Thursday, April 3, 2008

Recovery Week!

OK...  remember a few posts ago when I was boring you with my verbal diarrhea regarding not training enough?  I take it back...  I take it aaaaaaalllllll back.  

Coach Liz spanked my booty last week!  The big difference between training on my own and having a coach guide me through the process is that I'm becoming intimately familiar with the word, "quality" rather than "quantity".  At the beginning of last week, I looked at the total number of training hours expected of me and thought, "10.5?... are you joking???  Dat's nuffin."  Lemme tell ya something... by the time Sunday rolled around my body was READY for a rest day and my current recovery week.  Don't get me wrong, I am looking forward to piling on the volume... but this quality stuff is WORKIN!

This week has been defined by less volume but higher intensity.  I'm diggin getting to go a bit faster... It's much less boring... however, I'm staying well within the assigned zones.  That's another thing!  I LIKE having actual "zones" to work in.  I mean... I kinda sorta paid attention to that last year... and still had a decent year of races... I just feel like I'm so much more on track this year!

Highlight of the week?  I got to do a 1 mile time trial in the pool.  So... that's 1,650 yds or .93749999996419ths of a mile.  A total of 66 lengths in a 25 yd pool.  I predicted that I'd come in between 25 and 28 minutes.  Considering the fact that I STILL haven't remotely mastered a flip-turn (what's UP with that?), I thought that was a realistic goal.  Well guess WHAT?  I came in at 23:43.  Yup.  The boy's swim is GETTIN THERE!  YAY me!

Did you know that the brighter the plumage and coloring on a Cardinal... the more virile they are?  It's true.  It's a fact.  Ain't nature neato?

This coming weekend I have another bike test. The difference between this one and the last is that I will be using the new PowerTap to get a better picture of my power output!  Ought to be a good time.

Physically, I'm PRIMED to hit a tough training cycle.  Mentally?  Honestly, I'm a f-ing nut-ball right now... which is REALLY fun for my family and friends!  The thing is... sometimes you just have to sit there and just BE.  Ya know? You don't have to figure it all out... the only thing you really need to do is sit there and experience it. So that's what I'm doing... I'm experiencing it... not fighting it... and trying to be patient with myself.  Bah ha HA!  Isn't that a funny thought?!  ME?  Patient?  Hee hee... uh.  Yeah.  I'm tryin.

Thanks for stopping by!  Hope you're training is going well... and that you're being patient with yourself.

Breathe...

5 comments:

Oly said...

Don't fiiiiight it.

Be paaaatient.

Know that you will ROOOOCK!!!

Oly said...

In addition. I'm sure you deserve that spanking. For something.

Anonymous said...

cardinal??? seriously?? Do you even have cardinals in Oregon?
The brighter...the better...they're beautiful. And great singers too.
Good job on the swim and the training in general. You're kicking it!!!

jameson said...

damn dude... that's some solid swimming. Crush the bike test!

Kate said...

Nice swim time! I knew you had it in ya!