Swim Camp!

24,100. That's how many meters coach Hillary had me swim this week to cap off a 20 hour training week. Yes, it's January, which for me means SWIMCAMP! Coach knows that my weakest discipline of the swim/bike/run is the swim and is definitely the discipline that, with improvement, will put me in the running for that coveted Ironman World Championship slot. I know what times the top females in my age group are swimming and I know what I need to do to get there....swim. Alot.

So aside from tempo runs, hill repeats, tempo rides and trainer sessions, I'm swimming EVERY day of the week. And...I love it! After 3 weeks of swim camp I feel much stronger in the water, my times are dropping, and I'd like to think that I have lats as toned as Dara Torres....rrrright.

Swimcamp has been just what I needed and, honestly, I feel like this fitness is carrying over to the bike and run. Coach really knows what she's doing here. She was an Olympic trials competitor after all and has led the female field in most all of her 50+ Ironman swims!

So how does coach manage to keep me entertained over the course of 24 kilometers of swimming in a week. Well, there are the standard 100 meter interval swims done here at my place of work, Life Time Fitness....

There's the 4K swim done at lovely Barton Springs...

There's the "lung-busting-arms-burning-hurts-so-good" sprint workout. I recruited the help of my coworker, Taylor, who swam in college to help me through one of these workouts....(don't bash the TYR Orion goggles until you've tried 'em!)

And then there are all sorts of torture devices that are used to make me stronger in the water including this....thanks for the lovely gift coach! I strap this contraption (want to guess what it is?) around my legs and go at it until my core muscles cry for mercy.

This is the secret protein drink that gives me the super powers to be able keep up with training, a full-time job, and wedding planning (more on that in a later post!).

And of course, I just HAVE to wear cute swim suits when I swim to make the experience all that more enjoyable. This is one of my faves since bright colors make me a faster swimmer...(thank you swim suit model for letting me post your half-naked picture on my blog).

And now to google "how to rid oneself of perma-chlorine smell...."

Stay tuned for an update on what's going on at work...fun stuff happening at Life Time Fitness!