I've been struggling in the pool lately. I've been tired and sore and haven't been able to hit any of my normal paces.
This has been going on for weeks. It's been so tough that I surrendered my lane leader role and told the lane that I can't go by pace. I'll give the best effort (sound familiar?) I can and take whatever rest is scheduled.
The struggle is real. It's hard, and it can really frustrating.
I knew, I KNEW, if I kept at it....kept giving everything I could even though my paces weren't there.....eventually I'd have a breakthrough swim.
Days went by. Weeks went by. I had nothing to show for it, except a growing frustration.
I showed up for masters swim yesterday and looked at the schedule. Great. USRPT (ultra short race pace training) was the training for the day. AWESOME. Another day of of struggling.
At the end of the workout, we had to do 15 x 75's.
My Coach came over to me and said, "Tea, I want these done in 1:00".
I stood there in disbelief. My PR at the 75 was 1:08. That was for ONE interval, and I haven't been able to hit that for a couple of months.
I rolled my eyes and replied, "You realize that my PB is 1:08, right"?
Coach (who is not in the least intimidated by my eye roll) says, "Trust your body. You can do this".
My mind was filled with "but this....and that....and but.....but....I'm tired.....but....I haven't been able to hit any paces in weeks".
I kept my mouth shut.
I turned to my lanemates. They said, "You're leading. There's no way we can hit that time".
Rather than argue with Coach and my lanemates, I said, "Ok. Interval time 1:20. We'll do the best we can. If anyone misses the interval (thinking it would be me), the next in line takes the lead and the person who misses skips the next one". (This is how the workout is structured. If you miss your goal time, you sit out an interval, swim an easy 25 to get back with the group. The extra rest is meant, so you can hit your goal for the next intervals).
Let's do this. On the top.
As soon as I took off, I felt different than I have in months. Every stroke was powerful. My kick timing was right on with my stroke.
When I'm swimming inefficiently and wrong, I can feel it, but I can't figure out how to fix it.
Yesterday, I was swimming as well as I could, and I felt it.
I hit the wall in 1:02.
That was a :06 PB at the 75. Of course, I thought, "One and done. There's no way I can do that again".
Then BAM. It happened again. BAM. Again. Over and over, I kept coming in exactly at 1:02, 1:01.....even 3 in 1:00.
The rest of the lane slowed down a chose a slower pace. My friend said, "I can't do this. I don't know what's wrong with me". I told her, "You'll get there. Come in every day and give what you can. You'll get through this".
At the end of the intervals, Coach came over and asked if I hit the intervals. I said, "Yes. I did."
A smile spread across his face as he could see my disbelief.
I have never been so excited about any race or any PR as I was about this PB in the pool yesterday.
It's because I have NO swimming background. I taught myself how to swim using videos.
At my first sprint race, I don't believe I was the last swimmer to exit the water, but I had a canoe escort bring me in (which is what they do with the last swimmers).
At the time, I was swimming about a 3:00 per 100 pace. Yesterday, my time came anywhere between 1:20 and 1:22, which was PB in the 100. My previous best was 1:25.
But, the part that really gets me excited is how this will translate to open water. Last year, I was swimming 1:35's in the pool and 1:20's in open water.
I finished the swim and practically rushed to get out of the pool. I wanted to tell Liz. When I started with her, I was swimming 1:50's. I've now shaved off about :30 per 100.
When it's comes to swimming, there are few people who really understand how much dedicated work it takes to become a better swimmer. Even Mr. Tea. He see's me come out of the water, but he doesn't really get 1:20 per 100, etc. That's because open water swimming has a number of issues: currents, water temps, sun, etc. All of those factors can dramatically change a pace.
So, I sat in my car. I'm sure I had the biggest smile I've ever had.
I'm so excited.
