Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Peace and Quiet

I had a 20 minute run on my schedule today. Just a little, itty bitty 20 minute run. I took off over my lunch break, which turned out to be a fabulous idea. For the most part the run was completely uneventful other than:
  • I had to break out the running tights and gloves because cold weather was blowing in.
  • I managed to get stuck at every single stop light on the way out and back.
  • About 15 minutes in I hit the wall.
Seriously... My legs turned to jelly and my hands were feeling a bit shaky in that kind of "I need some sugar now" kind of way. Completely odd since I had a snack before the run. Thank goodness it was only a 20 minute run! I got back to the office, drank a pop and scarfed down some food and felt better. Just after I finished eating it started to snow. Heavily. Pretty glad I managed to avoid that!!

I can't make it to my swimming clinic tomorrow morning so I opted to head to the pool after work today instead. I browsed through all of my swim workout cards in my little Ziploc baggie and debated between a 2300m sprint workout or a 2100m endurance swim. I figured that since every workout with the swim clinic is a sprint workout these days I'd go for the endurance swim instead. It was gloriously quiet at the pool. Just a few people swimming and no worries about getting conked on the head with a noodle like at my pool in the evenings. I shared a lane with one guy for awhile, but halfway through I was on my own. The workout was:
  • 200m swim
  • 200m drills
  • 200m kick
  • 200m swim
  • 600m continuous swim, rest 0:20
  • 400m continuous swim
  • ...followed by a few sprints and a cool down
Since I didn't have to worry about keeping up I just stayed calm, thought about my breathing, and thought a lot about how I was moving in the water. Was I feeling efficient? Was I feeling strong? It was nice to have that quiet time in the pool to just swim and enjoy the feeling of how I was moving in the water. I needed that chance to get back in touch with that feeling so that I won't get quite as frantic when I try to keep up with my lane mates at the clinic. Yup, it was a good swim!

7 comments:

Mel-2nd Chances said...

sorry to hear about the tough run, but the swim sounds great! Go Calgary!! :)

Marlene said...

I hate that jello-legged, light-headed feeling, like you are immediately going to pass out if you don't eat something. Amazing how a short run can do that to us sometimes.

Great job on the swim!

Meg said...

That swim sounds awesome! Glad you got the chance to have it!!!

Maybe you were hitting the wall on your run because of nasty weather coming back-lol any threat of cold and I shake and break. hahahaha. (kidding, you're talking to queen of low blood sugar...but cold is almost just as bad to me) :P

Lindsay said...

i have had that low-blood-sugar/weak feeling a lunch run too, even when i eat something a little before it. maybe i didn't eat it early enough? i still don't know. glad you made it back safely although could've done without all the redlights! :)

glad you had a good swim - comfort and relaxing is a huge part of it! (and mainly why you will not find me in the pool!) lol

Scott said...

I'm telling ya' that the tough run is a sign of great things to come this Sunday :) Seems to me that every time I have a tough run during the week leading up to a race, I perform well...so here's to keeping that karma going!

Aron said...

i hate when i feel like that on runs!!

awesome job on the swimming :)

teacherwoman said...

Gotta love the jello-legged feeling. yuck. Glad you got that in before the snow!