I swam 95 minutes today, at Konyaaltı Varyant, starting at 9:50. Sunny, warm, fall-ish, onshore breeze that made the air dry and kept the sea flat. No swells, no waves. Water visibility was only about 4m. The sea was 28.5 C below the surface, but where the fresh water from underground is pouring in it is 25 C or less- the contrasting thermal layers create this wild sensation of slight breath-stunting cold for part of the face and chest, while immediately warming up the parts of the body that plunge below.
10 minute warmup with brisk tempo, then a staggered TT descent. 16x 250-stroke repeats
- 1.12, 1.10, 1.08, 1.06
- 1.08, 1.06, 1.04, 1.02
- 1.04, 1.02, 1.00, 0.98
- 1.00, .098, 0.96, 0.94
The goal today was to keep pushing my tempo range a bit faster, across 5km. Instead of starting at 1.20, I started at 1.12. I’ve noticed how my comfortable warmup tempo has gradually accelerated over the months. Where 8 months ago I might have picked 1.40, now 1.15 is quite comfortable. 1.20 was starting to feel too slow even for warmup. Even when I do alternating cruise/sprint sets I find my ‘restful-cruising tempo to be more like 1.17. And in those sets I was naturally speeding up to .94 tempo. So I should be able to push below that point now. Maybe down to .85 is a good goal for this season
I had some left shoulder aching again- tight knotted muscles around the back of the shoulder. I was concerned about it as I drove my scooter tot eh sea wondering if it was the old knot pain or I had a sore tendon- I could swim through the knot but a tendon I would stop for. But as I warmed up there was no pain or irritation so I kept going.
Around 0.98 tempo I started feeling like I had to work to hold the tempo and hold a full-hand catch, I was a bit tired. I kept a quick recovery arm, and tried to keep a quiet entry as well, but I still had time to extend fully at the front so I could begin a full catch. I just need to keep conditioning for these sub 1.00 tempos and it will just get easier and easier.
Like someone flipped a season switch, right here at the beginning of October the temperature and feel of the air just dropped a few degrees. My hands and feet and elbows feel a little achy at night, which seems to be a seasonal reaction for me.
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