I started my swim pretty late last night, getting to the gym about 8:00 PM. I normally like to be home by 9 after a swim, to get time to eat and relax a bit before heading to bed and starting it all over. I typically get lazy when I'm on my way to the gym that late and just head home. I had to push!
So I got to the gym and started swimming. Most of the time, I don't have a plan when I get in the pool. I have a few different workouts that I like to try to work in. I started it off thinking I'd swim a 500 free and kick 500 free for a warm-up and go from there. So I started.
I got done with my the 500 and thought that I'd just keep going. I hadn't swam a workout over 2,000 in about 2 weeks and thought it might be good to try for 4,400 using a slow, steady stroke. My instructor has been pushing all of us to slow our stroke down to conserve energy. I was also thinking about Aquatic Violence that I read over at Total Immersion. I noticed, when I was focused on both a long stroke and avoiding Aquatic Violence, that I was seeming to go faster with less effort. When I wasn't focused on both, I fell into sloppiness, slapping the water and hurrying my stroke. I felt slower and like I was sinking.
My time for this 4,400 was 1:08:54. Considerably slower than my other times, which leads to my ooops. I have to wonder if I have accurately counted my laps on prior swims. I feel pretty good about last night's count, although I may have actually swam more than 88 laps! Anyone out there have an automated lap counter?
Yearly Summary:
Swims: 40
Yards: 87,850 (49.9 miles)
Time: 37h6m
Tim - welcome to swim-blogging, and good luck working up to racing the 2.4-mile OWS.
ReplyDeleteRe: lap counting, I'd think maintaining an accurate count for a 4400y (176 lengths) would be difficult for most anyone. Some days, when my mind is elsewhere, I lose track even on a 500!
As for automatic lap counters, I have an Oregon Scientific Swim Watch that I use for long (1000+ yards) steady-state swims, and though it's somewhat bulky, I like it. I've heard others recommend the Swimovate watch.
Stay tuned for post on my blog in the next couple of days about a lap-counting method that requires no technology whatsoever!
Hard to say about your 4400 in 1:08:54. What sort of pace can you hold for, say, a set of 500s? I do know, though, that 4400 in 58 minutes would be an impressive swim!
Thanks for the 10K good luck!
ReplyDeleteYou may want to look at this lap counter. Although I have no personal experience with it. On really long sets I'll swim continuously but mentally split it as 25, 50, 75, 100, 125, 150, 175, 200. That will get you to 900 without keeping track of more than 200 at a time.
Best of luck training for the 2.4 - I look forward to reading your blog!
I'm typically between 7:00 and 8:00 for my 500s, which is part of the reason that I feel I miscounted on the 58 min swim. Even at a 7:00 pace, that would have been close to 56:00 for the distance.
ReplyDeleteI guess the best thing I can do is keep trying to track laps and get a good time - and that will hurt ;)
Thanks for the welcome and the hints!
I could be misunderstanding you, but...
ReplyDeleteA pace of 7:00 per 500 (1:24 per 100) would put you at 1:01:36 for the 4400, not 56:00.
A 4400 in 58:00 would be 1:19.1 per 100, or 6:35 per 500.
If you're looking to simulate a 4400-yd swim, you might try a set of 9x500 on an interval ~10-15 seconds slower than your intended pace. This has the advantage of allowing to check your time each 500, so you see how your pace holds up over the course of the set.
And, counting to 20 nine times is easier than counting to 176!