Sprunged

So I got down to the pool last night and got my swim done. I managed a 4.7km session so I am quiet chuffed with myself. I think I successfully replicated the 'totally exhausted' feeling you get from a normal Wednesday morning Swim Smooth session. The only downside to the session is that I made a classic rookie error with my 10 x 400m 'Red Mist' set. The trick to this session is pacing. The pace for the first 4 x 400m is deliberately fairly easy, you need to conserve your energy for the second half. As a result it is very easy to do the first 400s too quick, but if you do you end up suffering in the last few, which is when you need to be swimming your quickest. This is exactly what I did. Ouch

The main pool at Claremont usually closes at 6:00pm for water polo training. I knew that and so had planned the session to be 4km because that is about how much I could fit in. I was just about at the end of my main set when they announced that the pool would be closing in 15 minutes. 'Perfect' I thought, the timing had worked out about right. Much to my surprise though the pending closure never came. Apparently the water polo coaches didn't show or something. In meant that my last 700m or so were a bit aimless, since it was a case of 'I will just do 100m more before the pool closes', then 100m more and then another 100m. I got in some drills etc, but it goes back to the point I made yesterday about having a plan in order to make the session effective. Despite that, and the poor pacing in the main set, it was a good solid session. Certainly a good recovery from having the morning off.

This morning it was time for the next step in my exciting series of run/walk sessions. Today's session was the longest yet and involved the most running to date. I got through well I think. I pulled up from the swim yesterday fairly sore in the left adductor region (weird I know). So last night I had a good session stretching and self massage. This morning it was still a little tender, but once I got moving it was fine.

With the extra running in today's program I deliberately took the pace back a notch. Less about moving as far as possible in each interval and more about concentrating on a sustainable pace. I have tried to make this change in intensity before without much success, however, this morning it worked a bit better. So the intervals felt more consistent/less on the rivet and also put a bit less strain on the adductor/groin region, which is also good. I have still pulled up a little sore, but nothing terrible and I am confident that with a good stretch and some more massage tonight it will feel okay tomorrow.

Tonight I am back on the bike. It is supposed to be a session on the trainer, but as is normal with my Thursdays I have to get home somehow and so it makes sense to the do session on the road as part of my commute. Should be a nice session. The weather in Perth has recently turned a corner and it seems like we are definitely in Spring. Yesterday it got up to 35 degrees! Most of this week we have been having these beautiful mornings with lovely temperatures and light winds and the afternoons aren't much worse. So hopefully we have a bit of that this afternoon.

Looking forward to it.