A Good Old Fashioned Butt-Whoopin

I got my ass spanked at swim class this morning. And not in a good way…I’m talking spanked in a way that a little league player would feel if he was forced to play in the World Series. That’s what I’m talking about.

I knew when I got up that this workout would be a challenge. I held my own through the warm up and drills. When we got to the speed sets, I was toast. We were to do a progressive pace set with 600 x 80% effort, 450 x 85% effort and 300 x 90% effort. The yardage was a combination of regular swimming and pull/paddle. By the end, there was no 90%. My all-out effort became my cool-down. The other swimmers were finishing 20-30 seconds ahead of me…Incredibly discouraging.

I even thought about quitting midway through and just admitting that, “It’s not my day.” You know what? I didn’t quit. As humiliated as I was, I finished the set for mental perseverance. It’s just tough to swallow when you come off a good run day and have a crappy swim day. I know I’m a strong athlete. What’s my problem?

Here’s the Bottom Line. I know EXACTLY what my problem was today. I’m worn out. I’ve put way too much effort in this week and it shows. Two very difficult running workouts on Mon/Wed, 2 very difficult Core/Arm/Abs workouts on Mon/Wed, a swim workout on Tuesday and a bike workout on Wednesday night. Six tough workouts by Wednesday night left me reeling on Thursday morning. The Jack and Adams Core workout has left me especially sore in new places (again-not in a good way) with plenty of tricep dips, pushups, pull ups, etc. My arms were fatigued as hell this morning. What I need to do is start from the beginning with tri-training and work my way up towards the race in November. Instead, what I tried to do this week is to pick up where I left off just prior to the last race with a 13-15 hour training week. With that strategy, I’ll be burnt out by Mid-August. I need to back up, reassess and begin building a base again. The problem? I’m addicted. Anyone who is in my shoes at the moment knows exactly what I’m talking about. You get to a point where two workouts per day is not the exception, it’s the standard. You get to a point where if you don’t get 3 swims, 3 bike rides, 3 runs and some core work in each week, you feel like you’re going to lose every ounce of fitness that you’ve gained. You think that if you keep pushing through the pain and fatigue, you’ll suddenly emerge to a new level of fitness. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE LOVE LOVE to train. Nothing feels better than finishing a tough workout. It just hit me this morning that my body still needs rest. That stillness and relaxation can also help you to emerge to another level of fitness.

Of course it doesn’t help that work has been nuts, my current house is on the market (with a couple of potential offers coming in today) and my new house is still two months from being finished! Let’s hope that timing works out perfectly J

In the meantime, I think I’ll relax tonight and tomorrow and gear up for a nice slow run on Saturday morning.