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Awkward day, today. The pool was very busy and I found it difficult to establish a rhythm early on. My set was the same as yesterday, but because I couldn’t really settle in I even had one failure in the first five reps. By USRPT rules that didn’t could though, so I ignored it and carried on as if nothing had happened.

I’m still finding it a very tough set and eventually had a third “proper” failure on rep 21, having previously failed on reps 12 and 17. I’m really not sure if that counts as better than yesterday, but hopefully I can improve later in the week.

USRPT distance this year: 46,600m
Total distance this year: 48,400m

Well, I was expecting today would be tough and I wasn’t wrong. Doubtless some of that was down to the pool being very busy (it is half term, after all). I was sharing a lane with two others who were swimming different sets at different speeds, so it was all quite awkward.

In the end I did about as well as I did on the first attempt at my last set, back on 24th January. I failed on rep 7, failed again on 12 and had a final failure on 18 before calling it a day. It’s not a bad start though. Hopefully I can do better next time.

USRPT distance this year: 45,000m
Total distance this year: 46,800m

Had the pool to myself again today when I started, and there weren’t more than two other swimmers in for my entire session.

Again my target was just to do better than last time, and I did indeed managed to complete twenty-two reps, but felt relatively comfortable at that point and managed to keep going to finish the entire set. Very pleased with myself, I was 🙂

I think I can probably take another five seconds off the turnaround time at this point and still have between twenty and twenty-five seconds rest for each rep. My times for the fifties have been stabilising throughout the set recently whereas six weeks ago I’d probably start just as quickly, but the times dropped off towards the end (though I was still hitting my target most of the time). It’s certainly not going to be easy though. It’s quite obvious how much longer it has taken to be able to complete my current set without a fail than previous ones. Anyhow, I’ll see how it goes next time.

USRPT distance this year: 43,350m
Total distance this year: 45,150m

And another quiet day in the pool. Same set, same idea: just push things a little bit further than I’ve managed before.

And it went pretty well. I managed twenty-one reps before failing for the only time on twenty-two, one more than last time. I’m getting very close to completing the set now. We’ll see what happens tomorrow.

USRPT distance this year: 41,550m
Total distance this year: 43,350m

A second very quiet day in the pool. Odd that Monday and Tuesday last week were really busy, but this week have been very quiet. Anyhow, usual drill. Same set as previous swims with an aim to get just a little further.

It’s becoming quite tough now, though I have noticed that as I work my way through this set trying to complete the full twenty-four reps, my swim times look to be getting faster. I can’t complain about that, but I’ll stick to the plan because then I know where I am. Despite the difficulty I did manage one extra rep before my first (only) failure on rep twenty-one today. I was very pleased to get that far. Not sure if I go for a big push to complete the full set this week or just try to make sure I keep moving forward and hopefully finish it early next week. I suspect I’ll probably end up doing the latter.

USRPT distance this year: 39,800m
Total distance this year: 41,600m

Another very quiet session; completely the opposite of how it was last week. Same set for me again, but again attempting to push things just a little bit further.

And again it went pretty well, this time managing another two reps compared with last time, finally failing on rep 20. Again I was getting a bit ragged towards the end. I don’t think that can continue if I want to make it much further, but I’m happy to have a one rep per session improvement if that’s how it goes.

USRPT distance this year: 38,050m
Total distance this year: 39,850m

Had the pool to myself again for the start of my session today as I arrived just as the preceding school lesson was leaving. Same set as yesterday, with the plan just to get a little further.

I’m pleased to say things went pretty well and I managed seventeen reps before a fail on eighteen. From there I made it to the end of the set and even had enough energy left to sprint the last 25m 🙂

Hopefully the improvements will continue next week.

USRPT distance this year: 36,300m
Total distance this year: 38,100m

I had the pool to myself for most of my session today. Even after all the time I’ve been swimming it still feels a bit odd when it’s just me and the lifeguard.

Anyhow, back on the same set again today, trying to push that first fail out a bit further. And as things happen it went very well. I managed two more reps than last time (two days ago), before failing for the first and only time on rep seventeen. Getting that far was quite tough, but my last few reps weren’t as lacking in control as they have been. That said, last time I managed to sprint home on the last length of the set; this time there was nothing left in the tank.

Back tomorrow hopefully. Another improvement would be nice, but I feel as though I’ve done pretty well so far this week so I shan’t complain if it doesn’t happen.

USRPT distance this year: 34,550m
Total distance this year: 36,350m

A busy pool again today. Most unexpected. Fortunately however I ended up with a lane to myself, otherwise it would have been tricky to attempt my set at all.

Today was a considerable improvement on yesterday. My target was to get to at least thirteen reps before a fail and I actually managed fourteen before my first and only fail on rep fifteen, though I have to admit that by the last two of the set I was getting quite ragged.

Very pleased with the performance though. I hope I can keep it up and do better again next time, which won’t be tomorrow as the shallow end of the pool is closed during the day, I assume so that the pool cover motor can be replaced.

USRPT distance this year: 32,800m
Total distance this year: 34,600m