Swim: 3800 Aerobic Pace

Did a long slow endurance set yesterday, and didn't much feel like I had my best stuff.  But swimming tired is an important learned skill, so instead of cutting my workout short or lengthening the intervals, I just pushed through, trying to keep the effort long but moderately paced.

It felt very much like the back-half of a long slow distance run of the kind where it's a struggle just to keep your head up and your feet moving.  But that was kind of the point.

Warm Up
4 x 200 easy @ 3:30
200 kick
10 x 50 @ :45, breathing every 3rd stroke

Main Set
400 @ 5:40
4 x 100 @ 1:25
 -- 1:00 rest
300 @ 4:15
3 x 100 @ 1:25
 -- 1:00 rest
200 @ 2:50
2 x 100 @ 1:25

200 kick
50 easy drill

2 x 100 @ 1:25 tempo

50 warm down

* * *

This workout relies on the concept of cruise intervals (CI), which is essentially the fastest interval that swimmers can hold over the course of a fairly long swim.  There are lots of ways to set cruise intervals.  Mine is 1:15/100, and it has been since I came back to swimming as an adult back in 2007.

For me, putting a swim set on 1:25/100 is the same as saying CI + :10.  Or, to put that another way, if I go at the fastest pace that I can possible maintain over time, I ought to average :10 rest between intervals over the course of this set.  

That's hard to do, though, and it was impossible yesterday, coming off a blistering weight workout with my daughter Thursday night, so really CI + :10 tends to be more aerobic work--meaning slower pace but also less rest, hence the "long slow distance" concept.  Were I trying to go fast, I'd give myself more rest but keep a higher tempo.  

Questions?  Let me know.