The Bears Are Coming

A bit of swim coaching on the Agenda tomorrow. A nice fresh and fruity Threshold session with the Swim Smooth squad.

Tomorrow is going to be an extra fresh and fruity session because coach Paul is away which means it will be Sal and myself taking the session. Well more accurately Sal taking the session and me assisting, but you know what I mean. Covering for Paul is always a challenging morning, but it is also a heap of fun. Challenging because over the two sessions we will have 92 swimmers come through and that is just plain hectic. But fun because when Paul is away you really feel like you are coaching. 

Over the last few months I have be coming to realise that my favourite part of coaching is the actual coaching part. The bit where you are interacting with people. Tomorrow is going to have a whole bunch of that, which is why it is one of my favourite sessions to be doing. Should be a load of fun. Hard, challenging fun.

The session itself is one that I have a love/hate relationship with. Love because I know just how good it is for you as a swimmer, but hate because it is so darn hard. The session in the dreaded Goldilocks set. 

For those unfamiliar the Goldilocks set is a session made up of a 200m, 300m and 400m effort, with a number of 100s in between. The set gets its name from the 200, 300 and 400m efforts, baby bear, mama bear and papa bear., respectively What makes the set so tough is that the entire thing is done at threshold pace. As you can imagine, it hurts.

When you do the set you find yourself optimistically thinking that the 200 isn't too bad, but as you get to the 300 and then finally the 400 you realise just how hard the session is. The 100s become the recovery part of the session which if anything indicates how solid a session it is. When you are considering 100s done at threshold pace as 'recovery' you know you are in a tough spot.

Still, as I said, the set is not without its upsides. For one it is a really good workout and great for building aerobic capacity. The session is another one of those mental strength sessions too. If you are struggling with the 300 and 400m efforts then it makes for a rough morning. However, if the 300 and 400m effort are pushing you, but you find you are able to do them it can be a great boost to your confidence. Helping you push your limits even further.