Monday, March 30, 2009

Guess How Many Yds???

There are a few positives about being on the board for the tri club. One is being held responsible for showing up to workouts. Today, another swim. I came up with the workout, had to bring it to the pool - so I had to swim. Even though around 5, I just wanted to go home.

But instead I stuck to my plan and went to abs/weights class. Or what I thought was a weights class - they changed it to more of a boot camp type class. Not what I wanted. I like to take my time doing squats, lunges, presses - not 1 set of 8 and rush to another exercise. And I didn't need the cardio, so I walked out when there were more push-ups and the mountain climber. I just did a few weights on my own and headed off to the pool.

This is definitely one of those nights where I would have gone home. But since I was responsible for the swim, I had to go. And I am glad I did. Guess how much?
Guess

3200 yds! Oh, it was tough, but felt so good. Everyone else doing the workout was way faster than me, but whatever, I can do the distance in the amount of time, and that's all that matters. Yay swimming!

(And yes, I think I used this picture before, but it's one of my favorites)

3 comments:

Jen said...

I guarantee that you'd get a better workout from "rushing" from exercise to exercise than you would from taking your time doing legs extensions, bicep curls, etc. You've done triathlons, so you know how frantic a transition from swim to bike or bike to run can be. It's a similar workout - short bursts of various exercises (5 pull ups, 10 push ups, 15 squats) performed in 10-20 minutes will give you a cardio AND strength workout. Why the aversion to cardio? Considering the problems you've had with your foot, it's a great way to get it in w/o the pounding of running - if not a better way. Mountain climbers are a great low impact cardio workout and a good way to strenthen the muscles around your hips and hip flexors as well as your core.

Don't be afraid to try new things. It really helped me get out of a post-IM funk.

Amanda said...

Jen, you make some good points. I guess I just wasn't mentally prepped for that type of workout – as I was when I attempted the cross-fit classes. And I forgot my knee braces. With all the problems I have had in the past with knees, hips and shoulders I just wasn't ready. I also knew I was on my way to the pool for my swim right after the class and didn’t want to be too dead to finish that workout. I have my 4.4 coming up faster than I would like!
But you are right. And now that I know what the class is, I will try it again. Thanks for the tips, advice and help! No one ever talks about the post IM funk – so it’s good to hear from those who have gone through it.

J said...

FYI - I've saved a whole bunch of my swim team workouts, so let me know if you ever want some of those for kicks.

Also, my coach last year gave me some good ideas on preparing for the Chesapeake. He suggested doing lots of repeats at a specific pace to get used to swimming the same pace for a long time. For instance, 30 x 100 on 1:30, the next week, 20 x 200 on 3:00, 15 x 300 on 4:30, etc.