Swim Class 5/21: More "No Breaths"

No workouts yesterday. I had stuff to do for a job prospect before I went to the bike shop for the remainder of the day. So, I got an unplanned day off. It was only going to be an hour bike ride, and I am not going to worry about it.

Today's Workout:

Warm-up
5 - 50's with a 10 second rest after each

Main Workout

4 - 100's @ 2:30 each including rest
3 - 100's @ 2:20 " " "
2 - 100's @ 2:10 " " "
1 - 100 @ 2:00

10 - 25's no breathing on each, 15 to 20 seconds rest in between each one.


During the workout I tried to swim the first couple of set slower than what I felt was normal. I was leading the workout today in my lane, so even though I wanted to swim slow to save up for the last couple of sets of 100 I didn't want to be passed by the guy in my lane who is slightly faster than I. I kept coming in just under 2:00 for most of the time, although I was successful at coming in slightly over 2:00 a few times. When I say that swimming slower was a success, this is not as odd as it sounds. I am really trying to work on pacing myself so that I have plenty of energy for all of the sets. There have been times in the past where I have felt like the water was starting to boil because I am getting overheated. I was successful in maintaining a fairly comfortable pace the whole time. By the last 100 that we were supposed to swim I had enough in the tank to swim it in 1:47 or so. That is about as fast as I have ever swam a 100. I figure that my 500 time would be around 9:40 to 9:50 right now. This is slower than my individual 100 times today but of course I wouldn't have any breaks with the 500. My a couple months ago my 500time was around 10:25 I think. So yeah, I am faster. My wife got under 9 minutes I think before she stopped training, so it is not like I am super fast or anything.

Nevertheless, I still have anxiety over the open water swim. I actually can lose sleep over it if I happen to obsess about it before I go to bed. I am pretty close to pulling the trigger on the following item: The Tri-Aids SwimSafe. This may provide me with a mental edge since I would not have the constant battle that I have had in the past trying to fight down the panic that comes from being out in the middle of the river and having no wall nearby. Every time I have swam in the open water (4 times, but not in the past 6 months) I have freaked out a bit. Maybe I won't this time since I am a better swimmer, but I doubt it. It is becoming a phobia I think.

I am still going to complete this Vikingman, but that swim is going to suck. The water is going to be cold too. Ugh. Hopefully this Friday I will be able to get out and swim at Hagg Lake. A good open water swim would go a long way to putting an end to this anxiety.

As far as the "No Breaths" I made it 3 of the 10 times we did it. Unlike the last time we did it I didn't destroy my stroke to make it to the other side as fast a possible. Instead, our coach said that we should be just doing long strokes that stretch us out. We shouldn't have to freak out to make it. So that is what I tried to do. The 7 times that I didn't make it without breathing I made it with only one breath. Still not too bad. It takes practice to try and be as efficient as possible the whole way over to the other side. Efficiency is necessary because otherwise I am burning my oxygen too fast and I pop. The three times I did make I was pretty smooth, but I also was making the most powerful pulls that I could without flailing. I kept my legs from moving too much as well. I concentrated on being streamlined, so that my legs were not dragging low in the water behind me. Anyway, the no breath thing is starting to make more sense to me. In the past I have thought that this was a foolish exercise. But, I see that I was doing it wrong before, and so it wasn't really doing me any good. I still hate it even if I see the point.