A couple of discoveries

Made a few interesting discoveries this week.

First off, I had to travel to Ottawa for work for a day and a half. This sort of thing can really screw up your training.

I was staying at the Hilton Lac Leamie in Hull, which is a magnificent place. It's set on parkland and a lake, with a trail running round it. I ditched my plans to go for a swim there and decided to run along the lake. After less than a kilometre, my throat was on fire and I was having trouble continuing.

The throat thing ... well, training does break down your immune system a bit, so maybe a picked up a bit of a bug. But I think for the most part it was inadequate fueling. I flew in on Tuesday afternoon on Porter (the only civilized airline left in the Western Hemisphere), and had counted on them feeding me, which they frequently do, even on flights of an hour's duration. Guess I wasn't flying at meal time, for lunch consisted of a Steam Whistle (still more than you get from other airlines). End resukt, I was trying to do my run powered by three packages of assorted nuts.

When you're used to a particular pattern of fueling, travel can wreak havoc with your training. Knowing what I know now, I'd have brought some bananas, yogurt and chocolate milk along for the ride.

Travel back to Toronto cost me my Wednesday workout, which was okay. It's Week 4, so it should have been a recovery week anyway. Work cost me my Thursday workout, which was not okay. Two days off in a row was not my plan. But I got to the pool today, where I made Discovery No. 2.

I'd set up a workout fpr myself: a 100m swim, followed by four 50m swims, followed by a 100m swim. (If I ever go into this much detail again, I'll write it as 1x100, 4x50, 1x100). It.s a 25m pool, so 100m is four lengths. On my first length, this thought crossed my mind: "You can stop any time. You don't have to go 100m; you can go 50, or 25. (Has to be increments of 25, though, or you drown.) There is nothing forcing you, no law of physics that says you have to do this."

That's when I realized that not only is training meant to condition your body; it's meant to condition your will. This may be no surprise to those of you who train regularly, but for me, not having trained for anything in 30 years (and training pretty half-assed back then, to be fair), it was a revelation. I did the 100, the 4x50, and the second 100. Then 4x25. Then I figured I had time for another 2x50. Then a pretty girl got in the pool, so I had time for another 2x50. At that point, I had to go back to the office. I feel like I'd still be there now if I hadn't. As it was, I'd set out to swim 400m, and I'd swum 700m.

The key, I think, is to set training goals that are challenging enough that you could give up if you wanted to, but realistic enough that you can complete them if you want to.

Third discovery: In all of the documentation on training and nutrition that I've read, in books, magazines, online, nowhere does anyone ever mention salad. I'm just sayin'.