Slowest Guy in the Pool...for now

I started swimming with the Masters group twice a week at the Bob Sierra YMCA and I'm officially the slowest guy in the pool. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining, I'm just stating the cold, wet facts. Most of the group are members of the local T3 Tampa Tri Team triathlon club and have been doing these workouts all season long, while I just started. I'm getting back into a regular training routine and I know I need to build up my swimming endurance and work on technique, so this is perfect for me.

In the first workout I attended, I was working hard to keep up and though I didn't realize it at the time, the coach cut out 600 yards of my workout so I would finish around the same time as everyone else.  2,700 yards in an hour was pretty good for me.

In the second workout, I only missed one repetition of 6 sets and I was thankful that we ran out of time. After a bunch of other laps, we swam 75 yards, jumped out of the pool, did 10 push ups, swam 50 more yards, did 10 more push ups and then did an easy 25. On alternate sets, we did 5 jump squats instead of push ups and by the end, it was all I could do to haul my body out of the pool and flop on the deck before beginning the push ups or squats.

On the third workout, I actually finished everything the coach handed out. Thank goodness for timed intervals that allowed me to catch up before the next set started. I got less rest than my lane mate, but at least I could catch up. This workout was more focused on endurance with 4 x 200's, 3 x 300's and a timed 500 at the end of the hour long workout. I finished the swim hungry and tired, but that's a good thing. I'm thankful for the supportive coach and the faster swimmers who are making me work harder to keep up. I'm sore, but happy with the results.  For now, I'm the slowest guy in the pool and I'm OK with that.  I'll keep coming back.

Also, because the swim workout starts so early I have time for a quick run after the swim.  This has been a great way to test out my new Newton running shoes, but that's another story.