Misty Morning

Down to the pool tomorrow morning to help out with the Swim Smooth Red Mist session. I am not entirely sure what the planned session will include, but good chance that it will include some longer intervals (between 600m and 1000m) done at a pace that will be near threshold. How do I know that the session will include this kind of effort? Well, because it always does.

When it comes to training, Swim Smooth has a similar philosophy to Front Runner. The Swim Smooth training program is built around people doing a number of key sessions each week. These key sessions include one focused on technique, one focused on threshold work and one focused on longer tempo efforts (also one in Open Water if people can fit it in). The Red Mist session fits the tempo category.

The idea behind the long, hard(ish) efforts of a Red Mist session is similar to the idea behind any other Tempo session. It is all about building aerobic strength, getting you fitter, so that you can hold a given pace for longer.

However, the benefits that come from the long Red Mist efforts extend far beyond the physical. The great thing about the Red Mist session is that they are also a great mental workout.

Nothing prepares you for long, sustained efforts like doing them. By going down to the pool and swimming 600m, 800m, 1000m and even 1200m efforts the idea of racing for 1900m becomes a lot less daunting. The long pool efforts help you to learn what to expect when you are in the middle of a 2000m swimming race, how it will hurt, what mental battles you will face. Facing those battles and overcoming them in training makes it that bit easier to do once you get to race day.

The other big benefit that comes from the Red Mist sessions is pacing awareness. As most of us know if you go out too hard in a race and hit a wall, then that wall is going to be very big and very hard. Part of executing a long race well is knowing just how hard to go. Go hard enough to stay in contention, but not so hard that you blow yourself out of the water. Learning what pace is 'just right' is a real skill, however, it is a skill that you can lean. Learning this lesson is a big part of what Red Mist is about, practising correct pacing time and again over long intervals. Helping people develop that awareness of what 'just right' feels like so that they can more easily slip into that rhythm on race day.

Hopefully these fitness and mental gains are some of the things that people get out of the session tomorrow morning. If not, at least the season is a load of fun to coach.