The comeback kid

Today I had my first pool workout after being sidelined for 2 weeks by my ear infection. Truth be told I was scared of it. I was afraid I was not going to be able to even swim a single 50...

The day started off wrong. I had set my alarm for 5 am but forgot to actually turn it ON. So, when I woke up at 5:36 because I had to pee, I cursed... Nice way to wake up my husband ;) 

Even though I was scared of the workout I was looking forward to it. Besides the morning was the only time I knew I would be able to swim for sure. It is month end closing at work and us accounting type folks get quite busy at this time of the month; so swimming during lunch was a long shot. But it was my only choice. I made sure to get to work about 45 minutes early so that I could take an extended lunch IF I was able to get caught up with everything that needed to get done today.

Lo and behold, I busted my little booty (well not so little) off and made it to the pool with plenty of time to do my much needed yards.

The warm up was good, I was actually able to feel myself "gliding" through the water and that got me thinking about Coach's post on how she felt better in the water after a few days with less swimming... I entertained the idea for a while, sometimes less is more. 

I think not being able to swim for a couple of weeks actually helped me realize what I was doing wrong when I got back in the pool.

The main set looked though, I was really concerned with the 400 continuous swim; but somehow I was able to do it. Then there was a set of 6x50's that I had to do at some intervals; and then repeat the entire main set. I did the 6x50's at the prescribed interval and felt that it was giving me way too much rest; so when I did the set the second time around, I cut my interval about 15 seconds shorter. Oddly enough I was still able to meet it and not be completely out of breath. 

After finishing my sets I got out of the pool feeling pretty good about my swim, and set my goals for the race on saturday. I will push HARD during the swim, harder than I have ever pushed in the open water before. My lungs will not explode, the pool helped me realize that; now I have to learn to get outside of my comfort zone on race day.