Author: Derek

Third Major Swimming Milestone

Posted by Derek on in SwimTraining, Training

Yesterday (October 26) I hit my next milestone….I swam for 1500m without stopping.  Like my previous milestones, I didn’t start off the swim thinking I would go the whole distance.  After the first 100m I was actually feeling a little tired, but I settled into a rhythm and just tried to hit various distance targets.  First it was to get to 500m, then when I get there I would shoot for 700m, then 1000m.  When I got to 1100m was when I figured I had to go all the way.

I am sure I could have kept going for a few more hundred meters, but mentally, it was tough.  Once I set that target of 1500m, I just had to stop when I hit it, even though I could have gone further.  The other mental aspect is that I still get quite bored just swimming up and down the pool.

Looking back at my other milestones, I hit them at:

  • Sep 25 – Swam 500m
  • October 3 – Swam 1000m

I am quite pleased with my progress.  Back on July 9, I took 42 mins to swim just 200m due to all the long breaks I had to take every 25m.  Now within that same time, I swam for 1500m just 3.5 months later.

My next major milestone will be swimming 2000m without stopping.  I should think I could get up to swimming a total of 2000m with a few short breaks by the end of November and then the full 2000m without stopping by the end of the year

 

Week in Review: October 15 – October 21 2018

Posted by Derek on in BikeTraining, RunTraining, SwimTraining, Training, Weekly Review

This week involved an unplanned trip to FL which means I got to swim in the hotel pool again.  My aim was to swim 40 mins a day as I increase the swimming time and I managed to do this, but the great thing was that based on my measurement of the pool length using Google Maps, I think I swam 1500m each day.  I will know for sure how long I’m swimming once I get back to the 25m pool this week

I was able to run 15 miles for the week which I’m happy about especially as I had to run 2 days in the FL heat and humidity.  The run I’m most proud of though is the Monday run which I did in 44F temperatures and in the rain.  That was quite a cold run!

My cycling has once again suffered as I just couldn’t bear to ride for more than 30 mins on the indoor bike.  I did manage a 2-hr (33-mile) ride on Saturday, but even that should have been a 3-hr ride.

I ended the week at 7 hours of workout time.

 

Goals for Next Week: For the next week, I hope to swim 1500m each day.  For running, I plan to up my weekly mileage from 15 miles to 18 miles….an average of 6 miles a day.  For cycling, I will once again shoot for a 3-hr ride on the weekend

Week in Review: October 8 – October 14 2018

Posted by Derek on in BikeTraining, RunTraining, SwimTraining, Training, Weekly Review

Whenever I have to travel for work, my workout schedule always gets a bit screwed up.  I went into the week knowing I would be swimming in a smaller hotel pool and not being sure of the distance so my goal was to swim 30 mins each of my 4 swimming days.  I was able to do that so that was great.  I’m not sure of the correct distance I swam, but I figured it was somewhere in the 1100-1200m range

I only ran 1 day in FL as it’s always so hard running in the warmer, humid weather, but I made up for that by running 7 miles on Saturday.  That was my longest run for the year.  The weather was perfect and I felt great.  I ended my running week with a 3 mile run as part of a BRICK workout to hit 15 miles for the week.  I was surprised how good I felt running off the bike.  My legs had the normal jelly feeling, but after the for first mile, they felt normal and I ran the 3 miles without any walking breaks.  The surprising part though was that I ran it at under 11-mile/mile pace.  My legs felt great and they just kept going.

While my swimming and running went great, my cycling was below average.  Mentally, I’m having a hard time doing the longer ride.  It didn’t help that it was 60F on Sunday.  To avoid the long ride, I ended up riding just 1 hour and turning my bike ride into a BRICK workout and running 3 miles after cycling for 17 miles.

Goals for Next Week: I have an unexpected trip back to FL so that is going to impact my training schedule.  It is likely I’ll only get in 3 swimming days and all of them will be at a hotel pool again.  So, my goals will be to swim 30 mins each of the 3 swimming days, run 15 miles and do a 40-50-mile long bike ride

 

Week in Review: October 1 – October 7 2018

Posted by Derek on in BikeTraining, RunTraining, SwimTraining, Training, Weekly Review

As planned, this was a lower volume workout week as I was traveling over the weekend with the family.

The highlight of the week though was my swimming for 1000m without stopping, and not just once, but TWICE!  My goal for the week was to swim 4 days x 1000m and while I did swim 4 days x 1000m, I far exceeded that by doing 2 of those days non-stop.

I only managed to run 2 days and cycle 1 day with 3 days of no workouts.

For this next week, I’m in Florida so that may impact my cycling and swimming will be a bit odd as I have to do in the small hotel pool.

Goals for Next Week: Since I can’t tell reliably how far I’m swimming while using the hotel pool, my goal will be time-based.  I will aim to swim for 30 mins for each of my 4 swimming days.  It takes me around 26 mins to swim 1000m so I figured 30 mins will be around 1100-1200m.  That will set me up for swimming 1500m the following week back in TX.  Cycling may be a bit short this week depending on how much I can bear using the indoor gym bike, but I hope to run 15 miles.