Time Is Not The Only Measure Of Performance

I  swam 2100m today, starting at 10:40. The pool was 29 degrees C.

500m warm-up w/ tempo bursts

4x [25, 50, 75, 100, 50 recovery] TT sprints w/ focus on fast recovery, tight spear-hand entry. Descend tempos per repeat from 1.03, 1.00, .97, then 1.00. Make them as ‘effortless’ as possible.

200 FG with SPL at 17

100m timed. Came in at 1:24 with SPL 16.17..18.

200 cool-down holding SPL 16

COMMENTARY

The first set was intended to work my SR, especially focusing on making my recovery arm move faster, but it was not suppose to be a ‘hard’ effort- I need to move faster while still staying as relaxed as possible. The .97 tempo seems to be about where I am swimming my 100m Prs at. So this is where I wanted to approach and condition so that it becomes easier and easier to swim at this tempo. Then I can expand it out. Ease up to it, then back off one step and see what happens.

If being faster is the only way a swimmer measures improvement then they are blind to the other factors that contribute to faster swimming. If I only measured time and just guessed at my level of effort in today’s workout it would seem I made no progress from repeat #3 to #4. But in fact, since I was measuring both SR and SPL I was able to see in my chart that I did in fact improve- I came in at the same times in both #3 and #4 but on #4 I used a lower tempo and I used a lower SPL.

However, I have an outer ear canal infection and started taking antibiotics tablets last night. I made the mistake of taking one this morning on an empty stomach and I paid for it. I got increasingly nauseas during this main set which was distracting and eventually energy-draining. So I had to get out early.

I had planned to do an SPL stretch set of 200 FG/200 SPL 16 right after this first set, then do a timed 100m to see if I could reach a new PR from the tempo stretching. I did the 200 FG then took a chance I could crank a 100 sprint before the nausea got too much. When I launched I was fairly rested, and on #1,2 and 3 I felt fast, holding a nice SPL. But I was a little surprised and disappointed to see only 1:24 on my watch at the wall. On one hand I felt loose enough to swim at that tempo, yet my strength was obviously dropping from my nausea.

I still need to experiment with these tempo stretches to see how I can use them to improve my sprint performance. I still like the results I get with SPL control more.

-MH

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