Finally reached my target of 500km for the year today. I only really needed to swim 1.1km, but was hardly going to stop there, so I carried on until I reached 501km having swum 2,100m.
Total distance for the month: 40,800m
Total distance for this year: 501,000m
Distance compared to annual target: 1,000m over
I’d been asked to do an “endurance” type set this evening (no, not having your face smothered in jam and stuck in a box of ants or anything like they used to do on that Japanese television show that Clive James was so enamoured of). I only had an hour each for two groups and not much information to work from in terms of times. Swimming 25s would have been tricky as the pace clock on our side of the pool is broken, so instead I opted for 50s and gave them a fairly generous time to see how they got on. They’re small groups on a Thursday, which makes them relatively easy to manage and get off the wall on time.
The first group I asked to do 25 x 50m with a 60 second time limit and 20 seconds rest. They all seemed to think that was way too easy, but didn’t really have much idea what doing twenty five of them would be like. Not before they started, at least 😀 They coped very well with a few fails between them, but I think only one swimmer managed the entire set without a single fail. Time-wise it worked out fairly neatly too. I think I could probably do a little technique work first, just reminding them of things they need to think about over a few single lengths and that would probably fit the time available very neatly, giving time for a bit of social kick as a swim down at the end.
The second group did the same set but with a 50 second time limit. They did very well, with only a single fail from one swimmer. Again, they were quite relaxed about the set when they started, but knew they’d been working hard by the end. I think I can repeat this one reducing the times for the non-failing swimmers perhaps by a couple of seconds. At the end their reaction seemed to be that “it was good, but really tough”, which I think is quite positive.
Hopefully we can do more of these, varying the distances and strokes. I’ll have to work on some way for us to do the 25s. Perhaps with an assistant doing the timing at the other end of the pool, each one of us starting the stopwatch when we set the first one off. Or the pool could just fix the pace clock 🙁
Six months ago I had something of a struggle to find a new pair of swimming goggles, but eventually settled on a pair of Finis Bolt goggles that I found very comfortable once I’d got used to them and served well until now. Sadly they’ve reached the point where they’ve collected enough scratches (despite being kept separately in my swimming bag) that I can’t see out of them well enough to read the pace clock at the pool (though that wouldn’t be a problem if they’d fix the one on the side of the pool I actually tend to use).
Someone recommended TYR Racetech goggles and at £8.50 a pair I thought I’d give them a whirl. First impressions are that they look a bit odd, having flat lenses with a sharp “corner” on the outside edge and a very wide strap. The strap is also quite short. When adjusted to fit my head there’s less than 2cm of the end of the strap free after it has been fed through the buckle.
Anyhow, we’ll see how I get on with them tomorrow.
Ok, so I went a bit mad today. Initially I just wanted to do enough to make sure I could make my 500,000m target tomorrow, but I was enjoying it and got a bit carried away, eventually doing 2 x 500m, 4 x 250m, 4 x 200m, 2 x 100m, all front crawl, leaving what I hope should be a fairly easy time tomorrow.
Total distance for the month: 38,700m
Total distance for this year: 498,900m
Distance compared to annual target: 1,100m remaining
Another push for the finishing tape today. Pretty much the same swim as yesterday, but there was time for another 200m at the end, so my total for the day was 2,800m as 8 x 250m, 4 x 200m. My target is so close now that I can almost taste it 😀
Total distance for the month: 35,700m
Total distance for this year: 495,900m
Distance compared to annual target: 4,100m remaining
Bit of a short session today for various reasons, so I just cracked on with 8 x 250m followed by 3 x 200m, all front crawl, pretty much to try to rack up enough distance this week to reach my 500,000m target for this year.
Total distance for the month: 32,900m
Total distance for this year: 493,100m
Distance compared to annual target: 6,900m remaining
Tonight my daughter and I swam another USRPT set, her on fly, me on front crawl. We didn’t have much time, so my plan was for 200m warm up, 25 x 50m fly/front crawl and then 200m swim down.
Today I managed the entire set, but with a couple of failures. I used my Sportcount “Yellow” stopwatch for timing which worked well, but seeing the pace clock for the turnaround times was awkward. I need a better way to handle that.
Change of calculation for my target for the year from today. I’m now so close that it’s clearer to show how far there is left. Less than 10km to go. Potentially achievable this week depending on how things work out. I shan’t be desperately disappointed if I need another swim next week however.
Total distance for the month: 30,300m
Total distance for this year: 490,500m
Distance compared to annual target: 9,500m remaining
Thought I’d have another crack at a longer swim today, but I needed ten lengths to get warmed up given some remaining tiredness in the muscles from yesterday. After that I managed another 1km swim, followed by another 250, 6 x 50m and 3 x 100m, at which point there was no time left for anything else.
Total distance for the month: 28,700m
Total distance for this year: 488,900m
Distance compared to annual target: 46,200m ahead
Little bit of switcharound today, in that once I got into the pool I just kept going for a while. Ended up doing 1000m, 2 x 250m, 500m, 6 x 50m and 2 x 100m, all front crawl.
Total distance for the month: 26,600m
Total distance for this year: 486,800m
Distance compared to annual target: 46,100m ahead
A repeat of yesterday’s session, again to keep racking up the distance. Just over 15km to go…
Total distance for the month: 24,100m
Total distance for this year: 484,300m
Distance compared to annual target: 45,600m ahead
