Times Change, Or Do They?

9 June 2025

I probably didn't discover The Jam's "Going Underground" in 1980 when it was originally released, but I know I knew it well before I headed off to university in Austin, Texas.

If you had told 18-year-old Patrick that forty years later, he'd be on the Underground listening to this song** while going to an early morning swim workout ... he would have been dumbfounded.  

I can imagine his internal monologue.

"You're living in London?" muses Patrick-18.  

"Way to go, dude.  You're living my dream of living in different parts of the world."

"You're still swimming?  Still competing?"

"Double way to go, man.  I guess all those Masters meets you went to with Dad in the 70s made quite the impression on you.  Swimming is the best lifelong sport!"

"You're still listening to The Jam?  Isn't there new music?"

At which point, Patrick-58 would step in with, "Yeah.  There is new music.  Some of it's pretty good.  But it's undisputed that Gen-X in the 1980s created the most ambitious, influential and enduring music."

As for the taper workout this morning ahead of British Masters Nationals (which start on Friday), I did a typical 1,200 meter meet warmup and then did the middle two rounds of the "Hackett/Thorpe 200" set:

• 12 x 50: on 0:55, 1 at target pace, 2 cruise

• 8 x 50: on 1:00, odds at target pace, evens cruise

On the first set, I aimed for 35.5 as a target 800 pace, as I'd like to see if I can get under 9:30 this coming Sunday. I ranged from 34.8 to 35.7, for a 35.2 average, but they each took more effort and a higher stroke rate than I could likely maintain over an 800. 

On the set of 8, I wanted to aim for the stroke rate and effort I'd like to hold on the second half of my 400.  I was 33.1, 33.3, 32.7 and then I mimicked the closing 50 at 31.0.  I doubt there's anyway I drop a 2:10.1 second 200 (I probably can't even be out that fast), but I did love the power I was feeling.

** I fully recognize this song is a political protest and not about riding the tube!