Some Swimming and Easing Back Into Speedwork

Is it Friday already?  And for another thing, we're almost halfway through July!  This year is going by EXTRA SPEEDY!  Granted, many great and wonderful things have happened to me this year; thus, you won't hear a complaint coming from me.  ;)

Speaking of speedy, I feel as though I've lost mine.  *le pout* I raced my first half marathon this past February, and finished in a time with which I was exceptionally tickled.  Of course, with the warmer temperatures comes the slower paces for most every runner.  The sillyhead that I am, signed up for a 10k for next Saturday, in which I have done absolutely zero speedwork for.  At least it's something to look forward to!  Just training and no racing makes me sort of antsy, and will often induce a case of the lazies.

At any rate, this week has been good so far with training.  Monday was an AWESOME swim, where I felt like I finally got my form back.  It's been a while since I regularly trained in the pool, so I usually default to one workout:  The 1500 breakdown.  I cannot remember for the life of me where I found this gem of a workout, but it's been my favorite for years, and great for on a whim.  Here's how it goes:
Warm-up: (I did 1 x 300 free)
Main set:  1500 breakdown (1 x 500, 1 x 400, 1 x 300, 1 x 200, 1 x 100, progressing in speed each set, and rest 15-45 seconds between sets)
Warmdown:  (I did 1 x 200 free w/buoy)

Give this a try if you're showing up at the pool without a plan, or you'd like to work on an Olympic-distance swim progression.  I'll sometimes flip it to really work the speed portion of the longer sets.

I ended up with a short run on Tuesday, and rested Wednesday.  Yesterday, I woke up with a skip in my step, and head out to crush that *zero speedwork* bit (up there ^^^^).  My go-to for easing back into speedwork is always 400s.  They're short, and as a former track sprinter, they're way more funsies for me.

Source

I was sort of anxious.  Do you ever get that way?  Knowing that you're about to speed up, lose all account of form, and hope that you can reach your goal pace for an extended amount of time?  I don't think I reached a solid mile before I felt my feet move a little swifter...I was antsy for some speed!  4 x 400s (with 400 recovery between sets) later, and I was feeling good and tired!  The last recovery 400 was way slower than the previous sets, which tells me how out of shape I am.  A mile cooldown and stretch to finish out the workout.

After a full day of errands and chores around the house, I met up with a friend for some downtime (I refuse to call it "girl time").  I realized that, after living with a guy for a couple of months and not having a ton of friends to talk to here, that I needed someone to assure me about things in my life (that I'm NOT cray, lol).  I'm extremely thankful to have that, and prettier toes.  :)

Y'all rock out this Friday, and have a great weekend!