As well as getting out on the bike, I’ve decided to get back in the pool, albeit purely as some recovery sessions from my bike rides. I’m also aware that all the exercise I’m doing is leg-based, so my upper body isn’t doing anything and going for a swim is infinitely preferable than hitting the gym to lift some weights. I’m not training for any swimming events or following a structured plan, just aiming to get in and swim a few easy laps on a regular basis.
That being said, I want to get to the stage where I can complete 40 x 100 FS off 1:45, averaging 1:30. That’s a reasonable “all year ‘round” level of swim fitness as far as I’m concerned, though a long way short of what I used to be capable of! Still, that’s the initial target and I’ll re-evaluate once it’s reached.
The plan is to do two swims a week and to just get in and start swimming 100s off 1:45. No warm-up, no drills, no messing around. Just in, swim until my arms are wrecked and see how I go.
I did my first session last week and it was a bit of an eye-opener! I took the first 100 nice and easy, concentrating on getting some feel back for the water and ended up with a 1:22. I was pretty happy with that and figured things might not be so bad after all. However, the second 100 was 1:29 and I was starting to feel it in my biceps/lats and after six I needed to stop for a rest :) My arms were wrecked, as if I had been lifting in the gym and just had no energy/pwer left. After a couple of minutes break I managed another four 100s, then another break followed by a final two 100s for a total of 12. If I’d managed 12 straight through I would have been happy enough, but the two breaks put a dampener on things.
Second session was today. I resolved to take things a bit easier on the first few 100s, so swam a 1:29 for the first one followed by a few around 1:31 or so. I got to six and felt OK, then felt a bit better after 10 and suddenly all was well and I knew I could swim many more. I decided to call it a day after 20 having averaged 1:32, though I still felt reasonably good. I just didn’t want to totally drain myself and end up skipping my bike ride in the morning.
Still, a rapid improvement and felt a bit more like a swimmer again. Next session is on Thursday which will hopefully be more like today than last week.