Swim Tests

My backside and right heel are still a little sore (post bike crash) so my training this week will be limited to swimming and the big bike ride on Sunday.

Last night was the 1:30 Club swim session and the Coach wanted further data on lane times to ensure athletes are swimming in the correct lane.

There are a number of younger and stronger swimmers coming up through the ranks and it is inevitable that at some time I may be better suited to a slightly slower lane. I am currently swimming twice a week, which is probably sufficient to maintain my swim fitness / technique but not enough to improve it. There were a few weeks in the run up to IM Austria that I was swimming on Mon, Wed, Sat and Sun.

Fortunately I think my times in yesterday's swim tests were enough to keep me in Lane 3. I don't wish to go down to Lane 4 just yet, even if there is not much difference between the two.

Anyway the swim tests were as follows:

The first, a simple timed swim at race speed or above, was over 400m. I was lucky to be following two stronger swimmers with big kicks so drafting made perfect sense. I successfully kept on the toes of the swimmer ahead of me and completed the swim in 6:35, which is well above my normal race pace.

The next test was a continual swim for 20mins. We were encouraged to pass weaker swimmers in the lane. I also planned to use drafting to my advantage. The Coach asked us to count the laps we completed, which he would log. There was a slight difference opinion on times but most of my lane completed 1,100m in the scheduled times. This sounded about right and put my average 100m time at around 1:45-1:48. There were times when there was a bit of bunching but for the most part I swam a decent pace.

Given I had missed a couple of swim sessions last week I was quite pleased with my performance. Whether I do move lanes will be down to the Coach. Either way I will make an effort to at least maintain my swim fitness and hopefully improve it further in next season.