well, as promised, it was a trip over to the pool for the entire day session! 3 hours and 44 minutes of practically non stop swimming (except for a few bathroom breaks).
404 twenty-five metre laps, totalling 10.1k. i edged out my 10k PB by 1 minute, then added in a few more laps for good measure. technically, i covered the distance in a much slower swim time than my Sept 1 swim. then again, i took a 30 minute break during half time for that one, so technically, today's swim was faster overall.
there was absolutely no taper for this. in fact, i came into this fairly tired, having run 19k on sunday and 25.7k on saturday. not to mention swims of 4 and 2.5k respectively.
so i started out fairly slow and tried to keep a pace of 30 second laps. 31 minutes into the swim, i had to go for bathroom break #1. by 4k, i was already winded, but managed to keep up the pace. i had 2 litres of gatorade and 2 power gels with me at pool side to revitalize myself.
by 7k, i had my second wind and realized i was going to do it. i essentially cruised in right up to the end, sneaking in just a few minutes before the time limit. 11k was my ultimate goal, but i knew 10k was more realistic, so 10.1k was an extreme success.
i finished with energy to spare and without and sore muscles. even my arms felt good. i am convinced that i could have gone on for a while further.. oh well, i'm going to have to go over one of these days when they have a 5 hr 30 minute swim session. that will be a 15k attempt.
no run today.. i had a car rental so i did some errands after the swim, including some laundry, a coffee with a cute friend, and a trip to the ocean to see the waves, and the pond to see the duckies! typical cold newfoundland fall day, but a very productive and emotionally possitive day..
arms are incredibly not sore. i'm thinking there won't have to be any days off. with a 20k race this sunday, i will be doing more swimming and less running over the days leading up to it.
amazing to think i ran 44.7k this weekend and already here on monday night, the legs feel completely fine! there's a little nagging knee pain that has been bothering me since August, but nothing that should prevent me from running the best 20k of my life.
the only wild card will be more hormones. i revisit the doc tomorrow and will hope to go even higher in dosage.. although the estrogen has been sapping my strength and endurance, 20k is short enough that it shouldn't be much of an issue. i'm aiming to run a sub 90 minute race on what is the toughest 20k hilly course in canada. would really love to crack the top 3 but i think that may be a bit ambitious as there will be many elite stars in the field of 400.
Jennifer
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2 comments:
Quite a weekend Jennifer! Good luck in the Cape to Cabot coming up this weekend. Wish I could be back in Newfoundland to run it too. Planning to come for the 2009 version though.
I just ran the Royal Victoria Marathon in BC (the other Victoria, BC - the one not behind Carbonear) to complete my coast-to-coast marathoning after the Newfoundland Provincial Marathon last month.
Will check the Cape website to see how you do - run like the wind!
wow, congrats on the victoria run, and extra congrats on the cross canada accomplishment.
Cape to Cabot will likely be my last race for a long long time so i am hopeful of recording a fairly decent result, even though i have several strikes against me due to my medical situation..
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