(Re-)Training Table - How far have I fallen in 8 months>

The move from Arizona to Ontario has been a most excellent adventure in so many ways, but has also been quite all-consuming. While I've found a small, but vibrant masters swimming community* and I have been getting in the water a few days a week for most weeks, my training has not been what you could call consistent or focused. With seven months under my belt in Canada and the lovely city of Barrie feeling like home, I have made it a goal to get back onto a committed training routine.

Since the best way to start is to first figure out how far you have to go, I did my 3 x 300 Base Pace test set (thanks, Dave Salo) this morning in the 25 yard** pool at LA Fitness, comparing my results to my best masters' performance ever from 2016 and the last time I blogged about this, last November:

Standard Warmup (1,500 yards)

• 1 x 400: IM, kick-drill by 25s

• 4 x 100: on 1:30, freestyle swim, descend wearing a Finis snorkel

• In 2018, I was 1:12, 1:11, 1:08, 1:04

• Today, I was 1:17, 1:13, 1:11+, 1:09

• 4 x 100: on 1:50, IM kick, descend, on back no board

• In 2018, I was 1:32, 1:29, 1:29+, 1:25

• Today, I was 1:37 down to 1:30

• 6 x 50: on 1:00, #1 and #6 are easy breastroke kick while wearing the snorkel; evens are strong IM order

• In 2018, I was 0:31 (fly), 0:33 (back), 0:39 (breast), 0:30 (free)

• Today, I was 0:35, 0:35, 0:41, 0:32

3 x 300 Test Set (1,000 set / 2,500 yards total)

• 3 x 300: test set on 4:00

• My best performance ever on this was back in December of 2016, when I went 3:08+, 3:09, 3:08+

• 11-23-2018, 3:25, 3:22+, 3:19+

• Today, 3:34, 3:33, 3:30

• This puts my Threshold pace at roughly 1:10.7 (about 5% slower than my 1:07.5 from November 2018)

• I will set my Base Pace at 1:20

• 1 x 100: easy sculling and kicking with a snorkel

TOTAL: 2,500 yards

So, the once semi-mighty has indeed fallen, but, honestly, not as far as I had thought.

* But, the team takes a break from July through early September because everyone's too busy frolickling in the gorgeous weather outside!

** I find it amusing that I used to primarily train in a 25 metre pool when I lived in imperial-units-centric USA, and now joined a fitness facility with a yards pool in otherwise metric-minded Canada!