I read recently that someone in training should stay on their schedule no matter what the weather looks like. The reason for this madness is that it prepares you to perform with whatever kind of weather you are dealt on race day.
This is difficult for me as I’ve always been a fair weather participator in any activity. In fact, if there is a cloud in the sky, I like to just stay in bed. Okay, that’s a little bit of an exaggeration, but I will say that above everything, I hate being submerged in cold water. It’s one feeling that I can’t seem to just tough it through. I find being cold and wet supremely unpleasant and whenever I find myself in that kind of position, I try to get out of it immediately.
So, I was surprised when I found myself running across the street from the Colorado Athletic Club (CAC) to the outdoor pool wearing nothing but a swimming suit and a towel at 8:30am on a Saturday when it was 40 degrees outside and windy. The CAC has an outdoor pool that is open all year round so that crazy people can swim outside when there is snow on the ground. I joined three other crazy people for my first masters swim class taught by a very fit 22 year old named Zach. From what I can tell, master’s swim just means that adults who are very good at swimming all get together and relive their competitive college days while speaking a weird language I don’t understand. Ladders. builds. intervals. I have no idea what any of these things mean.
Zach told me to “warm up” with 300 (meaning about 6 laps). After 6 laps, I’m usually not only warmed up, I’m exhausted. Then I was suppose to kick for 3 laps. I don’t know how I can have three marathons under my belt and thousands of miles running and when I try to move through water using only my legs, I move slower than a snail’s pace.
Pulling follows kicking. When you work on your pull, you place a floaty between your thighs and just use your arms to move. This is my favorite part of swimming. I can just drag my useless legs along, I float better and I can take my time. I don’t get near as out of breath. I would pull the whole damn 1.2 miles of the tri if they would let me use a leg-water-wings. Zach asked me to do 400 (2 laps) of another stroke next. Aside from my ridiculous breast stoke, I don’t think I know how to do any other strokes. It’s amazing I haven’t drowned in my bathtub by now.
Then we did something like intervals at 110. I’m still not totally sure what this is. I think you do a lap and then you get to rest for some undisclosed amount of time. I was sure we’d been swimming for about 3 hours when it was only suppose to be a 60 minute class. I looked longingly at the hot tub across the lawn chairs and wished it was sunny and I had a margarita.
We still weren’t done. Next came ladders or building or something like that. I had to ask what this was. I felt so lost as to what I was suppose to be doing. Zach patiently explained that I should swim easily for the length of the pool then build my effort on the way back so that I was “really moving” by the time I reached the starting place. I tried. I really did. I don’t think my pace changed at all but I looked like I was working really hard when I hit (okay, reached gasping) for the wall because I was really out of breath.
He did end up giving me some great pointers about my swimming. Apparently, I’m a wiggler and my hips are going the opposite direction then then should be. He told me to try to get use to breathing on both sides because he thinks that will even out my stroke. Finally, Haylee, the ex-competitive swimmer kicking my ass in the next lane gave me a the best tip. With your catch, the hand that moves the water back under you during your stroke, pretend like you are grabbing and pulling yourself over a barrel. I immediately felt a giant improvement and I felt like I was riding higher in the water which made me more comfortable. I lost track of how many laps I swam but I am guessing it was around 22-25. My furthest yet… and about half of what I need to do in August. I’ll be swimming a lot this coming week, stand by for hilarity.
Reaching for Ironman 70.3 Boulder 