Float Like a Butterfly, Swim Like a Fish

Lots of news to report in the last week of training...I have loads of stories, including more animal encounters (see: dead cow, seriously, sad and gross)...that will come in other posts. There were a lot of ups and downs last week...thoughts of "heck yes, I am going to rock this IM" to "oh crap, what have I gotten myself into, how will I ever survive?!"

Last week consisted of this...in a nut shell:

Monday: 6 mile run (easy)
Tuesday: 3900 swim, 1.5 hour bike
Wednesday: 1.5 hour bike (strength session), 4 mile run, 3000 swim
Thursday: 8 mile run (6x1 mile repeats, all negative splits with 1 warm up and 1 cool down)...rest that night
Friday: 3200ish swim, 2 hour bike
Saturday: 60 mile ride with HILL repeats (my butt is still questioning what happened)
Sunday: 2 hour run (had to cut to 1:45, thought I was going to upchuck) and 3300 swim (still felt queasy the whole time, ugh...need to do a better job of not drinking out of moldy water bottles, maybe?!).

A great week of training, didn't feel too beat until Monday morning (yesterday)...I was a zombie and couldn't even think about anything but sitting on the couch and watching my Tar Heels WIN the NCAA National Championship...which of course I fell asleep at half time (thank you boys for having such a big lead going into the half so I didn't feel guilty sleeping through the remainder of the game).

I woke up this morning and went to swim. I made the mistake last Tuesday of asking my coach "am I swimming far enough?...I feel like I should be swimming longer distances." She smiled and replied non-verbally with this Tuesday's workout. 20 min warm-up (I did about 500, since I never REALLY get into the water until 5:10 and yes, that's AM), then 600 drills, then a 500, 1,000, 1,000, and 500...then I did a 300 cool down for good measure. Total of 4,400 yards. That's the longest I have been and felt like I could've kept it up. I have been told to get in the water and just keep swimming, do the workout and then just keep swimming again until the last person is out. Whew! I guess I should be careful what I ask for...although I really need it, more for the mental side of it than anything. All in all feeling really good about swimming, even had someone compliment me on my stroke today, I think she used the word "beautiful"...I almost drown I was laughing so hard..."thanks, hahaha, gurgle, gurgle."

This will be me pretty soon...we have to get some open water swims under our belt to prepare to the upcoming races (Gulf Coast 70.3 and Memphis in May...all leading up to the big daddy of course!)

Can any amount of swimming really prepare you for this mess?