Another attempt at yesterday’s session:
400m front crawl warm-up
25 x 50m front crawl, target time 56s, rest interval 24s
200m front crawl swim down
Not a great performance as there were quite a few 50s times, but I did the entire set nonetheless.
Next time it’s a 55s target and 25s rest.
USRPT distance this year: 23,600m
Total distance this year: 50,650m
Rested yesterday as I’m really struggling to do these sets every day. Today it was back to the set I did on Tuesday:
400m front crawl warm-up
25 x 50m front crawl, target time 56s, rest interval 24s
200m front crawl swim down
It felt much harder than on Tuesday, mostly hitting 47s and 48s with a few 49s thrown in, particularly in the second half of the set. Still, I finished every one, so the target time has to come down once more to 55s with a rest interval of 25s. Hopefully I can do the first of those tomorrow. After three successes at that I’ll be dropping the rest interval by 5s which I think is going to make it much more difficult.
USRPT distance this year: 22,350m
Total distance this year: 48,800m
Same set as yesterday:
400m front crawl warm-up
25 x 50m front crawl, target time 56s, rest interval 24s
200m front crawl swim down
I wasn’t really sure what to expect having struggled a bit yesterday, but in the end surprised myself finishing most of the reps in 47 or 48s with a couple of 46s thrown in for good measure.
USRPT distance this year: 21,100m
Total distance this year: 46,950m
Not thrilled with the idea of swimming today. Still suffering from some pain in my shoulder. I think perhaps down to sleeping in a strange position or perhaps lifting something awkwardly. It doesn’t appear to be swimming related however. In fact other than some stiffness above my collar bone when streamlining, it’s possibly more comfortable when swimming than otherwise at the moment.
Anyhow, despite the lack of enthusiasm I was back to the set I failed to complete on Friday:
400m front crawl warm-up
25 x 50m front crawl, target time 56s, rest interval 24s
200m front crawl swim down
For most of the reps I managed 48s or 49s, with a few 47s and then drifting out to 50s over the last five or so, despite the chap swimming breaststroke next to me who kept drifting over into my path. Managed the entire set this time which is good news, so despite my motivation being on holiday I was happy at the end.
USRPT distance this year: 19,850m
Total distance this year: 45,100m
Attempting a repeat of the last session, but with a shorter warm-up to make sure I had time to complete the set.
300m front crawl warm-up
25 x 50m front crawl, target time 56s, rest interval 24s
200m front crawl swim down
Unfortunately I had some pain in my shoulder (though not from swimming) and had to miss a rep as a result. Otherwise I was doing ok.
USRPT distance this year: 18,600m
Total distance this year: 43,250m
Another reduced target time today:
400m front crawl warm-up
25 x 50m front crawl, target time 56s, rest interval 24s
200m front crawl swim down
Still a tough session today, but I did at least stay in the 48s and 49s until the last eight reps when I started to drift into the low 50s. Same again tomorrow, unless my arms have fallen off.
USRPT distance this year: 17,400m
Total distance this year: 41,550m
Eleven days since my last swim, thanks to a combination of work, the weather (the pool was closed for two days last week because of the snow, though I’d not have been able to get to it anyhow) and domestic disasters. I repeated the last set I swam:
400m front crawl warm-up
25 x 50m front crawl, target time 57s, rest interval 23s
200m front crawl swim down
Eleven days have made for a noticeable change in performance. Whereas the last two times I’ve done this set I was in the high 40s for most of the reps, today I was struggling despite only being in the low 50s. It was such hard work! Normally by the time I’m changed and in the car on the way home my body has pretty much adjusted back to normal, but today I almost steamed up the entire vehicle as soon as I got inside.
Still, I did actually make all the reps on the target time, so next time I have to change the set. I think it has to be 56s target time with 24s rest.
USRPT distance this year: 16,150m
Total distance this year: 39,700m
I could still feel the tiredness in my arms and shoulders today and I knew the pool would be a bit chilly thanks to the cold weather overnight (no, the pool isn’t outdoors, but the building was constructed before insulation was a thing), but I forced myself to go anyhow. It’s only an hour public session today so I cut down the warm-up slightly (though I added another 100m on the swim down when it turned out that I had time):
300m front crawl warm-up
25 x 50m front crawl, target time 57s, rest interval 23s
300m front crawl swim down
I was hitting 48 and 49 seconds fairly consistently until the last three or four when I sank to 50 and 51, but made them all comfortably and achieved my technique goal of always breathing bilaterally.
I could well have three days off now, as the pool is closed on Monday.
USRPT distance this year: 14,900m
Total distance this year: 37,850m
I ended up skipping yesterday because my arms and shoulders were clearly still tired, so today I was back in the pool to do:
400m front crawl warm-up
25 x 50m front crawl, target time 57s, rest interval 23s
200m front crawl swim down
Once I started swimming I realised that I was still quite tired and most of my reps were around 49 seconds rather than the 46/47/48 reps I’ve been doing earlier this week. I had goggle problems too, which meant I couldn’t start a couple of the reps, but I swam two more at the end to make up the distance. I did swim all twenty-five, but I don’t think this counts as a success. Hopefully I’ll have another crack at it tomorrow.
USRPT distance this year: 13,650m
Total distance this year: 36,000m
Third time of asking for this set today:
400m front crawl warm-up
25 x 50m front crawl, target time 58s, rest interval 22s
200m front crawl swim down
The first six or seven 50s were down in the 45 and 46 second bracket and I really don’t think I could keep that pace up for all 25, so I tried to slow things down a bit, eventually settling into a fairly comfortable 48 or 49 second rhythm with one excursion into 50 sec.
Not long into the session another swimmer turned up alongside me doing reps of 50m and 100m swims, working fairly hard. Turned out to be an ex-member of the swimming club from a few years back.
Anyhow, I managed to get through them all without a failure, so assuming my body is up to it tomorrow will be adjusted to a target time of 57 sec and rest interval of 23 sec. Once I reach 55 sec target time I’ll pull the rest interval down to 20 sec again. At that point I expect it to start getting a bit tougher to get through the set.
USRPT distance this year: 12,400m
Total distance this year: 34,150m
