Good Swim!! And a Change in Training...

I had a little time after my first class and before my office hours on Monday, so I quick hit the pool. I'd been planning something longer at the pool ("longer" for me). I wanted to hit 2,000 yards.

After 1,000, I was still feeling pretty good. I was surprised. And I hit 1,000 in 16:43, or right about 1:40 / 100 pace. Quite surprising.

On Saturday, I posted about doing 10 x 100 that morning. Now 2 days later, and I was holding a decent pace on a longer swim. I really think because swimming is such a "form-driven" sport (where it's harder to just "muscle through" to gain speed) that having a reminder of fast-swimming form from 2 days earlier really helped me keep some speed (and form) for this longer set! I really think that ONE workout on Saturday helped bring a little speed back!

I finished my last 1,000 in 16:21 for a RARE swimming negative split for me! I was hashed, but THRILLED to start feeling a little faster in the pool! (My 100 splits for all 2000 were 1:32, 1:45, 1:41, 1:40, 1:40, 1:39, 1:40, 1:39, 1:41, 1:40, 1:40, 1:38, 1:40, 1:37, 1:37, 1:38, 1:37, 1:37, 1:37, and 1:36, for a 1:39.20 average.)

I hadn't swam a long, straight-through, tempo effort swim of that distance for a while. I checked my workout log. I had to keep going back in time. Last June I did a 2,400 yard open-water swim, but when was my last distance of 2,000 or greater in the pool? (That was my only swim of 2,000 yards or more ALL YEAR last year!)

Last May I did 1,800 with a 1:40.8 average.

I had to go back to before Henry was born in June of 2011 to find a swim of that distance! I did 2 workouts of 2,000 or more in the week before Henry was born. One of those averaged 1:37 / 100 for 2,000 straight. And I had done a total of 6 swims of 2000 or more in the 5 weeks before he was born! WOW, HE HAS KEPT ME FROM GETTING TO THE POOL! (Or so goes my excuse.)

My goal is to make that workout a shift in my training. I've talked a lot over the last 14 months or so about how I've let some of the speedwork go and focused more on distance - especially with my running. That worked great for me last year when I did 3 half marathons and my first 25K (15.5 miles). And it helped to keep me more injury-free. But this year, there's a chance I might not do a race of half marathon distance or longer (or maybe just 1 or 2), and I want to focus a little more on shorter-end speed. So the shift in my training means that I'm hoping for more "hard" workouts, and less "but tomorrow I was hoping to do [blank] so I better not over-do it today" excuses.

Time to kick this in the ass. I hope Henry wants to run fast in his stroller this spring.

I know I have to ease back into this and make sure I build in some easier weeks so I don't kill my body, but I'm hoping for more "training" and not just "running." And I hope to hit the pool more than once a month. Oh, and I should probably hop on my bike soon... it's been a few months....