Pace. It's been on my mind lately. Since God had graciously granted me the ability to swim again, slowly I have been working my way back into some sort of fitness. For many weeks, I swam only for the enjoyment of it, surprised anew and afresh every time I managed to go up and down the length of the pool. So happy was I to be in the water again and hypersensitive to the idea of re-injuring myself, I thought little if at all about speed.
Then the yardage began to increase, and I also began to pay more and more attention to what the watch said about my performance. At first, it was no big deal that my times were slow. Now, I am caring more, concerned, even starting to fret some.
I have not during this comeback done a single all-out swim of even 50 meters. But I have worked up to around 90% which happens to be the pace I used to swim 100 meter repeats. Those don't hurt as good as they used to, and my pace is ten to twelve seconds per 100 off what I routinely did in years gone by.
I am sure no swimmer would be happy about that although open water swimmers generally are not overly concerned with speed. But I want to come all the way back, not just part of the way, if possible. My strength, with the help of Team Centerville member Trevor McLean, is almost back to where it was. My endurance, although far below, is coming up at the rate I would expect. The speed, however, lags.
It's hard to know exactly how much of that is me. The pool at Twin Rivers was redone last year, and now with no lane lines I am sure each lap is slower because the swimming is not as straight. How much slower? I can only guess and my guess is one to two seconds per 100. That still leaves another ten seconds out there unaccounted for.
Some of that tens seconds, no doubt, is my weight, which, although it is still high, is beginning to come down. How much difference does that make? Again, I don't know, but my guess is another one to two seconds per 100. That leaves another eight seconds.
Some of that eight seconds in certainly due to conditioning. I already mentioned that the 100 repeats don't hurt as good as they used to. When I am fit, I love the pain a set of hard 100s causes. In the past, I did 100s @ 2:00 and could knock out a set of twenty. Now, the interval has changed to 2:30 because I can't make the 2:00 interval. I am coming into the wall now at around 1:52. That used to be 1:40 - 1:45. I counted the set a failure if I did not make it with :15 rest on @2:00. Now I can't swim the repeat without at least :30 to catch my breath. That proves that some, but not all, of those eight seconds is conditioning. It is inescapable that I am slower. The question is, What to do? That, my friend, is why I am pecking at the computer just now. I am trying to understand, trying to come up with a plan, a strategy, to get back to where I was or be even better. You know what they say: if you aim at nothing you will hit is every time. I am aiming to regain all of my lost form.
One plan to regain my lost speed involves Plate City. I need to continue doing what I'm doing, but I also need to add some things. I have been a bit spotty on the Swim Pull which is where I build sport specific strength. In addition, I need to add some exercises that involve fast twitch muscle fibers. These would be ball slams and hitting the tire with a sledge hammer. I did these in the past and developed some really gimpy shoulders as a result. So I need to start slow but stick with it and build up to real workouts without injuring myself.
Another strategy is to get my running back. I have little wind anymore. The cardio benefits of running may or may not translate directly into swimming, but they do produce cardiac efficiency and capacity which is needed when the water pace goes from cruise to faster. It has been a long ordeal, but I am doing the things I need to return to running: I have given the knee lots of time; I am losing weight; I am working diligently on lower body strength; I am ambulating and doing tiny bits of shuffling. If I stick with what I am doing, I now believe I will eventually regain my running. Thank you, Jesus.
A third strategy involves plain old speed work in the pool. Because of the severity of my injury, I have been extremely cautious about resuming fast swimming. In fact, when I first began to swim again, I could not swim fast but had only one gear. Our coach at DSU, Cagri the Mad Swimming Scientist, used to have us swim in various "gears" as he called them. I found it to be a applicable and useful concept. He loved to have us shifting gears durning our sets and that is how I began to conceive of and develop what I now call my countdown set. When I started back the last week of May, however, I only had a first gear: second, third, and fourth were gone. Now second is back and so it third, but I'm still looking for fourth. Fast 50s should help me find fourth gear. I need to do lots of these with long rest intervals for the muscles to rest so a strong effort can be repeated.
The fourth strategy involves the 100s themselves. The 100 repeats have proven in the past to produce strength, speed, and stamina. They take to speed and endurance up to longer distances. In my mind, I have made the commitment to do this. The trick is to translate a commitment made in the mind to one to done it in the pool.
Already I am thinking about Chicot. I am attempting to build the base of strength, speed, endurance, and stamina that will lead to a successful swim next June. Sweet Chicot. She is always there right where God put her. Thank you, Lord.
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