13 November 2021
While I did make a paltry attempt to race in a pool event this summer, the last time I raced with some actual training under my belt was at the end of February 2020 at the Thornhill Masters' great Stephen Forsey invitational, which will hopefully return in 2022. I am very excited to say that, a month from now, I should be basking in the post-race endorphin glow after competing in the New England LMSC Short Course Meters Championships in Worcester, Massachusetts.
My entries are in, aiming for primarily a fun butterfly and IM weekend ...
... where I used as my entry times (except for the 200 IM) the fastest time I have swum since moving to Canada at the start of 2019. Apparently, I've not yet swum the 200 IM in Short Course Meters since November of 2017, so I went with my time from then.
Who knows if I can approach any of these times? I'm just happy to think about racing again.
This morning, I did a check-in and the exact same workout as a almost a year ago, repeating both my 400 IM test set and a 400 kick for time. I was barely faster by the end of my IM set ...
8 x 50: on 0:55, 2 each stroke, build the odds and make sure the evens are at target 400 IM race pace
My dream splits would be 29+ fly, 31+ back, 36+ breast, 29.0 free
10/10/13 - 29, 30+, 36-, 28-
01/26/20 - 34, 35, 40, 32
08/03/20 - 34, 35, 42, 32
09/21/20 - 37, 34, 42, 31+
10/02/20 - 32, 34, 40, 31
11/21/20 - 31, 32, 38, 29
11/13/21 - 32, 33, 39, 29
4 x 100: on 1:40, do as 100 IMs, descend to target 400 IM race pace divided by 4, ideally starting on #1 no slower than 12 seconds above that
(In the old days), my SCY target would be to descend from 1:14+ to 1:02
10/10/13 - 1:11+, 1:10, 1:07, 1:03+
01/26/20 - 1:22, 1:18, 1:14+, 1:10
08/03/20 - 1:27, 1:20, 1:15, 1:13
09/21/20 - 1:25, 1:21, 1:18, 1:15
10/02/20 - 1:22, 1:18, 1:14+, 1:11++
11/21/20 - 1:17+, 1:14, 1:10+, 1:07
11/13/21 - 1:21, 1:16, 1:12, 1:07
2 x 200: on 3:00, build each stroke on #1, try to make #2 at target 400 IM race pace divided by two (e.g., 2:05+ in SCY back when I dreamed of going 4:11)
10/10/13 - 2:28, 2:13+
01/26/20 - 2:42, 2:27
08/03/20 - 2:57, 2:37
09/21/20 - 2:48, 2:37
10/02/20 - 2:45+, 2:31
11/21/20 - 2:42, 2:25
11/13/21 - 2:40, 2:24
4 x 50: active recovery on 0:45, 0:50, 0:55, 1:30
1 x 400: IM on 5:20, hard
10/10/13 - 4:36 (1:05, 1:09, 1:20, 1:02)
01/26/20 - 5:05
08/03/20 - 5:30
09/21/20 - 5:18
10/02/20 - 5:09
11/21/20 - 4:58.7 (thanks Garmin Swim 2 watch for timing me!)
11/13/21 - 4:57
4 x 50: active recovery on 0:45, 0:50, 0:55, 1:30
... and then way slower on my 4oo kick (6:21 versus last year's 5:59.6), but still pleased with this. Though I haven't blogged about it, the last time I did the 400 IM test set, on October 19th, I was still well above 5:00 on the 400 IM (5:07 if I recall).
I have two weeks of more speed/race-pace focused workouts planned and I'll aim to repeat this set on the next two weekends. After the 'Murican Thanksgiving long weekend, I'll fashion a couple of weeks of taper to see what results I can muster up!