Swimming Sprint Intervals

Location: Woodcock Sports Centre Swimming Pool, Aston University
Date: 12th February

6 x Front crawl length, 95% effort.

15-20 seconds rest between each length; each length took about 25 seconds.

Total time: 5 minutes

Post Workout Nutrition: none - fasted until dinner.

After the 3-hour fell race on Sunday, the burpees on Wednesday and 90 minutes of walking to and from work every day this week, I felt like yesterday's workout really needed to be easy on the legs. Swimming felt like a good compromise. It does use the legs, but in ways sufficiently different from the other weight-bearing activities.

I am on a roll, fitness-wise. I didn't even think about these intervals. I just got on with them and somehow tolerated the pain better than usual. I think that's often an indication that you are getting fitter. The pain is still there, but you embrace it.

These were pretty much like Tabata intervals but with the protocol adjusted by practical factors like the length of the pool; and the number of intervals was reduced because each one was longer than 20 seconds.

For once, the whole session passed without my goggles leaking. Those public pools are so full of chemicals I swear that regular users have lighter hair than the general population.