And you guys have Aussie rules football and we have Canadian Football … in any case back to swimming. A few weeks ago I did 20x300m as (200IM + 100 free LCM) on 7 min. Tomorrow I think I will try 30x200IM LCM. I think if I can do it on 5 min send off time, then thats a 2.5 hrs swim. Let’s see how it goes. Probably better to get this long swim out of the way this week, then two weeks later 70.3 Worlds on Dec 15 then I can recover and try the 50x version just before Xmas (likely have to try on Dec 20 as that is the last day when I can get a 4 hrs slot…everything else is 3.5 hrs during the holidays and I am not fast enough on current fitness in the LCM pool…even SCM would be tight)
Back with my training mate today, just some work to get the feeling back
1k warm up plus
3x100 5x300 (prob that 6.5 - 7 / 10 effort level, just honest aerobic)
a few 100 easy
100 200 300 400 (just 5-6 out of 10) then 4x50 100 (1500 pace) then 400 or so just loosening off
Got to build the ‘kilometerage’ back up
Reporting back on the 30x200IM
I got to the pool wtih 2:30 of pool time left which meant if I held a send off of 5 min, 30x5= 150 = 2.5 hrs. I figured this should be OK except I had 12 hrs of SBR training in the last 4 days so there was zero taper. Part of the method to the madness is I HOPE to bike sub 2:30 at 70.3 worlds in 2 weeks so this felt like a good workout to get done as it is leg heavy and I can do some longer rides in NZ next week.
I got my first 12 of them done in 57.xx which was a bit under the 5 minute send off and then the next 12 I had a few longer breaks and was a 1:59 as I wanted to take in more “nutrition” which was 2x300mL bottles of coke. That left me with 31 minutes to do the last 6 and I came in at 2:29 but I was barely hanging on.
Today backroke felt easy, breast stroke as killing me in the final 1000m (hamstring cramps…maybe too much trainer riding the last bunch of days). I had limited “pop” on the fly segments. I was using the free for “recovery” before the next set.
I did not slow down TODAY, but I was literally going 20-30 seconds slower than last year. At 59 probably my cardio has gone on strike. I notice on trainer rides 190W feels like 210W literally a year ago. I guess that’s the rapid decline everyone talks about around 60 but you gotta work with what you got and that’s what I have.
My overall year has been more down than up…my half Ironman run splits all seem to be 5-8 min slower than last year. All these metrics don’t lie. You can try and believe that single instances are a bad day, but when they appear across sports frequently, its not the workout, its the athlete…so here we are.
Anyway its done. Three weeks from now would be the 50x200IM attempt LCM as that is the only day I can get to the pool that is open for slightly longer than 4 hrs. Last year that set took me 3:52, but at today’s pace I am looking at 4:10. Maybe a 5 day recovery doing NOTHING after 70.3 Worlds and a shave down and we’ll see what is possible but its going to hurt.
Also I think where I am weaker than last year is I have not done a lot of dolphin kicking. When I do a lot of that breast and fly are easier (riding higher in the water with stronger activation of core).
Dev
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Big set. Great work. I would definitely need more than 2 cokes to get through that.
Can’t be sure what the pace difference is for you
How does your distance freestyle pace feel compared to the last few years? Medley is such a whole body activity that when tiredness sets in I can’t swim the strokes at high enough tenpo to maintain good pace
While I swim a fair bit of back and free I don’t always touch the other two strokes which are the hardest. Perhaps if you’re cramping near the end you may have needed some more salts / sugar / water that may have let you finish it a bit easier. I’m sure that if you trained your paces (not your top end so much but your medium effort speeds) you could get some more efficiency and bring the time back a little bit
Nonetheless a great effort
I’m just building back my fitness after about 6 weeks of holiday and some illness. A set I did when I was building it up before was 30 minutes and see how far you can go. I also am trying to hold good stroke counts so in that set trying not to let it climb by more than 2 strokes. Gives a different burn I find.
I think there are a few things at play. My last few months with IM70.3 Morocco on Oct 27 and NZ Worlds on Dec 15, I have been trying to really get my biking and running in order. My swimming has been shorter per session in general as I tack on a 30-45 min run after every swim (reducing length of swim from say 1:10-1:20 range down to 50-60 min range). That’s item one, second thing is when I am at the pool I have not put in the mental focus to chase the clock (I know I should), but in my work life I am always chasing deadlines every day every hour, every 15 minutes, so when I get to the pool sometimes I just want to do the motion and go by feel. Well as it turns out I am going be “feel” too often and its not working. In running you can go by feel often and maybe hit intervals a few times a week and you are golden. As an AOS, I think without the feedback of time, sometimes “going by feel” feels better but it may just feel better because I am going easier (on the bike 150W feels good, 275W not so good and if you always bike closer to 150W the day you have to hold 225W continuous is going to feel miserable…that was me today)
Absolutely it just feels good to loosen off down at the pool, ease off after or before the punch of work day
And then sometimes the clock is good too
Man all this huge amount of IM set talk is getting me all fired up. I can’t do anything right now, just about to start my taper for next weeks SCM champs. But maybe a big end of year set, maybe 30 of them on the 3;40 or something like that. dont think 50 of them are in my future, but I guess I I get some cokes to set on the deck anything is possible. I have never in my life taken anything during a swim workout, but perhaps time to start experimenting and I can go a bit longer and hold pace…
Last 3 workouts at the low/ cool pool and today I felt like a million pesos. Not sure why today, went pretty hard yesterday, but just how it goes. I dont get to plan my good days, they just show up and I got to make hay while the sun shines…Good speed, good breathing, good HR, and when I was done felt like I could do at least another 1k+ at the paces…Have been using my fast suit, but then took it off at the end to see how much it was helping. My trainer is down to my knees and basically see through, so time to go black friday shopping for a new one:
3x100swim@1;40(1;26/24/22)3x100frog@2;00(1;48/47/44)3x100p@1;30(1;15/14/12)100IM kick(1;48)
5x(50fly@1;20/50p@1;00/100frog@2;10)flys(35/34+/34/33+/33)pulls(30+/30/30/29+/29)frogs(1;48/46’s)
2x(2x100p@1;40/1;50/50back@1;30)pulls(1;15/12+/12/10+)back(39/38)fast suit off
2x(2x100frog@2;30/50back@1;30)frogs(1;47 to 1;42)back(39/39)
50fly(34)100frog(1;48)50back(39)100frog(1;47)
200easy pull(2;41)
3700SCY in 72 minutes
My swim today
100-100-200-200-300-300-400 alternate as
Frim and free just continuous
Main set
2 rounds of 500 medium, 5x100 pace, 2x50 faster 200 recovery
300 easy. First 5km swim in awhile
Working on different speeds and stroke rhythms to avoid stale
strong workout that, well done !
welcome to getting slower, faster 
my run went in the late 50s, swim and bike held on another few years, this year (64) really noticed both swim and bike are significantly slower than they used to be…
@waverider101 just saw this yeah have been working remotely, grateful to work for letting me keep my job