Week One Re-Cap

I was half-way into bed tonight when I decided to climb back out to keep up with my weekly entries. This is real-time, people! The unedited version, no doubt. It's 11pm on a tuesday night and I'm trying to wind down from our late Tuesday night power bricks.

Week One was good. I got off to a silly start by skipping the Strength workout on Day 1 like a ding dong. I was so mad at myself for making such an oversight but I erred on the side of "I'm exhausted and need to go to bed after a late swim night." The rest of the week was solid. With the added few minutes here and there for runs off the bike or an extra 10-20 minutes of strength during the week, I wrapped up the first week with not only checking off my attendance for our 5:50 AM friday swim practice, but also logged 7:43 of the prescribed 8 hours of training. Unfortunately, I may never see another 8-hour training week before September 12, 2010. Maybe 1-2 more, but not many. It's IRONTIME, as Coach K would say.

My take-homes this week were in running and swimming. For running, I absolutely feel lighter, faster and not as exhausted (in a weird way) when I think about making less contact with the ground. This was a point that Liz made in her notes. Makes a big difference in the moment even though it takes more energy at first to catch on. Point 2 for take-home thoughts came from Coach K (Keith Klebacha). Keith is my swim coach. I'm a big fan of the catch-up drill because it makes me kick more consistently. The split second or two when both of your arms are at 180 degrees of flexion, you need to KEEP KICKING or you will sink. This drill has my name all over it, unfortunately. Anyway, Keith was talking about his favorite version- the slide-in catch-up drill. Gives you less time with both arms ahead but requires you to work on hand entry instead. It's good stuff. Coach K is also a big fan of kicking on your back. BOOOOO. Hate it. Need it. Probably why I hate it. Noelle, another one of our swim coaches, is also selling this kick right now. So, I get it, core strength, streamline. Fair enough.

Finally, I have to say that we have a great group. All backgrounds are represented but the energy is all the same. We're in it for the long haul and we'll carry each other to the finish. What a great thought to have going into this season. I like it!