriving.  Morgan Freeman’s character, Red, and the other prisoners are taking bets on which new prisoner will be the first to break down.  Now, no one was placing actual bets, but most everyone agreed that it would be back to normal by February.

Don’t get me wrong.  I hold no ill will towards the newbies.  I’d love to see them all keep up swimming – the more the merrier (unless it turns into this or this).  And I am sure I was the same way when I started to swim 2 years ago.  But still, I find it amusing to watch.

Any ways, I had a great 2500 yard swim today.  My workout was:

6 x 75 warm up
1 x 400 pull
1 x 300
1 x 200 pull
1 x 100
1 x 300 kick
1 x 300
6 x 75 (50 free, 25 back) cool down

After my swim, I did a 6 mile speed workout.  I started off with a mile and a half warm up followed by 5 x 800 with 400 active recovery and then a warm down to round it out.  My 800 intervals came in at 3:31, 3:25, 3:24, 3:23, and 3:12 and overall I had a 7:47 pace for the entire run.  After the last interval, I had a coughing fit that almost made me puke.  As disgusting as it may sound, it felt great. 

"A lot of people run a race to see who is fastest. I run to see who has the most guts, who can punish himself into exhausting pace, and then at the end, punish himself even more."

-Steve Prefontaine

I hate speed work.  Hate it with a passion.  And yet, I continue to do it. Why?  Because I know it works.  Back in high school our coach would run us on some some hellish intervals: Blue Miles, Indiana Hills, Richmond Repeats to name a few.  Just thinking of them makes me cringe.  They worked though.  They made us stronger runners.  So I continue to put myself through them.

Today, after doing a mile and half warm up, I did 4 x 800yd’s with 400 yd active recover in between.  My first interval came in at 3:55 – awfully slow.  The next three came in at 3:13, 3:15, and 3:17.  That’s more like it.  After rapping up the intervals, I jogged the mile back home to round out a 5+ mile run.  Not too bad for a day when I had to force myself out the door to run.

Tomorrow, I am hoping to do a bike ride outside.  It is supposed to be in the 40’s before dipping into the 30’s later in the week.  It should give me some time to test out my new winter gear.  We’ll see how it goes.

I had my best day of workouts since the marathon today.  It really took a lot out of me though and now I am exhausted. 

It started out with a swim this morning.  I did a speed workout from my book.  It was a total of 2900 yards.  The warm up alone was 800 yards.  Good Lord.  I remember when my entire swim was 800 yards.  After the warm up, it was a series of 7 200’s followed by 10×50yds.  I did the 200’s at a better pace than I expected: 3:21, 3:23, 3:26, 3:27, 3:24, 3:33, 3:33 which equals out to between a 1:40 – 1:46 per 100 yards.  The last couple of intervals really took a lot out of me and struggled to get through them. The 10×50 yards weren’t as bad, but I started to feel my calf cramp up on the 7th one.  So, I took it really slow for the last 3 to let it rest.  Overall, it was a great swim and one of the harder workouts I have had in the pool in a while.

I followed up the swim with a run this afternoon.  As I planned yesterday, I did an 8 mile out and back route.  This was my longest run since the marathon and I was worried that my hamstring would act up on me.  Luckily it didn’t.  I knocked out the 8 miles in 1:05 for just over an 8:00 min/mile pace.  It was also a good mental run to do the longer out and back rather than the shorter loop that I usually do. 

I think I am going to try and add a couple of speed workouts into my running the next couple of weeks.  There is a Thanksgiving Day 5k that I might do and I would love to go under 20:00 (which I haven’t done since high school).  I think I could do it if I put the effort into focusing on speed rather than distance a couple days a week.

That’s all for now.  I have to try and get some more work done before I fall asleep on my keyboard.