17 January 2025
While I cannot recommend Hoppers restaurant as performance food when you get their prix fixe feast, it’s some of the most creative and tasty South Indian / Sri Lankan food I have ever had. I took my London work team out there last night to kickoff the year and welcome a couple new people who just joined us in January. An excellent night was had by all, but my belly felt like it was scraping the 3M bottom of the London Aquatic Centre this morning!
Today was a “Fast Friday” workout (though it felt like Fat Friday) where I brought an old, too-loose-to-race-in but not yet see-through (I think and hope) A3 tech suit, FINIS Smart Goggles and cap for some timed efforts.
The main set wasn’t an all-out effort, but I was trying to lock in stroke count and breathing pattern to hit the target 0:35/50 race pace I would love to come close to when I race the 400 freestyle down at the K2 Crawley long course meet tomorrow.
I did this as 1-2-3-4-5 x 50 on 0:55 interval aiming for target race pace with one easy 50 after each bit of pace work. For the 1-2-3-4, I was trying to use my “Daniel Wiffen alternating laps of every two breathing pattern” where I breathed to my right on one lap and left on another lap. I know I need to get more oxygen than I was from my historic breathing pattern of 2-2-3-2-2. While I have found this new approach to feel balanced enough in SCM, I get to feeling off-kilter by the end of the length in a long course pool. Plus, my times were erratic, ranging from 33.4 to 36.1.
On the round of 5, then, I did a pattern that was roughly half lap breathing to right, a quick three stroke change and then the rest of the lap to my left. My times were on target, in a far tighter range from 34.5 to 35.1, and this just felt more sustainable.
I will try that pattern tomorrow and see how that pans out.
Comments