Building and Descending

Tuesday Morning: Another struggle to get up this morning.  I definitely did not wake up today like a tiger, more like an angry, discombobulated bear.  Angry because I (and the Princess) should have gone to bed earlier and discombobulated because well, I am not very graceful at 5AM and in the dark. 

This morning’s swim had an unusual main set.  The main set was:

2x(50yds, 100yds, 150yds, 200yds), all FAST and with 50yds of easy in between. 

This is what I call a building workout.  This is unusual because as the workout progresses, you are building your distance, but you are expected to maintain your speed.  If you are a rower, think of the workout as 2x(250m, 500m, 750m, 1000m on) with 250m of active recovery in between.  This type of building workout challenges you in several ways.  First, your pacing.  You cannot fly and die because you already know that the pieces only get longer.  You must know your own pacing and what feels fast, but sustainable.  Second, your pacing again.  While you do not want to go out too fast, you also do not want to be overly conservative and be feeling strong at the end of the workout when everyone else is exhausted and has nothing left in the tank.  Third, focus.  The longer the piece, the more focus required.  In this workout, the pieces only get longer the more tired you become so it requires a fair amount of discipline and focus to stay on pace.  In swimming, the coach is watching the clock and keeping track of the intervals so if you swim slow and miss an interval, you basically lose your rest on the wall and have to turn around and go again.

The opposite of a building workout is a descending workout where the pieces get shorter and faster.  So take today’s workout and flip it:

2x(200yds, 150yds, 100yds, 50yds) and you have a descending workout.  

Descending is a good way to practice picking up speed (and rate if you are rowing), and it is generally easier on the mind.  Also, if you do not have the fitness for high rates or sprints, descending workouts are building blocks to increasing your fitness.  Some pretty common rowing descending workouts include 4’/3’/2’/1’ pieces or odds descending 9’/7’/5’/3’/1’, all with increasing stroke rates. 

At the end of swim, I am happy to have gotten out of bed to jump into a cold pool.  Now, I am a hungry bear, ready to devour breakfast!