As well as getting out on the bike, I’ve decided to get back in the pool, albeit purely as some recovery sessions from my bike rides. I’m also aware that all the exercise I’m doing is leg-based, so my upper body isn’t doing anything and going for a swim is infinitely preferable than hitting the gym to lift some weights. I’m not training for any swimming events or following a structured plan, just aiming to get in and swim a few easy laps on a regular basis.

That being said, I want to get to the stage where I can complete 40 x 100 FS off 1:45, averaging 1:30. That’s a reasonable “all year ‘round” level of swim fitness as far as I’m concerned, though a long way short of what I used to be capable of! Still, that’s the initial target and I’ll re-evaluate once it’s reached.

The plan is to do two swims a week and to just get in and start swimming 100s off 1:45. No warm-up, no drills, no messing around. Just in, swim until my arms are wrecked and see how I go.

I did my first session last week and it was a bit of an eye-opener! I took the first 100 nice and easy, concentrating on getting some feel back for the water and ended up with a 1:22. I was pretty happy with that and figured things might not be so bad after all. However, the second 100 was 1:29 and I was starting to feel it in my biceps/lats and after six I needed to stop for a rest :) My arms were wrecked, as if I had been lifting in the gym and just had no energy/pwer left. After a couple of minutes break I managed another four 100s, then another break followed by a final two 100s for a total of 12. If I’d managed 12 straight through I would have been happy enough, but the two breaks put a dampener on things.

Second session was today. I resolved to take things a bit easier on the first few 100s, so swam a 1:29 for the first one followed by a few around 1:31 or so. I got to six and felt OK, then felt a bit better after 10 and suddenly all was well and I knew I could swim many more. I decided to call it a day after 20 having averaged 1:32, though I still felt reasonably good. I just didn’t want to totally drain myself and end up skipping my bike ride in the morning.

Still, a rapid improvement and felt a bit more like a swimmer again. Next session is on Thursday which will hopefully be more like today than last week.

This week has been my first proper week back in the pool since doing my 1km TT about two weeks ago. I looked around for a swim squad to join up with, as I hate swim training by myself, and found one in Cook & Phillip Park which had a range of sessions that I could join. Morning training was 5:30-7:00, but I had enough trouble getting up for morning training when I was swimming competitively so I was keen to avoid it now.

I settled on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings, plus Saturday morning which is at an altogether more civilised time of 8:30. Monday was a bit of an eye opener. The last time I was doing squads, I was comfortably fastest in the fastest lane, but that was two years ago and it was also a lunchtime squads. Now, not having been in a pool for two years, I was happy to tag along in the second fastest lane. I started out leading it, but have no endurance in my arms, so although I’m not physically tired, my arms are just die and I have to drop back.

The coach has decided that I should be in the fast lane, although I can’t yet make the times they’re doing. He thinks it will be better for me to bust my arse to keep up, fall apart, have a quick rest and then repeat, but I’d prefer to stay down a lane and plod along at a more respectable pace, getting used to doing multiple swim sessions a week first. Plus, the fact that the fast lane did a set of 100s off 1:30, coming in on 1:13, when I could only manage 1:35-1:40 doesn’t help.

Still, by Thursday I was doing a bit better, though that was because the fast guys weren’t there, and I’d managed 9200m for the week which I was pretty happy with. I opted not to go this morning as I’ve the City2Surf tomorrow and I’m already tired after 3 swim sessions and 3 run sessions.