Double Goldilocks

A nice return to normal routine today with a swim down at Claremont with the Swim Smooth squad.

As has been my norm over the past few weeks today I attempted to swim both the 5:30 session and the 6:30 squad sessions, getting in a good few kms of swimming. I say attempted because whilst I made it, I really ran out of puff with 1000m or so to go.

Today's session was the infamous Goldilocks swim set. Up there with Red Mist for sessions that strike fear into the hearts of swimmers. Goldilocks is made up of a series of 100s (12), broken up by a 200, 300m and 400m effort. The trick is that the entire session is swum at the same pace. What might seem straight forward for 100m becomes somewhat tougher as you move towards 400m. Unfortunately for me nothing seemed straight forward today.

Not sure what it was about the squad today, but everyone seemed a little flat during the 5:30 session, we all struggled with the times. I was doing okay as we moved through the session, but as we got to the 400m effort the leader of my lane hit a bit of a wall (figuratively, not literally) and so I took over for that effort. I have to say I didn't cover myself in glory, but the target pace was probably slightly above my current threshold pace, so I wasn't too disappointed. Stepping up for the 400m was the beginning of the end though. When I got to the beginning of the 6:30 session, getting ready to do the whole thing again, I was feeling the pinch.

Usually I treat the second half of the session as a chance to get some miles. I don't usually chase the pace that much, just working on holding some form and building endurance. However, today the second half was a eerie repeat of my experience with the 5:30 squad. When we got to the 300m effort the lane leader hit a wall and I was put on the front of the lane. That one hurt quite a bit. By that stage I had swum nearly 5000m and was starting to fatigue out. I got through the 300m but it wasn't quick. The same happened again for the final 400m effort, but by that stage I was completely spent and it was really just a swim through, I had nothing left to fight with.

In a lot of ways the session didn't feel that successful at first. I spent 6000m not holding pace and feeling very tired. It is tempting to ask what the point of that sort of session is. However, I remind myself that, whilst I wasn't holding pace, the paces that I was chasing are above my current threshold. Even if I had been swimming well there is a good chance I wouldn't have made the times. Making the attempt to hold the times is better than not trying in my book.

Paul wrote a good blog yesterday on the Swim Smooth site about not fearing failure in the squad.

Not fearing failure in training

That blog was on my mind a lot during the session today. Better to make the attempt and fail, rather than not attempt at all.

The second thing that I liked about today's session is that I swam until there was nothing left. You don't get a chance to do that all that often. I am guessing you probably shouldn't do it all that often. But sometimes it feels good to push until there is no push remaining and all that you have turning your arms over is the desire to do so. It hurts finding those limits, but it can be good to see just where those limits are sometimes and remind yourself that it takes a lot to push you there.

There are sessions that give you confidence because they go well and there are sessions that give you confidence because you know you are doing the work. Today was the later. I may not have hit the targets, but I definitely consider the session a success.