25 November 2022
Forget the deals in the stores, I got the best deal around for a pool tourist when I dropped into The Workout Club in Londonderry, New Hampshire on Black Friday morning: not only did they honor their free, three-day pass (even though I am an out-of-towner), their beautiful six-lane, 25-yard pool was empty, kitted out with synchronized digital pace clocks, and just begging me to do great 5,000-yard workout to work off the Thanksgiving feast:
From looking ahead of time at the pictures on the website, I was hoping this would be the case so I could make attempt #1 at the "Lite" version of the Brute Squad virtual race - 100 fly, 200 IM, and 500 free. Before I did that, I ran through my typical 1,750 warmup along with a 400 kick-for-time. Though I did die a bit on the 400 kick, it was my fastest thus far this season at 5:48.2, a little more than 5 seconds faster than a couple of weeks ago and within striking distance of my best ever (5:35.77).
I rolled through a recovery set of 7 x 50 before then doing the Brute Squad Lite. I don't really know the right strategy for this, so I tried to take about 10 seconds rest after the 100 fly and the 200 IM, to see how this would go.
100 fly - 1:11.6 followed by 10.7 seconds rest (according to my FINIS Smart Goggles)
200 IM - 2:33.4 followed by 13.2 seconds rest
500 free - 5:38.2
TOTAL - 9:47.10
I will try this again without resting between the events and see what result is better, then use that learning next Wednesday when I attempt the full Brute Squad.
After some more recovery 50s, I did a set of sprint 25s that I like to do:
4 x 25-75 - on 1:40 per 100, 25s fast stroke (fly-back-fly-free), 75s easy
1 x 50: easy scull on 2:00
4 x 25-50 - on 1:30 per 75, 25s fast stroke (back-fly-back-free), 50s easy
1 x 50: easy scull on 2:00
4 x 25-25 - on 1:10 per 100, 25s fast stroke (all back from start), 25s easy
1 x 50: easy scull on 2:00
4 x 25 - on 0:40, fast, back-fly-back-free
1 x 50: easy scull on 2:00
My times were uniformly strong, but the best part of this was being able to practice my backstroke starts. I don't typically race backstroke below the 200, but this was much needed with a 50 coming at my meet in a few weeks. I cannot say that my starts got to anywhere approaching good, but they were better by the end. Even better was my mood as I left this great club with the afterglow of a great workout: