Thursday/Friday

Thursday: Swim

I made friends with the lifeguard in Culver City and learned the best times to head to the pool: 10am-12pm on Tu/Th.

Have you ever watched amateur swimmers before? I used to be a lifeguard for pools when I was 15, but haven't spent much time in pools since then. The purpose of watching swimmers was different, though: flailing? check. thrashing? check. okay, dive in.

But watching random swimmers of varying ages and abilities do laps is actually really fun. I'm sure there are tons of social experiments done on how people interact with each other in the water, like how people see each other between breaths, how do people acknowledge each others' presence when they pass them/lap them (is it like running? is it like driving?), if your perception of others in the pool changes once you get into the flow. I wonder if that same concept could be transferred to multiplayer game functionality...?

And that's enough sociology+ludology musings for my training blog :D

Friday: Run

My new running partner and I went on our second run together. Running with someone else trumps running alone, even with an amazing playlist and a head full of worries. Time tends to melt away as you get out of your own head and verbally spill all kinds of things above the pavement from mundane activities to goals for the future. We ran three more miles than I was anticipating totaling 9 altogether, and I realized I definitely need to tone it down a bit... but running's so addicting!

Notes:
Swimming: Try to breathe on both sides, chin down, arms stretched.

First update!

New post! I'll be updating this on a daily basis post-training session.

Last night's swim was rough.

I realized I need to focus on proper form much more than speed. Monday's cycling class/weight lifting/Bikram Yoga class finally let me burned off that extra anxiety that's been plaguing me for the past month. I've had to stop running long distances because the coaches want us to base train, but went on a short run this morning with a new training partner to work out some mental snags. I know things will ramp up quickly within the next couple of months, so I need to let go and trust our coaches!

Chin down, arms stretched, quick breaths, less kicking.

Swimming feels great after the first few hundred yards: life just seems to float away in a consistent rhythm of breathing and stretching.