Yesterday was touch and go at first. I was debating whether to take another rest day. I did a health check and my body was fine – no soreness / no aches and pains / no nagging injuries or issues. I arrived at the pool just as they were opening (6:30AM). I have been doing all of my workouts but not always following the workouts. I think some deviation is fine but I have to be careful and make sure I get the training in – it is easy to avoid the unpleasant workouts. This means skipping the pool swimming. So I made sure that I followed the work as written. This would include a lot of swim golf and 100 yard repeats. In addition there were several sets of kick drills. For whatever reason, I just don’t kick well. I struggled with these drills during my swim class and I stopped doing them altogether. My legs will get tired after 20 yards. Also I just don’t seem to go anywhere while kicking. With the kick board I would plow through the water – sinking – barely keeping my head afloat. Coach Mary was a little baffled during swim class and suggesting kicking while on my back without a kick board. This helps with the head above water and being able to breathe but still not very effective. So yesterday the kick drills were taking me about 2 minutes per lap (50 yards) and I was more exhausted after these laps than if I was swimming normally at a fast pace. So normal swimming for me does not include a kick at all – my legs are just being dragged along. I think my swim times could improve if I implemented a kick but it has hard so far.
Lunch included a trace run of 4 miles with Chad, Vic and Richard. I was hanging back with Richard – I was not going to set the pace. I was watching my heart rate monitor carefully – wanting it to stay in low zone 2. The pace was comfortable but maybe a little harder than I would have wanted it – even with the heart rate low. We finished up the run in exactly 32 minutes for an average of 8 minutes per mile.
Tuesday is chest day! We all warmed up with 135 pounds then set the weight at our body weights to see how many reps we could complete (1 warm up set plus 3 working sets). Because of the weight challenge we all knew where we stood. I clocked in at 165 pounds as did Richard. Chad was at 175 while Vic topped the scale at 195. I’m always touting body weight exercises because I just can’t complete on absolute weight. I was able to eek out 15 / 15 / 12 for my working sets – leading the pack. After the flat bench we did some incline presses and then, as always, we had a ‘dip off’. The maximum number of good form dips to end the day – once again a body weight exercise – my idea again! I got this one also. The strength training is just to keep lean muscle mass (and a little vanity) but I enjoy the friendly competition.
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