I stumbled upon (invented?) a new-to-me idea for descending this morning. I went to the pool, not really knowing what I was going to do (I rarely do). There was a workout posted on the board which included a set of 5x100 easy-to-fast. I decided to do the workout (less thinking was involved). When I got to the 100s, no interval was given so I decided to use 1:50. I thought I'd swim my first 100 at around 1:40 and descend to about 1:25. Well, it didn't work out quite that way. It went like this:
1:32 - hmmm... starting off a little fast, oh well...
1:28 - uh oh - better give myself some more rest (2:00)
1:24 - I need even more rest now (2:10)
1:22
1:19
Then it occurred to me. Every time I descended through a five-second boundary (1:30, 1:25) I gave myself another ten seconds rest. Had I gone another (I'm sure my right shoulder would have fallen off in about the third 25), I would have (had to) increase the interval to 2:20.
Does that idea of increasing the interval (adapting) as you descend ring a bell with anyone? I don't believe I've ever had a coach give a set like that.
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