Today was a recovery day. After running fifteen miles yesterday, which included a hard 5K (19th place overall out of over 400 people, 2nd in my age group), today was about recovering so I can get in a long bike tomorrow and a "real" long run on Sunday. Not wanting to "waste" my recovery time (which is a dangerous statement, because recovery is very important), I just swam for 40 minutes straight comfortably. The key to the swim today was focusing on my form. I just got in the pool and started swimming, and didn't stop until 40 minutes had passed. I could have easily swam for 40 more minutes, but that wasn't the point of today's swim. The point was to get in some good swim volume, while staying comfortable and not push hard, all the while focusing purely on my form, in order to lock that in. I'm often looking for life metaphors from my training, and this is one of them.
While swimming for a long distance, it's easy to get unfocused and let ones form slack off. It's very much like life. Every day, living in the moment, and maintain the form that we want to live our life by, it's key to focus on maintaining that. In that regard, swimming itself can be meditative in nature, and long swims can serve dual purposes. And so I swam today. I did allow myself a few 50 yard fast efforts, there was a faster swimmer in a nearby lane and I managed to stay with him on the few occasions that I let myself swim faster. They were not efforts I would hold for much longer than 100 yards, and that wasn't the point of todays swim. Today was a recovery day. The best part of letting myself go fast a few times was to monitor the changes in my form (a good thing) that allowed me to swim fast. I use the term "allowed" because it's going to be my challenge to develop my faster swim form without over exerting myself.
Staying on form is the key to the ironman swim. It's the key to the ironman life. It's important for life in general.
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