400 warm up
3 rounds of:
1x 500 pull buoy and paddles (all rounds 7:45 or :20 rest, hold mod. pace)
3x 200 swim (descending rest/effort per round 3:00, 2:50, 2:45 or rest :10 @ 70%, 80%, 90% effort)
1x 100 kick/drill/rec
1 min rest
Cool down as needed
I grew up on interval based swim workouts. The concept of rest based workouts is foreign to me but it shouldn't be. I run and bike most repeats on timed rest not intervals. When I think about timed rest in the water, I just feel like it is a chance to cheat yourself out of a really good workout. No matter your effort, your rest is always the same but on an interval, the harder you go the more rest you get, keeps you honest right? One of the biggest things I notice with triathletes is an inability to pace themselves. I compare it is a runner's ability to always know their pace. I am always amazed when I run with a runner-runner (not a triathlete-runner) and their ability to judge our pace without a garmin. It has become very clear to me that I can not tell the difference between running at my threshold and 20-30 secs off my threshold. Without fail, if I give a triathlete 5 x 100s descend on an interval, invariably the first 100 will be their fastest. And as every coach has ever spewed to me in my lifetime, it is not the first one that makes you fast, it is the last one.
See you in the pool!
