CSS

I was up at 3:43 a.m. on my day off. Yeah, I did/do that to accommodate John. He is always and is still pushing me to get up earlier. I ain't doing it. Three forty three is early too early enough. I went to the pool with the idea of doing some testing to figure my CSS (critical swim speed). Once, I had that number, but that was years ago and as I am always looking to upgrade my training, I thought it was time to re-figure this, and see if it can make an application to my current training.

OK, I'll tell you. In short, critical swim speed is that pace of swimming where your levels of blood lactate begin to build up. In short, it is your anaerobic threshold. In running we call workouts based on anaerobic threshold, tempo runs. Warm up, run twenty minutes at threshold pace, cool down. It works, will make you able to hold a faster pace in a race because your body improves V02Max, strengthens the sports specific muscles, and learns to buffer lactic acid.

In swimming, CSS training improves the pace a swimmer can hold from 400 yards up. For me, that has little application to Chicot (maybe some, but Chicot is its own beast), but much to the Senior Olympics and to the Heart O' Dixie Triathlon.

So I went to the pool mentally prepared for the test which consisted of two time trials, a 400 followed by a 200. I swam

1,100 23:13 (2:06)
400 time trial 6:12 (1:32)
300 easy
200 time trial 2:58 (1:29)
100 finger paddles
100 small paddles
100 medium paddles
100 large paddles
150 large paddles
250 medium paddles
600 small paddles
25
brick kick 25
total: 4,525 yards = 4,135 meters

What were the results, you ask? I took the numbers and plugged them into a calculator I found online and it computed my critical swim speed a 1:37 per 100 yards. That is about what I had guessed ahead of time based on feel. I knew just from swimming that at 1:40 I was pushing the red line a bit. Now, with this new information, I need to design sets built around this number. The latest info says do something like this:

20 X 100 r 7 - 15
10 X 200 r 20
5 X 400 r 30
3 X 600 r 40 - 45

I find that interesting. I already do 20 X 100, but with the numbers from my CSS calculation, I now know that I am swimming those anaerobically. I swim them on 2:00, finishing them around 1:30, a full seven seconds below my CSS pace. The 1:30s gives me about 30 seconds rest. I think I will continue to do my 100s this way because some anaerobic sets are good for you, should be part of the mix. 

I think I will add the CSS sets at 200. To swim 200s at 1:37 means I finish them in 3:14. I can do that, it's stiff, but I can do it. Then with 20 seconds rest means I need to set my watch to send me off every 3:34. For me, 20 seconds of rest is a quick turn around. I am, however, looking forward to enacting this set and to see how it goes.

I did not do anymore working out Friday. What!??!?!? Yeah, my day was full. I will probably write about that later. Praise God for a good swim.