Reporting in... ridiculous absence, I apologise!
Am swimming the Henley Mile again on Sunday - if anyone else is, please say and who knows, we could meet up IRL!!
Bit nervous, but not as bad as last year and I'm feeling better about my swimming atm so that must help me dodge the sharks/monsters/piranhas lurking in the Thames waiting to eat me, for sure.
Swimming is going well. finally. I've had a few months where it's been mentally challenging, i've been feeling hopeless and outclassed. I considered giving up swimming, not doing the mile and everything. Had s smidge of an injury, thankfully I treated that in the right way and i'm tip top again. Hand paddles are remaining in the swim bag for a while though.
Last night there only half a dozen of us at Masters and it was a good (hard) session. Our GB masters medal winning teammate gave the session and he is a force to be reckoned with. Love him to bits, but he's tough and even harsher than our lovely (but killer) coach. I pushed myself and was actually able to see some gains and have a bit of an experiment with techniques here and there.
We ALL have good and bad phases/sessions. Sometimes we have an amazing time and others it's like the water becomes treacle and everything that can go badly does. It DOES get better. It might feel like it takes forever to get better, but it really does.
For those who are struggling with speed - (and I recognise how spectacularly unhelpful this sounds) to swim faster, you have to swim faster... you have to swim with faster swimmers, swim to 90% effort and then take only enough rest to go again.
There are apps/sites to help with programmes - the Zero to 1 mile is a good place to start, it helps with distance.
We did a session last night as our main set which is specifically designed to improve speed
4-3-2-1 all Front crawl (but you could adapt the stroke/time I think)
4 x 100m in 2.15
4 x 50 in 1.15
Apologies for Grannies and Eggs, but in case explication is needed - This means you do your 100m in 2mins, wait for 15 seconds and then go again. Likewise the 4 x 50 in 1.15
3 x 100 in 2.05
3 x 50 in 1.05
2 x 100 in 1.55
2 x 50 in 55s
1 x 100 MAX
1 x 50 MAX
NOTE: I didn't manage these times on the shorter times for 3, 2 and 1x but I did manage to hold the pace throughout all sets. I was bloody knackered for the final 100m though.
If you need more time than this, then do 100m in a time that you are comfortable with, medium exertion then give yourself 15/20secs before starting the next 100m
If you need to halve this to 50s and 25s, that's good too - it's about finding a pace and pushing it just a little bit.
Another way of getting faster is to work on separate parts of your stroke, take the float and get some kicking done, then pull buoy to focus on arms, looking at smooth entry early hand entry, extending into the stroke and then pulling all the way through. speed is not the focal point here so much as technique and strength.