Robbing Peter to pay Paul

I had a depressing feeling as I hurried over to the gym this morning (I was almost ten minutes late I'm afraid, it is simply not psychologically plausible to stop commenting on a paper a few pages from the end, then you will have to read the whole thing all over again if you pick it up later!) of having stretched myself too thin this week. I have too many competing obligations and each one is suffering.

However after a few lengths in the pool it all seemed immaterial, I felt miraculously calm and happy! A strange feeling at this time of the school year...

I didn't have time to do the whole warmup; just did 100 swim, 100 IM, 200 pull.

8 x 25, swim underwater down (plus five seconds rest) and sprint back (twenty seconds rest)

(NB I must consult with I. about this swimming underwater business, I was peering around to see how everyone else was doing it but I think I will have to learn better coordination of arms and legs for it to work, really I just annoyingly pop up to the surface despite my best intentions. I like how when you're really underwater like that the water feels so heavy, though!)

4 x 200 pull, with the third 50 of each 200 as stroke in IM order (i.e. 100-150 of the first 200 is fly, of next 200 is back, etc.)

2 x 400 IM; on first 400, 50 kick-50 drill by hundreds, and on second 400, 50 drill-50 swim also by hundreds (i.e. 50 fly kick, 50 fly drill, 50 back kick, 50 back drill, etc.)

Ran out of time on this last, missed the last 50 of breast swim and all 100 free drill-swim. But this is fine, it was a lovely swim! I haven't swum since Monday night, I couldn't afford to lose the time Tuesday morning, but the stroke drill work we were doing then has held over, I didn't feel fast but I had that great taffyish-handfuls-of-water sensation. At practice on Monday night R. was showing us a video of Amanda Beard's freestyle, she's got this long flat pull and her shoulders really come out of the water in this amazing way, the body rotation is quite something. I am confident that a video would reveal that I do not look like that when I swim, and yet you do feel that holding the image in your head has some slight and happy contribution to form...

Then I did 30 mins. on one of the bikes in the basement.

Bike #10 of 30, 30 mins., 310 mins.

Now I am mentally fortified for the day. It's funny, usually on Mondays and Tuesdays this semester I have been doing a morning and an evening workout (Mon.: strength-training am, 1.5 hr swim pm; Tues. 1 hr swim am, 6-7 mi. run pm) but time pressures this week meant I only did the evening workout both days. And it kind of makes it feel like a day off! Very strange--and though I was tired both evenings in a sleep-deprived way, my actual body was noticeably more springy and energetic than usual, interesting--you really notice the difference. (However I like the two-a-days better than the one-a-days, two lets you really sort of spread out and take over!)