I had what my coach calls, a ‘legs off’ swim today.  This is a swim that takes the use of my legs ‘off the table’, by doing the whole session with a pull buoy.  I typically get these sessions when my legs need to either, recover from a hard workout, or rest ahead of one.

In this case, I have a very hard bike workout tomorrow, that is preceded by a short run.  When I am in the midst of the tough intervals on the bike tomorrow, I will be glad I rested my legs today.

I did 3,000 yards in the pool.  It was a simple set of 15 x 200 yards, alternating between pull buoy only and pull buoy with paddles.  This type of swim really works the upper body and builds endurance in the muscles of the shoulders and back.  I typically swim a little faster in these type of workouts, but I also usually fatigue towards the end.

Even though I am usually a little faster, I was really shocked at my pace in the pool today.  I took the first 200 to warm up and then set to work.  I immediately felt good and was really pulling the water well.  After the first few intervals, I was really happy with how fast I was swimming.  My pace is not the fastest, but anything in the 1:30’s per 100 yards is very good for me.  I was convinced I would fade badly.

It turns out that I hardly faded at all, and my last 200 was pretty close to those that I had done early in the workout.  I even had one 200 interval with paddles that was less than 3 minutes.  That has never happened before; I can’t even remember ever going below 3:10.

My next challenge is to get to this pace during a swim that isn’t legs off, and that doesn’t use a pull buoy.  As I said a few days ago, when hard work pays off, it is highly motivating…