On Tuesday, I rode my bike for 90 minute and ran for thirty. On Wednesday I "only" did a long swim, 4000 yards broken up into 500 yard sets, for a total of 70 minutes of actual swimming. 1000 yards were with paddles, while using a pull buoy and a band around my ankles to keep me from any sort of kick. I've been using paddles for the past month or so, in order to build up my upper body swim strength. I've also been feeling the impact of the paddles. My left shoulder even felt a little sore towards the end of my workout. Enough of paddles for now. In fact, with 22 days to go, there's more risk using the paddles than benefit at this point. Today, I only had a half an hour to swim, so I jumped in the pool (actually, I never jump. I sit on the edge, putting water on myself, in order to get used to the initial chill of the pool), and swam continuously for 1750 yards (one mile). My goal was to swim at a "comfortably fast" effort and pace. In fact, this is my Ironman swim effort. I should be able to hold this effort for 2.4 miles. Considering that I did a solid swim yesterday, and I'm only at the beginning of my fatigue reducing tapering efforts, I had no expectations today.
It's always interesting how the first 100 yards of swimming is usually my fastest pace. I'm fresh, and although I'm trying not to go too hard, I tend to swim a little harder than I realize before falling into a routine pace. The key to my Ironman swimming is consistency. This consistency requires a constant effort and attention to my form. The pace itself will come along for the ride, so to speak. My first 100 yard today was swum at about 1:35 pace. My last 100 yards was swum at about 1:38 pace. Everything else in between was between 1:40 and 1:48 pace. My average pace for today's one mile swim was 1:45. Most importantly was the fact that I could have swam another 1.4 miles and felt fine. Next was that I got out of the pool feeling refreshed, rather than tired.
Today's swim pace corresponds to about a 1:12 Ironman swim. That's where I used to be. Of course, I wasn't wearing a swim skin, which I'll use for my swim lesson next week, nor was I swimming in salt water. Kona is an ocean swim, and usually the elements are not too challenging. I've set a goal of 1:10-1:15 for my swim at Kona, and I feel like I'm right on target. Six days before Kona, there is a practice swim, so I'll not only get a chance to get comfortable with the swim course, I'll have an opportunity to see where my swim fitness is and what my approximate swim time will be. I'm excited to do that. The swim is the last thing to really taper on, although, to some degree I'm using my taper to minimize general fatigue, so how much I swim will really correspond to how I feel on any given day. At the same time, I'll use swimming as a recovery tool in between my every three day brick workouts.
Looking back at my Journey to Kona, it actually began 30 years ago. After I started practicing medicine, I took up swimming for fitness on a regular basis. At the time, I really didn't pay attention to my swim speed, or even my form. I actually enjoyed swimming, which I still do. It was only after swimming for about a year that I begin to visualize the idea of triathlon and ultimately Ironman. I bought a bike (a Centurion Pro Tour). Next, I took up the stair master prior to getting on the treadmill and running. Swimming came first. It's only appropriate that swimming take on a priority as I prepare for Kona.
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