the misadventures of weather boy

Swim Conditioning Pre-times

In the tradition of the most recent time post, I bring the pre-class times for SS2.

I don't have the postclass times for Fall 2005, but as I recall they were similar to the preclass times (~6:30 on the 450 and roughly 27:30 on the 1650, but it's been awhile).

450 Free:

• 7/10/2006: 7:30 ?!
• Fall 2005 preswim: 6:27!
• SS2 2005 post: 6:37
• SS2 2005 pre: 6:37
• SS1 2005 post: 6:43
• SS1 2005 pre: 7:58

Compared to my out of shape time of 7:58 in SS1 2005, 7:30 is a little better. I'm not sure 6:30 is going to be in reach by the end of the summer session, but it would be interesting to see if I can make it there.

100 Free:

• 7/11/2006: 1:23!? (pace=1:32)
• Fall 2005 pre: 1:05!!
• SS2 2005 post: 1:18
• SS2 2005 pre: 1:12 (:33/:39)
• SS1 2005 pre: 1:15

I would definitely like to be better than 1:23. I was hoping somewhere in the neighborhood for 1:10-1:15ish, but I was poisoned by last fall's in shape 1:05 (the all time best for me is a :59.7 in meet conditions at my last USS meet, which happened to be the only time I ever broke the 1:00 barrier). To elaborate on the nature of the 100/50/25, this time they were conducted in that order, so the 100 was my best effort and so on (which is better than the reverse since the 100 is the best of event for me of the three).

50 Free:

• 7/11/2006: :40?!? (pace=:42)
• Fall 2005 pre: :34
• SS2 2005 post: :36
• SS2 2005 pre: :31 (should have been !! in retrospect)
• SS1 2005 pre: :37

Okay so today's 50 sucked. :40? :40? I haven't seriously swum a :40 in many years (it's been a long time since I pulled down :44's at summer swim league meets). I expected at least something in the :30's, maybe even that :37 I checked in with in SS1 2005 (of course, that was a 50/100/200 pre rather than 25/50/100). The best 50 ever for me was somewhere in the neighborhood of :27.3 (I have record of a :27.79Y, but since it was well before I ended year round, I have to assume that I could do better than that). Granted I was tired (I was dying in the first length), but this was the 100 pace (for example, a :40/:42=1:22), which isn't a good thing for a 50 spring.

25 Free:

• 7/11/2006: :18 (pace=:17 or :18-)
• Fall 2005 pre: :16
• SS2 2005 post: :17
• SS2 2005 pre: :14 (! in retrospect)

I am definitely not a short distance swimmer; I had a distinct feeling that I would be hammered on the 25. Of course, I did get beat by my lanemate (once again no surprise). It is extremely hard to critique these kinds of swims because the differences are so minute (pun unintended). I will say that this :18 felt a heck of a lot worse than the :14 last SS2.

The 1650 is always a post-course swim only, the 450 is also guaranteed as post-course (there may be intermediate 450's, but I wouldn't bet the farm on them). On the 450, I think a reasonable expectation post-course is going to be a 6:40 (perhaps a 6:45 would be safer), but a marked improvement on the order of 60 seconds is likely. The 1650 is a different animal; I usually tend to do better on them (how, I'll never know). There is no way in the world I am catching last SS2's 26:24!! (however, the 26:00 barrier could be had by graduation); given my lack of shape and worse physical condition compared to last SS1, 27:30 may be too much to ask for. I'll go for 28:00 and hope that I can be suitably impressed (I once made the statement that I expected to do at least a 30:00 before my first 1650 in the audit era, and it would be quite a catastrophe if I couldn't deliver).

METAR KRDU 110151Z 18005KT 8SM BKN250 27/19 A3018 RMK SLP216

Labels: actual swimming, swimming

posted by weather boy @ 10:09 PM