Run and Swim

Had a fantastic day of training today. Short, but very very sweet.

The morning was a 45 minute run. With the run I'm now ULTRA committed to MAF. MAF, MAF, MAF!!!!! I commented on Lucho's blog yesterday and he explained:

"Dave- Yes, my speed at a low HR is from training specifically for that. Very high intensity training erodes the body's fat burning economy so it needs to be used only after you have built a very true base. Starting speed work before this only limits how fast you can get and how high you can build your fitness. MAF if you don't know any other numbers."

So there it is. I always knew about MAF before, but never fully appreciated the impact that high intensity work has, especially in regard to how fast I can get. Being that I have in no way neared my potential, I'm taking this very seriously and will from here on take MAF just as serious. Therefore, today's run was locked in at a very rigid 155 bpm HR cap. To make things even better, I actually averaged only 143 bpm. For me this was slow, slow, slow. I averaged 8:39 miles, but was super happy not only with my discipline in doing so, but happy in the fact that I know it's that discipline that will take me to the next level.

For the afternoon it was back in the water for a swim session. I'm continuing with the "drills only" protocall, and it's really coming together now. It's taking some time, but I'm actually feeling (as I've said before) some great improvement with my feel of the water. Most importantly I feel that I've learned what hydrodynamic means. I'm going through the water with much less "friction" and have gotten better at all of the drills I do. It's funny and doesn't make much sense, but I never realized the impact that drills can have on what you do. I say funny as with my athletic background, all we ever did at practice every day was drill, drill, drill. In lacrosse I played one of the most technical positions (goalie) and drills were our bread and butter-Why would swimming be any different?

Tomorrow is back in the water and possibly out on the bike for a short spin. I may, though, substitute the bike for an afternoon hike with Lucky. It'll be a game time decision.