I Did It

I finally pulled it off. What's that you say? That set, the 20 X 100 @ 1:57. When I opened training for the Suck, I went back to my old 100 meter repeats. The first time @ 2:00, I think I did six reps. Slowly I have been building reps and reducing rest time. Remember, I came close to doing it Monday, but lightning forced me out of the pool. I made it to eighteen then. Thursday, after a bad day of swimming Wednesday, I felt ready to try it again. Not only did I attmept it once more, but before I did I took a second off the fourth rep. So now my watch is programmed for the first four @ 1:56. I swam it all.

I was thinking about Randy Beets the whole time.

Yes, I was pretty shot when it was done, but I think that marks an advancment in my fitness, a leap forward in my ability to swim on the edge when the body is producing a lot of lactic acid and the heart rate is way up there. That is the kind of fitness I may well need to beat Beets butt again at the Suck. Next week, I will try to swim it again after I take a second off rep five. If and when I pull that off, I will take a second off rep six. I think you can see the pattern.

I did the set after a 1,600 meter straight swim warm up. I hope to add a 100 to each warm up and keep hammering the 100 repeats with reduced rest times. Not every day because there are several days during the week when I just can't pull it off. But the idea is to be able to swim long and then push really hard for a mile or more under a state of fatigue. That is what I may have to do in the Tennessee River. Last year, Beets was ahead of me for FOUR miles before I caught him and then we swam side by side for about a half mile. I was pushing hard and finally began to pull away. But then I had a bad patch around mile eight and Randy got close. I keep thinking about that. I have to be able "to go" at any point in the ten miles.