Gainesville
This past Valentines Day, or the day before to be more precise, me and my then-girlfriend went kayaking in Biscayne Bay. The whole time, we kept veering to the right. Since I was sitting in back, and more or less controlling our direction, I was getting a little irritated at myself. I hadn't been lifting for months, and swimming works both sides evenly. Why was my left arm pulling so much harder than my right? The whole fucking kayak trip we kept having to correct course, and I really felt like I was exerting even effort. Well, today I think I figured it out.
Swim: 2x1500
2 Lipodrene
The swim today was not terribly inspiring. Lost count a few times. Went at a solid pace, but nothing frustrating and nothing impressive. I was neither inspired nor demotivated. A very normal swim, interrupted by a gel halfway through 1500 number 2. But I kept my head under water for multiple strokes a few times and noticed something: my right arm was coming across a small part of my right side every stroke. I'd never noticed this because my head is always out of the water when the right arm strokes, so its location was never certain like it is on the left. The idea, of course, is not to cross your body with your arms so you get the maximum pull.
What I realized was the, basically, for the year and a half I've been swimming my right arms has essentially been drafting behind my body on its stroke. I'm sure this cost me some speed, but it also has made my left side considerable stronger. Hence the lopsided Kayak trip. I realized this, of course, at about lap 20 of the second set, but for the last 10 and a half laps, I focused on keeping my right arm on the outside of my body. Yeah, it got sore after about 2 laps. My right shoulder was burning by the end, it was getting so much use. I hadn't realized it, but my stroke was seriously fucked. Somehow I think this is going to make future swims a lot harder, but may well gain me some time.
Run - 30 Minutes
Did a quick transition in the GHFC locker room and headed out onto 8th Ave. I had hoped to have another crushing run like I did in Miami, but my legs were still really sore from the previous night's Fartleks. So I ran about my race pace, but realized the purpose here. Your legs, they might be a little sore after a 112-mile bike ride. Probably a good idea to start realizing how running on them is gonna feel. Now, today's run was about 23 miles shorter than the Ironman run will be, and the cloud cover made it pretty easy. But good to feel like I can run my race pace on sore legs.
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