Thursday, June 25, 2009

Beating the weather and a Swim practice

Ask anyone who knows me personally and they will tell you I am obsessed with the weather. My Dad is my biggest "critic" but I think it takes a weather obsessor to recognize another. I pay attention to everything from what it's like outside right now, what it will be like when I go to bed, what it will be like when I awake, how humid is it, what the UV index is, to what kind of rain we are going to get over the next 10 days.

However, yesterday was a different story. The sun was shining when I left summer school at noon, and it was a beautiful 83 degrees with barely any wind. Two hours later I left my tutoring session thinking the sun was still shining and not a cloud in the sky. That, my friends, was not the case.

I left the library and noticed it had just rained. The sun was shining but there were clouds rolling in from the South, again. And they weren't pretty. I hauled a** home, checked the weather, changed into my cycling gear, and left for a 10-15 mile ride. There was only a 45% chance of rain over the next couple of hours.

Two minutes into my ride it started sprinking. I knew I could handle the sprinkles and possibly more than that. But, mentally, I wasn't ready for a down pour. I chose to go north and stay away from the storm as it was passing through.

The weather was nice and cool. Everything else about the ride was so-so. I think I ate about 3 bugs, and they weren't small. Towards the end of my ride, as I was coming to a red light, I wasn't able to get my left foot out of the clipless pedal. This is the foot I usually release first. I had to think fast, as I was breaking, and was able to get my right foot out instead. It was close. I had to pull off to the side of the road and tighten that bottom piece on my shoe. It was scary and I was glad I knew what caused the difficulty. Thankfully, I only had another mile before getting home, because I was done.



This morning it was beautiful and 63 degrees outside when I hit the pool. I was really dragging and kind of had a bad attitude about swim practice. But, after getting in the water, warming up, and slowly watching the sun rise throughout practice, I felt much better.

Today's Swim workout:

1000M Mix: Exactly that. We were able to do whatever we desired for the first 1000M. I chose to just do freestyle, trying to build my speed. However, I started to think about the triathlon that is two weeks from now, and the 1000M I will be swimming in the Damn and I started to get anxious. That will be my first open water swim. Am I ready for it?

12x50M: During these 50's, Coach M wanted us swim freestyle, starting out slow, and building speed as we finished, and then take a 15 second rest break. About 1/2 way through I thought I was going to be naseaus from pushing myself so hard. I have never had that feeling in the pool, but when all was said and done it felt good.

4x200M: On the odds we were using the pull bouys and the paddles to swim. On the evens we were swimming freestyle. This was supposed to be 6x200M but I ran out of time. I really like using the pull bouys and paddles. I think it helps me focus on my form and how I pull my arms through the water.

Total Swim: 2400M

When I finished shortly after 7am, the sun was starting to share some heat and I was wishing we had later practice. But, it sure was a great way to start the day! There's a "Under the Lights" swim meet July 8th, that I am contemplating doing the 50M freestyle. I think it would be fun and something different to try. We'll see.

14 comments:

Unknown said...

I like using pull bouys too - for the same reason - i can really focus on form.

Natalie D said...

That would scare me with the pedals! Yikes! I love pulling for my arms!

Jess said...

That would be fun to do the 50M freestyle! Do it!

Wes said...

Nothing quite like getting caught in a pouring downpour on the bike!

Pull buoys allow you to focus on the upper part of your body and your body rotation. That is how I learned to bilateral breath as well. You don't have to work as hard so its a tad bit easier to breath on your weak side.

That's some great workouts!! You are quite the fishee now!!

Jess said...

Glad you were still able to get your bike ride in even though the weather was trying to ruin it for you!

Anonymous said...

I always unclip my left too and had a little trouble the other day. Glad you figured out the problem and of course was able to pull out your right foot!

Marlene said...

I'm a little obsessed with the weather too, except all it does is FRUSTRATE me since it's always (okay, often) wron.

Thank goodness you were able to prevent an accident on the bike. Those clip/pedal things scare me.

Great swim workout too! Glad you felt good once you got going.

Carolina John said...

i did the same thing yesterday! as i was putting on the bike helmet and shoes, it started coming down. Seemed kind of light, and it stopped so i took off. then it started sprinkling again. i only got in maybe 15 minutes.

RunToTheFinish said...

hehe david always laughs when we are on vacation and i start yelling at the weather channel because it won't show the local weather

Badgergirl said...

I constantly check the weather throughout the day while I'm at work. Because what it's like a 11 a.m. will determine what I do when I get home from work - 6 hours later.

Nice job on the swim and bike!

Aron said...

I am pretty obsessed about the weather too :) nice job on the workouts!

Holly said...

I follow the weather quite a bit and my mother is obsessed with it!

Anne said...

I'm obsessed with weather too, which is ridiculous given where I live.

And your experience is precisely why I don't think I'll ever go "clipless." Too risky on busy roads.

Neese said...

you have me giggling about the 3 bugs. Is that typical? haha or is it more or less? :) at least you got some protein! :)