Saturday swim

Such a nice one, too: after the initial horror of submersion & realizing that every single little bit of chafing from HR monitor strap and sports bra was now open to the bite of pool chemicals (death by a thousand cuts!), it felt blissful to have the cool water to make my way through. I really love swimming, especially after a run (it is so refreshing!); it is a pity that there is no race format that puts them this way round!

I took a back seat initially as I saw no reason to have a high-intensity swim, but it soon became clear that really I had better lead, or else I was going to be full of irk.

200 warmup

5 x 50 on 1:10

9 x 150: first three on 3:15, 30 seconds rest, next three on 3:10, 30 seconds rest, last three notionally on 3:05 but since I was the only one making the interval with time to spare & not skipping 50s here and there I decided we should just stay on the 3:10 interval

6 x 50 on 1:10: first three back-breast, second three breast-back

3 x 50 as hard-easy, any stroke (should have been :25/:45, but I heard Conrad shouting for the next lane which was doing :20/40, and went with that send-off inadvertently!): I did fly-free

2250 yards total

It was a very enjoyable workout. The benefit of having done my long run at a lower intensity was that I didn't feel at all underfueled during the swim: I had set out early on an empty stomach, had 3 150-calorie gels over the course of the run (at 1:00, 1:45 and 2:30) and a 230-calorie powerbar at 10:15 when I got back from my run. Have just eaten some pasta and fruit, it is good, coffee awaits!