I took a few months off from the pool after my last race in 2022. I got back into the water this month, and for the past few weeks, I have just been swimming 2,000 yards continuously to get back into the feel of the water. Before, I was doing structured workouts with 50yd and 100yd intervals and sometimes some 500yd cruising sets.
I am puzzled, because I am not back in shape yet, but my 2,000 yard pace is a few seconds/100yd faster than my 500 yard sets were last year. What is different is that when I am just swimming, I tend to think about body rotation and other general form things more than I did in the short intervals, when my focus was more on the effort intensity.
So, this is an unexpected surprise. And it makes me wonder if there is benefit to just doing occasional long continuous workouts instead of more intense structured workouts every time. (For reference, I am FO-MOP swimmer that will do around 35 minutes in a non-wetsuit lake swim. So, I am OK, but far from a truly capable swimmer.)
I am puzzled, because I am not back in shape yet, but my 2,000 yard pace is a few seconds/100yd faster than my 500 yard sets were last year. What is different is that when I am just swimming, I tend to think about body rotation and other general form things more than I did in the short intervals, when my focus was more on the effort intensity.
So, this is an unexpected surprise. And it makes me wonder if there is benefit to just doing occasional long continuous workouts instead of more intense structured workouts every time. (For reference, I am FO-MOP swimmer that will do around 35 minutes in a non-wetsuit lake swim. So, I am OK, but far from a truly capable swimmer.)