My goal was 4500; I went 4550, holding 1:19s. My training partner pulled away at 3000 and finished with 4625; I didn't try to stay with him. The first 2500 felt great (effortless?), but after 3000 I began feeling hungry and didn't want to bonk (we swam at 7am so there was no prerace meal other than my usual latte). Surprisingly, my time at the 3000 mark was only 15 seconds slower than my 3000 Postal time in November. My breathing pattern for the first 3500 was two breaths on the left, one on the right--which worked well. Looking forward to tapering (and shaving) at the end of the month for the Charlotte meet where I'll be squaring off with the Geek (and my training partner) in the 500. One of my college coaches used to say that the 500 is a sprint. Now I believe him.
I think I have adequate conditioning. I need to focus on technique and race pace swimming.
I was actually thinking of starting a thread similar to this one, so it's great that someone else has done it for me.
First of all, I am a distance swimmer, and until I read Kristina's distance I was pretty proud of my swim...
I swam it yesterday morning during my regular practice time, 5:15 a.m. This was the 3rd time for me. All of the previous times, my goal was to hit 5000, and every single January, I was sicker than sick. I always did the swim anyway, and always fell shy of 5000 (4995 in 2005 was particularly frustrating!).
Anyway, I swam it straight, no stopping for water, but thankfully I had no cramping issues like Kristina. At the 3000, I was a touch ahead of my 3000 postal swim, so I knew that I was on pace and felt pretty good. By the end of the 4000, I was simply in pain.
I think that the hour swim is such a mental race, I sooo wanted to just stop. When I finally hit the 5000 mark and had time left, I just about did stop. However, it sounds like it's a good thing that I didn't. I finished with 5085, and I think that I'm in the same age group as Kristina, so I'm glad that I kept going!
I can't believe that Kristina calls herself a sprinter! That's an incredible distance. I'd like to have her for a training partner.
I was actually thinking of starting a thread similar to this one, so it's great that someone else has done it for me.
First of all, I am a distance swimmer, and until I read Kristina's distance I was pretty proud of my swim...
I swam it yesterday morning during my regular practice time, 5:15 a.m. This was the 3rd time for me. All of the previous times, my goal was to hit 5000, and every single January, I was sicker than sick. I always did the swim anyway, and always fell shy of 5000 (4995 in 2005 was particularly frustrating!).
Anyway, I swam it straight, no stopping for water, but thankfully I had no cramping issues like Kristina. At the 3000, I was a touch ahead of my 3000 postal swim, so I knew that I was on pace and felt pretty good. By the end of the 4000, I was simply in pain.
I think that the hour swim is such a mental race, I sooo wanted to just stop. When I finally hit the 5000 mark and had time left, I just about did stop. However, it sounds like it's a good thing that I didn't. I finished with 5085, and I think that I'm in the same age group as Kristina, so I'm glad that I kept going!
I can't believe that Kristina calls herself a sprinter! That's an incredible distance. I'd like to have her for a training partner.
