Terry's 2015 Summer (LCM) Training Project

[terry]

Thurs 25 June 2300 LCM at Ulster County Pool
Today was my first day training in an outdoor 50m pool, which I'll continue--along with lake swimming in Minnewaska and Awosting--until Sept 7. I began with a broken 1500m baseline test. I could have swum 3 x 500m, but opted instead for 5 x 300m as this will result in a faster baseline 1500m pace. I was quite pleased with my results, which no doubt showed the benefit of my just completed 2-month Spring Training Project, in a 25y indoor pool.

Tuneup 6 x 100 at RPE 1-2 on 2:10
I held 72 strokes (36SPL) and descended these from 1:56 to 1:43. A 13-second improvement without adding strokes is a pretty routine, but still quite good tuneup performance for me. It means I considerably increased Tempo while keeping Stroke Length constant. I did this by gradually increasing the pressure I applied to the water.

Main Set 5 x 300 on 6:00.
I began at an average of 40 SPL and (by plan) gradually allowed average SPL to rise to 41 then 42, while also trying to incrementally increasing pressure applied to the water in my stroke.
My times were
#1 5:06
#2 4:59
#3 4:56
#4 4:52
#5 4:52
I hoped to swim 4:49 on the last one, but wasn't displeased with this result, as it means I gave my best effort on final two 300s, not just the last one.

As I progress through the summer my goal will be to reduce the differential between slowest and fastest 300 (i.e. start the set faster and still descend) as well as improve overall pace by more than 6%.

Cumulative broken 1500m time = 24:45 for an average of 1:39/100m.
Average SPL on this set was 41 and I calculate average Tempo at 1.12 to 1.13.

To improve by 6% I'll need to bring my broken 1500 down to 23:16. I'll aim to get it under 23:00.
That means holding 41 SPL at Tempo of about 1.06. Or swimming at a slightly slower tempo and bring average SPL down to 40. Or I could average 42 SPL at a faster tempo, like 1.00.
I will work on adapting to all three combinations during my training project..