  Today my arms feel like Hanz and Franz have been pumping me up. I've been working at using my arms as much as possible in my swimming (this will save leg energy for the bike and run on event day). I've also been incorporating free weights into my week, nothing hefty, just a lot of repetitions. I always knew I had no upper body strength, but now I actually need it. As for yesterday, I decided to give myself an easy day, and allow myself a little fun time. Rather than going directly from work to training, I went shopping for a few hours with some friends of mine.
Those of you who know me well, know that shopping is nothing new for me. But seriously, I haven't shopped without a specific purpose in ages! Okay, so maybe it's only been a month or so, but that's pretty impressive for me! I think I need to train year round from now on...it seems to be saving me money!!! Okay, back to my workout. I was on my own yesterday, so I went swimming.
I also had to cut my swim short (had a softball game that I couldn't miss!). I think I probably got as much done yesterday in 45 minutes by myself as I did the day before with my friends. Hmmm...maybe I talk too much? I worked a lot on my distance swimming yesterday. We always start the swim with drills. Yesterday it was 800 meters (maybe yards, can't remember, but there's not much of a difference).
I did 200 swim, 200 pull, 200 kick, 200 swim. This terminology may as well have been Greek to me a few weeks ago. Basically, the 200 swim is 200 meters of freestyle. The "pull" is where you put the buoy between your legs to float you legs and you only use your arms...hence the term "pull". The 200 kick is using a kickboard. Then you finish with another 200 freestyle.
The only breaks you should take are between each set of 200, and that should only be for 30-45 seconds. The first time I tried this, I thought I was going to drown right there at the YMCA. It's actually getting easier now, which is how I know my endurance keeps on building. After this, I took a quick breather and did 200 freestyle at a slightly faster pace, then an easy 50. By this time, my 45 minutes was up and that was it for the day! Mentally, 45 minutes sounds like nothing, but physically my arms are about to fall off.
But, here's the psycho in me saying that my arms hurting like they do, feels GREAT!!!! All I can say, is Hanz and Franz had better watch out! 
