I always find when i need a light training day that getting in a swim is just the right thing. I'm feeling a bit more lethargic today than the other days following the race. Could be the weather, but think i need to keep my body moving with a light workout so I head to the outdoor pool in Red Hook. It's overcast but quite warm and humid so will be nice to take a refreshing swim. Since i'm already thinking about the 1/2 ironman I want to do in October I'm planning on swimming longer distances for my easy swims. Today the plan is a easy warm up followed by a 1.2mile swim at a slow, long stroke rate. I have a lane to myself, oh joy. I warm up for 15 minutes and set my tempo trainer at 1.20 seconds per stroke. I've never spent any amount of time at this slow stroke rate but i'm wanting to take it easy and this will be an interesting test. Each lap was between 45 and 48 strokes per length. Breathing was easy, ave HR was only 132 It took me 45:17 to complete the 1.2 miles. Interesting, because just last thursday I swam the same distance at 1 sec strok rate, HR was 140 and i swam that only 4 seconds faster.
This tells me it's more valuable at this point to focus on form, slow stroke rate, longer stroke, being efficient, so as not to waste energy. Moving forward for my 1/2 ironman i want to plan for 3 swims per week. All an hour 15 min or longer. One day easy, working on extending my easy swims over a longer time. Another day focusing on intervals. And the third day in open water is possible, and if not possible with my TNYA swim team workouts.