There is an art to pacing oneself. My focus in the pool now is to bring my 1000m time under 17:30. That puts my average 100m split at 1:45, a non-trivial time for me at this stage. And this is long course, which is kicking my ass. But that’s good. This is a good opportunity to think about pace. Today’s pool session focused on this set: 10 x 100m @ 2:00. My thinking here was that I would focus on finishing each 100m just under 1:45. And I did, except the fist couple. Something I’ve forgotten since high school swimming seems to be that one should not go out fast. My fist 100m was just under 1:35, the next just under 1:40, and the next five or six 100s at almost 1:45. That’s a fast start, not my trademark, and really not a smart way to race. So the challenge seems to be this: find a pace regardless of energy level. You will feel good at the start, obviously, but know what 1:45 feels like when fresh, when tired, and when dying. I’d actually prefer to go out slow. That’s really the way to race, I feel. Staying behind, keeping other racers close, then running them down near the end is the rad thing to do. And I better get this pace thing under control – my birthday challenge for next year may be a 1000m at 15:00.
da numbers:
- 150m easy free
- 10 x 100m @ 2:00
- coming in between 1:40 – 1:45, except the first couple fast ones, which I’m not counting cuz I’m an idiot
- 150m easy free
- 200m fly kick
total distance: 1500m
