3200 Yards Mid-Tempo Swimming

I've done a lot of aerobic-paced open-water work lately, so I wanted to put in a better quality workout when I hit the water last night.  I didn't have quite as much time as I might've liked, but I managed just under two miles in maybe forty-five minutes.  That owes mostly to fast intervals rather than to any commitment to minimize rest breaks.

Warm-Up

3 x 200 @ 3:30 easy
200 kick, fly / breast by 50s
6 x 50 @ :45, breathing every 3rd

Main Set
5 x 200 @ 2:50 tempo pace
3 x 200 pull @ 2:50

4 x 100 @ 1:30, descending 1 to 4

100 easy warm down

I usually start slow and try to ease into tempo work, but I felt strong early last night, putting down the first 200 of the main set in just over 2:30.  I held the next four at 2:35, and that's fine, but it took considerable effort, robbing me of whatever *pop* I had last night.  After that, I slogging slog through the second half of the set numbly trying to hold my stroke together.  That's still productive work, I suppose, but it was not exactly fun.

I'd originally planned to do two sets of 5 x 200, but by the time I got into the 3rd rep of the second set, I realized that this would be a mistake.  I was pulling and became a little afraid of tearing up my shoulder by overworking it.  So I unhooked the paddles and buoy, gave myself a minute rest, and tried to reset via descending 100s.  This was at best partially successful, with reps of 1:22, 1:20, 1:16, and 1:14.

Reality is that I just didn't have it after that first hard set.

I swam with my daughter Hannah last night.  She's got very good natural body-position, and she swims relaxed, but she's never really worked at swimming, and she's never competed.  She has therefore never given herself much opportunity to improve.  As it is, she swims with her fingers splayed open, and her pulls get problematically short when she gets tired.  But she could probably swim on the local high school team if she keeps working at it, which is what I told her last night.

Maybe she will.  I suppose we'll see next year.