Friday 17 July 2015

Quick swim after work

I didn't have time to do a full programmed session after work today as I was due home but it seemed helpful to at least do a third swim so I've managed that. Also by making it a basic swim I could see how I got on. After a 4 length warm up I did 10x 100m intervals, although one was 200m! The rest interval varied but averaged around 20s.

Importantly all intervals were at 3min/100m pace or better. My best lengths were at 53seconds (i.e. 2:40min/100m) which is only what I achieved on my 400m test with Julian. So I've not improved? Hopefully when I visit he'll see an improvement in style even if no faster. Also past data suggests to me that I'm faster in shorter pools, I'd really like to beat my 10:40min/400m but that was unreasonably fast for me when I achieved it!
From Garmin Connect showing paste overlying strokes/length
I'm well aware that there is a movement, especially within Swimsmooth, not to lengthen the reach and glide phase to obtain a minimum number of strokes per length. However here, for me, the relationship between fewer strokes per length (grey) and a faster pace (blue) is incredibly strong. So it really is worth taking it steady and forcing the reach and then achieving a good feel. The warm-up lengths where I did bilateral breathing needed more strokes per length.

This sort of data is helpful to me by showing what is giving the best performance and indicates how the watch is better than the lap counter.

No comments:

Post a Comment