Saturday swim

It hasn't been a good week so far for training--everything I've done I've enjoyed, that is, but with a heavy work schedule and the bike out of my hands I've done way fewer hours than I hoped. I just picked up the bike from the shop, and I hope tomorrow will include two good long sessions (run in the morning with S., later-afternoon bike)--I think I should make the bike the total priority over the next five days, and I also think I should count my recovery week from next Friday to the Friday after, to respond to various schedule issues...

A very solid swim this afternoon. I knew I could only stay till 5, so I got there some minutes earlier and practiced somersaulting before we got started with masters swim. I did flip turns on absolutely all the freestyle bits, and though they continue to be slightly horrible (actually quite horrible!) I am making minor improvements. The tuck is happening, a bit, though I'm still mostly coming off much too deep. I am never going to learn them properly if I don't do them...

Warmup:

400 choice (I did 200 free, 100 back, 100 fly down-breast back)

4 x 100 as 25 kick 50 drill 25 swim (I did each stroke in IM order--NB this is a good warmup, I noticed the benefit on the stroke lengths later on)

Main set:

In theory the long freestyle segments were to be done descending, but because I was doing turns, I just did them all at the same fairly comfortable pace.

250 free

2 x 100 IM on 2:15

250 free

4 x 50 1 each stroke on 1:15

250 free

2 x 100 IM on 2:15 (in theory on 2:10, but that is as fast as I can do!)

250 free

4 x 50 each stroke on 1:15 (ditto re: 1:10!)

Then I left to go to the CU triathlon club clinic on transitions. Partly it is moot because I have been obsessively reading triathlon-related stuff for the last year and know a lot of it (in theory at least!) already, partly it is moot because the advice is geared towards the very fast young fellows getting ready for the (Olympic-distance) Collegiate Nationals in Tuscaloosa in April and not towards longer-course racing (i.e. no socks on run--that is never going to be me, neither do I imagine that I will ever have my shoes clipped onto the pedals and be scrambling to get feet strapped in once I am actually riding!), but it still seemed to me very worthwhile--interesting to reflect on this stuff.

Total yards: 2600 (hmmm, that's respectable I think...)

Really I should be able to find this out myself, but perhaps it will be as well to ask those better-informed than I--how does the 1.2-mile swim distance for the 70.3 translate into yards and meters?!? I assume it is regular rather than swimmers' mile, a slightly confusing distinction, which would make it 2112 yards (84.5 lengths in the Columbia pool) or 1931 meters (39 lengths in the 50-meter pool at Riverbank)? Somebody put me right, please, if this is wrong! I must have at least once where I go and do the distance as a straight swim, might be less insanity-inducing to go up to Riverbank for that...

(Swim pacing will be on effort rather than time, but I am guessing it will come out around 2:05-2:10/100 yards based on rough impressions of pool swimming paces, so call it c. 45 minutes? Shouldn't be much more or less.)