Another Morning at the Pool

OK, I’ll admit it: I’m kind of digging the early morning swims (where was this urge when I was in high school and had 5 a.m. practices?). I even tried making it earlier today—around 6:05 a.m.—but it was still packed and I started my swim in the open end of the pool.

For the first 2,000 yards, in fact, I swam around a staircase to turn at one end. And if you thought my spotting job in the tri was bad, you don’t want to know where I ended up when I was swimming backstroke.

I extended my distance, nevertheless, to this 4,400-yard workout:

• 800 yards free warm-up
• 4 x 100 yards free sprints on 2:00
• 3 x 800 yards
  - 1 x 800 yards IM
  - 1 x 800 yards free
  - 1 x 800 yards alt. one-arm fly and free
• 12 x 50 yards alt. free and IM order
• 200 yards free cool down

To my surprise, doubling my pool frequency and increasing my weekly yardage eightfold has energized me. Hard swimming used to make me drowsy. I’d like to think that I have some magical will power or sense of motivation, but I think I’m still riding high on tri-fever. And I’d like to finish first in my age group for swimming next time, not second (or perhaps I should focus on not finishing last in cycling instead)!

Check with me in two weeks when I can’t stop napping ;-)

The only unfortunate thing with increasing yardage on morning swims is that I'm butting up against time constraints again. That's the reason I started swimming in the morning (my lunch hour only permitted around 1,500 yards) in the first place! My past two swims have been around 1.25 hours. Sigh. If only I could work training into my job responsibilities.

Off to an Early Start

Who would have thought the pool would be so packed at 6 a.m.? Well, it’s not uncommon. I had assumed there would be a bulk of people at the pool bright and early, but didn’t anticipate such a crowd at that hour. The rec. center opens at 6 a.m., and when I arrived by 6:10 a.m., every single lane was full.

But it turns out that early swimmers are particularly courteous. When I swim during other peak times, people tend to bury their heads and swim down the middle of their lanes—ignoring you even if you’re kicking and splashing for their attention. And asking to squeeze in is akin to asking for their secondborn.

The people swimming in the three marked lanes this morning (the rest of the pool is open; it was full too), however, split to one side or the other of their lanes as soon as I showed up on the deck. Ahh, some faith in humanity!

I hopped in with a pretty good swimmer dude and did the following 4,200-yard workout:

1,000 yards free pull warm-up

8 x 150 yards alternating:
· 4 x 150 yards free (counting strokes)
· 4 x 100 yards free sprint, 50 yards backstroke

12 x 75 yards alternating:
· 6 x 75 yards free
· 6 x 75 yards IM order

8 x 50 yards IM order

200 yards reverse IM

500 yards free cool down

Not only was it nice to swim among so many people for the wake (if I’m going to open-water swim, I need to get used to wake), I had pacers and competitors galore. As I mentioned, the guy in my lane was a strong swimmer. I didn’t talk to him much, but we did plenty of swim-dueling during my 1,000-yard warm up. Maybe it was just me.

This may be the weather talking, but early morning workouts aren’t remotely as painful as I had imagined. Don’t remind me I said that in December. Not only did I get my swimming done before the day even began, but I had plenty of time to get a full swim without the pressure of getting back from lunch or getting home before my evening was lost.

Two hours was more than enough to swim, shower, dress and make it to work. I guess I’m just fortunate that the pool is five minutes from my office. Now, if only I could get there before the crowd.