Gimme 25 and I’ll take a 100

I swam 3000m today. The pool was a perfect 29 degrees C.

Warm-up

5x 100m, descend SPL from 17, -1 SPL per 100.

Main Set

Ladder 2x [8×25, 4×100, 2×100, 200, with 50 recovery swim between each]

I gave about 15 seconds rest 25, and about 20 for the remaining.

	TT 1.20			TT 1.20
	time	SPL		time	SPL
8x 25m	All :21	15,16	1x 200m	3:10s	17,18
4x 50m	:44, :44, :45, :45	16,17	2x 100m	1:32, 1:34	16, 17, 18
2x 100m	1:33, 1:34	17	4x 50m	:43, :44, :44, :44	16,17
1x 200m	3:12s	16	8x 25m	All :21	16

200 FG, hold SPL at 17

100m timed, came in at 1:25

200 swim down

COMMENTARY

Today was unusual in that I swam at 13:30, after having a full breakfast this morning. I usually swim first thing in the morning, drinking only a glass of water and taking a banana. For years, by convenience more than principle, I have generally ran and swam before eating breakfast, so it was nice to look forward to a little extra boost today. I also encourage myself in this habit thinking that I am conditioned to process fuel and water and oxygen a bit more efficiently because I always train at the time of day I am least tanked up.

My goal was to explore my performance data at 1.20 tempo- I am curious about why I don’t seem to gain much time at 1.10 and 1.00 while adding another SPL.

I noticed that this tempo was easier to swim this week than last. But still, I noticed here how my pace per 25 seems to drop off over a 100 even though I am holding to the tempo.  Something in my stroke (and possibly in the quality of my flip-turn and push-off), even at this tempo, is suffering and I need to find it. Next week I will work down to below 1.00 and see what happens to my stroke. I will be looking for my tempo-threshold, so that I can start working on that.

This set today was a solid performance. I had a good solid grab and high elbow on each pull- no collapsing stroke or lazy forearm from fatigue. And I did it over 1800 meters.

But now, to improve my 100 time I have 3 variables to tweak and improve.

1. Increase tempo
2. Reduce drag
3. Apply more power per stroke

In all 3 variables I see I have a lot of room to explore.

The results today seem to confirm where my performance level is at with these tempos. Now I need to push down into faster tempos and uncover my tempo-threshold (the tempo at which I can no longer hold good form for a 50). :44 seconds for 50m @ TT 1.20, holding 16 SPL.

And the advice I gleaned from one of the TI coaches on the forum- to get my sprint time down, first I need to achieve my target pace for a single 25. Then I need to extend that ability to 4×25, and make it easier and easier to do. It seems I could do the same for my 1500 goal as well. Get the pry-bar in the crack, then use leverage to start wiggling until the crack gets bigger and bigger. (analogy is mine)

And another bit of advice I liked: when I bump up against a wall, back off a little, examine the hindrance, drill the correction, then ease into trying again.

PS- I realized while reading the TI forums this evening that I count my SPL slightly different which results in a SPL count 1+ than how they are counting by TI conventions. I count every pull, except the hand I plant and roll over to make a flip-turn. While TI convention counts every hand-spear (or entry). I count that first underwater stroke after the push-off when no hand has broken the water yet. So I either need to convert when in a TI conversation, or change my practice. But I kinda like how I measure things conservatively so I stand a better chance of being pleasantly surprised by my results when compared to my peers.

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