"} Get a life, Get active! By Fit Lesley: Easter Sunday

Sunday 20 April 2014

Easter Sunday

and a very busy day visiting relatives!

However, before sitting around over indulging with too much wine, food and chocolate I thought I had best slip some exercise into the mix so I wouldn't feel so guilty!

I decided that since it's a week today until the triathlon that I had better get some swimming in!

Off I went at 9 O' Clock and the car park was dead!  My initial thoughts were "It's closed because its Easter Sunday" but off I went in to investigate.

It was open and it was surprisingly busy!  Everyone must have been super healthy and walked!

I decided to do sets of 16 lengths or 400 metres as this is the distance of the swim in the tri.



I decided to swim with my "Finis Tempo Trainer Pro" under my hat to try and keep a consistent pace.  

There are several different modes to work with but I always set it to bleep after so many seconds to indicate a timed length. 

So, for example, if you were aiming to hit 25m at, say, 35 seconds, then you set the TT to give a discrete triple bleep every 35 seconds. As you approach the wall for the 25m split, if it bleeps before you hit it, you're slow; if you make the turn before the bleeps, you're up on your target. 

This  gives you a very good sense of whether you're dropping pace over the course of a long swim. 

I find it keeps me more focused and stops me from drifting off the pace; and it gives very precise feedback without having to look at a clock or watch.

However, with other people around (and getting in the way!) its a little more difficult to keep a consistent pace but I tried to keep on track!

I was so focused on doing sets of 16 I lost count of how many sets I had actually done!  I don't like fiddling with my poolmate watch too much in case I end up pressing the wrong buttons and losing all my data so I just swam until I couldn't keep up with the TT anymore and once it was beating me on every length I knew it was time to quit!

When I got home and uploaded my swim I was amazed to discover that I had actually swam 2800 metres or 1.74 miles which is 112 lengths and the furthest distance I have EVER swam! 

The chart below shows my times for each set and I managed to stay fairly consistent over such a long distance!


I'm quite impressed with that!

Happy Easter Sunday!





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