When you fall flat, you simply have to get back up. Well, this is what I'm telling myself after this morning's swim anyway. Last night I was pumped up with the idea of nailing my 1,000 yard time trial. My first attempt was Monday, but I lost count and I wanted an "official" time, because what I did on Monday was an entire minute improvement over last year's typical 1,000.
The alarm on my watch sounded at 4:30 a.m. and I was ready to get up and get after it.
After a 100 yard warm-up and some stretches, I felt like this was going to be my day. I pushed "start" on my watch and launched myself into the time trial with confidence. Ok, overconfidence. I was cruisin' and feeling good about myself while lapping the guy in the lane next to me.
"This is going to be fantastic," I thought to myself, "I can't wait to prove to myself that Monday's time trial was not a fluke."
I started to feel less-than-smooth and like I wasn't getting the air I needed. I started out too fast. Shoot! The thing was, I couldn't help myself when instead of slowing down and gethering myself, I continued to push to see if I could hang on. This wasn't working out. I ended up cheating on my bilateral breathing far earlier than usual, and way more frequently. "Stay the course," I told myself.
"Uh, yeah, easy for you to say," I responded.
At this point I was thinking more about air and how I had thrown off my rhythm and was more concerned about damage control than concentrating on where I was in the time trial.
"Twenty-two...or was that twenty-three? Wait. When I go this direction, the length is an even number. Crap!"
Typically I find it easier to count lengths, not laps, and I count down, not up. I was somewhere in the middle and I lost count. "Come on! How hard can it be to count to 40! Sheesh! Now your screwed again. You won't know your accurate time, AND you are cooked. Nice."
I held on for dear life trying to settle myself down and to get back on track. I had already conceded that my count was messed up and that I would once again have doubt about my time.
When I finished, my time was almost a full two minutes slower than Monday's time. Throughout the course of my time trial, I think I lost count 3-4 times, so I went with the idea that I swam farther than I should have. This is much easier to take than the possibility that I actually was much slower than I thought.
After my workout I felt depressed about the whole ordeal. I didn't feel strong, for all intents and purposes, I gave up on bilateral breathing, which I did well with on Monday's time trial, I botched my count, I started out too fast leaving me out of breath and feeling flat toward the end. It was not pretty.
I told myself I would try again on Monday and try to be smarter about this, and not get greedy by taking off too fast.
Apparently I ran into contruction on the Road to Ironman Louisville.
Peace,
~Sam
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