Warmup: 300 free with breast every fourth length, 200 kick easy with every fourth length strong
3 x 100 free on 2:10 (swimming around 1:58 I suppose--really I should do 'em on 2:05, as goal was +5 second rest? but this was explained as a sort of continuation of the warmup, so not hard effort)
2 x 300 free on an interval mistakenly written on the board for my lane as 7:30 but undoubtedly meant to be 6:30, which I realized only afterwards as I (a) miserably reproached myself for swimming so much slower than the people in the other lanes and (b) perplexedly wondered why I was being given such a long rest interval for a low-to-medium-effort swim
1 x 500 free
2 x 150 IM with extra lengths of back and free
(Then there were 3 x 100 IM variants, but we were out of time, so I moved straight to cooldown.)
200 choice easy (I did 50 double-arm back, 50 back, 50 breast, 50 free)
Reflection #1: I have become a better swimmer but not a faster swimmer, though I suppose this means that if I were to swim hard and assess my top speeds would probably be either a little faster or else sustainable for longer. Partly the Monday-night swim workouts in the fall were geared to fast freestyle, so really I just don't know about what current times would look like. I would say that a comfortable 100 free comes in just around 2:00; that I can swim a number of 100s on 2:00, but five would be more realistic than eight, I would think I would start to fall off the interval by that point, but it might be worth seeing if I could hold 2:00 for 10 as a realistic challenge; and that based on today's swim, an easy/comfortable 300 is paced around 2:10/100 but that I could probably be swimming those a little faster, as the 500 came in more like 2:05/100 and still felt non-breathlessness-inducing.
Reflection #2: I suppose these long bits of free are good race-specific training, but they are mentally understimulating, they are long and boring enough that they unfortunately allow the most baroque and elaborate ribbons of self-criticism to unspool in my mind!
2400 yards total
1 comment:
Long comment warning!
Re: Reflection #2.
For me the trick is to try to *think about what I am doing at all times*. A typical 25 in a mid-long distance set goes something like this:
-- hit streamline
-- stretch & hold
-- begin kick, hold streamline
-- begin pulling with proper arm
-- check how far from the wall I've come off the turn
-- repeat to myself 3x distance I've finished so I don't lose count
-- check hand entry position
-- brief check for bubbles
-- think about head position
-- ask self if hands are pointing to bottom of pool in pull phase (feel it)
-- remind self to finish bottom of stroke for maximum propulsion (feel it)
-- think about chosen breathing pattern
-- attempt to feel strength/rhythm of stroke
-- prepare for turn: angle in, remember hand position, flip
If I've been lazy about anything in my stroke in warm-up, I try to focus on that, too. Being in the moment and thinking about what I'm doing ensures that even distance freestyle isn't boring, and my mind doesn't wander off (which it has a tendancy to do!).
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