The Chlorine Fog Challenge

November 7, 2020

Well, the City of Barrie Aquatic staff must have been reading articles like this ...

... and decided to double, triple, quadruple down on their investment in chlorine. At this morning's 8am workout at the East Bayfield pool, the chlorine levels were noticeably higher than even yesterday, when I felt it was a little elevated. At only 30 minutes into our hour long workout, I already had chlorine-cotton mouth and by the end of the workout could feel some definite breathing problems. I've always believed that my near daily dips in chlorinated water contributed to my stunning good health, but this was too much.

The chlorine fog made the main aerobic set all that much harder, but I was very happy with my performance on 4 x "400" - 100:

400s are hard, aiming to negative split each and descend

• #1 straight - wore my snorkel and was 5:08, split roughly 2:35/2:33

• #2 broken at 200 (on 3:00) - wore snorkel on #1 (2:32), swim on #2 (2:30)

• #3 as 4 x 100 on 1:30 - was 1:15 (snorkel), 1:13, 1:12, 1:12 (4:52 add-up)

• #4 straight and was 4:50

100s were easy

With the 1K warmup and an extra 100 easy at the end, this was a pretty intense 3,100 meters in an hour. Now, hopefully some hiking in the clear forest air of Springwater ...

... this afternoon will allow me to clear out the excess chlorine from my lungs!