I have given myself a training challenge for this last push before my Farallones swim. When I was an age group swimmer I think it was called “Hell Week”.  It was a one week period of time prior to beginning  a taper for a big meet.  Well, I have designated May as “Hell Month”, this is my last chance to put in as much training as possible.  Starting last Saturday, May 1st, I challenged myself to 10 days x 10,000 yrds.  When I calculate the total mileage per day it comes out to be 5.68 miles/day.  That doesn’t seem like a lot in the grand scheme of the type of swimming I do but it is a lot for a pool, a lot of flip turns and way too much chlorine.  It takes me about 2.5 hours to accomplish this yardage each day. The biggest challenge has nothing to do with swimming. It has to do with keeping up on my chores, still making it home in time to take Birkley to school and having enough energy at the end of the day.  I have completed day 3 now and it has been interesting how I have decided to break up the yardage. Here is how I have done it so far:

Day 1-

10 x 1000 yrds (as follows)

1000 swim, 1000 pull, 1000 kick, 1000 swim, 1000 pull, 1000 swim, 1000 pull, 1000 swim, 1000 pull, 1000 warm down

Notes: The time passed very quickly. The hard part is not stopping to talk to everyone at the pool.   It takes 15 minutes to do 1000 yrds at a leisurely pace, so I was taking in nutrition every 15 minutes.  No residual soreness. I felt at peace at the end and felt like I had just finally warmed up as I was warming down. That is a good sign!

Day 2 -

20 x 500 yrds (as follows)

500 swim, 500 swim, 500 pull, 500 pull, 500 kick…repeat 3 more times.

Notes: Boring, boring, boring but still completed what I set out to do. Really wanted to talk to everyone.  Mouth was swollen from the chlorine.  Very hungry after.  Took a stellar Sunday nap and only felt soreness in my right heal from pushing off the wall.  Feels easier than I thought is was going to be.

Day 3-

Ladder set up to 1000 (as follows)

100 swim, 200 swim, 300 swim, 400 pull, 500 swim (fast), 600 pull (broken into 3×200), 700 swim, 800 pull (broken into 4×200) 900 swim (broken into 3×300), 1000 swim (all out fast), 900 pull (broken into 3×300), 800 swim, 700 pull (broken into 300 pull hard, 50 easy x 2) 600 kick, 500 swim (fast), 400 pull (broken into 4×100), 300 swim, 200 swim easy, 100 swim easy

Notes: I really thought this was going to be the hardest day but it wasn’t….I had no soreness to start and felt like my shoulders were stronger than ever.  Easy to quiet my mind for long periods. This is going smoother that I thought. Still wanted to visit with everyone at the pool. I hope I am not making anybody mad because I won’t stop to talk. Forgive me if I ignored you…I am on a mission.

Tomorrow will be Day 4.  I will not have enough time to fit in the entire 10,000 yards during the morning because I have to get Birk to school. So, I will swim 5000 ish in the early morning and the rest at lunch time. I bet breaking it up will feel easier. Stay tuned to see if I can complete 7 more days.