Manuel Calls Me Out

Training: I did an hour muscle endurance/strength workout this afternoon with Adam and went back for a swim this evening around 7:15. I jumped in the water about an hour after a pretty healthy portion of cavatelli and broccoli with some tomatoes with mozzarella (good fat,) basil, olive oil and balsamic vinegar. I swear that I could probably eat that every day for dinner and never get tired of it.  I started swimming a modest warmup:

100 P

100 S

100 K

100 S

Then, I just started swimming with the idea of doing a quick 1000 yards and a 400 yard cool down. About 3/4 of the way through my workout, one of my training partners—Manuel (see Turkey Trot post)—sees me from upstairs in the gym and comes down to talk to me. I got to the wall and he taps me on the head. He is wearing jeans and a shirt.  He said "Hey, I saw you swimming upstairs and I didn't think it was you... you are totally dogging it. You must be tired." He went on, "You got to swim faster than this. I know you are swimming next to slower swimmers, but you have to hustle. Let me see you go and swim another 100." Now, if this is not love, then I do not know what is. I swam my last 400 yards much faster. It is true, I was pretty tired tonight in the pool. But, why swim just to swim? Manuel is right. I've been there too many times before. Sometimes feeling like you are tired makes you start your workout too cautiously, or pace yourself too slow. Pacing yourself slower can sometimes be detrimental. I have noticed that when I am a little tired from a long day, it will result in one of two outcomes:  1) It actually makes me more tired than I am. Psychologically I am spent. That  results to muscle fatigue and having a difficult time finding my wind. 2) I take all that pent up frustration and have a killer training day. After Manuel got in there and told me I was dogging it, I was motivated to swim the rest of my workout fast. Sometimes a little kick in the pants can go a long way.