Monday, October 27, 2008

And no, it is NOT a typo...

Workouts from my coach can be deceptive...

Even though I write down each swimming workout on a little piece of paper to take with me to the pool, somehow the level of difficulty of each workout eludes me, until I enter the water. After I actually start the workout, I realize, "Oh shit." Hahahahahaha!!

One thing all swimming workouts have in common, however, are their uncanny ability to cause me to do a double-take. I have even taken off my goggles and stared at the piece of paper thinking to myself, "Did she make a typo? I just did that set and and had a cool down -- I'm supposed to repeat it?" Or, "I have to do 2 sets 'hard, hard?'" Not just "hard," but, "hard,hard?"

It's not a typo.

LOL!!!!

Wednesday's swim was going along very well, until I got to the big bits -- something along the lines of a bunch of sets of 200m. By the time I was done, I was ready to go to bed. My eyes had that sleepy, half-lidded look, I swear!!! I couldn't believe that I had finished the workout and had a big stupid grin on my face. :) :)

Friday's swim workout, however, scared the living daylights out of me. As usual, I was chugging along until I hit the typo-part of the workout. I stared, blinking at the piece of paper, thinking to myself how in the world am I going to do that? After I accepted that there was no typo, I took a deep breath and went like stink! Well, I didn't exactly GIVE it that hard. Definitely not "hard, hard." I just don't have the physical strength to do justice to a "hard, hard" workout yet. I knew I had to ration my strength to even finish, and so many times while I was swimming, I wanted to quit.

I was breathing so hard during those precious 20 seconds between sets. I would try and swim as hard as I could, but oh -- 100m is so far!!!! I was gasping for air, and as I swam, my legs were getting tingly from the exertion. And at the same time, it was so maddening, because I knew I wasn't actually going "hard, hard!"

I was genuinely surprised when I finished the workout. Another big, stupid grin would have crept on my face had I not been sucking in all the oxygen I could. :)

Fast forward to today -- I decided to do butterfly during the sets of IM I had to do, instead of copping out and just doing the kick. I had prepared myself by consulting my very dear friend youtube, and armed with the visuals of a marine thrusting his hips backwards and forwards, I did my first real attempt at butterfly. It was a sight to behold -- Hahahahaha!

My arms actually do come out of the water -- Oh man, Cath, you should have been there!! HAHAHAHAHA!! LOVE IT!! I felt like a kid -- splashing away at the water with all my might, trying to remember what Jimmy from youtube said to do, and trying to breathe air and not water. Get this, I ended up doing a total of 5 lengths of drowning-butterfly-style stroke today!! WOOOHOOO!! I'm excited about learning something new - I remember when I was teaching myself how to do a flip turn -- I would carefully watch youtube videos and take notes, then follow the instructions the next day at the pool.

Already, I've been graciously offered a number of helpful hints: "Try swimming with flippers, try a couple of dolphin dives, try swimming with only one arm." I'm trying it all baby!! Woohooo -- butterfly, here I come.

And, yes -- that big stupid grin came back again today. :) :) :) :)

8 comments:

kelsey said...

a friend of mine once referred to the butterfly as the drowning dragon!

As always babe you never stop amazing me!

Jenna said...

you do realize you are gonna kick some MAJOR ass out there this year, right?

NOW about the Hard, hard....

Cath said...

You just make me smile sooooo much! I've said it before and I'll say it again - you're an inspiration! Flippers are definitely a good thing to get the feel - but hey Jenna and Kelly are the ones to give you the advice on butterfly by the sounds of it!

When I'm doing my sprints my legs have often lost all feeling by the end - I tell myself it's a good thing!

BTW - guess what - beat all the blokes in the pool at training camp - even the youngsters! Well apart from Stu Hayes but then he is a top elite, so I told myself that was ok! Needless to say, they all got me biking and running though - hahahaha!

Kelly B. said...

Soooo...you coach OBVIOUSLY knows more than I, but what is the purpose of doing butterfly? Core work? Just curious...my only advice to you is to kick at the top of your stroke AND at the bottom, and try to keep your butt just beneath the surface of the water. That's all I have...

Julie said...

Cath -- I KNEW you would chick the boys! Hahahahaha!!

Kelly -- Thanks for the tip -- bum down, kick at top and at bottom. Got it.

So losing feeling in the legs is a good thing too -- Phew! Hahahaha!

Charlie Browne said...

i like the marine's tips...

Shannon Wicks said...

Hey Julie,

I *tried* and *tried* (wink, wink, nudge, nudge) to find butterfly videos on YouTube to figure out how its done but couldn't find any.

How about taking some of your own, along with commentary, on how to do it???

Seriously, though I have no idea how to do the butterfly and just about tore out my shoulders when I tried a couple of years ago. It felt like I was doing "the bacon" which was reminiscent of my frosh year in university...

Julie said...

The Bacon!!! Love it -- that's much more descriptive. Hahahaha!