Say it Ain't So Joe!

The other day I got back in the pool, with my mind set on doing a steady 2000 yard swim. I got to the pool, changed in the locker room and then walked put and picked a lane. I out my stuff down, fixed my goggles, stretched my arms and gave a few head nods to the regulars at the pool. In the lane next to me was a guy that is normally there swimming when I go, I am not sure I ever got his name, so let's call him Joe. Joe is a decent swimmer and I think Joe is swimming due to a leg injury from running (none of this really matters to the point of this).

Usually I wait until Joe is about 25 yards (one length of the pool) before I start and I give myself 20 laps to catch Joe. I use Joe as my rabbit so to speak. Joe is fairly fast so it makes me work pretty hard to catch Joe. Makes for a good workout.

Monday, I was expecting the same result and waited for Joe to get to the end of the lane and I jumped in, swimming like I normally do, expecting to inch up on Joe and eventually pass him. I got 10 laps into my swim and noticed, I was not making any progress on Joe like I usually do. It appeared that maybe I was becoming the rabbit now, because Joe was about to catch me this day!

I had taken off about 2 weeks of swimming to focus on my running, so instead of the morning swims, I was out running. I can tell the gains I made running made my swim falter a bit and I could tell. I know Joe most likely has been at the pool every morning that I was not at the pool. I don't like that Joe got faster or that I lost that much in 10 days, so here is what I am going to do about it.

1. The entire month of Dec, I am swimming 3 times a week.

2. I am doing drills 90 % of my swim time.

3. I will once again catch that rabbit!

Here is tomorrow's swim workout:

4 x 50 1:10

5 x 100 2:10

2 x 200 4:10

Kick 1x 200

Pull 1 x 200

Swim 800

Grand Total of 2100 yards (1.2 miles)