Little wins

So I realized today as I was swimming that it might be time for another post–not only because I know my five readers are waiting on pins and needles to see how I am doing (said with sarcasm), but also because I will want to remember some of these things after I cross the finish line.

Today began with a long swim workout. It was a total of 3100 yards with the main set being a 2000 yard timed swim. We all know that swimming is my favorite part of triathlon so I spent the 24 hours before the swim a little giddy for this workout! I swim at the local Y in their outdoor pool and love swimming in the morning in the summer because you get to watch the sunrise from the water. During my long swim today I watched the sky turn from black to purple to red to yellow to blue. Kinda wished I had a camera to document it all, but those images are now a great memory I have on my journey to the Ironman.

The 2000 yard timed swim is now a fairly regular part of my training, and the distance will increase over time to get closer to 2.4 miles. I honestly get the most nervous about counting when it comes to these swims because I want to make sure my time is accurate. So yesterday I decided to try something different to help me keep track. I alternated the focus of my stroke every other 100 with one focusing on a long reach and the other focusing on the overhead part of my stroke. Then every 50 I would change up my kick with the first 50 being light and the second 50 being strong. This worked great and kept me quite entertained as well. Then in the last 200 I picked it up and used what was left in the tank to go all out. Finished in 38:26 which is a 1:55 pace dropping 3 seconds off my pace since the last timed swim–a win for sure and a moment to celebrate along the journey to the finish line!

In other news, time on the bike and run is picking up as well. Thursdays are long run days and the long bike is split between Saturday and Sunday. This past weekend I logged 90 miles–fun times! I will post more about these soon, but for now I am going to relish in the little win that was my sunrise swim this morning. 🙂