Plan:

• 4 x 8′
• 4′ active rest with a stop for a quick drink
• Pace target: <1:48.8 (from last time on January 3rd)
• Rate: 27-28

8′ warmup up, with 3 – 10 stroke bursts at faster than target pace (strapless)

Then into the main event.  Rep 1 was tough, but never in doubt, I finished with 2211 meters (1:48.5), so I kept that as my target for all the reps.  Rep 2 was HARD.  I was ahead of target through 100 strokes, fell behind through the next 100, and made up the lost ground in the last 20.  I wondered if I could do it again for rep #3, but felt OK by the end of the rest.  Same story for rep #3, but an even bigger ask to try to make up the lost ground in the last 20 strokes.  I was sure that I couldn’t hold the last rep, and through most of the rest, I was thinking I would see if I could hit 1:50 for it instead.  But at the end the rest, I decided to try to hit target for the first 100 strokes and see how I did.  At the 100 stroke point, I was really struggling, so I dropped back to about a 1:50 and tried to hold on.  I was seeing some 1:51s, and feeling the HD-demons peering over my shoulder, but I just kept pushing.  With 20 strokes to go, my projected finish was around 2180.  A push at the end got me to 2203 (1:48.8).  Session average was 1:48.6.

4′ rest was about 2 minutes of gasping and 2 minutes of light paddling, then an 8 minute cool down starting at 2:00 splits and slowing down from there.

I wish I could have laid down a faster time on this workout, but I am proud of my execution.  I was really hurting in the last rep and I pulled back from the edge just enough to make it instead of bailing out.

Tomorrow:  4 x 20′ / 1′ rest