Co-Working the Pool (Training Table)
- Apr 7
- 2 min read
7 April 2026
After our (mis-)adventures in Madrid and with Canadian Masters Nationals a mere seven weeks away, today marked the start of a focused six-week training and one-week drop taper cycle to try to see if I can get back into any semblance of racing shape to at least be able to deliver a somewhat decent 200 freestyle result.
I arrived at the London Aquatics Centre to brilliant sunshine and evidence that there was a lot of fun happening here over the Easter long weekend ...
... but my focus was on my 3 x 300 test set, which I did after this 1,800 meter warmup:
1 x 400 IM kick-drill
4 x 100 on 1:45, freestyle swim, gentle descend from 1:25 to 1:13/14
16 x 50: on 1:05
Odds done as AFAP underwater streamlined dolphin kicks (USDK) into easy backstroke kick where I did 2-4-6-8-10-12-14-16 USDKs by 50
Evens done as AFAP fly swim into easy backstroke kick where I did 2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9 strokes of fly off the wall
4 x 50 on a bit o'rest going odds strong trying to feel my target 300 pace and the evens easy
I was admittedly a bit too lax on the first 300, but was happy enough with the 3:58, 3:53, 3:50 performance. This is far off where I was at the start of 2025, but a good benchmark. I'll try to do this at the start of every other week just to see how I'm progressing.
The only bummer about my swim this morning is that my trusty, self-timing FINIS Smart Goggles seem to have lost their ability to keep the water out on my right eye, so I had to eyeball these times off the pace clock. I have an idea of some "goggle surgery" I might be able to do to rejuvenate these, but we'll see if that works.
On the swim-data-bright side, I've been using the Polar Verity Sense heart rate monitor now for a handful or more of workouts. I got this recommendation from stud masters swimmer, Barnet Copthall Masters teammate, and elite coach, Jascha Hasson, along with some ideas for how to incorporate heart-rate-based training into my program. The nice thing about this monitor is that it clips onto your goggle strap and then sits gently on your right temple. While it lacks in-workout feedback that a watch provides, I really don't like training with a watch (for the negative stroke/feel impacts) and this is purported to be more accurate than a wrist-based monitor:
I wrapped up my workout with 6 x 50 easy to complete 3,000 meters ... and then discovered the best "co-working desk" available in London (at least for the next week):
