11k SCM. WTF!

Nope, I'm not nuts.  Okay, well I am, but not because of this.

Saturday morning, I was first in the pool (6:54am) at the Y to get my key workout in to complete my peak week of training for the Horsetooth 10k on August 7.

11 x 1,000 meters on 1 minute rest.

Assuming neutral wind/lake conditions, I'm aiming for 2:30 (or 15 minutes/kilometer) at the race so I set out to swim about that pace here.  The stroke and kick work go a little slower plus the rest interval made for 3 hours and 2 minutes.  Solid.

This workout has scared me ever since a friend pointed it out to me back in January.  It's just a long way to go.  I tried, unsuccessfully, to get someone to join me.  So it was just me and the thoughts in my head for all that time.

A few takeaways:

• I'm ready.  I won't say it was easy, but it was easier than I expected it to be.  Last year, my longest workout was 6k and my biggest week was probably around 15k.  It wasn't nearly enough prep as I hit the wall with 2k to go in the race.  I'm determined to burst through the 8k mark with speed and strength this year.
• It wasn't that boring.  I don't know why, but it really wasn't.  I counted strokes and laps, sang songs, did a little deep thinking.  My brain is an entertaining place.  It's not a great place for everyone, but it seems to work for me.
• It wasn't that hard.  This has more to do with the right kind of prep and training ramp than the workout itself.  I came into Saturday with over 20k on the week and a solid progression of building volume over the past several weeks.  Even the 1,000 IM wasn't a big deal (though I took that one pretty slowly...).

It was mildly surprising that none of the four lifeguards who watched over me bothered to ask what the eff I was doing. Thanks to Dave McMillan for sending me the link to Tim Hola's blog post about this workout.

So that's that.  The longest swim workout of my life.  Somehow, I suspect that even longer workouts are in my future as I look at some of my bucket-list swim goals...