Regional Squad goes 2x800m

“Well, that wasn’t as bad as i thought!”…. were the words uttered in the aftermath, amongst the red faces, the smiles and the feeling of achievement, of making progress. Or simply after realising that it was a case of ‘job done’.

All too often we defeat ourselves without first even getting wet. We try to encourage the squad to embrace challenge and to view it as an opportunity to see what you’ve got. Realise it will hurt, realise it’s meant to, and realise it’s how we improve. It’s how we mentally and physically grow as swimmer, and grow as a person.

So with that being said, week 9 of the training cycle was upon us, it was Friday morning and it was time to test the squad’s aerobic fitness. 2x800m freestyle was the name of the game with the second 800 starting exacly 15mins after the first one. Swim the first one fast, and you’ll get more rest for the second 800. but swim it too fast and the second 800 becomes a matter of survival. So pacing these swims well is difficult, and as you can see from the results some saved their faster swim for round 2.

You'd be forgiven for asking why we undertake this test in the first place? The test allows us to draw a line in the sand and to see where our aerobic fitness lays. A sub 11min line is seen as a great effort, and sub 12 good and we’ll draw the line again in around 8-weeks time  when hopefully we'll see an improvement.

I think it’s fair to say that every swimmer gave it their all but one special mention must go to Regional Squad’s most recent addition, Ruby Richardson. Ruby must have only wondered what on earth she was getting herself into when she saw the board last Friday morning. Being her first early morning session with the squad, some might see me as being cruel, but knowing Ruby from her days in County Squad I knew she was more than capable, and I also knew she’d just get on and get it done, and that’s exactly what she did. Don’t worry Ruby, we won’t do that every Friday morning, just sometimes!