First though, the graph from Tuesdays run (W3R3) as promised. Fairly similar shape to the previous one but my perception was it was a bit easier going. I can't preceisely remember what speed I was going so the comparisons now are not super reliable. In any case the interesting stuff is in the next two exercies.
So Wednesday was rest day as previously mentioned.
Which leaves Thursday as swim day. Once again exchanging the office for the sunshine, blue skies, green grass and crystal waters of the Phillip Pool was no strain on the spirit, let me tell you. I was having a bit of trouble with my honker and I suspect that I have a touch of a cold. I've been sneezing this week and had some congestion. Nothing much at all but just enough to cause some issues in the pool and keep exercise performance a bit flat. Having said that I set myself the goal of doing 12 laps (600m) this time seeing how I'd managed 11 laps on Monday. I struggled through 8 laps in my usual 'form' and then had a break through.
By way of explanation, let me tell you that as I am currently without a swimming class to teach me this stuff, I have been experimenting in the great tradition of science everywhere. I'd try to modify something based on vague memories of what swimmers look like, something the instructor at my one and only swim class said, or pure supposition of what seems reasonable. On lap 9 I had a breakthrough. I combined the roll your head way over with you body rather than try to lift it technique....with going even slower (and thus not buggering myself halfway through a lap). I swam an entire 50 meter lap non-stop. The last few yards I thought my lungs were going to explode but I could see the shadow of the flags on the bottom of the pool and that reinforced my resolve. Then I did it three more times for my 12 laps.
So I want to take a moment to reflect that back in the Wet Behind the Ears post I set myself the Mini Swim Goal #1 to swim 50m freestyle without stopping by the end of Feb.
Mini Swim Goal #1: ACHIEVED. Win.
Lets move on to Friday. Its W4R1 and I am feeling quite daunted by it. I have only just been making it through 3 min runs in the W3 sessions and 5 mins seems completely unattainable. First let's look at the the chart so you can see what I was experiencing.
Ok, the first thing I want to point out is the erratically high peaks during the beginning period. Often in Zone 3 and even skyrocketing into Zone 5 (90-100% of my Maximum Heart Rate). What you, gentle reader, won't realise until I point it out, is that this is the period in which I am WALKING to the gym. Compare this with Tues in which the same period doesn't get higher than Zone 2. This leads me to beleive that I am in fact a little bit sick.
You must also understand that I didn't have this information to hand at the time (if I'd seem this chart when I got to the gym I might have been too scared of having a heart attack to exercise!) But, I was worried about the length of the intervals in W4 3min-5min-3min-5min. Discretion being the better part of valour my plan was to drop the run rate back to 8.3 (.2 down from 8.5 which I think was what I was doing for the W3 runs).
I was struggling from the outset, even on the 3 min runs. By the last 5 min run I had peaked into Zone 5 within about a min and knew I couldn't sustain it. The Get Running iPhone app lady reminds you to reduce your pace if you are struggling from time to time when you move to a longer interval run, and when my HR was at 167 (well into Z5) I decided that I would try to stabilise it from going any higher. I progressively dropped the speed of the treadmill. First to 8.1, then 7.9, then 7.7 and my HR stabilised at about 165-166. Still in Z5 but I think it gave me some sort of mental dirty trick that made me think "see it isn't going to get any harder than this" even though I knew intellectually that at this intensity my body wasn't replacing oxygen as fast as I was using it and it obviously WAS going to get a lot harder than 'this'. In any case the dirty trick kept my going for a bit longer.
Enter dirty (and serendipitous) trick #2. I think I was pretty much done at about 90 seconds to go. I'd been focussing visually on a smudge on the wall just over the drinking fountain and struggling with Tibetan Buddhist meditation techniques for focussing my mind away from the 'distractions' of my body screaming at me. Frankly I was failing. I'd been in Z5 for what seemed an eternity and I really don't think I'd have made it if a gym bunny in skin tight pants hadn't chosen that moment to rehydrate. Forget Tibetan Buddhist masters, you want to be distracted for 40 seconds at the height of your discomfort, that's the ticket. That got me to about 40 seconds to go, and even though I was not long ago thinking "I can't do another 90 seconds" now I was thinking "just 40 seconds, I can do that."
So I limped over the line and completed the longest 5 mins ever.
A note on knees. I am still experiencing pain and this morning as I tyoe this they are quite stiff again. But I feel that they are getting stronger and that they are starting to recover better between runs. I haven't felt the need to take NSAIDs to manage them, nor have I needed pain killers to sleep for about a week. The rest of my legs are feeling punished though. But overall a success.
In deference to my slightly off state I am making a conscious decision this morning to not swim today. I will rest for the day and aim to complete W4R2 tomorrow as scheduled.
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