This is the smile of a man, Coach Jeff King, that knows he's going to kick our butts. "I'm glad I'm not you today," he said this morning. (Photo by Paul Tenorio/The Washington Post)
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Three times 1500.
Three…
…times 1500.
When Jeff told me yesterday that I’d be doing some longer distance swimming with fins and paddles, I nodded my head. I knew that he wanted me to increase my strength so that I would be better in my 100. I knew that I needed to increase my strength after absolutely dying at the end of my 100.
Of course, I figured he would give me a set of four 500s mixed in with other stuff. Maybe a 1000 and an 800 and a 600 or something like that. After all, if my memory serves me correctly, I had only done a straight 1000 swim once or twice in my 90-plus days back in the pool.
So I was juuuuust a bit surprised when Jeff announced the set to the freestyle group of swimmers at practice. The poor IMers didn’t have it any easier. They got a 4000 IM.
So basically I went from never having done more than a 1000 straight swim to doing three 1500s back-to-back-to-back. Interesting.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Distance swimmers are another breed.
The funny thing is, the first five paragraphs you just read were all basically written while I was swimming this morning. When you’re doing three sets of 60 laps you have a lot of time to just think … and basically talk to yourself. So I thought about this entry and what I should write, I thought about some random songs I had heard on the radio on my drive in to practice, I thought about what my to-do list was today, and I thought about what number of 50s I was on. That was probably the main thought in my head.
“Oh, good job Paul that’s your 15th 50 … halfway there!”
After I finished the set … and I DID finish the set, Jeff sent me to the jacuzzi area to relax and think about what I had done and to figure out what I had done right and wrong. Here’s what I came up with:
Right: I finished the set, I felt pretty strong in and out of every wall, I breathed to both sides during each swim, I tried to remind myself to push through even when I was tired.
Wrong: I know there were plenty of times where my arms didn’t push all the way through because I was tired, even though I would rotate which side I breathed to, I would often breathe to just that one side and it was to my left the majority of the time; I should have tried to pick up the pace toward the end of each 1500 and not just at the end of the set in general; with Pat Sullivan swimming/kicking a different set next to me in the lane I had ample opportunities to try to not let him beat me to the wall and I didn’t take full advantage each time.
Oh, and the worst of the worst: I lift my head and it’s way too high pretty much all the time. I tried to focus on keeping it down, and my neck felt sore because I was lifting it a lot which was a nice reminder during the swim, but this is a MAJOR thing that I need to focus on from here on out.
All in all, though, I felt like I did a pretty solid job considering how new the experience was to me. At times I forget that it wasn’t that long ago that I stared at a piece of paper in which Jeff had me doing a 500 and cringed. Now I did three 500s straight as one-third of my workout.
For that, I’m proud of how far I’ve come. But now that I’ve come that far, I have to look at that “Wrong” paragraph and correct those things when and if I do a set like this again.
I’ll tell you what, though, I was still sore from yesterday’s intense kick session (I felt like I did a full-on, legit leg workout in the gym with a serious max out squat lift involved) and I feel like my shoulders will feel the same way tomorrow. As rough as it is during practice, I liked it. I liked having to mentally push myself.
Today was a ton different than yesterday, and to be honest I liked the high-intensity nature of yesterday, mixing in dry-land and swimming and keeping my heart rate through the roof throughout. But both workouts pushed me physically and mentally, and that’s a huge part of what this whole project is about.
Washington Post reporter Paul Tenorio will train with a swim club over the next few months and chronicle his journey as he attempts to transform from regular guy/sports reporter to competitive swimmer — everything from his waistline to his best times.
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GO PAUL GO!!!!! I’m going to add this to my favorites and follow you on your journey, even though I’m a little late.
It must be really tiring doing it all in freestyle. I had most time swim in breath stroke. I remember many years back, my friends and I were having a chat about swimming. One of them mentioned that he usually did 20-30 laps. I was quite surprised because I have never done that much. When I was at the pool, I would swim 1-2 lap and then relax a lot by the side of the pool. I couldn’t believe what I heard. The very next day, I went to the pool and challenged myself. And I did 20 laps. Surprised but happy that it was doable. I went on with 30, 40, 50, 60 laps and eventually doing 60 laps every time I went to the pool. The first 10-20 laps for me were always a little harder but as I went on, it got easier and easier. So far I had only done 100 laps 3 times. But definitely not back-to-back-to-back and as intensive as you. Way to go!