Intervals.

We have a new coach added to our team's staff. During the regular season, he will only coach one practice a week, but for now, while other coaches are away on summer vacations, he is our everyday coach. A few of us had said to him that we would love to get some interval practices in--something that neither of our other coaches tend to do.

I do not know about you, but if I do not have intervals, I tend to be a big slacker--take too much rest, get too much time between sets. This does not make me faster. Plus, it gives me too much time to think--too much time to psych myself out, convince myself I am tired and cannot do the next set.

But not last night!

The new coach was still getting a few kinks out--like everyone's speed (and we have a pretty big range)--but it was a good practice, and I found the intervals to be about right for me. The only problem was that it was a LOT of freestyle, and my shoulder did not like that. So on a few of the swims, I modified by alternating 50 FR with 50 BR, which felt better but made it harder to make the intervals (and wore me out!) .

This was also an interesting practice for me because I realized that I had no idea of my pace in long-course meters--since all the interval work I had done in the past had been in a short-course yards pool.

Anyway, here is the damage:
1200 warm-up (4x200 free @ 4:00 and then 4x100 kick @ 3:30)
700 swim (this was a 15 minute swim, where you take about 10 seconds rest after each 100, and try to get a sense of your pace. I was swimming 100 free at anywhere from 1:42 to 1:50, but for 5 of the 7 swims, I was at 1:44)
1000 swim ( 1x400 free @ 8:00, then 50 easy @ 1:10, then 2x250 free @ 5:00, then another 50 easy @1:10. I modified the 400 and the first 250 by swimming 50FR/50BR, and this left me hardly any rest, so I did the last 250 free, which helped a lot)
600 IM swim (3x200 IM @4:30: I had to do the FL drill here, because my shoulder was screaming, but I managed to hold about 4:00 swim time through the set, descending slightly)
200 cool-down
That's 3700 LCM total.

I was pretty proud of myself for finishing that practice. It was by far the most intensity I have done since my surgery, and one of the most consistently strong practices I have had this season. Besides, that is more meterage than I have swum in a long time with no fins.

So now let's see whether I make it through practice tonight....