Nine, Ten and Eleven

Brrr...when you start to see steam rise from the pool at 6am you really know that fall is in the air.  After feeling groggy on Monday morning I made sure I went to bed early enough to ensure a good nights sleep.  So this morning when the alarm went off at 5am I felt a lot better.  I got on the bike and headed to Culver.  One thing is for sure my mornings of riding in shorts and a tee shirt are coming to an end.  It was might brisk outside at 5:30am.  Once I got in the pool it felt warm for a change but not too warm.  It was more of the Goldilocs version of being just right for a morning swim.

Long Course Meter Workout:

I warmed up a 450.  Then we did 3x200's broken 50 kick / 50 swim / 50 drill / 50 swim.

Then 2x50's build.

Then it was time for the 15x100's pace on 1:30.

For my 15x100's I started off on a 1:21 pace and held it to about the ninth 100.  My ninth, tenth and eleventh 100's were around a 1:22.  I was feeling a bit tired.  But then at the 12th one I pulled myself back to a 1:21.  My fourteenth one I did a 1:20 and then finished up with a 1:16 for my fifteenth one.  Which only shows that I need to work on my 900-1200 of a 1500.  I pull back before I pick up steam.  I plan on doing this set again next Tuesday on the same interval and see if I can be more consistent yet still finish my last 100 fast.

After that I just warmed down a 200.  I was tired from the 15x100's.  I plan on swimming tomorrow but would like to work on some stroke.  Then again I may feel different once I'm in the water.

Comments

[Canuck Swimmer]

Even so Joel you're swimming hundreds, not a 1500, which is the point of a split set. You can swim a 1:18 lcm 100 free even at 6:00 in the morning and slightly hung over. The trick is to put fifteen of them together with some rest in between. Give yourself a 1:35 interval to start out and tighten it up to 1:30 for the last five if you feel up to it. And seriously consider trying more speed work by throwing the occasional fast split 800 into your workout. Easy for me to say of course, but that's why I'm building up my endurance by adding more meters to my workouts - so that eventually I'll be able to handle all the many sets which are necessary to swim my best.

[Joel / the17thman]

I can never swim my race pace at anytime during workout. You are right I should be going faster than 1:20's and coming in around the 1:18 mark.

I just don't know how to get that extra energy in a workout at 6am. I do notice I swim faster when I have someone next to me in workouts. Looking back I know that this morning a guy two lanes over and I seemed to be racing from time to time. I just need to be like that in every workout.

[Canuck Swimmer]

You want to be more consistent? I'm all over the place when I do fifties and you slow down a piddling second for a couple of hundreds and you think that's inconsistent? Jeez, that doesn't bode well for me! All the same my understanding is that the aim of a broken anything is to get used to swimming at race pace or faster for a better feel for the required tempo (only a very experienced swimmer can confidently go out fast in a 1500). For distance events the best times come from having very close splits throughout the race, thereby maximizing overall output of effort. Have you and your coach considered doing a split 800 aiming for a 1:15 pace instead? What's the objective of the split 1500 if you're pacing almost five seconds slower than your PB?