Final Double-Header

Tonight was my last back-to-back session of tri training and strength training. I started with a swim session that included 200m warm-up, 3x50m drills, 4x150m pyramids (TI2, TI3, TI4, TI4, TI3, TI2 - where TI=Training Intensity, and each leg is 25m), 1x300m 'spot the buoy' exercise, and a 200m cool-down. It went pretty well, but my swimming just doesn't feel as strong as it should be.

I was fortunate that my Team In Training mentor just happened to be working out at the same time, same pool, and in the next lane over. What are the odds? He gave me some good pointers on my 'spot the buoy' technique, and it was a familiar critique. I lift my head too far out of the water when I take a breath, and I lift my head WAY higher than necessary to 'spot the buoy'. I need to learn how to keep my head down while I'm swimming. There's not much time left for that lesson to sink in!

[For those who are wondering, the 'spot the buoy' exercise is important because I will need to look ahead every 12 strokes or so to make sure I'm not veering too far off course]

After finishing the swim, I headed upstairs for strength training with Janelle. She put me through my paces - focusing primarily on legs, biceps, triceps, and core (abs / lower back). We stayed away from chest and lats/traps, as those are the exercises we believe aggravate my neck.

I've decided that once the triathlon is over, and I focus more heavily on strength training again, I'll make a habit of doing a full cardio workout before strength. It seems that it gives me more energy and makes the strength training better - believe it or not!

So this is it for strength training! I'll wait until after the tri before I start lifting again.

Tomorrow is supposed to be a bike ride, but I'm not sure how I will fit it in. The morning is supposed to be very rainy with thunderstorms, and in the evening I'm supposed to go downtown for race prep (learning about the course, getting tickets for pre / post events, etc). I may have to skip my training session tomorrow... we'll see.