Does My Coach Lie To Me?

Well I had a heck of a swim workout last night. My coach, Karen, emailed my workout to me yesterday. This is what the email said:

I would suggest the following workout for you with your swim session.

Warm-up: 200 yards free style (do not stop in between)

1st set: 5 x 50's with 20 sec. rest

(This means do a 50 yard freestyle and take a 20 second rest after it before you begin the next one. Do five of these in a row).

2nd set: 200 yd. pull

3rd set: 200 yd. kick

4th/5th sets: Repeat 2nd and 3rd set

6th set: 5 x 50's with 20 sec. rest

Cool down: 300 yards free style ( slow down each 100 yards)

Stretch set: 50 yards backstroke

Total yards: 1600 yards

Now I am not sure about you guys, but I just printed out the workout without really reading it and headed to the pool. I got into the pool and started the workout thinking I was going to be just short of a mile and should I do a bit extra to get a mile done just to see if I can do it. (Yes I know I am crazy! Yes I am nervous about the 2.4 mile swim I will have to complete at the IMFL.)

At any rate, about halfway through the first 200yd pull set, the lifeguard came over and asked me if I could move to the indoor pool. I was swimming in the outdoor pool where the masters' swim class is due to the fact that the indoor pool didn't have any lanes. So I said sure. I moved indoors and hopped into one of the lap lanes. It took me a couple of minutes to get back into the groove so while I was getting my thoughts together I decided to do a bit of mental math to see how many yards I had completed and how many were left and amazingly I realized that my Coach had incorrectly added the number of yards I would be completing! Holy Smoke the total was really 1850 yards!


So of course when Coach Karen came in to check on me I told her that she lied to me about my swim. She just laughed and said shut up and swim, I am the coach. I almost choked on the pool laughing as I had said pretty much the same thing on Sunday during a training run. On Sunday I was running with a few friends that I am coaching. On the way back, one of my peeps, Richard said "Wait I thought I was doing a 30 minute recovery run!" I said nope we are running 3 miles quit whining and run. His comment to me was that I had lied. I responded that I could lie because I was the coach! LOL!

This just makes me laugh but I think it is true. Sometimes our coaches, myself included, don't exactly tell our peeps what they are going to end up doing so our trainees don't stress or worry about it and end up not being able to complete the workout. Sometimes, as in the case with Coach Karen and my swim, we just add wrong. It is awesome to see the look of joy and accomplishment on a person's face when they realize that they have just completed something they never thought they could.

Yes I completed the 1850 yards. I am not sure how long it actually took me time wise, since I had to switch pools and all, so next time I will definitely have to time my workout. Only 1.3 miles additional swimming to complete Ironman swim distance.

I am pretty proud of myself for completing the distance. Honestly I never thought I could swim two hundred yards much less 1850. It is not pretty but I get it done. As John Bingham says, " I am slow, I know it. Get over it"

I will leave you with the quote of the day that was on the pool wall last night at the YMCA. It kind of sums up what I have been feeling lately.


"Don't measure yourself by what you have accomplished but by what you should have accomplished with your ability." John Wooden

XOXOX
Elizabeth