Recovery Week?

Well, sort of... I got home Monday morning from Cincinnati. Late Sunday, I received an e-mail from the captain of one of my tennis teams. She was short one player for the line-up Monday night and wanted to know if I could play. I told her would hoping that my muscles wouldn't be too sore. Luckily, it was a pretty quick 2 sets. My quads were pretty tight when I started but loosened up as the match went on.

Side note on the quads, mine were more sore after this last race than Disney. I chalked that up to the slower pace at Disney but ran into someone who said that it could have been the gradual downhill of the race course for the last 10-12 miles. For most of the week, they were pretty sore going down stairs. Up, not a problem. Kind of strange but it made me wonder if the long gradual downhill was the cause.

Tuesday, I did get some rest after work although still feel like I could sleep for a few more days!

Wednesday I made it back to boot camp and was supposed to have a tennis match but it was cancelled due to the rain.

Thursday I went back to the new masters program at LFT. LOVED IT! At LFT, they have an indoor and an outdoor pool. They hold the masters in the outdoor pool so the lap swimmers have some room to do their workouts. I love swimming outdoors! It starts out a little dark at 6AM but by 6:15 or so, the sun starts coming up and it is great. The chlorine is also a little less intense out there for some reason. We had a new person show up for the workout so we are gradually growing... It is 2 weeks in and we have 6 so that is a good start! It turns out, that I had swam a few times with the newcomer when I was swimming at Swim Atlanta a couple years back. She told me that she had also run 2 marathons just like me. Her PR is 3:33, not quite like me. Can you believe it? That is fast enough that you don't have to participate in the lottery for New York, you can just sign up. WOW. One degree of separation from speedy greatness!

The masters program was a good choice for me. I have loved both the workouts so far. The only problem is that it meets at the same time as a cardio class that I also love (OK, maybe I love the cardio ever so slightly less but I know I need it so...). I can't decide if I should swim both days the class is offered or swim one of the days and do the cardio class the other day. Such a decision... I only wish that was my only worry in life! :)

The coach is still trying to figure us out but so far, so good. She gives us the workout and then just kind of watches us swim and offers pointers. She has given me a couple of suggestions that were helpful so having someone there has been worthwhile. We have a choice of two workouts, one is distance and one is stroke. She even gives us a dry copy to keep for later (You have to love that... I am stocking up my workout library!)

Thursday, the workouts were:

Distance (2700 meters)

3x300 (15 sec rest)
1 - 100 swim / 100 kick / 100 swim
1 - 100 drill / 100 swim / 100 drill
1 - 100 swim / 100 build / 100 swim

3 x 200 negative split (15 sec rest)
3 x 100 pull descend (10 sec rest)
2 x 200 negative split (15 sec rest)
3 x 100 pull descend (10 rest)
1 x 200 fast

OR

Stroke (2600 meters)
3x300 (15 sec rest)
1 - 100 swim / 100 kick / 100 swim
1 - 100 drill / 100 swim / 100 drill
1 - 100 swim / 100 build / 100 swim

6 x 50 kick FAST (5 sec rest)
2 x 75 25 free / 50 fly (10 sec rest)
4 x 50 kick FAST (5 sec rest)
4 x 75 back (10 sec rest)
2 x 50 kick FAST (5 sec rest)
6 x 75 25 free / 50 breast (10 sec rest)

200 IM FAST (at this point, "FAST" is all relative....)


Which leaves us with today... I got up entirely too early for a Saturday and did the Race for the Cure. It really is an under fundraiser. The run itself is not timed and there are ore people walking than running. To say there were a lot of participants would be an understatement. I knew 3 other people who were running the race but this was one of those that if you didn't coordinate a meeting place beforehand, you would never see them, and I didn't. The post race expo had loads of swag. It is amazing how many corporate sponsors, the machine of Susan G. Komen charities can attract. I have heard of so many fundraisers that were scaled back or cancelled this year due to the economy yet this one didn't seem to the feeling the effects of it at all. There were all sorts of freebies - scarves, bracelets, smuckers (I think they followed me from Cincinnati), Skinny Cow ice cream, fuze, and more re-useable grocery bags than you could shake a stick at (have you been to an event like this in the past year where you don't walk out with a free reuseable bag? Now if I could just remember to bring them into the store...). All in all a fun race. I felt pretty good on the run. My legs are still a bit tired and could use some rest. Maybe I will go do that now whilst I catch up on the Biggest Loser! Have a good weekend!