Fighting Dragons

A dragon has appeared during my workouts.

I don't think it is coincidental that he appeared during our descent into the middle ages while we are remodelling our kitchen. I think that they travel hand in hand.

The first time the dragon appeared was during a swim work out. I planned to do a main set of 3 sets of 5 x100s on descending intervals. The dragon started lurking in the pool during the drills prior to the main set. Doubt that I could conquer the beast started to grow. As the dragon grew larger, my resolve grew weaker and the main set began to change. As I changed the number of repeats and swam recovery 50s (backstroke) between sets, I had to talk myself into completing my "modified on the fly" workout. I finished all but 200. The dragon did not win entirely, but it was a fierce battle which left my confidence shaken and gave me some battle scars.

Exhausted from battle, I did not workout for the next two days. On Monday, I jumped back into the deep end to do battle again. I choose to do a workout that I successfully battled before. The main set was 24x50s on a constant interval. Even though I have had success with this workout before, I saw the shadow of the dragon lurking on the bottom of the pool. This time I kept my resolve, he was held at bay, and victory was mine.

On Tuesday, the dragon reared his ugly head again. I had to run on the treadmill due to darkness and my fear of black ice. I planned to run a 10 minute warm up and four 1 mile sprint repeats with 3 minutes recovery followed by a 5- 10 minute cool down. The warm up and the first repeat went well. There was no dragon in sight. During the second mile repeat, the dragon nudged me in the side. Then, he stomped on my foot. I was caught off guard and not prepared to battle. Once again my strategy was to modify my workout and drop the pace. The dragon was relentless and soon I was running at a recovery pace for the duration of the workout. I completed my run defeated. The dragon definitely won this battle.

Today, I decided I was going to take the battle back to the pool. I had a win against my mighty foe on Monday and feeling a bit cocky, I pulled out the workout in which the dragon first appeared. Armed with knowledge with that my attitude was my greatest strength or weakness, I resolved to do battle and take down the beast once and for all. My battle strategy was to look at the sets individually and tackle each group of five like it was my only set for the swim. My plan worked. I did see the dragon lurking at the bottom of the pool. However, my determination made it undesirable for him to approach.

Soon, I will need to do battle again on the treadmill, but I think that I will bask in the glory of my pool victory for a little while longer.