Pool Review: Slamming in Silves (#723)

27 February 2025

While I was truly quite happy with the pool in Lagoa, happy enough to have had two solid workouts there, I wish I had pushed on another ten minutes north earlier in my Portuguese vacation to this eight-lane, practically empty pool, the Complexo de Piscinas Municipais de Silves:

I got there late morning around 9:30am and found a friendly person at the entry desk. My Portuguese (e.g., whatever I could glean from Google Translate) got me far enough to get my entry card purchased (which doubled as my locker access), but she switched to English to explain to me the importance of showering before swimming, wearing my sandals on the deck, and my cap in the pool.

For my workout, at some point somewhere on the swimming-web, I had seen a main set called “Breakthrough 100s” done successively over a ten week period.  The structure is simple: on the first week do 10 x 100 all out on four minutes. Then, drop a 100 each subsequent week. As I found only two other swimmers in the pool with me ...

... I grabbed a middle lane and decided, after a my standard 1,750 meter warmup sets, to have my first go at this set. I did this as 10 rounds of 100 all-out on 1:30, followed by 1 x 50 on 1:00 and 1 x 50 on 1:30 (e.g., 4:00 per round). I also experimented with different stroke rates and kicking patterns as follows:

• #1 and #6 = two-beat kick, higher stroke rate

• #2 and #7 = 25 with a six-beat kick & slower stroke rate, 75 two-beat kick & higher stroke rate

• #3 and #8 = 1st and last 25s with a six-beat kick & slower stroke rate, middle 50 two-beat kick & higher stroke rate

• #5 and #9 = 1st 50 and last 25 with a six-beat kick & slower stroke rate, third 25 with two-beat kick & higher stroke rate

• #5 and #10 = six-beat kick, slower stroke rate

I was pretty happy with my resulting times, though I certainly got tired over the set:

In the second half of this, my calves were constantly threatening to cramp up, but I did manage to push through. This was an exhausting workout, but it's going to be tougher the next time I do it, as my future plans will be to do this long course!