Of all the workouts that I do on a somewhat regular basis, swimming is the one where I'm the most likely to accidentally over do it.

I think it probably has something to do with the fact that I can't tell that I'm working super hard. I mean yes, I get winded and breathe heavy when I'm in the pool -- especially after a set of sprints.

But unlike running or basically any other workout, I don't feel myself sweating. I don't feel my muscles fatiguing nearly as quickly. And I never have to worry about any nagging aches or pains that remind me that sometimes working out can be tough.



Swimming is wonderful that way.

But it also means I sometimes accidentally do a more intense workout than I should.

I realized that's what I had done today when I felt completely gassed when I pulled myself out of the pool. Sure I felt my arms getting a little tired during the workout, but I didn't realize just how tired until I'd gotten out of the water.

I did 2500 yards in the pool today. That's a normal amount when I'm swimming regularly. It's not such a normal amount when I've only swam twice in the last month and hadn't been in the pool since April prior to that.

But with swimming it's just so easy to get in the water and fall back into the routine of regular workouts.

Here's what today's workout looked like:

Warm-up: 200 yards
Kick drill: 100 yards

Main set: 4 x 500 broken up as follows:

Set 1: 300, 2 x 50, 4 x 25
Set 2: 2 x 150, 2 x 50, 4 x 25
Set 3: 3 x 100, 2 x 50, 4 x 25
Set 4: 4 x 75, 2 x 50, 4 x 25

For the "endurance portion" of each set, I focused on smooth form.
The 50s focused on speed.
The 25s were a breathing drill.

Cool down: 200 yard breast stroke.

And just like that I was at 2500 yards. When I swam back in December, I did something like 2300 yards. The next day my arms felt like spaghetti. I imagine I'll be feeling something similar tomorrow.