Swim Breakthrough!

Yay for warm weather! We got shorts and sun dresses out today! Ok, so Elle's been wearing sun dresses all winter, but I didn't have to make her put a jacket on today!

Yesterday was a speed day for swimming, and I did one of my 100s in 1:44, but most of them were 1:46. Not bad.

Then I did 7 - 4:00 intervals on the trainer. When I first got on, my legs were not happy at all! But, just like with the run, they warmed up after about 10 minutes then they were fine. I put George in his car seat down there with me, and as soon as I started peddling, he fell asleep! Nothing like the hum of the trainer to put a baby to sleep!

He only slept for half an hour, but then he just sat there and smiled at me for the rest of the time. Best. Baby. Ever.

Today my legs feel much better, but it was still nice to have a day off for them since it was just my long swim day. I was so happy to see that it was warm enough and light enough for me to ride my bike the half-mile to the gym at 6am! It would seem like such a waste to drive. It's so awesome living this close! It really makes it less of a rush to swim because I don't really have to factor a commute into my time.

On the way there, I saw a dead duck in the road. It was so sad. It's little mate was just standing there like she was waiting for him to get up. So sad. It was gone when I came home so that's nice that somebody took care of it. I'd like to think that it wasn't really dead, and that it just got up and flew away, but I'm pretty sure it was dead. Sad.

Anyway.

I got to do 2000 yards continuous today. Fun fun! I knew it was kind of a long swim so I needed to pace myself, but I also wanted to give it a solid effort and see how fast I could do it.

At half-way through, I was on track to finish somewhere between 39:55 and 40:00.

Then, I kind of had a realization! They (I don't know who "they" are, but I'm sure you've heard this) always say not to use your legs too much during the swim because you need to save them for the run. So I've always tried to use my legs as little as possible. I have pretty much ignored them other than kicking them enough to keep them afloat. Well, today I said, "You guys could help out a little bit!" and started focusing on just doing little kicks to help propel me forward. It's amazing how much this helped! (DUH) I started knocking seconds off my time like crazy!

I finished my 2000 yards in 39:22! Yay! It was awesome, and I wasn't even killing myself to get there! Too bad I wasn't using my legs for the whole thing.

I can't believe it's taken me this long (Let's see, I've been doing tris for 6 years now) to figure this out. I told Pete about this when I got home, and he was like, "You just drag your legs?" It seems so dumb now that I think about it. Of course it will help to kick my legs, even just a little bit, instead of just dragging them behind me like dead fish. Or ducks. (too soon?).

George had his own little breakthrough today too. He's always hated tummy time, but it suddenly seems to have clicked for him! And (drum roll please) he rolled over from his tummy to his back! Mindy said he rolled from his back to his front too, but I didn't see it. She says she didn't help him, but I don't know.

Race For The Cure

Tomorrow I'm running in the Race For The Cure 5k. Being the terrible fund raiser that I am, I'm only giving you one day notice if you want to donate. Sorry about that! By participating in the Komen Race for the Cure®, you have an opportunity to make a difference in the fight to end breast cancer. Please take a minute to go to my fund raising page and donate even $5 if you're interested in helping to fight breast cancer. Thank you! I'll see you all tomorrow, and I'll be wearing pink! :)