Back to the spike

It was in 2016 that spike sets last featured in my routine but today it felt to be the right thing to do. Actually it wasn't. I didn't want to swim for much over 30 minutes so started with 8 recovery lengths (so the sequence would be 8+2, 6+2, 4+2, 2+2, 2 cool down) giving a total of 1000m. My plan was to do as many of the recovery lengths as possible with bilateral breathing.

Quite early in the session I could tell that I was still tired from yesterday's swim. The 'fast' lengths were terrible at 2:20min/100m at best! For the recovery lengths I couldn't maintain the bilateral breathing even at a slow 2:40min/100m and ended up pausing in a few sets.

Anyway, I completed back-to-back swims again and put some effort in for both.

April 2016 Week 10 Session 3

Today's swim has at least 1 PB in it. The warm-up was a best time, I think, in 4:54 minutes which is 2 seconds faster than previously.

The spike set was as tough as usual but I got some good times. In the first set I managed 3 out of 4 fast sections in 2:00min/100m or better which isn't bad going as that included the last length after over 1000m of swimming. I'm putting that down as a second personal best.

Above, or touching, the 2:00min/100m pace a few times

In the second and third sets  I showed a distinct speed-up for the fast lengths but couldn't manage to beat 2:00min/100m pace again. By the 4th set, which are all supposed to be fast lengths, I was clearly fatigued as my pace had dropped to average despite my faster arm turnover. Even so this last set was faster than last week.

April 2016 Week 9 Session 3

Today's Spike set felt to go OK but the data aren't so positive.

Clearly I faded through the session and only managed to touch 2:00min/100 once. There's a good distinction between fast and slow lengths which is good. On the fast lengths I'm trying to reach a bit further and although this is a spot slower it feels far more sustainable and less grabby.

April 2016 Week 8 Sessions 2 and 3

I've been away from hone for a few days and that as slightly messed up both running and swimming routines. The hotel had a 12m pool so over 2 days I did the Spike Set without a pull buoy. Basically it totalled over an hour of swimming with some intense intervals; that'll do.

After finishing my key job for today I went over to Goodwin to catch up on Session 2.

For the second block I managed very clear distinction between 7 easy lengths and 3 fast ones. This was my fastest block in this session so I can't have been too lazy on the slow lengths. The fast ones were just below the 2:00min/100m pace, so this is still being a barrier.

A tiring week - too much rain too!

I've been on leave from work for the last week. The plan was to start the week with jobs and finish with a camping trip. In the end though  the weather as too grim to bother going to a wet field and the jobs, in this case a DIY project, progressed more slowly than hoped.

Even so I have done some runs and a swim inbetween things. I've felt tired for much of this activity which I put down to being busy! The spike set swim was a little slower than last week and felt tough. I put some effort in for the circuit class and that maybe made me tired for Thursday's run. I only did one swim during the week as I didn't want to spend the time travelling to and from the pool.

Today's long run was planned to be 20km as that's the point at which my right ankle has started niggling over the last few weeks. Today it started at around 12km which I'm putting down to cumulative distance during the week (or the lower drop shoes, there's a quandary). On the way home I skipped Oxstones as it had started to rain and so took some tracks through the plantation.

These were a combination of forestry tracks and the track of a gas pipeline. After a km or so they returned me onto the main track for the final stretch home.

April 2016 Week 6 session 3

The spike set data this week are very similar to those from last week although there is a hint of greater distinction between 'fast' and 'slow' lengths. It is very slight though as the average and peak paces from both weeks aren't significantly different.

If anything the SWOLF data are a little worse which might be explained by fatigue from yesterday's circuit class. A few lengths were at 2:00min/100m or better so overcoming that threshold is an ongoing goal.

A number of lengths around 2:00min/100m pacing

April 2016 Week 5 Session 3

Today' swim got off to a good start as the warm-up was another personal best at 5:02 minutes, and I could have been faster as I had to pause to pull past a slower swimmer!

The spike set was as tough as usual with a loss of pace. I only managed 1 length at a pace of 2:00min/100m but lots around 2:05min/100m. The general pace was very similar to last week but clearly better than 2 weeks ago when I took more rests too. Importantly I managed a pace of 2:10min/100m average for the final 8 'fast' lengths with fairly consistent  SWOLF through the session.

April 2016 Week 4 Session 3

At the Goodwin pool I accepted that today's Spike Set would be disrupted before 09:00 as the pool is reconfigured for swimming classes. I managed to get most of the session completed at the full 33.3m and then worked as best as I could in the 25m section. The shortened section doesn't have a wall at one end so it can be a struggle to get a good start. At least I put the effort in even if the data is poor.

I only managed 2 lengths at better than 2:00min/100m which is a little disappointing. This might have happened because I didn't take any significant breaks and kept up a firm pace throughout the session as I was trying to get as much as possible done before the reorganisation. Nonetheless the SWOLF was low as I did keep good long strokes.

April 2016 Week 3 Session 3

I couldn't expect any records today after 2 hours exercise yesterday. The Spike set is hard work and I faded through the session so that my last 'fast' set was at th average pace for the whole session. However the first two 'fast' sets were at a pace of 1:57min/100m and 2:01min/100m respectively so the 2:00min threshold is being chipped away.

Short sets of high effort are clearly at a faster pace

On the whole I managed to be 8s/100m faster on the 'fast' sets than 'slow' throughout the session which shows that I was making an effort. Reviewing the data I noticed that I'd missed a couple of the sets...

April 2016 Week 2 Session 3

This was a hard spike set!

The pool was very nearly empty so I can't blame anyone else for poor pacing. The warm-up was, I think, a personal best at 5:06min for 200m. On the first 2 'fast' sets I clearly beat 2:00min/100m across 66m which is great. After that I started to tire and by the time I reached the alternate slow/fast superset I was slowing even in the 'slow' sets. The final 4 'fast' sets averaged around 2:20min/100m and my arms felt thoroughly fatigued although I did my best to maintain form and keep a good 'feel' which was fairly successful as I averaged 22strokes/length.

April 2016 Week 1 Session 3

For this block the third session is a 'Spike Set' more or less as described on the SwimSmooth website. I've not been given any timed parameters for it so there's not as much to think about. When I was given the scheme on paper it looked very hard to follow but in the end it wasn't too hard to execute. The basis is to progressively shorten the slower sets between fast lengths from 200m to zero. In this screen dump part of the session is shown at the point where the slower sets shortened.

At this stage in the session I was able to pick up a little pace on the fast sets although not to the degree I'd hoped; just one length better than 2:00min/100m pace. Equally as the session approached an hour I found it hard to find extra power.  Incidentally the 'gradient' in the pool is quite evident from the steps.

I'm glad that I've done Week 1 as now I'll be able to settle into the sessions more comfortably and work on progress rather than being over-awed by either complexity or extent.