A step nearer hitting 1500m in 22m30 this morning.
Day started badly when I slept through 5.30am alarm and missed the group ride i’d arranged to join.
But then the sun came out after a few cloudy days so I headed down to the 20m pool to give it a crack. TBH I thought the chance was slim based on how tiring 1m30 pace still feels during interval training.
Must have knocked the first 100m out in around 1m25, and then held that slightly-ahead-of-the-bleep pace until about 1000m. Then I quickly started tiring, and the bleep caught me up by 1300m.
I was suffering by this point, but tried to convince myself of I could just keep up the pace for another 10 bleeps then I’d never have to go through this sheer folly again. Unfortunately, my body had other ideas and I ended up doing the last 200m in 3m08
Still, 22m38 for 1500m is I think a new PB, so it’s not all bad. Admittedly in a 20m pool, which is faster than a 25m pool.
I managed to swim 10km per week in Feb, was kind of hoping not to have to ramp it up in March but it looks like there’s no choice, 12km per week it will have to be
Still working on head roll, I’ve lifted my head so it feels the water hits above my brow and the stats have improved, don’t think I’m going any faster though it does seem a lot easier the breathe.
I swam today, 16x 1 holding 20s to 22s, and 8 x 50 holding 43 to 45, blowing out my arse. Chest bad again though as i got lumbered for 2 night with feather pillows.
1st swim in s month, maybe id get close to being half decent if i swam twice next month
Working on interval pacing, quickly noticed that it’s all about the turn. Get that right and I’m bang on with the first 25 of 20. Get it wrong and it adds 1, 2, 3 seconds to the length.
Had my first swimming lesson since I was a kid this evening. In hindsight probably shouldn’t have left it until 6 months before my first Ironman to have someone watch me swim, but better late than never.
“Well, there’s nothing happening that’s a complete disaster” was a better opening response than I’d expected
Its better than being told you have perfect technique or are a really good swimmer when you are struggling to swim 2:30 / 100 as I have come across in my coaching. There’s a way to be positive but honest in feedback that comes with experience. “Yes you have a really nice set of goggles but your catch needs some minor adjustments; like a lot of minor adjustments”
I was told that once about my swimming by a senior tri coach who works with Glenn Cook . ‘Cept it had a rider - but you need to do a lot more swimming!
Had one of those bad days in the pool today. Felt like I was just fighting the water. Struggled on, probably should have taken an early shower but I’m being a bit OCD about trying to hit 12km this week.
Think perhaps the duathlon on Tuesday night took more out of me than I realised.
Ha yes definitely! Although I’d have been more concerned and annoyed if like @Hammerer said if I’d paid money and the guy had just gone “yeah it looks fine to be honest” you should get round in under 90mins alright.
3 main things he wants me to work on. All of them I was already kind of aware of (head looking too forward, imbalances between sides so doing quite of lot of single arm stuff, and my legs just hanging there like anchors) but didn’t have any sort of plan, or accountability to start to fix.
I’m not necessarily bothered about going quicker actually. Priority is being more efficient and using less energy - if I can maintain current pace with less effort, have more stamina and it doesn’t all break down as early I’ll be happy.
caveat of not having seen you swim, but for me legs is one of the first things I address after body position. Consider some drill progressions like 616/636/656/full stroke or 1L 616, 2L 636, 1L full stroke trying to focus on a good 6 beat kick (3 kicks per arm pull) . I would also think about some backstroke kicking (similar motion but easier to breathe)
One fin one paddle works well here. So paddle on bad side, fin on opposite to “balance” and just swim with a focus on the catch and pull of the side you are trying to fix
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