Bitchin' Swim Workout This Morning

Here's the workout. Luckily, I didn't read the whole thing before I started!

WU: 200 swim, 200 pull, 200 kick, 4 x 50 (10") Swim Golf
MS: 6 x 200. Descend 1-3 with 20" rest after each. 4-6 are negative split with 30" rest and faster than #3.
100 easy swim.
5 x 100 (10"), descend 1-5.
100 Easy
6 x 50 (10"), descend 1-3, 4-6
100 Easy
4 x 25 sprint with 30 secs rest
CD: 100 easy swim
Total: 3300 yards

The great thing was that as the workout progressed, I got faster each "set," even though I was tired this morning. Since I got home so late on Monday night, I went to sleep late, and I repeated the same pattern Tuesday night. Yesterday, though, I began my bike workout late in the day because I had to finish putting the bike together and messing around with the SRM (which may need to go in for repairs, CRAP!). Here's what that workout was (also quite bitchin'):

WU: 15' warmup, 3 x SpinUps. Then 3 x 2' (1') Zone 3
MS: FT repeats. 2 x 10' (4'), 1x15' (6')@FT watts, then 4' @ 105%, 5'@ 80-85%.
CD: 5' Easy spinning.
Total Time: 1:30

I managed 185 watts for that last 4' festival, and I was grinning from ear to ear when it was over. I finished my bike workout about 7PM, felt great afterwards, jabbered with my mom for about 1/2 hour, ate dinner, and then I got pretty tired and put myself to bed at 9:30PM. I had set the coffee pot for 5:30AM so that I can get myself adjusted to this time zone and the time change. When I heard the coffee pot kick off this morning, I was not really ready to wake up, but I have to get used to it again (we sort of slept in while in South Carolina), and there are going to be some very early wake-up calls on the weekends coming up where I'm doing 2 long rides back-to-back. Anyway, I am going to do a tempo run later in the day, and combined with the intensity of this morning's swim workout, I think I'll be plenty ready to go to sleep around 8:30, which is when I should be going to sleep. Sleep is critical to my recovery, and my training is going to kick up a few notches next week (oh yeah I guess last week was something, huh?), so I need to continue my good habits which means getting my ass in bed.

I had a disturbing dream last night, too. I was in some sort of chair, and was rotated over some boiling cauldron of lava--first where the heat would be mostly at my back until I couldn't stand it, then they (not sure who "they" were in the dream) would rotate me so the heat would be on my legs. I remember feeling the intense heat in the dream and thinking I wasn't going to make it through this or the floor would collapse and I would be flung into the lava. I managed to survive a few bouts of exposure to the heat, and then my mom entered the dream, and she was talking about all the treatments and needles and drugs that she's dealing with. In the dream, I instantly sensed that no amount of exposure to lava heat could be as bad as what she is dealing with. And then I woke up.

So this morning, even though I was tired and the swim workout was hard, I kept thinking that this is NOTHING compared to what my mom is going through. And I was able to keep pushing during the workout, and was able to complete the whole thing virtually descending the entire way.

So remember, when you are out there training and feeling sorry for yourself that what you are doing is hard, remember, like I often do, that this stuff is NOTHING compared to the REAL SUFFERING that some people must endure. And we do this stuff voluntarily! So to me, as long as it's by choice, then it's not suffering. EVER. When I'm working hard during a workout or race, it's just that--I'm working HARD. I am not suffering, as long as I am not injured or puking my guts out. I am not suffering just because I am tired. I am not suffering just because the weather is not to my liking. I am not suffering as long as I am executing my race plan and it appears to be working. I am not suffering just because I can feel the lactic acid building up in my arms or legs. I am not suffering just because I can feel my hip flexors screaming, "MAMA!" I am not suffering!

I read on another blog an opinion stating that no athletes ever think they are training enough for an Ironman race. Well, NOT ME! I am confident in my coach, in my training program, in my ability to execute the training program, and feel everything is at a level that suits me well. How that will translate on race day we shall see, but no matter how I do, I will not say that I didn't train enough or well enough. I'm doing it. Daily. I'm 100% committed. And now is when the rubber starts to meet the road. Stay tuned!