Mental Hurdles

I know I have said this before, but I really can't over emphasise how much of a mental hurdle the Wednesday morning swim session is. Every week it is the same, you tell yourself next week you will be keen as mustard, but then when you get to Wednesday again and you find that you are dragging yourself out of bed again and forcing yourself out the door.

I have spoken to others at the pool and it is pretty much the same for everyone. I think there are a combination of reasons for this, however, the main one is because it is a tough session. You know it is going to be a tough session, it always is, there is no such thing as an easy Wednesday morning swim. The set WILL be between 4.5 and 5km. It WILL contain at least one part that is pretty painful (this morning it was 3 x 500m time trials in case you were wondering). It WILL be hard. Given that it can be pretty hard to get yourself out of bed and down to the pool on a Wednesday.

So why then do we, why is it one of the busiest squad sessions? Because everyone there knows how much benefit it gives. It is a tough session, but when it comes to swimming quicker over distance, it is probably the most valuable session of the week. I drag myself out of bed because I know that I choose to race and I want to race fast. If I want to race fast, this is one of the best tools I have at my disposal. Don't make excuses and then wonder why you went slow.

Given all the above, this morning was a fairly typical Wednesday. I really struggled to get out the door. I nearly went back to bed a couple of times. I got to the car and then had to go back to the house for my phone and very nearly didn't come back out again. I quite seriously considered turning around on the way to the pool on three separate occasions. I was just tired and not in the mood for what I knew would be a tough session. But like every Wednesday I got myself there. And like every Wednesday once I was there I had an internal dialogue that went something like this:

Me: Arrrggghhhh 3 x 500m time trials, stuff that, I am going to do 3km and then get out.
Me: No you won't
Me: Just watch me, I am definitely going to get out early this time
Me: No you won't
Me: I might
Me: But you won't
Me: Fine I will do 4km and then get out
Me: Look you and I both know that once you start this session you won't get out until it is done
Me: But...
Me: You know it
Me: Fine, but I am not happy about it
Me: I don't care, less talk, more swim

And that is pretty much how the morning went. I was very tempted to cut it short several times, but in the end I made it through. The time trials where not particularly quick, but they were consistent which I am happy with. Also, by the end of the session there were two people left in my lane and I made up half of that number, which I was proud of. I have a few tough sessions in my normal training week, but there is nothing quite like the endorphin rush you get from getting through the Wednesday morning swim and knowing you did it well.

Running last night seems to have gone okay as well by the way (thanks for asking). I was running with a mate which, as it usually does, translated to us both almost killing ourselves. The run was a shorter, higher intensity session than I have been doing, and it certainly hit that mark. The speed still isn't back where it was pre sore back, but last night showed that it is getting there. The back seemed to hold up to the intensity as well. In fact the bit of me that is sorest at the moment is actually my hip flexor. It has been getting pretty tight over the last couple of weeks. I think I might be using it to compensate for my back, combined with not enough stretching, translates to painful.

I was at the physio this morning and Lee Anne really dug into the hip flexor, so it feels a bit better now. She thinks it is probably tighter than my back at the moment. News around my back was positive though, with her saying that she felt it was progressing really well and was pretty close to be sorted. So that is good news. I am not to concerned around the hip flexor at the moment, I think I probably just have to be more mindful of stretching it.

A bit of a rest this afternoon. I am supposed to be on the bike, but I got a very unexpected call from my brother last night saying he is in town for the night, so I am taking the afternoon off to go and catch up with him. I will do the same as I did last week and move the ride to the morning and then tomorrow morning's run to the afternoon. So that will be good, both from the catching up point of view, and the resting point of view.