A busy few days leading up to coaching the Cary City meet and finishing up my 10K training. I did get in 10,000 yards on Thursday, and I did it in a way that I think will benefit my swim. There were steady repeats early on. I worked on a good stroke at the fastest pace I could manage. Not super fast, unfortunately – I’d rather be comfortable at 1:10, not 1:20. But distance trainers cannot always be choosers, and I’m glad I did some good work figuring out what was sustainable. I got a little break with easier intervals during the younger kids’ practice, and then I finished up with 2×1000 yard swims. I think it was good to go long at the end when I was getting pretty tired, and I felt like I stood up to it well.
I took a look at the race map, and it looks like a cool course. It winds through some narrow passages in the lake, and then circles around an island. Hopefully it will keep me entertained.
Friday started my taper – practice was definitely short and fast… maybe too fast. But I did manage to go a few 100’s in 1:10, although “comfortable” is definitely not what I would call them, and 2:00 did not seem like enough rest. I’m counting on the next 6 days to get me recovered enough to be at my normal levels of endurance super power… we’ll see. Coaching a swim meet yesterday (Saturday) for 12 hours was surely not a recommended part of a taper… but I’ve felt worse than I do this morning, so that’s something. Hopefully this week will be a little sane and I’ll be able to catch up on… everything.
