Needless worry

After yesterday's less than stellar workout, I must admit that I was worried while driving to the pool today that I might not have the stamina to meet the descending requirements for today's workout.

1000 - 4-4-4
2000 - 4x500 (descend 1-3 hold) on 7:00

6:48, 6:47, rest an extra minute, 6:38, 6:33

1000 - 4x250 (descend 1-3 hold) on 3:30

3:27, 3:25, rest an extra minute, 3:18, 3:15

500 - 4x125 (descend 1-3 hold) on 1:50

1:40, 1:37, rest an extra :30, 1:33, 1:29

200 - 4x50 (descend 1-3 hold) on :45

:38, :36, rest an extra :30, :32, :32

300 warmdown - 100 breast, 100 back, 100 free all EZ

total 5000

What made ALL the difference in today's workout being successful and I actually work my butt off was taking an extra rest at the halfway point for each set. If I didn't do that, I wouldn't have been able to successfully descend, and I figured it was better to take a little extra rest just at that halfway point to make it a success.

When I was into powerlifting years ago, 90% of the time I would lift alone. This could be extremely dangerous since if I wasn't fully aware of what my body could actually do, the weight would come down on me and crush me without a spotter. I have NEVER had an incident where I failed a lift when alone and knew just the right amount of reps to do and not do one more where I would fail and be unable to complete the lift. I compare that "knowing one's body limits" in lifting to swimming. I could have tried doing all these sets on the prescribed interval, but I would have failed. Even though it wouldn't have hurt me to have failed, and in fact pushing the body to failure in lifting can also be beneficial, so the analogy goes both ways actually.