Saturday swim

It was a nice one, but I am afraid I did not at all take advantage of it being an hour and a half workout instead of just an hour as on weekdays, I skipped part in the middle and got out early!

Partly it was a sudden accession of prudence--I thought of my race tomorrow and thought perhaps it was not suddenly the day to add on half as much again swimming mileage (though it pained me not to take up the invitation to swim 3600 yards, which would have been the total distance if one could actually squeeze in the whole workout in ninety minutes, not at all a foregone conclusion!). Partly I was just flagging--possibly a bit underfueled, and certainly with tired back muscles from swimming three days in a row.

(The tired muscles are a great satisfaction in their own way, because part of the frustration of being a very beginning swimmer with poor technique is that you're all, like, I have good muscles but I am just flailing around breathlessly wasting a huge amount of energy, while the frail old lady in the next lane over is effortlessly swimming twice as fast as I am with about half the muscles! ARGHHHHH! So I really have been thinking about freestyle technique, as per Dr. Rod Havriluk and the MONA freestyle cues, and it is amazing what a difference it makes--at least in my head... In particular when I really keep my arms bent in the right way and get the body roll, I get a strikingly stronger pull with hands and forearms and really feel it during and afterwards in my lats. This is a nice feeling--the past months I have felt the limiting factor on all swimming-related things to be breathlessness rather than anything really satisfactory in the muscles, as though I couldn't swim fast enough to actually feel anything very noticeable in an actual arm or back muscle because before that happened I would be wheezingly panting for air...--but really those back muscles are quite tired now! Actually it is probably from doing the other strokes also...)

In any case, it was a very nice workout, though I sneakingly feel like a total cop-out for only doing seventy minutes instead of ninety!

Warmup: 800 (200 swim, 200 back, 200 breast/fly drill by 50, 200 choice--I did fly down, breast back, then 50 pull freestyle)

First set:

3 x 50 choice on 1:20 (I did fly, back, breast for each of these, there seemed no reason not to use IM order, I am not especially working on one or another stroke--they all need improvement!)

2 x 50 free on 1:05

3 x 50 choice on 1:20

2 x 50 free on 1:00

3 x 50 choice on 1:20

2 x 50 choice on :55

50 easy swim

Second set:

(In consultation with the coach and thinking of half-marathon tomorrow at 8am, I skipped the 4 x 150 IM, 3 x 25 drill, 4 x 100 free bit the set began with...)

Can't remember intervals for these...

3 x 25 drill (25 catchup, 50 thumbsies drill with evil forehead swipe)

4 x 75 (50 free, 25 breast)

3 x 25 as above

4 x 50 back

3 x 25 as above

4 x 25 free (second half spring)

3 x 50 recovery

There was another set to follow, I think, but discretion was the better part of valor...

That was good, very nice swim, enjoyable--that's 2500, isn't it? It is not surprising I was ready to stop, that is the most I ever usually do, often there's only time for more like 1900 if the hour is shortened at one end or another. Next week's Saturday practice is canceled because of a meet, and the week after I'm out of town, but I will hope to have a really good long swim on March 1...