Session 5 – Backed up the next day
Warm up
200 freestyle
100 backstroke
50 breaststroke
Main set
10 x 25 freestyle kick + fins on the 1:00 (sprint)
10 x 25 freestyle + fins (sprint) on the :45
5 x 100 free +25 seconds rest
5 x 100 Backstroke/Breaststroke +25 seconds rest
Cool down
50 backstroke easy.
So today I was able to squeeze in another workout in the pool. I was able to get close to over 2kms, besides that, it was sprinkled with hard work. It definitely took me just over an hour and a half. One thing to consider is that I am training in a short course pool and that I mainly doing 25’s. I intend to build on this shortly and do more 50s. These things take a bit of time to build up to. Probably for the next two or more weeks I’ll keep doing the same sort of training.
2 from 2
This afternoon’s training session didn’t feel too bad. I was quite comfortable doing the 200 meters freestyle warm up. Even though I’m not quite up to doing tumble turns every lap it still felt reasonable. I moved on to the backstroke and breaststroke distances finished off my warm up. At this stage felt pretty good for the upcoming set.
Then it was time to start a bit more hard work. I put my flippers on looked to the clock, grab my kick board and set off on the next zero. As I pushed off the wall my basic training kicked in. I began to do at least three to four fly kicks off the wall and this felt effortless. Speeding through the water about a foot under the surface, I felt fast. Popping up to the surface about a quarter of the way down the 25-meter pool and proceeded to kick my legs as if Jaws himself was right on my tail. I got down the other end of the pool stopped turned around and looked at the clock. Completing that lap in under 24 seconds. I remember thinking to myself for the time not bad but I still have 9 to go.
Feel the burn
As I continued on through the set and as I got to 6 or 7 laps my legs started to burn a little more. I could remember what it felt like to have lactic acid build up in my legs. This was good. With three to go, I turned on the gas and gave it everything I had. By the end of these, I was still sitting around the 23 seconds per lap and I was getting about 40 seconds rest.
My feet were beginning to ache from the fins. I hadn’t worn them in years and they felt very constrictive on my feet. However, if I wanted comfortable, I picked the wrong sport. I looked up on the board and checked my next set 10 x 25 freestyle sprint on the minute plus fins. It was time for a bit hard work. This is the set I needed to work hard at, the whole point was to try and speed my arms up. I just need to try and pick up my stroke rate just a little for the 50-meter sprint on the weekend.
The need of speed
I pushed off the wall did my usual fly kicks and then kept my legs going as fast as I could. My arms were forced to keep up. Under 20 seconds, not bad, but not great. With my goal on my mind, I kept working at it and continued with knocking away at the set. Again by 8 lap my shoulders and arms were starting to burn a little, but I wasn’t gonna stop now.
So far I know all I’ve been doing a lot of freestyle but, I’m just trying to get laps under my belt and get used to being in the water and the monotony of staring at that black line. Besides that, if I wanted to get fit fast I would be doing x amount of 25 butterfly laps on short rests or 200 meters freestyle with short rest. That kind of thing is the hard work I need. But it will come. I went on to complete the five 100 freestyles with 25 seconds rest between each 100. I didn’t mind these I was outside my comfort zone, however, I was also outside of my mind. I’d hit that certain point where I was just moving up and down the pool at the same level of discomfort, my mind started to wander off and think about other things.
Friend or Foe?
I really liked the next set because after doing breaststroke in my first session something was different I’m not quite sure what it was but I felt confident in breaststroke. Now for me to be confident in breaststroke is like saying a 2-year-old is confident in running a nuclear power plant. I’ve always been ok at backstroke so this set was actually a bit of fun.
So the rest of the session
is pretty self-explanatory and it wasn’t too bad to do. By this stage, I’ve been in the water about an hour 45 and my wife and beautiful daughter or now on their way down to meet me. I jumped out of
the pool however, it did take two attempts. Then grabbed my gear and headed over to the other s
ide of the pool complex. There were some tables and chairs and I sat waiting for the girls to arrive. Once my daughter got there it was 5 seconds and we hit the water for another hour and a half play time. The hard work was over, for now.
For the rest of my blogs click here.