Yesterday's Workout (or "How to Swim Stupid")

I got in the water late yesterday morning for a belated long swim.  I'd intended to do some open water swimming while we were camping over the weekend, but that didn't happen, leaving me to try to cram it all in on Labor Day.  

Results were mixed.

Warm-Up:

-- 3 x 200 @ 3:15

Main Set (x 3):

-- 300 free @ 4:15 (tempo)

-- 4 x 50 @ :55, IM Order (aerobic)

8 x 50 kick @ 1:05, fly / breast

3 x 200 pull @ 2:50

100 easy/drill

2 x (4 x 100 free @ 1:25), descending 1-4

-- rest 1:00 between sets

150 warm down

Total: 4,150 yards

The main issue here was in the design of the Main Set.  I adapted it from an idea I found online,but not  smartly.  I wanted to work the 300's freestyle and catch my breath on the 50s IM, but it was tough because I kept getting into oxygen debt off the damned backstroke and breaststroke turns.  The pace changes turned out a lot harder than I thought they'd be.  I was already tired from trying to hold 1:15/100 on the 300s freestyle, and with all the damned pull-outs, I just couldn't settle out into an even rhythm with my stroke work.  I'd be breathing hard after every rep, and it wound up... well, painful.

The last set of 10s was very tough.  My first four were okay, but I didn't have a lot of gas left afterwards, and I was lucky to get my last 100 down under 1:15.  Overall, my times weren't bad, but I felt like I paid a price for them.  

I spent the rest of the day in something like a zombie haze.