Workout #4; another 1500 broken swim.

Bless my family for having to get on board with my significant increase in training over the last few months. I was up at 6am today, and in the pool by 7am, and back in time to spend some time with the kiddies, make a good big post-workout breakfast, and get them to school on time.

Today’s workout was the same as last, though I failed to mention that I usually stretch for about 15 minutes before jumping in the water:

• 300m warmup — just waking up
• 6x50m @ :45 – :50 w/ 15-20 sec. rest — hard to keep the pace up and the rest down
• 3x100m @1:50 w/ 40 sec. rest
• 600m @ 1:54/100m pace — Was down about 20-25 seconds overall on the 600m, still working on form over force, especially on the longer meterage

I’d really like to be able to swim a 10:00 600m, which means I have to get my 100m splits down to 1:40 per.

This morning I realized that the super busy pool, filled with people who don’t know how to properly choose the right lane speed-wise, is actually a really good thing for training. Open water swimming doesn’t give you the best possible conditions. It’s good to have to look up in the middle of a 50m and learn how to effectively pass people.

How do you perform when things aren’t going your way? That’s what I kept saying to myself this morning.

This training isn’t about what other people think about me and how fast or beautifully I can or can’t swim. This is about me. Your training is about you.

That said, when I’m in the water, I always try to make sure that I’m not fucking with someone else’s workout. The best possible outcome is one that is the best for me and for you. Try to remember that when choosing your lanes. Don’t be the guy slowing other people down, whenever you can avoid it.