Friday, January 15, 2016

12 Minutes Faster...

I was able to complete another two mile swim this morning! I'm excited because: #1 I went to bed late so I woke up feeling exhausted; #2 I wasn't sure if I would be able to get the 2 miles done; #3 My Garmin was acting crazy and didn't pick up all of my laps (so frustrating!). Anyway I decided to swim until the Garmin registered my goal distance...

My pace started off slow but after the first mile I picked it up a bit...

Overall I was 12 minutes faster than my last 2 mile swim!!!

I'm excited to see the progress with swimming because I definitely want to go into Swim Miami feeling more prepared than I did last year. So as much as I wanted to sleep in for a little longer this morning, I reminded myself that I won't get better if every day is a "rest day"... 
It's easy for me to allow obstacles and excuses to throw my training off track. In fact, I can usually find a million reasons why I can't get cross training completed (but I hardly ever try and get out of running)...

However, compared to my other modes of cross training, I find it easier to get swimming done because I go to an indoor pool at a time that ensures it isn't crowded. It's also one of my favorite ways to cross train so once I'm in the pool I end up enjoying the workout. In the past I distracted myself from the monotony of swimming laps by counting each length I swam and mentally converting the distance from meters to miles; now I have my Garmin to do that (which is great when it actually works the way it's supposed to). I also have background music now, thanks to my waterproof iPod, so I played Soca music for the entire time I was swimming this morning. 

I'm going to try to not to make any excuses for cross training this year (for any mode of cross training). I'm going to be deliberate about it and make it a priority so that my cross training days will be more important just as important as my running days. Hopefully that will improve my running and I can eventually be "__ minutes faster" when I run :)

Do you make excuses for cross training?

What's your favorite cross training exercise?

What are your weekend plans? Any races this weekend?

4 comments:

  1. That's a great improvement in your time, well done!! It's one thing I really am rubbish at. I even had a few lessons to learn how to do it properly but I still suck lol...

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    1. Don't worry as long as you have a form of cross training that you do like and/or are good at it will help with your running :)

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  2. Great job on the swim! I don't know how to swim so I definitely don't go to the pool. ;) I like to bike on the trail for cross training.

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    1. Thanks! I hardly ever bike :( and I tend to fall off the bike a lot when I'm on the road so I can't even imagine cycling on a trail... indoor bikes are safest for me ;)

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