Swimming: 6 x 2 min intervals @ 55 - 4/10

As I mentioned in a previous post, this week I started doing some interval training in the pool. Previously I had just set the thing on, started swimming and didn't stop for 20, 25 or 30 minutes. The problem is that that gets boring. Real boring. Most of the time, too boring. Once in a while I'd have something bumbling around in my head to keep my occupied, but more often then not it would be just plain boring.

I tried to use the waterproof headphones, but my freakishly small ear canals are proving to be just too much of a hassle. For a few months, I've tried all kinds of variations using soft silicone, and even custom formed silicone ear plugs - to little avail. The best results I had were two times when I was using the included ear plugs with beads of soft silicone, and it kept the water out for 27 minutes. Most of the time, water found its way in after only a few minutes. And once the soft silicone and the skin gets wet - all ability for it it re-adhere is lost and its useless to try and readjust.

So - the interval training allows me to get my swimming workout in, and in a fashion that is more entertaining. The only problem I had during my swim workouts this past week were that I wanted to do an interval for a certain time - but determining when that time passed was difficult. The pool makes too much noise for a countdown timer on my HR monitor to be effective, and the light is too dim for me to be able to see it reliably without fully stopping and checking. So out to Target I went, and got a cheap wall clock (with a second hand - that was very important) that I was able to set on the side of the pool. Now, whenever I went to take a breath - I could glance at the clock and see how far along I was, and therefore when the interval was up. The was pretty much how it worked during swim practices in high school.

These intervals were 2 minutes in length, all at power setting 55, with a 1 minute rest in between.
Warm up (40) - 05:00 Avg HR: 131
Interval 1 - 02:00 Avg HR: 135 End HR: 163
Interval 2 - 01:59 Avg HR: 149 End HR: 164
Interval 3 - 01:57 Avg HR: 152 End HR: 169
Interval 4 - 01:59 Avg HR: 151 End HR: 166
Interval 5 - 02:01 Avg HR: 152 End HR: 164
Interval 6 - 01:59 Avg HR: 154 End HR: 170
Cool down (40) - 03:59 Avg HR: 154 End HR: 164