I'll Talk it over with Pee Wee

I was up at 6:00 a.m. Sometimes that happens. I wake up at the time I usually get up and I know any attempt to sleep is futile. But I did lounge long, write a blog post, and hang out with Baby Kitty. I want my CC, but she is giving me the treatment. I have no clue what I did.

I dragged out and went to the pool about 10:30. It was empty, and I swam

  1,650 32:49

  200 for time 3:15 (1:38)

  100 easy, small paddles

  50 for time :42

  100 easy, small paddles

  100 for time 1:32

  100 easy, small paddles

  100 back for time 2:02

  100 easy, small paddles

  50 back for time 1:00

  100 easy, small paddles

  500 for time 8:41 (1:44)

  100 easy, small paddles

  50 long paddles

  2 X 25 no breath

  50 medium paddles

  total: 3,400 yards

I know what you are thinking. What the heck was that all about? Okay, I'll tell you. First, I did a long warmup. I like long warmups for two reasons. First, I like them. Second, they train part of the fitness system, the low end endurance, the oxygen utilyzing ability that everything else is built on. After that, I did some "for time" swims with a 100 easy with small paddlesbetween each one . There may appear to be no rhyme or reason for what I did, but you're wrong. What I did was the swim meet I will do in Biloxi next month. Those six "for time" swims are the six events I will swim in competition (and in the same order if my memory serves me correctly). The 100 easy with small paddles was me doing active recovery, my body repaying the oxygen dept while swimming and although the swimming was easy (it had to be), I was pulling the water a touch harder than normal due to the small paddles.

I have done this type of training before, and I am convinced that it works. I am not sure, however, that I have done it exactly like this. In the past, I had it programed into a Garmin watch which allowed me so much time to complete the swim and then a little wall time. As my fitness progressed, I would shorten the send off time thus condensing the work load. My Garmin, however, (that one, an old referb I purchased for that purpose) won't boot anymore. I thought about using the pace clock and giving myself one minute of rest between each swim, but I like a lot of volume on Friday (I usually do a straight swim) so I went with the easy swim between reps.

So the result was that I did a lot of volume while also doing a good bit of intensity. Volume plus intensity equals a strong practice and improving fitness. And I got to practice, to experience, the discomfort that those fast efforts produce. The more you do that, the less they seem to hurt. My 500 time was a little slow, but I was pretty tired by then. If memory serves me correctly (I could look it up, but I'm lazy like that) that is about what I did them last year when I swam "The Meet" as I called that practice. I will swim one later when I just warm up and then go for it. 

I went home to rest and Penny made me two really nice sandwiches for lunch. Then she wanted to go to Greenville for some shopping and to eat at the Cow Pen. That's what we did, so I missed my run and my gym time. Poor Pee Wee. I'll hang out with him today for a long time. I have lots of lifting I need to do. Oh, how was the Cow Pen? It seems they have two names now. One is Table on 82. We ordered a steak and for the first time in my life, I had to get a to-go box. I don't know what's happening to me in my old age. I'll talk it over with Pee Wee today.