Recovery Swim

Wednesday morning:  This morning’s swim was what Marcia called a “recovery” swim.  Recovering for what?!  This makes me suspicious.  I am already scared for Thursday.  I hate surprises, especially ones that come in as swim tests or erg tests.

A view of the Wisconsin boathouse, Porter Boathouse, from the side;
the erg room is on top where the balcony is

Surprise erg tests put a big knot in my stomach.  I remember one morning during the first week of camp in Wisconsin, we went out on the water as normal and then, came back in early.  That only meant one thing—erging.  That morning, I had actually debated with myself whether or not to bring my tennis shoes.  Since it was summer in Wisconsin with about 90% humidity, I always wore my flip-flops.  And that morning, I had decided to leave the tennis shoes at home.  SHIT.

The erg piece was a 5,000 meters at max pressure with controlled rating, starting the piece at 18spm and increasing the rate 2 beats every 1,000 meters.  Basically, it was an erg test with specified rates.  I did the entire erg piece without shoes, which can be challenging because it is much harder to swing at the finish and keep your feet touching the footboards.  Luckily or unluckily, I was not the only person to forget her shoes.  One other girl who was not from Wisconsin also did not bring tennis shoes.  All the Wisco girls knew better and always carried tennis shoes, just in case. 

Unfortunately, for the other girl, she stopped a few times to adjust her feet and foot straps, and the coach came up and said, “What is up with this?  What are you doing?  This is an erg test.  You can’t just stop.”  From one of my novice coaches, I learned that you NEVER ever stop in the middle of an erg test unless you are passing out or throwing up or having an asthma attack (which one of the girls at camp actually had during an erg test and the coach had to force her to stop because she would not give up).

The lesson is erg tests suck, and surprise erg tests suck more.  Bring your tennis shoes if there is even a chance of erging.

As for the recovery swim that we had, it really was not that easy.  The main set had a lot of partnering up with a buddy and since my lane had an odd number of swimmers, we had a threesome. 

1. 3x50yds family kickboard (all two or three people hold on to one kickboard and flutter kick for 50yds) and 50yds pulling partner (one person swims while the partner or partners hang on, acting as dead weight)
2. 3x50yds free, descending
3. 3x100yds free, descending

Maybe Marcia thought it was a recovery swim because all the partner work gave us adequate rest between sets?!