Beating the boredom factor
Last night we had one of my favorite and least favorite swim workouts -- 2000 meters. That's it. No drills, nothing -- just 2000 meters of non-stop swimming.
The reason that this is one of my favorite workouts is because I don't find it at all difficult. I see some of the men gasping for breath and others just can't swim that far without a break (I have no idea how some of these guys do races -- I guess when the adrenaline kicks in they're able to swim farther!). For me, it's nothing -- back and forth and back and forth and back and forth -- I could do that all day.
But this is also why it's one of my least favorite workouts. It's so boring! That never-ending back and forth is so monotonous. I have trouble counting that many laps and I normally lose count somewhere in the middle and end up adding extra laps (more boredom). Last night, it went something like this:
50 meters -- Wow, this is going to take forever! I've got to do this 39 more times!!!
200 meters -- Was that 200 or 250? Ugh. I'll just call it 200. Why on earth can't I count?
750 meters -- Great, I've done my sprint distance swim. Now I only have to do it one more time plus another 500 meters. Is this ever going to end?
900 meters -- There's Yossi. Can I keep up with him. Sure! Piece of cake.
1200 meters -- Ok, enough of keeping up with Yossi.
1500 meters -- I wonder how many times I've passed Roni... Poor guy -- he's going to be here until midnight if he doesn't pick up the pace a bit!
1700 meters -- It looks like Yigal [the coach] has gone home. Hey -- he didn't leave us a swim workout for Thursday and he won't be here [he'll be away with the varsity team and the kids' teams at training camp]!
1800 meters -- Look at Ronit -- she's swimming freestyle [she broke her elbow 3 1/2 weeks ago]! Now I'd better not let her pass me! She can hardly swim with that bad elbow. (Note: She didn't pass me, but she did manage to keep up a pretty good pace and later commented on how slowly I'd been swimming and asked if it had been intentional! I have no idea how slowly I was swimming, as I didn't bother timing myself, but I didn't think it was that slow!)
1950 meters -- It's almost over! Thank God!!!
2000 meters -- Now that wasn't too bad! LOL.
Yigal, by the way, did leave a workout for Thursday. After I saw it -- 10 times 100 at "standard 5" (90%) among other things -- I decided that 2000 meters non-stop isn't so bad!
So what do you all think about when you do these long, non-stop swims? And when you start thinking too much, how do you keep track of the laps? I can't see a thing with my goggles on, so hitting the lap counter on my watch doesn't help much (I can only see it when I stop), plus, I often forget to hit it.
The reason that this is one of my favorite workouts is because I don't find it at all difficult. I see some of the men gasping for breath and others just can't swim that far without a break (I have no idea how some of these guys do races -- I guess when the adrenaline kicks in they're able to swim farther!). For me, it's nothing -- back and forth and back and forth and back and forth -- I could do that all day.
But this is also why it's one of my least favorite workouts. It's so boring! That never-ending back and forth is so monotonous. I have trouble counting that many laps and I normally lose count somewhere in the middle and end up adding extra laps (more boredom). Last night, it went something like this:
50 meters -- Wow, this is going to take forever! I've got to do this 39 more times!!!
200 meters -- Was that 200 or 250? Ugh. I'll just call it 200. Why on earth can't I count?
750 meters -- Great, I've done my sprint distance swim. Now I only have to do it one more time plus another 500 meters. Is this ever going to end?
900 meters -- There's Yossi. Can I keep up with him. Sure! Piece of cake.
1200 meters -- Ok, enough of keeping up with Yossi.
1500 meters -- I wonder how many times I've passed Roni... Poor guy -- he's going to be here until midnight if he doesn't pick up the pace a bit!
1700 meters -- It looks like Yigal [the coach] has gone home. Hey -- he didn't leave us a swim workout for Thursday and he won't be here [he'll be away with the varsity team and the kids' teams at training camp]!
1800 meters -- Look at Ronit -- she's swimming freestyle [she broke her elbow 3 1/2 weeks ago]! Now I'd better not let her pass me! She can hardly swim with that bad elbow. (Note: She didn't pass me, but she did manage to keep up a pretty good pace and later commented on how slowly I'd been swimming and asked if it had been intentional! I have no idea how slowly I was swimming, as I didn't bother timing myself, but I didn't think it was that slow!)
1950 meters -- It's almost over! Thank God!!!
2000 meters -- Now that wasn't too bad! LOL.
Yigal, by the way, did leave a workout for Thursday. After I saw it -- 10 times 100 at "standard 5" (90%) among other things -- I decided that 2000 meters non-stop isn't so bad!
So what do you all think about when you do these long, non-stop swims? And when you start thinking too much, how do you keep track of the laps? I can't see a thing with my goggles on, so hitting the lap counter on my watch doesn't help much (I can only see it when I stop), plus, I often forget to hit it.
posted by bari | 14:21
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