Goal 2 of Ultraman "Test" Training Complete and Annual Totals

Yesterday the plan was to head to the Y and do a 15,000 yard swim, or whatever I could accomplish.  Originally, I was going to start at 9 after Masters, but I figured there wouldn’t be too many of them there and I wouldn’t need to stop, so instead I got started by 6:35.  This is the first time I can remember that the Y would have so many hours of lap swim available.  I could have kept going until 2PM, but was glad for when I did start.

I’d done a 9 and a 10 3 and 4 weeks ago, but before that not too much.  My longest swim ever was 13,500 about a year ago, so I wanted to go further this time.  I knew 15 would be a stretch, but since I’d tapered down both my biking and running this past week, there was no reason I shouldn’t be able to swim long.

As usual, when I wake up the day of these long swims, I had to think how I was going to break it down.  I’m not one of those people who does 100x100 or such, even though sometimes during really long swims I will do 20 or 30x200 if I feel like it.  15,000 is a lot, and initially I thought I’d break it into 6x(2300swim, 200k), but as I got going (in a lane all to myself!), I went 2500 before my first stop, then I did 200k.  I felt good to go another 2500 straight, this time with paddles on—in retrospect I should have waited until later for the paddles, but oh well!.  Next I did 300k, another 2500, then 500k, with some just on my back to give my pecs a little stretch.  At this point I’m up to 8500 with 6500 to go.  Sounds pretty daunting, doesn’t it? I decided since I had lots of available pool time that I’d break the remainder up as 1000swim, 200kick, which is basically what I did.

When I was up to 6500, the Masters people showed up (one of them had swum beside me for about 1000 before the other 2 showed), and I said I’d move over a lane, which they were OK with.  After my next 2500, I stopped to chat with them briefly, as I know one of them.  He asked what I was training for, and I said an Ironman and an Ultraman.  He said, “A WHAT?”  So I had to explain what Ultraman is and that I’d done one in 2010 and they got some interesting looks on their faces.  I told them I was going 15,000 today “just because” and let them get back to their workout and me to mine.  Once they finished, one guy, who’s really good and fast, told me he’d attempted Big Shoulders, which is a 5K swim in Lake Michigan in the fall, but was too cold after one lap.  I surmised he hadn’t worn a wetsuit (not that he’d need one), and that was true.  I would go hypothermic without a wetsuit in water below 75 if I was in there any amount of time.  He told me I was doing well, and that gave me a huge smile and impetus to keep on going.

With maybe 2500 to go, some guy got in the lane with me who really can’t swim.  He doesn’t put his face in the water, his hands are balled up into fists, but he sure is trying.  I had to watch out so he wouldn’t smack me, even though I could tell he was trying to hug the wall.  I wanted to stop and tell him to PLEASE get some lessons, as it’s painful for me to watch what he’s doing.  Painful, said the woman who is over 12,000 into a swim…

I actually sped up a bit as I marched through the 1,000’s, not sure why.  I got the whole swim done in 5:04, thanks to some use of fins.  I ended up kicking quite a bit, so it surprised me that I got it done in that time (I did exclude the yakking with the Masters time).  

Of course, the shower after was the best shower ever.  I know I was moaning in there, and I don’t care who heard me.  It was a big effort, and I was hungry, but wanted to stretch in the sauna before I left.  My arms were fine, which is good, if my stroke is OK, then my arms shouldn’t hurt—it should all be in my back and pecs.  Which it was.  Once I was home, I basically ate until I fell asleep—maybe 8PM.  I know I am such a wuss, but I fully expected to be tired out.

So that was all she wrote for 2011.  Below you can see my training numbers including 2011.  As you can tell, I had a dip last year.  If you understand periodization, you can see that it was a good idea I stepped down.  I was worried I wouldn’t even hit 5,000 miles of biking for the year which I would consider pathetic for me!  But I did, and I’m shocked at how much running I did considering I didn’t run AT ALL for 12 weeks.  Still, the rest year will turn out to be a great thing.  I feel somewhat renewed, as I had a great summer of biking a lot, including a lot with my brother Mike, and laid off the heavy swimming and running for awhile.  Although since I’ve been back at it, I have been putting up a whole lot of training hours.  But it’s time to kiss 2011 good bye, and look towards the new year.

I am kicking off 2012 with a week of running.  60 miles starting tomorrow.  I’m going to run 10 miles each M-Sat. and take Sunday off.  I’m going to swim, but not a whole lot.  I might do one ride.  Believe it or not, 60 miles will be the most I’ve ever run in a calendar week.  I did that 55 mile week 10 weeks ago for my birthday week, so 60 won’t be anything.  After that, I resort to regular volume (for me) Ironman training for 8 months!  And no swims over 4k until June!  Although something tells me I just might get a bug up my ass to swim longer every now and then.

So there it is.  I think if you track your training and ever think you’ve “wasted” a season or whatever by resting when forced down by injury, when you look at the big picture you will see it was probably a good thing.  I managed to not run a marathon or do an Ironman in 2011!