600 Z4, check!

I had a great swim last night. We had a test set where we were supposed to go 600 yds Z4, ie. a longish way at a hard effort, and then 600 yds Z2, ie same distance easy pace.  I seeded myself a little poorly in the lane and was right on the person in front of me's heels for the Z4, but finished it in about 9:40, for a pace around 1:37/hundred.  I wasn't actually as tired as you should be at the end of a long hard set, so I'm pretty sure I could've gone faster, at least a little.  The Z2 set was slow enough to be comical. I can't remember how long it took, maybe around a 1:50/hundred pace.

The point of the set was supposed to be that, in a race, the extra exertion of swimming hard is not worth it because you only gain a bit of time.  I sort of hope we do this set again sometime though because I feel like I have a faster Z4/Z2 set in me.

Later in the practice was 5 100's working on something or other. I decided to work on the something while going fast for the 100 where I led the lane, and tapped the wall around 1:30 for the hundred.

I can't remember exactly how fast I was supposed to be going while being one of the worst swimmer on the college team, but I feel like doing 100's on a 1:30 interval would've been less embarrassing than what I was achieving. Certainly in grad school masters swimming, I would've felt pretty good about that pace.  The point of this paragraph is "Go me! I'm getting better at swimming again!!"

Also, the snowpocalypse has started here in DC. NOAA says 20-28 inches expected this weekend.

PS. Seriously, snowpocalypse! Here's an exceprt from the newest NOAA Winter Storm Watch thingy:

* ACCUMULATIONS...WIDESPREAD STORM TOTAL ACCUMULATIONS OF 20 TO 30
  INCHES...WITH SOME LOCATIONS IN EXCESS OF 30 INCHES.

* VISIBILITIES...WIDESPREAD VISIBILITIES AROUND ONE-QUARTER MILE
  ARE EXPECTED TONIGHT IN HEAVY SNOW. STRONG WINDS WILL COMBINE
  WITH THE SNOW ALONG THE MARYLAND CHESAPEAKE BAY AND TIDAL
  POTOMAC RIVER TO REDUCE VISIBILITIES TO WELL BELOW ONE-QUARTER
  MILE...PRODUCING NEAR-BLIZZARD CONDITIONS TONIGHT THROUGH
  SATURDAY MORNING.

THIS EXTREMELY DANGEROUS STORM IS EXPECTED TO PRODUCE RECORD
SNOWFALL FOR THE BALTIMORE AND WASHINGTON DC METROPOLITAN AREAS.
TRAVEL CONDITIONS TONIGHT ACROSS THE REGION WILL BE EXTREMELY
HAZARDOUS AND LIFE-THREATENING. HELP YOUR LOCAL AND STATE
GOVERNMENT FIRST RESPONDERS AND TRANSPORTATION AGENCIES BY STAYING
OFF THE ROADS.

More snow, more running

There's a chance that one of these days I'll get around to something other than amazed, narcissistic thinking about how unbelievably exercisey my life is compared to what it used to be.

Until then...

I've been training for a half-marathon that is coming up towards the end of March.  The weekend runs have been getting longer and I've mostly been getting more and more excited as I complete new longest-ever runs. Until two Saturdays ago. I packed my stuff to go run, carrying my keys in my hat, though "oh, a notebook!" and picked that up, headed downstairs and realized, as I shut myself outdoors, that my hat, and keys were still in my condo. GAH!

Thankfully, I recently met some teammates/neighbors, and stood outside their building and used their computer and phone to call a locksmith. Very expensive.

I couldn't bring myself to run after all that and instead played computer games and ate pizza.

Sunday, when I got up to go run, I really wasn't feeling like it. I made myself leave the house (with keys, but without snacks) and then headed out further than usual before turning around because I thought I would quit if I went back past the house. Well, I sort of did quit, even though I wasn't near the house. After 7 miles, about 1 mile from my car with snacks and stuff, I just couldn't run anymore. People talk of "bonking" and I think that's what it was. I ended up walking the rest of the way to the car, walking and drinking and eating snacks, but never did get any umph back, so just kept walking to finish the 10.

It felt good to finish 10 miles, but it wasn't a good 10 miles.

The next weekend was scheduled for 11, and as the week went on, I got more scared and nervous.

Of course, the fact that it was supposed to be stupid cold and start snowing didn't help the nerves.

I showed up, paired up with a teammate and we headed out with a plan of 2 4-mile loops together plus some more for me on my own.

It was awesome.

• The snow did come, and it came early and there was more than predicted, but it was mostly gentle.
• Both our watches were recording km instead of miles, so we had no idea how we were getting such freakishly fast splits, but it was super exciting.
• I'd made hot gatorade for my refuel snack and it was wonderful.
• After the two loops, thinking we'd done 12.8 freak-miles (knowing it wasn't right, but if the GPS gods were giving out free distance, we were going to take it), we stopped and talked with other crazy teammates out running in the snow.  I figured out the km vs miles thing and was so excited, I bounced off to do 2 more miles.
• Running down the road in a few inches of snow was exciting. The sound of it squeaking under my sneakers is something I never would've imagined I would've experienced. It was fun to try to find my footprints coming back and match my stride length. The snow was deep enough that I wasn't kicking through to the pavement, which was also new.

So I ended up doing 10, and it was a happy 10. I'm excited again instead of scared, and am (almost) looking forward to a new longest of 12 miles on Feb 13.

Here's some pictures from teammates that I've completely stolen without asking: