Movin' on up?

It was nearabouts empty at the pool this morning. Almost everyone was off in Lake Placid (good luck to you if you're racing), either to race or register. The lane counts, from slowest up, were 2, 1, 1, 2 (my lane), 4, 2. Definitely not the 30+ we were seeing in March to May. Just before we were to start the main set, the coach moved me up to the quicker lane, into the only lane with any number of people in it. Great, I get to chase the fast kids today. Where's my ticket for the Pain Train?

(Aside: I need a name for the times when I'm running hard. Swimming is the Pain Train (as now titled), cycling has long been called the Cottage of Wattage, but I've got nothing so far for running. I might need it for the race this weekend. All suggestions are welcome.)

The first set was 500m, a choice of paddles and pull, or 25 head-up/75 ez free. Since my shoulder has been tweaked, I went with the head-up, but the rest of the lane (but one) chose paddles. So I got to try to stay in front of guys who are faster than me, using paddles, while I'm almost doggy-paddling. Let's just say that my "easy" was moderate-hard, and I was still almost lapped. Then we had a set of hard 100s, and I performed OK. For me, the times were good (1:42-1:43 consistently); I was the slowest in the lane, by 5-6 seconds, but much faster than the slower lanes. Then another long set, and another set of sprints (and consistently held my pace; I'm toughening up). By the end, I was pretty worked over, but I had a good day formwise, and did a lot of hard work. I'm about 8 weeks out, so every improvement might be worth another few seconds on race day. Every second I save is good news.

Swim: w/u - 200m each free, non-free, pull
500 as 25 head-up/75 ez free
4x100 hard free, 30-45" (1:42, 1:43, 1:42, 1:42)
100 ez non-free
500 pull as 75 ez/25 hard
4x100 hard free, 30-45" (1:40, 1:43, 1:43, 1:43)
100 ez non-free
c/d - 2x200 as 50 back/50 breast/100 free
Total: 3000m

Run: 4 miles @ 7.5 mph + 4 strides