7am habits calling (Broken Mile)

13 April 2022

"First light in the morning

Shadows start to fall

Temptation is calling..."

- Dirty Vegas, "7 AM"

The trance dance music that shuffled up on the way to the pool was a great beat to backdrop the habit calling me this morning, a Broken Mile. I got the idea for routinely doing a Broken Mile from an early age group coach of mine, Mark Kutz, from times when I had dropped in with the Masters team he now coaches in Richmond, Virginia. Mark will mix this set up, but the version I really like is this:

3 rounds of:

  • 3 x 50: on 0:45

  • 2 x 100: on 1:25

  • 1 x 150: on 2:05

followed by one extra round of the 3 x 50s to total 1,650 yards.

This morning, I did my standard 1,750 warmup and then the Broken Mile, with results compared to earlier this year and back to my best ever performance on this:

  • November 12, 2015:

    • 50: solid 0:29s, maybe one 0:28+ and one 0:30-

    • 100: 0:59s/1:00-s

    • 150: 1:30, 1:29, 1:28+

  • February 27, 2022

    • 50: 32 to 33+

    • 100: 1:05, 1:05, 1:06+, 1:06, 1:07+, 1:07

    • 150: 1:39, 1:41, 1:43

  • Today

    • 50: solid 0:31, getting to 0:30s on last two of the 4th round

    • 100: 1:04, 1:02+, 1:04+, 1:04, 1:04, 1:04

    • 150: 1:37, 1:37, 1:37+

I did an active recovery set of 7 x 50 on 0:35 (free), 0:40 (free), 0:45 (free), 0:50 (free-back), 0:55 (back), 1:00 (back swim, back drill) and 1:05 before testing my speed:

8 x 50: on 1:00, odds fast IM order (0:30, 0:32, 0:38+, 0:28), evens easy

I added an extra 100 cool-down for a great 4,250 yards in almost exactly 75 minutes.