Yesterday morning was a nice ride into work followed by a successful swim. I took some advice from my brother-in-law Joe (swimmer extraordinaire). He suggested that I keep practicing breath control. This is not fun for me. He said to just start out slow and although not pleasant the rewards would be huge! If I can get more comfortable with the breathing out thing – the whole time – and not have to breathe every second – then when I miss a breath in the heat of a race I won’t be so panic stricken.
So, once again, I started out very slow with the swimming and took a breath every 3rd stroke (I was also practicing bilateral breathing). I had decided to do 10 x 200 yards on 4 minutes. These would be short and to the point – not long enough to get very winded and short enough to stay concentrated on the task. The 30 seconds rest wouldn’t hurt either. For the first couple of sets the long, slow gliding lasted only about 25 yards. The more I practiced the slow exhale the better it got! The 2000 yards of breath control was helpful – I’ll do it again in a few days.
Lunch was another trace run with ½ mile intervals. I had my heart rate monitor and these would NOT be all out or anything. I stuck to a heart rate of right around 170 beats per minute. On this day, in the heat, it put me at right around a 6:40 minute / mile pace. This is nowhere near what my top speed was a few months ago – but I guess that is what you get when running on tired legs. I am not sure of the value of intervals on ‘dead legs’ but it was a lot more fun than churning out another slow run.
I spoke with Sam, Chris and Mike regarding the Gulf Coast Half Iron Distance Triathlon. Once again this race proved to be just about the hottest weekend of the year - so far. Sam really killed the bike (24.3 MPH – damn) but the run would prove a killer – he still finished in a fantastic 4:52. Mike is inching closer to a sub-5 hour ½ iron distance with a great time of 5:12. Unfortunately, Chris had sever foot trouble and had to circum to the run. I really would have liked to do this race with these guys but I am still very intimidated with an ocean swim. I must defeat these swim demons in fresh water before can drown them in the ocean. I think I will be ready by next year!
I had a nice commute home on the bike. The diet is starting to pan out – my goals are being met!
GCT is always a super fun but super hot race. This is the first year I've missed in a long time and it proved not to get any cooler. The run is brutal because it's nice and steamy by then.
ReplyDeleteGreat job on the breathing. Keep it up, keep working at it, it will help on race day, help to keep you calm and your HR from not sky rocketing.
I couldn't get that pace on good legs! Glad your diet is panning out, mine sure isn't. It's been a huge frustration.
ReplyDeleteHi James,
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear you are making good progress.
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Cheers,
Geoff