Today’s main set was 24×100. I know reading that will make a lot of people groan, just as it did earlier today when everyone saw it on the board after cruising into the wall following warm up.
To be honest, my first two thoughts were 1) oooh, that’s going to get boring, and 2) eeek, I hope I can hold the interval that long. Not exactly positive.
But every time we do an “old school” set, I end up really appreciating and liking it. Here are my top five reasons why:
5) If done regularly, these kinds of sets (10×200, 5×400, etc.) are terrific interval, repeat time, and thus condition “check in” opportunities.
4) When intervals are wacky (descend by five seconds; something odd like 1:25 instead of a nice, neat, and quarterly interval like 1:15) much of my brain power is devoted to factoring the next send off time. But when we have a big, consistent, free set with a fixed interval that I don’t need to work out per repeat, I can focus entirely on my stroke and turns.
3) Before I get on a block for the 1500 at the end of long course season, confidence flowing from solid training is very calming!
2) Yes, it’s sappy, but I like how these sets pull everyone together. There’s a lot more pep-talk exchanged between repeats and way more “good jobs” bandied about at the end of 24×100 versus 8×50.
1) The sense of accomplishment is much greater. It sounds sick, but being a little bit intimidated by a set then conquering it without missing a repeat or an interval is really satisfying.
Until next time,
Rebecca, swim evangelist