Shaking it up: changes to my workouts

My workouts have consisted mostly of swimming and the elliptical these last few weeks.  A couple people have asked me about my running, and with that I've realized that I haven't really talked about this switcherooni, so let me spend some time on that.

First off - I still want to run.  I have not given up on it.  But I was getting frustrated with my progress.  The Couch to 5K program just wasn't doing it for me as I found myself relying too much on the walking parts and progress seemed just soooooooo slllloooooooowwww.

So, I ditched C25K and started running just as far as I could go, but I was still struggling at about the 7 minute mark.

I am pretty sure that most of those struggles are in my head and not my body.  But I felt it necessary to pull back a bit and work on my foundations, to build endurance, to feel as if I can conquer something, and to not let this running thing beat me.

And so, a few weeks ago, I noticed some significant improvement on my ability on the elliptical (from 3 minutes to 12 minutes to 30 minutes...) and decided to milk that improvement for all that it was worth.  I needed to feel good about what I was doing.  I needed to feel as if I was accomplishing something.  I needed to step up the intensity and feel as if I was triumphant.

And it's worked.  

For the second week in a row, I've done two 4.2 mile sessions in 45 minutes on the elliptical.  That's a 10:43 minute/mile pace or 5.6 mph!  Hot damn!  And every time I finish, I think back to how hard 3 minutes were for me when I started and I feel amazing about what I've done.  I can't get over how much I enjoy the 'spawn of Satan' elliptical now.  And I know I enjoy it because I didn't let it beat me.

So, all of that to say, I needed a bit of victory.  And I wanted to build up my legs and endurance more before I pushed myself too hard with running and risked injury.

So my plan is to keep going with the elliptical for another couple weeks, increasing time/distance and, if possible, speed.  Then I want to try running again and see how I do.  I'm hoping that I'll see a marked difference in my ability - but I don't want to wait too long and let running turn into a bugbear so I need to get back to it soon.

me feeling like a bit of a poser with all my gear

As for swimming - dang, it's hard y'all!  But I love it.  I'm completely exhausted after I swim, but it's a good exhausted.  I've been taking a swimming 'improvers' class on Wednesday evenings and I've been really happy with my progress, but it has been hard work.  I now know how to breathe properly and am still trying to improve my form.

For now, I'm swimming the front crawl/freestyle but want to learn or get better with other styles as I get further in (don't ask me why, but I really want to learn how to do the butterfly and to do the backstroke without running into stuff).  But as far as progress goes, when I started I could only do about 18 lengths (450 m/.28 mi).  This week, I did 26 lengths (650 m/.4 mi) and could have done more but just ran out of time.

But you want to know what the hardest part 
of swimming is for me?  

Relaxing and keeping rhythm.  I always want to rush.  I want to swim faster.  I get panicky about my speed or how much I still have to do, get distracted, lose count, don't breathe properly, and then flail.  So swimming has been a good exercise for me in slowing down, being present in the moment, and meditating on the task at hand - to swim smoothly and to breathe well.  I think this discipline will be really helpful outside of the pool as well - with running, with life in general.

So, that's my workouts so far.  I'm happy with what I'm doing and still surprise myself at how much I enjoy going to the gym/pool and getting in a really good sweat.

Or as Kanye West (or whoever his songwriter is) said:

Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger.