You Just Gotta Put it Behind You

Were about 6 weeks into 2011 and I can say that I am happy and impressed with my training thus far this year. I have not put in any long session yet (minus one 4K swim last week) but have logged in a great deal of consistency this year, one of my main goals. This could not be more true then in the pool.

I have spent a great deal of my training hours, training to swim like a fish, and regain my swimming abilities that have eluded me for years ever since I quit swimming ever so long ago. Last year I had a rough start with my broken arm and not being able to swim until May, so this year I wanted to get a head start on things and hopefully be in the front pack all summer in every lake that I swim in. January was a great month of swimming, maybe my best yet. A solid month with good yardage, consistant workouts and getting to the pool 3-4 times a week. I also registered into my first Masters class, which, I have already felt the gains from and still look forward to another solid 2 months of class. I have found new boundaries, not distance, or time, but mentally. I have a great enjoyment and appreciation for swimming as it feels so much more natural now. Life in the water has been good until....

...Last week at my morning masters class a simple failure in my goggles left me to scramble in the lost and found of KIDS goggles to find the best "quality" pair to get me ironically through my longest set since Ironman. The kicker about this is that my goggles failed with a leak 100 yards in. So there I was, eyes bugging out like a pug trying to ignore the pain around my eyes of the goggles sucking my eyeballs out of my head, all the meanwhile putting in a good effort in the water. As soon as I got home I made it my goal to have a new pair of TYR goggles by the days end. TYR goggles are really the only googles I like, or fit me well so a manhunt resumed after class that day. Given my suddenly low resources that I have now living in La Crosse, I could not find a pair of TYR goggles. Super Bowl mania hit Wisconsin hard over the weekend and my attention was away from the water for a couple days. I was finally able to grab a pair Monday morning (and some SB championship gear as well!) and planned on being back in the water Tuesday. Too much partying left me skipping my first masters class and waiting until Thursday to get back in the pool.

Thursday morning I was back in the water with a new pair of functional goggles, smashed out a decent 2500 yards with no google failure beside the fogging that blinded me 100 yards in. Thankfully sprints were the order of the day so I can readjust when needed. Todays workout had no plan so I decided to just smash out 2K for time and see where my fitness is. A quick warmup and 100 yards into the 2K TT and my goggles were foggged up again. "Bugger I forgot to use the anti-spray again!" Long story short I ended up just doing a 500 TT and drills after, then scraping the rest of the swim with blurred vision. Disappointed in the past week I feel I have lost my momentum in the pool. I just need to remind myself one thing...

...Time to put it behind me and put in a good solid effort next week!

BC