We've been doing a lot of interval type of workouts in the off season. Last night was no exception. Our coach posted the actual workout on her site, check it out here. This workout was for the advanced level and April modified it for the intermediate and beginner levels. I didn't make it through the whole 12 days. I only got to Day 7 and I think I skipped Day 6 just so that we could keep up with everyone else in the group.
I'm going from memory, but I think this is actually what I did.
Day 1 - 1 x 300 easy warmup
Day 2 - 2 x 25 fast
Day 3 - 3 x 150 (progressively speed up every 50)
Day 4 - 4 x 25 fast kick (fins & board)
Day 5 - 5 x 150 (progressively speed up every 50)
Day 6 - skipped
Day 7 - 7 x 150 (50 freestyle, 50 choice, 50 freestyle)
Total workout: 2700 meters
I just added that up and I'm blown away at the distance I swam in 1 hour. I think this is the most I've ever swam in a workout. I'm going to have to keep track of distances from now on. When I started swimming last April, most of my workouts were in the 600-800 meter and I thought that was difficult. I was impressed with myself when I got over 1000. I didn't realize I had gone over 2000. There was very little rest between sets (30 seconds or less).
I guess my endurance has definitely improved. I do feel that my technique is falling apart and is contributing to feeling like I'm not improving in speed. I tried to focus on my technique last night and there were moments when I felt I was getting it right. When I tried to increase my effort/speed, I felt like my technique and form were falling apart.
I'm going to add a second day of swimming during the week and only focus on form and technique. I felt when I swam 2-3 days during the week in the summer, I had greater improvement and felt more confident in the swim.
Oh yeah, swimming in a cold pool. For the last 2 weeks we've been swimming in a cold pool. It seems that the pool heaters are broke and we're not sure when they'll be fixed. We were told that the water temp was 71º. Needless to say, it was not easy getting into the pool. I don't think I ever warmed up, but once I got past the warm up laps I was no longer shivering and focusing on the cold. If this had been an actual open water race, I'd be wearing a wetsuit. I believe that once water temps drop to 78º, it's legal to wear a wetsuit.
As I mentioned, I didn't feel any speed. I don't know if the cold water had any effect or the fact that I didn't really eat lunch. Probably a combination of both. I didn't feel like I bonked, but I didn't feel like I had sufficient energy to push harder. I'll have to be more conscious about my nutrition. Actually that's another thing I'm going to be focusing on in 2011. I've got a lot of research ahead of me. More on that in a later post.
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