A Full Weekend of Fun

The work / life / training balance has been restored post my week long Arizona training camp. I must say that the time off work has renewed my ability to be more productive at the office, which has allowed me more time and more motivation to train and has added some positive perspective as to what I am capable of with respect to training, which is a lot. Although I am actively pushing through later base training phases with an ever increase in intensity, with the blessing of my coach Brian Grasky, I will add on some smart volume. By "smart" all I really mean is inserting easy/recovery volume, most likely on the bike. My intensity won't change at all. It is where it needs to be. To get the most out of my training and to optimize my time at home, I have committed to get the majority of my working out done in the morning prior to work and at lunch. Biking and running are easy to fit in, and fortunately, I can get to masters swimming at lunch with Sun Devil Masters or in the mornings or evenings with Mesa Aquatics. All bases are covered.

I had a good swim test this weekend. I did 1500m in 22:40 (1:22.5/100y or 1:30.7/100m). Without having done anything this long all season, I'll take it. Looking at my splits, I actually got faster after about 800m, or more accurately, negative split the thing by 3 seconds/100. This means that I need to warm up good when race season rolls around and that I probably need to practice going harder for longer and explore my upper limits. Pacing for 1500m is tough, so this exploration will probably be painful, but time well spent. To aide in my venture, I got a sweet new drag suit (hey, don't judge, it was on sale), some new paddles (red ones) and stretch cordz from Swim Outlet. I am super aware now, that my new stroke will require some significant muscle endurance enhancement.