25 February 2022
No ... not COVID testing: freestyle race testing!
As I hadn't yet done my heart rate test set, and it's been almost 3 weeks since my last go at the 3 x 300 Base Pace test, I decided to double down.
Long warmup (2,000 yards)
1 x 400: IM, kick-drill by 25s
4 x 100: on 1:20, freestyle swim, descend wearing a Finis snorkel
1:13+, 1:12+, 1:09+, 1:08
4 x 100: on 1:45, IM kick, descend on back no board
1:36+, 1:33, 1:28, 1:26+
6 x 50: #1 and #6 are easy breastroke kick while wearing the snorkel on 1:30; evens are strong IM order on 0:55
0:32 (fly), 0:34 (back), 0:39+ (breast), 0:30 (free)
8 x 25: on 1:00 per pair, odd lengths fast IM order, even lengths easy
6 x 50: active recovery on 0:40, 0:45, 0:50, 0:55, 1:00, 1:30
Heart Rate Test Set / Pulse Plot (1,000 yards total)
I did the 8 x 100 on 3:00 and then compared myself back to my 45 year old self (2012), my 49 year old self (2016) and today (54 rapidly approaching 55):
It makes sense, both from the passing of time and for how much I was in incredible shape back in 2012 (I really was), but being slightly better than 2016 is very encouraging as I had gone on to swim very well at the Spring Nationals, where I not only won the 1,000 in my age group, but was the fastest across all ages.
I cooled down with a further 4 x 50 active recovery.
Base Pace Test Set - 3 x 300
I then rolled into this, feeling strong and confident:
My best performance ever on this was back in December of 2016, when I went 3:08+, 3:09, 3:08+
2016-01-04 - 3:16, 3:15, 3:14
2018-11-23 - 3:25, 3:22+, 3:19+
2019-08-01 - 3:34, 3:33, 3:30
2019-12-02 - 3:27, 3:29, 3:25
2020-02-03 - 3:18, 3:17, 3:19
2020-08-02 - 3:22, 3:26, 3:25
2020-09-17 - 3:24, 3:25, 3:24
2021-08-29 - 3:20, 3:19+, 3:20
2021-10-03 - 3:16, 3:16+, 3:16
2021-11-09 - 3:16, 3:16+++++, 3:18
2021-12-03 - 3:17, 3:16, 3:15
2022-02-09 - 3:32+, 3:23, 3:25
2022-02-25 - 3:17, 3:16, 3:16
Yet another positive sign, putting me back to where I was last fall, which also coincides with where I was in early 2016.
I finished up with 6 x 50 active recovery for a very nice 4,200 yard workout.