This has been a good week so far…
Wednesday night I met with Coach Tony at the pool and got some AWESOME swim tips. Many of the actual bits were the same as I'd heard before, but he gave me a wonderful visualization tool: You are swimming in a tube. This tubes is parallel to the bottom of the pool, and you can't move outside it as you swim. This includes keeping your legs in it (ie body flat) and arms (never going too low in the water or too high on the recovery of the stroke).
He then highlighted some drills (on your side, how to get proper pull, and some timing things. A fun night in a beautiful 50m pool! Oh, and some of the best advice he gave? Remember, it's time to get out of the pool once you are too tired to use good form. When you switch back into your old habits, keeping going is just reinforcing the wrong way.
Thursday morning I got in a run (1:05, 5.34 mi, 145 bpm avg). Woooo! Finally managed to stay at 145 without feeling like I was gonna go crazy! I've basically decided to use that instead of the 70% = 137 bpm that my coach had given me, as that was just tooooo frustrating for now (and honestly, as much as I want to get better and train well, making me dread the training isn't worth it).
Then was bike commuting to work (10 mi, 48 min, 13.2 avg mph, 157 avg bpm) and home (9.6 mi, 40 min, 14.9 avg, 159 bmp avg). The train ride was more people than usual, and for once they all wanted to talk to me. I kinda wanted to read Ken's book, or work abs, but was polite and didn't (next time I will… that time is my time).
This morning I got in a quick swim (about 1200 yds, 25 min) so that I wouldn't miss the train, and then bike commuted in the rest of the way. However, I had some extra time since there was no 8:30 meeting, so I went a long way (1:16, 17 mi, 13.6 mph avg, 154 bpm avg). It was a bit cold, but generally nice morning. I think it rained overnight though…
I'm really working to get in a regular habit of bike commuting… but that will be easier once the pool isn't 12 miles away from home (right by another train station, but it would be 12 miles in the morning dark, and I don't have a good light for that right now). A closer pool is set to open mid-Feb. I can't wait, as it will also make it easier to get in a swim workout "just cause".