Group Swim & Bike

summary: swam approx 2100 yds (1 hr), biked 21+ miles (1.5 hr).

Today's group workout was at a high school in Danville. Our swim involved a bunch of warm up drills and pacing drills and then they timed us swimming 800 yards nonstop for a benchmark. I think I did it in about 15 minutes. It's hard to say because I think we might have lost count and done an extra 50 yards and the lanes were quite crowded so we kept getting slowed down by each other and having to attempt to pass each other in the middle of the lane. Which actually turned out to be a good exercise cuz it made me realize that if I go 125% in order to try to pass someone quickly, I burn myself out for the rest of the swim.

We then did a couple "all group" exercises to get used to swimming in a crowd in open water. The first one was "the gauntlet" where we all lined up in one swim lane - along either side - and took turns swimming down the middle of the lane while everyone else splashed water in your face.
The second exercise was to simulate a group start. We had about 50 or so people crammed into the shallow end of two lanes (without a lane divider). They had the 'slower' swimmers line up in back and the 'faster' swimmers in front. then we all swam down to the deep end. Then we did it in reverse - this time the 'slower' swimmers were in front the 'faster' swimmers in back. And we were encouraged to pass people, which essentially meant swimming over & around and getting kicked in the face, etc. I think we did it 2 more times. And then they talked about how you need to figure out your preference: Do you want to avoid that mayhem? do you hate getting passed? then you probably want to be at the back of the pack. Do you hate passing people? then you probably want to be in the front and maybe swim a little faster for the first couple hundred yards so as get out in front of the pack before you ease into your pace. I think I will lean towards the latter.

After the swim we did a bike ride through Danville. Mostly major roads with bike lanes. I did a little more than 21 miles. And felt really good.