7 October 2024
While I've got a focus for the next six weeks or so on the USMS Virtual 3,000 yard event, I've already decided that I'll turn my attention to training to race long course after that, with at least a couple of events already penciled into my calendar for January and March. To support both my current and future goals while indulging my love of morning swims and iconic pools, I'm going to try to make it down to the London Olympic Aquatic Center at least once each week when I'm in town. I took this picture as I walked into the pool at 6:20am today:
Last Wednesday had me down there to do my first-ever long course rendition of the set I learned as the "Grant Hackett 200 Race Pace" test set. This is a go-to test set for me when I'm training solo (which I've done most of my Masters Swimming career) and I did an IM version:
16 x 50 - on 0:50, 1 @ race pace, 3 cruise free, going IM order on the race pace
1 x 50 - easy on 1:20
12 x 50 - on 0:55, 1 @ race pace, 2 cruise free, going IM order on the race pace
1 x 50 - easy on 1:20
8 x 50 - on 1:00, 1 @ race pace, 1 cruise back, going IM order on the race pace
1 x 50 - easy on 1:20
4 x 50 - on 1:05, IM order on the race pace
1 x 50 - easy on 1:20
I don't have any baseline LCM times for this set, but, other than the breaststroke, this felt good:
I had done a variant on my standard long warmup and some extra work at the end to crank out 5,000-meters.
This morning, I didn't have as much time to train, so only managed 4,000-meters total, with a short warmup and then a dead-simple main set of 30 x 100 done as:
10 on 1:40, 10 on 1:35, 10 on 1:30
Alternated 5 swim with 5 pull with a buoy and a snorkel
I was hoping to hold 1:15s on this, but was probably still a bit tired from the 4,500-meter workout I had done with our team later on Sunday afternoon. My pace got better over the set (mostly), a testament to my need to need A LOT of warmup to get going. My average pace over each set of 5 was:
1:20.1
1:18.5
1:17.5
1:16.2
1:17.3
I'm going to have to crank up the speed over the next 4-5 weeks if I want to approach my best time ever on the virtual event. But, it was still a solid workout.
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