OTT Class #14: Swim/Run

Wednesday was another Swim/Run day at Magic Island. We started with a 5 minute out and back (10 min total) swim to warm up and then we all met on the beach. Coach had set up two cones on the beach and put a buoy out in the water.

We started at one cone and swam easy out to the buoy. Then we were to swim back to the other cone hard, run to the original cone hard and swim back to the buoy hard. Then we could swim in easy. The hard portion was meant to be like a race. Once done, we all met on the beach and did one more cone, buoy, cone loop at a moderate pace.

I did surprisingly well. For the first half (the harder part), I came in third. What was really surprising was that I was matching another guy stroke for stroke throughout the hard swim part. I've never come close to matching him before. Afterwards, he commented on how I was swimming much faster than I used to.

After all the swimming, we got our run gear and headed over to the path on magic island for intervals. We did a five minute easy warmup jog and then stopped for instructions. We did easy/hard intervals:

1" hard
1" easy
2" hard
2" easy
3" hard
2" easy (yes 2, not 3).
Repeat once for a total of two iterations.

This went rather well, too. I wasn't feeling really strong, but I still did it. I kept pace with leader and pretty much stayed with him the whole time except the last minute of the final 3" interval. At that point, I faded a little, but I didn't fall very far off, so all around it was good. Much better than my running on Saturday. I think I'm back from where I was, so it doesn't seem like I've lost much ground. I'm so relieved.

Our coach said the interval running we did today and the tempo run on Monday are the two most efficient workouts you can do. The most bang for your time I guess. He said all you need to do is add on hills and you've got a really solid foundation. I'm not sure where long, slow runs fit into there.