Swim Training Today

Pool session

Warm up

400m warm up

400m kick

Actual sets

3 x 500m with 2 min rest in between sets

1st set clocked 1:55 on average per 100m

2nd set clocked 1:57 on average per 100m

3rd set clocked probably 1:59 on average per 100m

3 x 200m with 1 min rest in between sets

I was trashed from the previous programme. Although it was under 1min per 50m, arms were beginning to feel heavy

3 x 100m with 1 min rest in between sets

Clocked probably on average of 1:55 per 100m.

3 x 50m with 1 min rest in between sets

Clocked under 50s per 50m.

Did 50m warm down and left the pool.

Well, on the whole, the session felt fine. This is a drastic improvement from what I had been doing for last year's training sessions of 1:05 per 50m. Before that I was hitting 1:09 per 50m. Recently the times have been improving, slowly but definitely cutting down the seconds. I guess I will just have to keep hitting the pool to make sure that my arms will improve on the lactate threshold.

Swimming is not my favourite discipline. Yes, I use to train with the swim team during my younger days, so I got into triathlon with an advantage over many triathletes. Still, I find that it is the toughest part of it all because it is highly technical. The fluid dynamics of it is very real, so much more than on the bike leg. Keeping head down so that lower body will float upwards. Keep body streamline so that the resistance is over a smaller area. I have seen some swimmers in the pool, the body is angled to the water and they really struggle, even if not struggle, it was a much slower swim.

Alright, I am not fast by many standards. My coach did his Ironman New Zealand 2010 in 53min! He was 3rd in his age group and 50th in the overall ranks. He even beat some of the pros! To improve my times to be at his level will take many more years of training. I need to shave off 30min! Frankly, no matter how much I hang on to Adidas slogan, I have not much faith in hitting that swim time. No, I am not self badgering. My short stint in the training team had not put me at high level in terms of competitive swimming. Probably faster than average, but not lightning fast. My coach is lightning fast.

Well, I do not have much of a choice? It is back to the pool again soon...