Today’s Date: Saturday May 28th
Time 8:00am- 10:30am
Location: The Swimming Hole, Indoor Lap Pool
Swim Buddies: Cynthia, Sue Ellen & Jennifer
Today’s Workout
Warm Up 500 EZ
4 X 500’S on 7:45 Interval 75 % Effort
1 x 1500 meters Good Effort Swim
10 x 200’s on 3:15 Interval
1-5 Recovery Pull with paddles
6- 10 Descend, with # 10 being a good push
10 x 100’s on 2:15 interval goal time 1:30 with # 5 & 10 being a beat the tide pace
5 x 100’s recovery pull on 1:45 interval
Today is one of my last indoor Saturday training swims, after a long Vermont winter it is time for me to get outdoors and hit the lakes, the ice has thawed, it is time to change gears and that means no more long swims indoors on Saturdays WAHOO, I will be out with the loons, the beavers and the fish, I have been waiting for this for months, over 6 months, the long indoor swims over the winter were torturous at times and I can’t believe this is one of my last for a while, change is upon me.
I thought I would be wildly excited about this but today I am subdued, I find myself reflective, as I swim my warm up I fondly look around the pool, ” WOW, I know every tile on the bottom of this pool, I am able to sense when it is time to turn at the wall and I don’t have to look, I know the water so well, the way it feels, like silk, smooth on my body, I LOVE this pool”, I look around again, like I am seeing the pool with a whole new light, suddenly this 8 lane 25 meter pool looks & feels tiny, like a little holding pen that has been storing me, nurturing me all winter long, keeping me in the best possible shape so I am ready for my release into the open water, like a mother raising their young this is the time to let go, today is that day….my last Saturday swim, I am going to enjoy this one.
We start on the 500’s, my target pace is 7:15 for each 500, the first 2 repeats are right on the money, number 3 & 4 a little fast at 7:12. Then it is time to move onto the 1500 meters, a good effort swim.
We have a Meet coming up on June 24th, the New England Masters Championships at Middlebury College in Vermont and I have entered the 800 & 1500 meters, a good chance to get some speed work in. We push off for our 1500, I have planned to swim 7 minute 500’s today, I have picked a lane close to the pace clock so I can see my 500 splits times when I flip at the wall, I know a 7 minute 500 will feel comfortable to hold, so I let my brain think that is what it is on the menu.
I come in for my 200 split, yip ahead of target pace, next my 500 split, a 6 minute and 50 seconds, a check in on how I feel, strong, not out of breath, some discomfort but manageable, “Ok then, I made my bed time to lay in it, this is the pace for the first 1000 and then for the last 500 I pick it up, the last 100 ” Go for it”!
The 2 nd 500 I swim in on 6:55, time to pick it up, stronger pull, tighter streamline off the walls, snappier turns and a faster stroke rate, into the last 100 and it is ” step on it time”, I hit the wall to finish and turn to the pace clock, a 20 minute and 30 second 1500, good, I am pleased.
Onto the recovery pull set, followed by 5 x 200’s descend, the last one I put in a good push but my time doesn’t reflect it. Then we finish with our easy stretch 100’s, 45 seconds of treading water in between each one, I feed twice, 250 mls down the hatch at each feed, the first takes 20 seconds, the last is down in 15 seconds, ” not a drop lost on that feed Charlotte” , says Cynthia, I am grateful she is keeping an eye on my the carbo/protein blend going down, it is no help to me if I spill it into the pool and not into my mouth.
We finish up with a lovely easy stretch of 5 x 100 Pull with paddles on a 1:45 interval mmmm, dreamy.
Out of the pool, shower up and outside to play, a 5km run, I am thrilled to be out and about.
Tomorrow my first swim in the Green River Reservoir since October 2010, I am edgy thinking about it, is it excitement or nerves? We’ll fin