The Blogger Swim Challenge!!

Well.... Today I learned the definition of the word CHALLENGE!! :)

I'm guessing that somewhere in that meaning means HARD as h...e... double hockey sticks!!

And is it safe to assume that it also has some sort of assumption that it may not be met on the first attempt because it is SOO challenging??? :)

For those of you not in "the loop", one of our dear Blogger Friends, Danielle aka. Pendergraham, decided to challenge herself with a set of 40 x 100's! And invited the rest of us to create a similar challenge and we'd cheer each other on. Well, today was the day I signed up to complete this swim challenge.

I decided to go with Danielle's computed 100 sets, just slightly tweaked. Beth had actually taken Danielle's sets and added 10 seconds to each as her variation. Looked good to me, so I decided to go with that.

Now a couple things to keep in mind...

1) I've certainly done 4000 yds in the pool. I trained for an IM which I think is somewhere around 4300, so it was kind of a requirement. However, I've NEVER done them in this sort of way. You know how master's works... 800 warm-up, 1200 pull-set, 1600 main set, etc or something of that nature. It's not.. ok... today we're swimming 4000... GO!! The most 100's I've ever done as one set are 10!

2) My fastest 100 right now is right around 1:30, which was the most challenging split on my list. I wanted to go with it, even though I had my doubts, because I figure if I keep pushing for that number, I'll get there! I can spit out 5 x 100's on the 1:30 ok. BUT... at the end of 40 x 100's???? That was the question. I figured I'd go for it anyways!

So... this morning I skipped my usual master's class, so that I would be able to do this challenge on my own in the Woodstock Aquatic Center. Last night was actually the first night all week that I had a decent night's sleep. Despite the fact that Cooper is now ill with who knows what, so that was a few wake-up calls, but generally, I got some decent rest!

Headed over to the pool, and warmed up for about 300 nice and easy. It's been a whole stinking week unfortunately since I've been in the pool, so I wasn't sure how I would feel, but I ended up feeling good!

I started out strong! Actually a little fast. Even to the point that I worked to SLOW down! So I wouldn't come out to hard. Although, when I'm fresh, I can do them more quickly than when I'm fatigued! The goal... to keep going with anywhere from 10-20 sec rest in between each one.

Well.. Here's a breakdown of my splits. As you can see, it didn't always go as I was pushing/hoping for.

Number of 100 Goal Time Actual Time Number of 100 GT AT

1. 1:45 1:34 21. 1:45 1:39

2. 1:45 1:36 22. 1:45 1:41

3. 1:45 1:37 23. 1:40 1:38

4. 1:45 1:38 24. 1:35 1:35

5. 1:40 1:38 25. 1:35 1:35

6. 1:40 1:37 26. 1:35 1:35

7. 1:40 1:37 27. 1:35 1:35

8. 1:35 1:35 28. 1:30 1:33

9. 1:35 1:35 29. 1:30 1:34

10. 1:30 1:30 30. 1:30 1:35

11. 1:45 1:41 31. 1:45 1:41

12. 1:40 1:40 32. 1:45 1:44

13. 1:40 1:39 33. 1:45 1:42

14. 1:40 1:39 34. 1:40 1:40

15. 1:40 1:39 35. 1:40 1:41

16. 1:35 1:35 36. 1:35 1:34

17. 1:35 1:35 37. 1:30 1:35

18. 1:35 1:35 38. 1:30 1:34

19. 1:30 1:32 39. 1:30 1:35

20. 1:30 1:30 40. 1:30 1:35

Ok... so as you can see, didn't hit a lot of the 1:30's. I got most of them in the first 2000, but after that, my arms just got tired and I couldn't pull as hard. Now, for fairness sake, I will say I was pushing it though! And Marit, I want you to know on those last 4 1:30's despite that I couldn't pull it off I swear I saw Dumbledore!!!

So, I'm not thrilled, but it's ok. I'm thinking that 1:30 is my magic number right now, and if I keep working at it, it will happen!

Thanks for reading, and thanks to my blogger friends for all of your support!!!

I'm cheering for all of you!!!

K :)