Monday, May 4, 2009

Swimming: intervals @ 60 - 5/4

Today I did a short swimming workout in the endless pool. Previously, I had been using a power setting of 50-55 for these intervals, and oftentimes felt like the two minutes was just about right before taking a break. After doing a couple real pool workouts, and getting the sense that a pool workout is a bit more intense (and thus more conducive to building strength), I decided to up the power on the endless pool to 60.

I noticed a difference almost immediately. I felt strong, and even after the end of the two minute interval, I felt pretty strong. Minimally fatigued - yes, but by no means exhausted. It was a bit confusing, as I've tired out at that speed pretty quickly before. Granted, it was a few months ago, but still - I dont know that I've gained THAT much strength in two pool sessions. After the workout was over, and I was closing up the pool, it occured to me that I was likely increasing my cadence to keep pace with the current, rather than increasing the power per stroke. If I'm going to use this endless pool during the week for interval workouts, I should probably concentrate on using strong strokes to keep pace, rather than more frequent and less powerful ones.

Not listed below are the 1 minute rests between intervals. Power setting of 60.
Warmup: 3:44
Interval 1: 2:12 End HR 153
Interval 2: 2:03 End HR 157
Interval 3: 1:59 End HR 157
Interval 4: 2:05 End HR 162
Interval 5: 2:10 End HR 159
Interval 6: 2:09 End HR 159
Interval 7: 2:06 End HR 160

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