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Well, today was a bit of a disaster. Again I struggled a bit, but there were three slower swimmers in the lane (two significantly slower) which made the entire thing a bit of a mess. I swam over someone several times and couldn’t settle into a rhythm or leave the wall when I wanted to. In the end I just had to satisfy myself with doing as many reps as I could at the required pace in whatever gaps I could find.

It’s half-term week so perhaps more people are turning up to swim this week. If so hopefully it will go back to normal next week.

I struggled with my 50m set today. Despite not swimming over the weekend I still felt quite tired. Could be the ‘flu vaccination that is to blame, though I don’t actually feel any obvious side effects. Anyhow, I managed only eleven reps before my first (and only) failure.

The 25m set was better and I managed thirteen reps again before failing, equalling what I managed last time.

Had a bit of a mixed session today. My 50m set was tough from the start. I could really feel the tiredness in my arms and was already struggling when timings got messed up because several people arrived late and I lost track of where I was. I think I’ll just forget it ever happened 🙂

The 25m set however was much better. I don’t entirely understand why. Perhaps because I’d not tired myself out doing the 50m set. Anyhow, I clocked up one more rep than last time before I had my first failure so was happy enough with that.

The 50s haven’t gone as well as I’d have liked this week, but it’s not all doom and gloom so I’m happy with progress. I’m not entirely sure what next week is going to be like. I’m booked in for a ‘flu jab on Saturday morning and I don’t know how I’ll react to that, if at all. And then the session timings are all messed about next week because it’s half term and there are other things happening at the pool. I’ll just have to see how it goes.

It was exceptionally quiet in the pool today. Only four people including myself, and one of those was a member of the staff. That may be why there’s no session at the same time next week, unless they’re using it for a half-term swim school or lifeguard training session.

Anyhow I felt a little sluggish during my 50m set today, with times perhaps a second off where I’d really like to be, but actually it went pretty well and managed sixteen reps before failing on seventeen, one more than last time. Finishing off the set wasn’t exactly troublesome at that point.

After a rest I started on the 25m set and felt that was going really quite well. Times were better than they have been and I managed twelve reps before my first failure, again one better than last time. I didn’t quite get to finish the set though. I ran out of time with one to go, mostly because we were a bit late getting in as there appeared to be a shortage of lifeguards.

So, things feel good today. Not entirely sure what to expect for tomorrow though. I think my arms might be quite tired by then.

Almost didn’t make it to the session today. Unintentionally I left home late and then was stuck behind a van being driven very slowly for the first couple of miles, then behind a heavily-laden articulated lorry with a trailer, also going quite slowly, for the next couple. Fortunately I arrived just in time, at the back of the queue to get in. On the positive side, I was the only one in the fast lane and no-one else from a slower lane decided it would be a good plan to “share”.

It occurred to me last night that as I probably have sufficient recovery time between my 50m and 25m sets, I could spend a little more time at the start warming up. That’s been an issue since the pool reopened because the sessions are only fifty minutes long and until recently I’ve only just been able to get through everything I wanted to in that time.

Perhaps the longer warm up helped as in my 50m set I left behind the disaster of yesterday and managed fifteen reps before failing on rep sixteen, after which finishing off the set was hardly a struggle. Despite the improved performance, the 25m set also went well with some pleasing times early on and I didn’t fail until rep twelve. Again finishing the set wasn’t really a struggle, but I did push fairly hard on the last one just to make sure.

So, one better than my previous bests for both sets. I’m pleased with that, and will reward myself with my usual recovery day tomorrow.

Only five people in the pool today so it was very quiet, but the really good news is that the bridge that has been closed since the start of September has now opened once again meaning a much easier drive to the pool.

My 50m set was quite a struggle today. I didn’t feel great and had my first failure on rep ten when I managed to complete fourteen good reps on Friday. I failed once more on rep fifteen. Not impressive 🙁

The 25m set was much better however. In that I completed ten reps before failing and managed to get to fifteen before running out of time.

Hopefully tomorrow I can do a little better on the first set.