I was working in Cody, WY the other day and swam at the Paul Stock Aquatic and Recreation Center. For such a small community, this is a really nice facility.
 |
| This is a really nice facility. Notice the climbing wall in the far left lane. |
11.18.2015
"How Far Can You Go" Challenge - Second Test
2015 South Davis Masters Meet
Last Saturday I swam at the South Davis Masters meet. This is always a well run meet and is one of my favorites.
I had a lot of fun hanging out with Chad and Chandra and the Fairmont crew. It's always fun to catch up with people that I usually only see at meets. Fairmont was pretty well represented and it was fun to watch my teammates swim and do well.
I haven't been training too hard lately, but decided to enter the 1,650, 500 and 200 just to see where I am at. My focus was on the 1,650 and the others were just for fun.
My previous best time was 21:29.90 at South Davis last year. On my last CSS test, I tested at a 1:16 pace. Theoretically, I should be able to swim a mile at this pace, which would be 21 minutes. I didn't think I would go quite that fast, but wanted to beat my previous best. I ended up between the two at 21:19.03, which was good enough to get first place overall (none of the fast guys were there). My goal is to eventually break 21 minutes.
I kept a pretty even pace through most of the swim, but felt tired towards the end, which shows in the splits below.
I had a lot of fun hanging out with Chad and Chandra and the Fairmont crew. It's always fun to catch up with people that I usually only see at meets. Fairmont was pretty well represented and it was fun to watch my teammates swim and do well.
I haven't been training too hard lately, but decided to enter the 1,650, 500 and 200 just to see where I am at. My focus was on the 1,650 and the others were just for fun.
My previous best time was 21:29.90 at South Davis last year. On my last CSS test, I tested at a 1:16 pace. Theoretically, I should be able to swim a mile at this pace, which would be 21 minutes. I didn't think I would go quite that fast, but wanted to beat my previous best. I ended up between the two at 21:19.03, which was good enough to get first place overall (none of the fast guys were there). My goal is to eventually break 21 minutes.
I kept a pretty even pace through most of the swim, but felt tired towards the end, which shows in the splits below.
| Lap | Cumulative | 50 Split | 100 Split | 500 Split |
| 50 | 00:33.22 | 00:33.22 | ||
| 100 | 01:10.13 | 00:36.91 | 01:10.13 | |
| 150 | 01:48.35 | 00:38.22 | 01:15.13 | |
| 200 | 02:27.09 | 00:38.74 | 01:16.96 | |
| 250 | 03:05.74 | 00:38.65 | 01:17.39 | |
| 300 | 03:44.64 | 00:38.90 | 01:17.55 | |
| 350 | 04:23.57 | 00:38.93 | 01:17.83 | |
| 400 | 05:02.90 | 00:39.33 | 01:18.26 | |
| 450 | 05:42.05 | 00:39.15 | 01:18.48 | |
| 500 | 06:21.44 | 00:39.39 | 01:18.54 | 06:21.44 |
| 550 | 07:00.35 | 00:38.91 | 01:18.30 | 06:27.13 |
| 600 | 07:39.55 | 00:39.20 | 01:18.11 | 06:29.42 |
| 650 | 08:18.98 | 00:39.43 | 01:18.63 | 06:30.63 |
| 700 | 08:57.81 | 00:38.83 | 01:18.26 | 06:30.72 |
| 750 | 09:36.79 | 00:38.98 | 01:17.81 | 06:31.05 |
| 800 | 10:15.63 | 00:38.84 | 01:17.82 | 06:30.99 |
| 850 | 10:54.20 | 00:38.57 | 01:17.41 | 06:30.63 |
| 900 | 11:32.94 | 00:38.74 | 01:17.31 | 06:30.04 |
| 950 | 12:11.86 | 00:38.92 | 01:17.66 | 06:29.81 |
| 1,000 | 12:51.13 | 00:39.27 | 01:18.19 | 06:29.69 |
| 1,050 | 13:30.19 | 00:39.06 | 01:18.33 | 06:29.84 |
| 1,100 | 14:09.48 | 00:39.29 | 01:18.35 | 06:29.93 |
| 1,150 | 14:48.77 | 00:39.29 | 01:18.58 | 06:29.79 |
| 1,200 | 15:27.57 | 00:38.80 | 01:18.09 | 06:29.76 |
| 1,250 | 16:06.78 | 00:39.21 | 01:18.01 | 06:29.99 |
| 1,300 | 16:45.76 | 00:38.98 | 01:18.19 | 06:30.13 |
| 1,350 | 17:25.11 | 00:39.35 | 01:18.33 | 06:30.91 |
| 1,400 | 18:04.80 | 00:39.69 | 01:19.04 | 06:31.86 |
| 1,450 | 18:44.83 | 00:40.03 | 01:19.72 | 06:32.97 |
| 1,500 | 19:24.61 | 00:39.78 | 01:19.81 | 06:33.48 |
| 1,550 | 20:03.82 | 00:39.21 | 01:18.99 | 06:33.63 |
| 1,600 | 20:43.44 | 00:39.62 | 01:18.83 | 06:33.96 |
| 1,650 | 21:19.03 | 00:35.59 | 01:15.21 | 06:30.26 |
| Min | 00:33.22 | 01:10.13 | 06:21.44 | |
| Max | 00:40.03 | 01:19.81 | 06:33.96 | |
| Average | 00:38.76 | 01:17.79 | 06:30.34 | |
I almost missed the 500. There were supposed to be three heats and I was in the second. I must have missed the announcement that said they were going to combine the first heat. I was talking to Chad and looked up to see everyone up on the blocks ready to go. Gordon was in my same heat and he was up on the blocks. I tried to grab my stuff, but they were already blowing the whistles. I decided to just bag it, but then Gordon yelled "Josh are you coming?". I stripped down, grabbed my goggles and ran up to the the block. I felt like an idiot for holding up the meet. I pushed the 1,650, so I wasn't expecting a great time on the 500. I ended up at 6:06.04, which was better than I thought I would do.
I thought about just skipping the 200, but swam it anyway. I ended up at 2:17.60, which wasn't great.
Anyway, it was a fun meet and I was glad to hang out with my friends and get a PR on the 1,650. I'm looking forward to the next couple meets at Olympus and Sand Hollow.
11.06.2015
Swim Smooth "How Far Can You Go" Challenge
If you don't already subscribe to the Swim Smooth newsletter, you definitely should. I think it is some of the best swimming and training advice available and it's in a format that is easy to understand, even if you haven't been swimming all your life.
A few weeks ago in the Swim Smooth email, a challenge was described that is designed to help give you some motivation and something to work towards during the winter months. With no big swims to train for in the winter, it's hard for me to get up and go to the pool. So when I saw this challenge, I was excited to give it a try and finally got around to doing it this week.
Basically, for the "How Far Can You Go" Winter Challenge, you time yourself swimming a 400 yard (or meter) swim. You should be going "all out" and trying to get your best time. After you swim your 400 for time, look up your time on the chart below to figure out your "challenge" pace. Once you have your "challenge pace" you try to swim as many lengths as you can at that pace (it really helps to have a FINIS Tempo Trainer Pro).
Swim Smooth recommends doing this challenge every couple of weeks. It doesn't take long to do and you can easily fit it into your workout, or even do it at the end. The idea is to see if you can increase the distance you swim at your challenge pace.
On Wednesday, I swam 400yards for time at the end of the workout and got a time of 4:51. I've been out of the pool for a while and haven't done a CSS test for a long time so I decided to swim easy until my heart rate came back down and then swim a 200 sprint so I could figure out my current CSS pace. I did the 200 in 2:20, resulting in a CSS of 1:16. (Click here for a brief explanation of CSS training)
Looking up my 400 time on the chart, I was right between the 4:45 and 5:00 times, so I decided to go with the faster time. My challenge pace was 17 second per 25 yards (which is is a 1:08 / 100 pace).
At the end of my workout today, I decided to do the challenge and see how far I could get. I thought maybe I'd get 50 to 75 yards and was surprised when I got to 150.
I'm excited to keep going with this challenge and test again in a couple weeks to see if I can get further than 150 yards at that pace. If you decide to give this challenge a try, let me know how it goes.
A few weeks ago in the Swim Smooth email, a challenge was described that is designed to help give you some motivation and something to work towards during the winter months. With no big swims to train for in the winter, it's hard for me to get up and go to the pool. So when I saw this challenge, I was excited to give it a try and finally got around to doing it this week.
Basically, for the "How Far Can You Go" Winter Challenge, you time yourself swimming a 400 yard (or meter) swim. You should be going "all out" and trying to get your best time. After you swim your 400 for time, look up your time on the chart below to figure out your "challenge" pace. Once you have your "challenge pace" you try to swim as many lengths as you can at that pace (it really helps to have a FINIS Tempo Trainer Pro).
Your
current
400m/yd time* |
per
25m/yd
|
per
50m/yd
|
per
33m/yd
|
||
12:00
|
41
|
83
|
55
|
||
11:45
|
40
|
81
|
54
|
||
11:30
|
40
|
79
|
53
|
||
11:15
|
39
|
78
|
52
|
||
11:00
|
38
|
76
|
51
|
||
10:45
|
37
|
74
|
50
|
||
10:30
|
36
|
73
|
48
|
||
10:15
|
36
|
71
|
47
|
||
10:00
|
35
|
69
|
46
|
||
9:45
|
34
|
68
|
45
|
||
9:30
|
33
|
66
|
44
|
||
9:15
|
32
|
64
|
43
|
||
9:00
|
31
|
63
|
42
|
||
8:45
|
31
|
61
|
41
|
||
8:30
|
30
|
59
|
40
|
||
8:15
|
29
|
58
|
39
|
||
8:00
|
28
|
56
|
37
|
||
7:45
|
27
|
54
|
36
|
||
7:30
|
26
|
53
|
35
|
||
7:15
|
26
|
51
|
34
|
||
7:00
|
25
|
49
|
33
|
||
6:45
|
24
|
48
|
32
|
||
6:30
|
23
|
46
|
31
|
||
6:15
|
22
|
44
|
30
|
||
6:00
|
21
|
43
|
28
|
||
5:45
|
20
|
41
|
27
|
||
5:30
|
20
|
39
|
26
|
||
5:15
|
19
|
37
|
25
|
||
5:00
|
18
|
36
|
24
|
||
4:45
|
17
|
34
|
23
|
||
4:30
|
16
|
32
|
21
|
||
4:15
|
15
|
30
|
20
|
||
4:00
|
14
|
29
|
19
|
Swim Smooth recommends doing this challenge every couple of weeks. It doesn't take long to do and you can easily fit it into your workout, or even do it at the end. The idea is to see if you can increase the distance you swim at your challenge pace.
On Wednesday, I swam 400yards for time at the end of the workout and got a time of 4:51. I've been out of the pool for a while and haven't done a CSS test for a long time so I decided to swim easy until my heart rate came back down and then swim a 200 sprint so I could figure out my current CSS pace. I did the 200 in 2:20, resulting in a CSS of 1:16. (Click here for a brief explanation of CSS training)
Looking up my 400 time on the chart, I was right between the 4:45 and 5:00 times, so I decided to go with the faster time. My challenge pace was 17 second per 25 yards (which is is a 1:08 / 100 pace).
At the end of my workout today, I decided to do the challenge and see how far I could get. I thought maybe I'd get 50 to 75 yards and was surprised when I got to 150.
I'm excited to keep going with this challenge and test again in a couple weeks to see if I can get further than 150 yards at that pace. If you decide to give this challenge a try, let me know how it goes.
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