Rest day, plasma, looking back at 2019

Today is Monday, my usual 'rest day'. I also made a plasma donation this morning, so my right arm is empty and needs a lot of cossetting and encouragement.

After yesterday's 2km (or 2.5km) race at Scorching Bay both arms hurt. I ascribe this unusual aching to not having done my usual warm-up: before Splash and Dash (and the Capital Classic) I now do an 800-1,000m warm-up in Freyberg Pool.  This prevents suffering later on.

Meanwhile, I thought I'd share a set that I swam a couple of times early in 2019 when I was training for the Chopper Swim. On both occasions we swam the set in a long course set-up (50 metres, in NZ) at Wellington Regional Aquatic Centre, where I swim with Harbour Capital Masters on a Saturday morning (if I'm not out in the sea). This was a good set for doing a good distance (just over the distance of two lighthouse laps) while livening things up a bit with the 8x200. The kick laps gave the arms a break but keep the heart rate up. For reps 5-8 each time, we went all out on the final 50 freestyle. It was hot work.




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