Three Recent Aqua-Jogging Workouts

Last Thursday, I hit the pool between classes for some aqua jogging (as I noted in my last post). After my workout, I posted this question to my friends on the YWCA Endurance Sports page (tagging some coaches):

Here's 5 bits of advice from the group:

- Coach Laurie mentioned keeping my feet flexed (which I hadn't thought of), and she liked a simple "1 min on, 1 min off for 40 mins total" workout.

- Another trainer from the Y mentioned that you only need a bit of rest when water running because heart rate decreases quickly in the pool. She also said to keep a straight back. She gave some workouts with different kick variations, but that scared me. Two main workout ideas she shared were things like 10x 1min hard, 1 min easy or 30 sec hard, 30 sec easy. And a pyramid: "1 min hard, :10 easy, 2 mins hard :10 easy up to 5 minute (at 80%) and back down."

- Someone who I didn't know said they like 30-60 mins of 60 sec on / 15 sec off. She might be Satan because she also said "you can do intervals with your hands above the water or your arms held above your head for a harder strength effort (this works only if you're aqua running without a belt)." NO THANKS. That person also shared this link which has 2 months of aqua jogging workouts! Here's a screenshot of those workouts:

This is a little hard to read, but it's just sort of my backup should this link ever stop working.
Check out this link for a more readable version.

- Coach Kym confirmed that you need less rest when in the pool. She also said this which I found helpful: "You also need to really push for intensity because of the lack of gravity. So generally I suggest a more vigorous arm pump and a greater hip range than you would use on land. Think about using your 100m sprint form and intensity for :30-1:00 with :10-15 rest but it doesn't do the the physical trauma that you would have on the track."

- And finally, someone mentioned keeping her sanity by getting an waterproof iPod case and headphones and listening to podcasts.

SO HERE ARE MY FIRST THREE AQUA JOGGING WORKOUTS:

The first one I mentioned in my Facebook screenshot above:

- 15:00 WU
- 4x5:00 efforts with 2:30 easy (that's 30 mins of hard and easy)
- 15:00 CD
- 60 mins total (stretched out of 62 with some extra CD)

As people mentioned on Facebook, that was a LOT of rest between sets. So my second workout over the weekend had shorter rest. I did Laurie's workout:

- 10:00 WU
- 40 mins of 1 min hard / 1 min easy
- 10:00 CD
- 60 mins total

Then yesterday I decided to up the intensity a bit more. I've mentioned in the past that I HATE ladder workouts (swimming freestyle in the pool or running on the track), so that means they MUST be good for me. So I did a version of that recommended ladder workout. Only I did 0:15 rest instead of 0:10 because (1) I was afraid of THAT short of rest, and (2) it was easier for my mind to keep track of 0:15 rests vs 0:10 on a dial clock.

- 6:00 WU
- 20 mins of 1 min hard / 1 min easy
- 1 min easy rest

(The following "hard" efforts are at roughly 85% effort - NOT all out, but still "hard enough.")

- 1 min hard, 0:15 easy
- 2 min hard, 0:15 easy
- 3 min hard, 0:15 easy
- 4 min hard, 0:15 easy
- 5 min hard, 0:15 easy
- 4 min hard, 0:15 easy
- 3 min hard, 0:15 easy
- 2 min hard, 0:15 easy
- 1 min hard, 0:15 easy

- 1 min easy rest
- 5 mins of 0:30 hard / 0:30 easy
- 8 min CD
- 68 mins total

I did the math pre-workout and saw that the ladder part of that workout was only about 30 mins, so I added in some 1 min efforts before, followed by some 30 sec efforts at the end, and both of those were a good idea. I could easily flip-flop those too, but what I did worked well.

Also, I was glad that I was wearing my watch for that last workout - it's easy to keep an eye on the big pool clock for 60 sec efforts like workout #2, but it got harder when doing 4 min and 5 min efforts like in this last workout. So I took a few splits on my watch during this last workout just so I wouldn't be thinking "wait, was that 3 mins or 4 mins." TIP: if wearing a watch for an aqua jogging workout, coordinate the starting of your watch with the big pool clock so one isn't off by like 12 seconds every minute. That gets annoying. (I did that for my 2nd workout, and it bugged me after a few minutes.)

After doing these 3 workouts, I don't know if I could easily do the first workout again. It might be too boring. The last workout was a BIT more to remember (I actually wrote it down and had it on a sheet of paper next to me in the pool), but that made it a bit more interesting with less chance of boredom. I'll hit the pool again tomorrow, and then I have a "date" with some ladies from my gym on the weekend for some company in the pool. Looking forward to that!

p.s. I took my heart rate at the end of my last aqua jogging workout. I had 39 beats over 15 seconds starting right after I finished my final 30 second interval. Kym and Angela were right - heart rate drops QUICKLY in the pool. I noticed it dropping a LOT over those 15 seconds! So 39 beats over 15 seconds is a HR of 156 beats/min, which isn't bad for no-impact aqua jogging. And really, it was actually well over 160 beats/min at the peak because it was slowing up drastically over those 15 seconds.