 |
| this is me in the 200 pound range, where I normally am when I start training... 20 less pounds helps a lot |
If you read about our last swim together it was an epic battle with neither of us relenting to the other. This time I started out strong feeling confident after a strong race. I hadn't been in the water in a month after hurting my wrist. Looking to my left there was a 6'4 guy sharing the lane with me, but I didn't worry about him knowing this was only the first set of 4. After the fifth lap of the first set I looked at him (I didn't have a watch on) and asked how we did. 4:10 he tells me, this is ten seconds per lap faster then either of us would normally swim. I was breathing hard, hadn't warmed up quite enough and next thing I know I hear 3, 2, 1 and here goes set two. I started out well, I was finally warmed up and just kept looking to my left (we had to share a lane, it was really busy) seeing someone half a body length behind me. At the end of the set he tells me 4:08 for the set.
On the third set I lost count because though I felt comfortable with our pace being a little faster then normal, every time I took a breath on the right during the return portion of the lap his splash kept hitting me in the mouth. I stopped after the fourth lap of the set just long enough to ask him if we were done and find out we had one more to go. We still finished in 4:07, our fastest set yet. He pretty much told me I was killing him and since I had one more set to go, I contemplated am I pushing too hard, but thought to myself that if I'm tired, then he's exhausted. We had a 6 mile run planned after this and he is a better runner then me. I figured I could run tired, but if I kill him he might not go too fast for me so it was on like Donkey Kong.
Our last set I came and right off the bat I picked it up. I could feel my heart rate increase and my arms begin to tire, wondering once again if this was a good idea. I pushed past all of it and decided the benefits outweighed the negatives. Our last lap I picked it up and he picked it up. This built until he actually got ahead of me on the last length of the pool. I had to at that time go into highschool sprinter mode just to finish first. I know this is petty, but he just smoked me by like 15 minutes a month ago in the Ironman and I am better then him at swimming. Regardless we were both exhausted and had the best swim workout for either of us probably ever finishing the last set in under 4 minutes (even if it was due to being over competitive).
 |
| I don't think the fact it's a Disney shirt helped our cause much |
The run was no where near as interesting. The highlight was when he told me he wore his long sleeve shirt from the Goofy Challenge at Disney World and I followed by unzipping my jacket to reveal the same shirt. We did look like a same sex couple, but a really fast one. We got a couple weird looks from other people out running. The run was less competitive starting at a 8:40 pace and building to a 7:40 pace all while talking about the movie Forks over Knives. This was just another great reminder why training with a partner can push you to your limits.
 |
| Apparently this is a life changing movie, made for good conversation during the run |
Where as I was fine during the swim, he was at top speed. He qualified for the Boston marathon, so during the run I don't know if I could of gone much faster, but because I had someone holding me accountable we just kept pushing it. It's great to have those solo workouts, but I rarely walk away with stories that are any where near as interesting as some how choosing the exact same workout shirt to go running together in through the canal. I am happy to be two workouts farther into training then I have ever been in the past half way through December.
No comments:
Post a Comment