Day 199: Coach hard at Work!

Calli- Great morning! Yes it’s true we got to the gym 30 minutes past 5 (5 am is the goal) but we still got everything done that we wanted. We did our weights and then went for a nice swim. I got a little bored because I need to set some goals for myself to work towards. It’s not enough to just get in the water and think at the last minute what to do. So…goals are on the horizon!

Jose- At the end of the day I can tell how hard I worked out this morning. Pecks and legs are sore and I’m sure that means that tomorrow there will be more. Back to strength training is always a good thing though, especially when your body is getting stuck in progress. The swim afterwards was okay, however, my arms were killing me, my legs refused to kick effectively which increased the drag like 100% and at the end I swam almost half than Calli. Still we did exactly what we were looking for… so keep them coming!

“If you find yourself getting bored, it’s because you don’t know where you’re going.” -Calli Brennan

Day 197: Wipe that smirk off your face! Get back in the Pool!

Calli- Today Jose and I got to the gym at 5:30am. We were
shooting for 5, but maybe tomorrow. We were very happy to start swimming so
early. I was especially happy to be training next to the love of my life again.
All feels right with the world. I couldn’t be happier. As we were swimming in
our wetsuits I thought back to December and how worried we were that we hadn’t
practiced with wet suits yet. Now, we have our wetsuits and we are testing them
out in the water. This goes to show that if you set goals for yourself 
accomplish them, one at a time. And yes, it takes time. Now we are focusing on
getting some bikes. I am so confident that we will achieve that goal. Happy fun
time everyone.

Jose- With the start of the second phase we are planning on starting longer, better and more organized workouts. Today we did a 500 meters warm up and the main set was supposed to have 4 drills, 50 mts catch-up, 50 mts backstroke, 50 mts finger drag and 50 mts backstroke, probably something more in the middle and then a cool down. The problem was that my backstroke is not that good (or not good at all) and Calli had to help me a lot to fix the form. I need to work on that, but now that I know that freestyle is not an issue anymore then I can dedicate more time to work on the other strokes that I’m sure (and Calli keeps also assuring) that will help me on my development and improvement as a swimmer. Long Run tomorrow… keep the workouts coming!

“Take the time to set goals for yourself, and then watch the time it takes
to see you reach them.” -Calli Brennan

Day 185 – The Intimidation Factor

Since the very first moment that I thought about swimming in the ocean I was a little bit terrified. I’m not a swimmer and even Calli has a lot of respect for the open water. Today I’m almost completely positive that I won’t drown, however the idea of floating with the ground probably somewhere between 15-30 feet below me (or even more) makes me wonder how am I going to react to the situation. Especially if I have to stop in the middle for any given reason.
We have already tried the open water swimming and it is way different than swimming in a pool, however, of course the pool is the best way to start and you can learn a lot from it. But once you get into the ocean, the first thing you notice is that you cannot see past your arm, everything is turbid, specially if somebody is swimming around you. For this reason it is very important that we try to simulate similar conditions as often as we can so that we find less surprises on race day.
Some great recommendations can be found on this article taken from Carmichael Training Systems. Read it and digest it, take the necessary notes and eliminate the Intimidation Factor!

“Things done well and with a care, exempt themselves from fear.” – William Shakespeare

Day 183 – Just another maniac monday

After a very relaxed weekend, Mondays are most of the time complicated. At least at 5am in the morning when you are debating with yourself if you should sleep a little more or if you should just get up and jump start your day with a great workout. For a lot of people the answer is very easy either for one side or the other, but for us, Mondays as just those Maniac days that which we would love to be able to start a little bit later.
At the end, I decided to go to the pool and Calli had to prepare and go to work. So the athlete in me, managed to decide for our own good what to do. It was a fast, simple and great workout. Freestyle 200 mts warm-up, 150 more meters at steady pace as the first set, moving to 250 meters of pull as the second set, followed by 150 meters with eyes closed (since swimming on a straight line is not my specialty as a third set, and then 100 meters of cool down. Great way of starting the week, not big or complicated, but a perfect workout to start a busy week. I think I’ll keep this Maniac Monday workouts.

“The person who makes a success of living is the one who sees his goal steadily and aims for it unswervingly. That is dedication.” – Cecil B. DeMille

Day 178: The Right Angle

Calli: Even after swimming for many years, Jose brought something to my attention. I breath with my head slightly tilted up. I have gotten so comfortable swimming that I let some things slide from where they are supposed to be. I am really happy to have a work out buddy like Jose! He has a good eye and he is so sweet when he’s giving input. I like constructive criticism that doesn’t tear me down, but instead make me more aware of myself. Thanks Jose xoxox! Also, I started weight again tonight! Yes..stronger knee here we come!

Jose: I had double shift tonight too. I went out for a 10km run to round up to 55km on my contribution to Run Across America. Today the shoes treated me better than yesterday. Even though I ran almost the same route, this time I didn’t have any major problem with my feet. Going uphill my pace went up all the way to 6:24 min/km, however I managed to take back around 5 minutes on my way down with a pace of 4:21 min/km. It was a very good run with an average HR of 164, meaning I could have probably gone a little bit faster at some point. After the run I jumped to the pool and swam around 700 meters and a steady easy pace just to relax my muscles. Freestyle and pull where my two choices for the night. This week I didn’t have a strict swim schedule because of the running compromise but next week I’ll return to the hard stuff again!

“Desire is the key to motivation, but it’s
determination and commitment to an unrelenting pursuit of your goal – a
commitment to excellence – that will enable you to attain the success
you seek.”
- Mario Andretti