As I said yesterday, there has been no exercise today, and I think there is unlikely to be, but I am more than okay with that decision. The lack of exercise isn't because I have been feeling stressed out or spread thin, but rather because I have been up to other stuff today which has meant I haven't really had time. Exercise will definitely be happening tomorrow though, so that will be another very welcome step back towards normal routine.
The other stuff that I was up to this morning (instead of exercising) was a spot of coaching down at Claremont Pool with SwimSmooth.
Darn chilly down the pool this morning, with temperatures dipping below 10 degrees C meaning that the Red Mists were well and truly rising (see what I did there).
This morning I took on board the lessons that I learnt last Wednesday when I unwisely wore shorts down to the pool deck and nearly froze to death. No shorts for me today, jeans, and not one jumper but two. If I am honest I was still a little bit chilly by the end of the session, but no where near as cold as I was last week. I might have to invest in some sort of warm beanie arrangement. I wonder if I can get hold of something with ears, or perhaps something like this...
It was great being back down the pool and feeling a bit more like life is back to normal. Always good being down around the guys in the squad.
The session was a typical Red Mist session, that is to say, it was hard. There was nothing super quick, but nothing particularly slow either. While the times weren't super quick, there was 2 x 400m and 2 x 800m so it didn't really need to be fast to hurt.
Today's session incorporated one of the training skills that I have a love/hate relationship with. As a swimmer I used to not enjoy it, despite knowing it was very good for me. As a coach I love it because I know just how good it is.
The skill we did today involves doing an effort with the Tempo Timer beeping away every 25m giving you constant pacing information. You then do the same effort with the Tempo Timer beeping every 100m, giving very little pacing information as a result. That is what we did today for both the 400m and the 800m. The 400m we did beep/100m first then beep/25 and with the 800m effort we did it the other way around.
The trick with this lesson is getting the pacing right. That is really what the entire exercise is about. It is easy to pace correctly when you have a little timer in your cap constantly telling you if you are swimming too fast or too slow. However, can you still maintain that good pacing when you don't have that constant reminder? To do so you have to really be aware of your pacing, not going out too hard, but also not relaxing too much either.
It is a very, very important skill to learn for racing and one of the major skills that we try and get people to transfer from the pool to a race. Pacing well in training, with a tempo timer, is one thing. Maintaining that good pacing in a race, with lots of people swimming around you and the blood pumping is another thing entirely. By practicing it in training, the hope is that it will transfer to racing, but it is still something that needs practice. Which is just what we did today.
I am happy to say that today most of the lanes in the squad got the pacing correct and managed to hold the required times well. It was impressive to see and for me is a demonstration that the lessons drummed in by the use of the Tempo Timer really do work.
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