Today the session I was coaching was for Swim Smooth rather than for Front Runner, but beyond that the experience was pretty similar. A very pleasant 90 minutes on pool deck hanging out with some good mates, them swimming and me yelling. Fun times.
I am serious, they really are fun times. These would have to be some of my most favourite sessions to coach.
As with all these sessions, it is always fascinating to watch the session unfold for the squad. The session rolls out like a little narrative, a bit different for every lane and every person in the lane. Some swimmers will be feeling good, others will be feeling off. Some lanes will crush the sessions others will struggle. There are usually some lanes that are reliable and some that are less so, but even that can change from session to session. Watching the squad battle against the fatigue and their minds, and going along with them for the ride never gets old for me.
Today's session was no different. Today the session included 15 x 200m, broken into sets of 5. Each set of 5 was done with less rest than the 5 before. Between each set of 5 x 200 there was some 50s and a 600m effort. Fair to say it was a tough 5000m.
Looking at the session you would predict the second 600m is where the damage would occur, and that is how it panned out for most of the swimmers. The first set of 5 x 200m was cruisy for everyone, some went too hard, others paced it well, but everyone got through comfortably. The first 600m was similar.
Generally everyone got through the second set of 5 x 200m, but you could see that people were starting to hurt. By the end of that set people had swum 3000m and the times were getting tighter. Fatigue was building, but it hadn't hit yet.
For most people the second 600m is where the fatigue hit. For those than had gone too hard early the 600m saw some real carnage. For everyone else the paces started to drop.
By the last 5 x 200m the damage was in full swing. The squad was split between those who had paced it well and were making it and everyone else. When the struggle really hit some tapped out and took the easier option of getting out of the pool. Others sucked it up and kept slogging, despite the fact that you could see the fatigue in their arms.
After 5000m we probably only had half the squad left (which is not unusual on Wednesday). Those that were left were fatigued but proud whether they had got through the last set strong or not.
As with every session, it was an awesome tale of training, a tale that I am very proud that I get to share.
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