Swimming Amongst Icebergs...

When it's that cold outside (somewhere around 5 degrees), you wonder just what in the hell you're thinking when you wake up pre-dawn to go swim in a pool that you know is going to be cold and do a workout that you know is going to be hard.

You also start to wonder why you didn't go to bed earlier, why the dogs are way bigger pains in the ass in the morning than at night, and just what makes "wussing out" so much easier. You also start to think about the hell you'll get if you don't do something you said you'd do, and how little you're going to feel like doing the rest of the day once you attend a funeral.

That was my Saturday morning. Get up way too early, go to way too cold pool, suffer way too many yards knowing the afternoon holds a way too painful event. The bright spot in the middle (like the filling of an Oreo only slightly warmer and less gooey) Starbucks.

Workout felt a bit like swimming in soup. Water was freezing - cold literally emanating off of the metal bulkheads. I didn't make the egregious mistake of putting my feet down in the middle of the pool until halfway through my warm-down, but I did notice the river of cold water in the middle very early on. Turns out the bottom of the pool is underground or very close to it, and the bottom of the pool drains directly into an underwater spring that runs straight to the Arctic Circle. I'm. Not. Kidding. Frrrrrreeeeeezing cold water...oddly cold. Make-you-think-something's-broken cold.

And a quick note on the "coach"....worthless. Note to self: a coach's job is to run the practice - not ogle the lifeguard and let the swimmers do whatever they want. Your job is to tell them when to go, keep track of what they're doing, pay attention to how they're swimming, and offer and tips, tricks or advice that comes up. Oh, and you're also supposed to at least halfway sound like you know what the hell you're talking about. You, my dear Trevor, are none of those things. I hate to complain, and really don't like complaining about people, but if I'm going to haul my ass halfway across the city on a Saturday morning, I want more pressure to come from the coach to make the intervals and do the work than from myself - we all know how dedicated I am prior to 9a....not at all.

Anyway, the workout was challenging. Tough intervals, my shoulder started aching early on but eased up through the meat of the workout. I managed to have a few lengths in there where I felt like I was actually swimming correctly, too. Also a few where I was unhinged and looking quite drunk, and one awful length where nothing lined up, but overall it felt fairly smooth. I know my turnover is still pretty long and slow - which bodes well for open water but not-so-good for shorter intervals. Hoping as I run more and bring the core strength back up I can also start pushing more water and going a bit faster. Already feeling the fatigued effects of swimming more - not a bad thing.

400 WU
300 K on Side
8x25 (hard/ez, ez/hard)
500 for Time (6:42 - yuk, semi effort on this though...lost count around 350 for awhile)
50 EZ
300 K (moderate)
4x50 on 1:15 K (hard)
3x200 on 3:15 (even pace)
3x200 on 3:00 (neg split)
3x200 on 2:45 (pull - yeah, right. I did 275s pulling for the first 2, 225 swim on last one)
450 CD
4150 Total