Triathlon Strategy Change

Day 30
Swimming
4 x 800 at 4:54/2 laps

We met at the track this morning at 6:30 am to run our intervals. I can handle the 400's just fine, but those 800's and mile intervals just about kill me.

It was nice to have Hillary as our pace rabbit. She kept us on our toes and we ran our intervals faster than if Christina and I would've been on our own. I guess it's good to push yourself sometimes. But still...I was pretty tired afterwards, and we still had our lake swim to do.

My interval times (and Christina's since she was right with me except for a little ahead in the first interval) were:

Interval 1: 4:32
Interval 2: 4:45
Interval 3: 4:24
Interval 4: 4:15

I'm not sure what Hillary did her first interval in but hers were:

Interval 2: 4:00
Interval 3: 3:55
Interval 4: 3:35

It was halfway through the first trip across the lake that my entire strategy for the triathlon changed. Up until now, I'd been thinking that go easy on the swim, make up the time on the bike, survive the run was the way to go. However, after floating in that lake, I altered my plan to get out of the water as fast as possible, make up extra time on the bike, attempt to run, would now be my strategy. It was nasty, yet not as nasty as Saturday. Saturday, thanks to the big gulp of water I took at the beginning of the swim, was a lot worse. And the anticipation of getting in the lake is always worse than the actual experience.

Christina's goggles (which I was borrowing because I left mine at home) kept filling up with water and on the way back across, I just took them off and had them resting on my head. I'd swim 10 strokes than wipe my eyes and look to make sure I was going in the right direction. Than 10 more strokes. Made for a long swim across.

My second lap was a little better, since I was using Hillary's goggles. I was more relaxed and that helped. But I still refuse to open my eyes under water. I don't want to know what I'm swimming with. So I close my eyes and then open them when I turn my head to breathe. I wasn't prepared for how tired I was after the two back-to-back swims though. It was taxing, especially after the intervals. But good practice for the real deal.

Wednesday, we'll switch up the order a little bit so Christina can have the benefit of swimming back-to-back.