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Lovely day to be in the pool today as it has suddenly become very warm without giving us a chance to get used to the heat, but I’ve not slept very well in days now and I am feeling a little ragged 🙁

Nonetheless, not wanting to give myself excuses not to swim, I set off with the new set:

• 400m f/c warm-up
• 24 x 50m f/c, target time 49s, turnaround 75s
• 200m swim down

This session was always a struggle. I managed to get to halfway without a failure, at which point continuing really became a matter of willpower. I set myself a target of making the next four, which to my slight surprise I did. Then the next four, at which point things went really crazy and every one was less than 48s despite trying to slow them down a bit to give myself a chance of making it to the end. Reps twenty-one and twenty-two started to get quite tough and by twenty-three there was almost nothing left in the tank. Just enough to get me to the end of the set though, at which point my legs were giving out and there was no power left in my arms. Can’t ever be unhappy about completing the set though 🙂

USRPT distance this year: 158,650m
Total distance this year: 163,000m

Another trip to the pool with my son 🙂

Given yesterday’s debacle I decided to stick with the same set again. It wasn’t long though before I felt I was struggling. I just didn’t seem to have the energy to push off the wall as hard as I could and I’m sure I was breathing harder between reps than usual.

At halfway it started to feel quite tough, but I managed to push on to sixteen reps, then twenty, and after twenty-one there was no way I was going to allow myself to fail. So happily I completed the entire set, even if my legs did feel like jelly at the end.

I think next time the target time has to come down to 49s. I think I only had one rep over 49s today, so I really ought to be able to improve on that when I’m feeling more energetic.

USRPT distance this year: 156,850m
Total distance this year: 161,200m

I felt horrible today. Very tired, having not slept well over the weekend, and lacking in energy. As a result I decided I’d repeat the same set I was swimming last week rather than drop the target time another half second.

And horrible it was. By halfway through the set I was really struggling. I lost track of my failed reps in the end, but at least managed to drag myself to the end of the set, painful as it was 🙁

Hopefully tomorrow will be better…

USRPT distance this year: 155,050m
Total distance this year: 159,400m

Solstice swimming 🙂

Another trip to the pool with my son. I wasn’t feeling quite so sharp today, but to my surprise I actually managed the best I’ve done this week, with only one rep below 49s (target time is 49.5s), so I left feeling pretty pleased.

USRPT distance this year: 153,400m
Total distance this year: 157,750m

Same set today, but swimming with my son for a change.

Everything went pretty well today. Completed the set without any major difficulties.

USRPT distance this year: 151,600m
Total distance this year: 155,950m

Same set as yesterday, and again I wasn’t feeling too sharp. This time because I’d been up quite late ferrying my son between post-GCSE parties. Again I can’t complain. He’s worked very hard over the last six weeks of exams.

When I arrived at the pool there were two lanes with one swimmer in each. I opted for the one with the “fast lane” sign and the life guard very kindly wandered up the pool to suggest to the other swimmer that she might move into the other lane because someone much quicker was swimming. Apparently she answered “Are you sure?” Even for my warm-up I was doing two lengths to every one of hers. I think he was sure 🙂

And then during my warm-up another lady turned up and said she was going to join my lane. I didn’t recognise her and she didn’t exactly look as though she was going to be pounding out the lengths at speed, so I pointed out that it was signed “fast lane” and politely suggested that she might be better off in the other one. “But that’s not fair! There are two swimmers in there already!” She did eventually agree to use the other lane, somewhat indignantly, and actually was much the same pace as the others.

Anyhow, the set itself went pretty well, but for what might be described as a “lack of control” on my part. Despite the 49.5s target, most of the reps I did were faster than 48s. Eventually however I messed up on rep twenty-one when I turned my head to breathe for the last time before the turn and got a mouthful of water from someone’s breaststroke bow wave. Finishing off the set after that failure wasn’t exactly a problem though.

USRPT distance this year: 149,800m
Total distance this year: 154,150m

So, a new target today:

• 400m f/c warm-up
• 24 x 50m f/c, target time 49.5s, turnaround 75s
• 200m swim down

I wasn’t feeling particularly sharp for this session. Sunday was spent in the sweatbox that is Millfield swimming pool whilst my daughter was competing. She did really well however, so I can’t complain too much. And in the end I didn’t do too badly with this new set, though it didn’t go quite as well as I wanted thanks to others in the pool swimming across my lane. I ended up with two failures on reps sixteen and twenty-one.

USRPT distance this year: 148,050m
Total distance this year: 152,400m