T34 - Not as Slow as I Thought and Steady - Swim

Gainesville

Today's workout fit in perfectly with my schedule as I spent the whole day revising this Cosmo article, and the long swim offered a nice respite. I also decided that since it was a long swim with 2 distinct sets, I'd take a gel along for the swim. Never done this before, but I'm glad I did.

Swim: long day
wu: 6 x 50, alternate free and back
main: 2 x 1500, RPE 4

2 Lipodrene
Not sure I timed the Lipodrene very well today, as I took 2 at about 5 then got absorbed inediting this article and looked up and it was 5:50. The Lipodrene was kicking in, so I hightailed it over to GHFC and hit the pool for the longest swim session thus far.

I've swum longer days than this, but for some reason it feels longer now. My first set went fairly well, though I didn't bother looking at the clock. My form felt good at first, which I credit to the lipodrene, then started to slip at the end, which I credit to fatigue. So I looked up and took my gel (chocolate mint is soooo good when you have that swimming hunger. It's like mid-workout cake) and started back up at 10 after.

The beginning felt really labored, and by lap 10 I felt like I'd been out there forever. The guy in the lane next to me kept passing me, and there was literally a fat girl in the next lane doing backstroke and smoking me. But whatever. I was pretty sure they weren't swimming as far as I was. So I just kept my pace and started to feel like I was locked in to some sort of muscle memory. Like it just felt robotic and very efficient. No idea whatsoever is this was true, but when I finished lap 30 I looked up and it was 33 after. Meaning I'd done 30 laps in 33 minutes, a much better pace that I've previously done. Not smoking. Not even fast by some people's standards. But fastER for me, and that's all we're looking for here. Constant improvement.

All in all I can't be happier with how well training is going thus far. Gotta keep it up.