Thanks Coach Richardson!

I was lucky enough to catch up with U of M Womens Head Coach Jim Richardson on Thursday.  Upon beginning my training at U of M, I quickly realized how valudable Jim is to all the swimmers at U of M.  Over the past few months I've truly valued the knowledge he's shared with me on a variety of training topics.

I chose to break away from the CW written practices to work with Jim today.  He recommended a VO2 Max set he has seen work well for his swimmers over the years.  After determining my appropriate paces using an excel spreadsheet filled with equations, he recommended I swim the 75's on the :41 and the 150's on the 1:28.  I knew those times were reachable but quite challenging.

5 x

25y easy + 75y pace
25y easy + 75y pace
50y easy + 150 pace

Each pace swim is "go on the next :10", which basically means you have around 10-15 seconds rest before you should begin swimming again.  The short rest is quite challenging.  I actually did well on the first set hitting my first 75 on the :41.5 and the second on the :42.  The 150y was harder at 1:30 but still within range of my target.  The 2nd round got predictably uglier.  I knew I would have a hard time holding those times with my training background.  My 75's crept into the :42 and then the :43 second range.  Not where I wanted them to be, but not embarassing just yet.  My 150's were a different story.  I've never been an impressive 200y backstroker, but the 1:36 time within my 2nd round was enough for Coach Jim Richardson to change the set for me.  I enjoy that Jim provides straight talk feedback.  He encourages me when appropriate and when helpful, yet simply explains that "Lets change the 150's for the rest of the set, you'll get there but you're not quite ready for this format yet".  It was an effective method of conveying that I just can't hang with the full set just yet.  He changed the remaining 2 rounds to:

25y easy + 75y pace
25y easy + 75y pace
50y easy + 50 pace

The 75's held steady at :42's and the last 50y pace was first a :24.2 and then a :24.5.  I think I finished up the set well considering my recent training background.  I think overall it was a great set.  I will continue to swim the set and make progress.