Getting Rested & Ready

I wrote on Friday about the theory of GR&R, but I thought I would say a little about my Saturday's swim, because it shows something of the way this works.

Usually on Saturdays I swim 6000+ yards. This time it was 3700, about the same distance as a weekday swim.

Here is how the workout broke down:

1500 Warm-up:
* 300 swim
* 200 kick
* 300 drill/swim alternating by 25
* 7 x 100:
-- 2 x 100 moderate
-- 2 x 100 build
-- 1 x 100, 25 fast / 75 easy
-- 1 x 100, 75 build / 25 easy
-- 1 x 100, 25 fast / 75 easy

1000 Main Set #1
* 5 x 50: odds = BR descend, evens = moderate FR
* 250 easy, alternating 25 BR / 50 FR
* 3 x 50 BR on a :20 rest interval
* 350 easy, alternating 25 BA / 25 BR / 50 FR

1100 Main Set #2
* 4 x
/ 25 fast [FL, BR, FR, BR]
\ 5 x 50 moderate free @ :50

100 Cool-down

So first, let me explain the theory behind the first main set. I was building up to swim 3 x 50 BR perfectly, to simulate the last 3 50s of the 200. So the first round of 50s was sort of a practice, and that's why the 50s of FR were in there. So I was trying to descend the 3 x 50s of BR in the first part of the set (so that by the third one I was swimming my target pace for the 200), with a little recovery during the 2 x 50s of FR in between. I took the first 50 BR out really smooth and strong, and came in at :41. That was the target I thought I was going for by the end of the set. My coach-friend was also surprised, and suggested I just maintain that pace. So during the second one I tried to swim the same way, but then I got nervous that I was getting slower so I took the second half a tiny bit harder. I came in at :40. Then the last one was :39. So it did turn out to be a descend after all, but at a much faster pace than I anticipated. My coach-friend was also very pleased with how the stroke count was during this set: I was swimming 10 strokes/length on the first 50, then 9/length for the other 2.

Then I did the 250 easy and then the 3 x 50, which I swam at :39 low, :39 mid, and :40 flat.

The result is that if I could swim just like that during the meet, I'll be much, much faster than I have been in the past. I don't know what to make of that, whether to hope that this better training could cut time off my best time. We shall see shortly.

Then the second set was sort of a speed + aerobic pace set, where you swim your ass off during the 25s and then recover during the 50s. I was pleased with how that set, and it really seemed that by the end of the fourth round I felt better and stronger than at the end of the first round.

And then I was done! That was an amazing feeling, after so many Saturdays when I would be just past half-way.

Today is a rest day, then I continue with the GR&R the rest of the week, starting my daily yardage tomorrow at 3000 and shortening down to ~2500 by the end of the week.