Thursday, December 12, 2013
Progress
Okay, so as the running streak ends, I should at least note that I've made progress in one respect. I mentioned earlier that I've been taking a swim class. The theory was that unlike running and biking, where improvements are likely to be marginal, with swimming there was some real room for improvement. Or, to put it another way, I was pretty sure I was doing it wrong. Well, last night was the last class, so we compared our time for an "all out" 200 to the time we swam at the beginning of the class. I improved from 3:42-3:21. This is nothing to write home about, but I can see places where it would improve further. My kick is still a mess. I'm still balancing cadence and glide. There's plenty more to do, but it's not nothin'. On the other hand, this also emphasizes the conundrum of the swim in tri. Ten seconds per hundred is a big improvement. It adds up to 2.5 minutes in an actual race . . . That's not nuthin' either, but it's within the race to race variation for the other events . . . I guess the hope is that get to the point where I stay with the pack, feel comfortable drafting, etc. there will be some synergies.
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Your justification explains why none of us train seriously on the swim. I'll offer a counter-argument: sure, you can only save a few minutes. But what about the potentially night and day difference between using yourself up over 1500 meters versus coming out of the water feeling strong? If a better swim can set up a much better bike, I've turned that few minutes into 10 minutes (or whatever).
ReplyDeleteThere's also the idea that getting to the pool allows for pool running work. Not quite Becky's anti-gravity treadmill, but it's something.
I completely agree with your counter-argument. That's what's going to get me through my post-streak non-running phase.
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