‘Resetting’ Post-Race with some Hard Swims

This happens to me sometimes. When I get stuck in a bit of a rut where my training speed levels out, it sometimes “perks up” after a race. I think that happened after my race 1.5 weeks ago.

I’ve only swam 3 times since that race, but they’ve been DECENT swims.

My first workout 2 days post-race (Tuesday 8/1) was a ladder swim: 150 WU, then a ladder with 20 sec rest between (100, 200, 300, 400, 300, 200, 100), then a 150 CD. I didn’t expect much from this workout because my legs were still tired from the triathlon. After a 2:53 200 and a decent 300, I was a bit pooped after the 400. So in the final 300, I told myself it was OK to take it easy. But then I ended up with a 1:19 final 100 yards. Yikes. That was totally “saving too much” for the final kick. This wasn’t an amazing swim, but that 1:19 without really trying felt good.

My next swim (Friday 8/4) was a simple 3x500 (then I added 5x50 at the end for some speed). Usually, any 500s under 7:30 (1:30 pace) are good. These were 7:26, 7:15, and 7:13. Those final two 500s are my fastest two 500s ever. And in the same workout. Nice. (Note: my only 500 in a swim meet was 7:26.)

Last night (Tuesday 8/9), we got back from 3 days of camping. (So, not eating the best.) My wife got out on a bike ride a bit after we got home, and I took off for a swim after she came back. I just was going to do some 200s: 200 WU, 7x200 with 20 sec rest, and 200 CD. It’d been a while since I did that swim. Usually, I have a 100 or 2 that might sneak over 1:30, but I’ll average under 1:30 pace for sure. In this swim my 2 slowest 100s were 1:28, and my 200 times were pretty consistent: they were all 2:52-2:55 with the final dropping to 2:48. I averaged 2:52.98 which may have been my fastest 200s ever. And it didn’t really feel “hard” - I held back nicely in the middle which helped them to be consistent, so maybe I just swam the workout perfectly.

Anyway, these last 3 swims have felt NICE. Here’s a quick pic from camping 2 days ago when we were in Mystery Cave:

An awesome 20’ rock formation to the right, drips of water
in the middle, and my family on the left.


Close up of my boys in awe. Charlie was only impressed now-and-then. But Henry
was wide-eyed like that the entire time. The cave was his favorite part of our trip.