Consistent Swim Workouts

After being out of the pool for nearly 9 months (the end of 2021 through the start of the fall 2022 semester), I've now had 8 weeks with a solid swim workout each week. It started with a "test" swim to see if I'd be able to race the Square Lake Triathlon in early Sept, so the start of this 8 weeks had 2 swims the first week (the "test" and the race):

I noted in my "September in review" post that the only negative side to swimming again is that I'm skipping a bike/trainer workout each week to swim instead. That's a substitution I'm OK with!

Most of the lengths of these workouts is dictated by how much time I have in the pool before it closes. Last week's 1800 for example was short because I was out of time, as was the first swim after my race on Sept 13th. Yesterday, I got to the pool 10 minutes before I usually do, so I had the chance to swim a bit longer.

Oh, and last week's swim had something happen that NEVER happens! When I was looking through my swim splits, there was an extra 0:47 in the middle of a 200. So it showed 1:32, 0:47, 1:32. That means I lost track and DID AN EXTRA 50 IN A 200! That NEVER happens to me. I might lose track and SHORT one of my splits by 50, but never LENGTHEN it! I don't know how that happened!

Four weeks ago (the Tuesday before the TC 10 Mile), I had a fantastic swim, and I don't know why. I did a "broken 400s and broken 200s" swim that I've enjoyed over these last few years. For some perspective, after swimming all fall of 2021, I did this workout, and my major splits looked like this:

Last swim of Dec 2021:

400: 1:35, 1:38, 1:36, 1:37 = 6:27
200s: 1:33, 1:33 = 3:07 / 1:31, 1:35 = 3:07
100s: 1:30.72, 1:31.88, 1:29.78, 1:30.15

200: 1:32, 1:35 = 3:07
100s: 1:29.69, 1:28.54
50s: 40.67, 40.50, 41.20, 40.43

A few weeks ago (after just a FEW swims this fall), that same workout (minus the 50s at the end as I didn't QUITE have the endurance yet) looked like this:

End of Sept 2022:

400: 1:34, 1:35, 1:36, 1:34 = 6:21 (6 sec faster!)
200s: 1:30, 1:35 = 3:05 / 1:34, 1:33 = 3:07 (2 sec faster and equal!)
100s: 1:30.92, 1:29.35, 1:29.18, 1:26.80 (the first was 0.2 sec slower, but the last 3 were 2.5 sec faster, 0.6 sec faster, and 3.3 sec faster!)

200: 1:32, 1:35 = 3:07 (equal)
100s: 1:26.99, 1:26.10 (2.7 sec faster and 2.4 sec faster!)

I don't know how I got so much faster (with only ONE split being slower) after just a few workouts this fall. But then I slowed down again when I did that full workout yesterday. Compared to last December's workout, this one had a SLIGHTLY faster opening 400 (but still slower than the one last month), and then all the rest of the splits were slower except for 1. Dang. I felt rough in the water yesterday. BUT it was my longest swim all year at 2450, so that counts for something!

I've considered cancelling my gym membership at the U because I'm not IN LOVE with swimming. Pre-pandemic, I was really getting into it, but I don't care for it a ton right now. However, the way it fits into my schedule still works well to go get it done, so I've decided to keep paying for my cheap faculty membership at the U for my once/week swims. Something about the thought of "I have to swim NOW or not at all today" is working to get me to the pool and get in a decent little workout each week. If I can hang on to these workouts through the spring, maybe I'll feel better about the 2023 triathlon season...