Swim with tired arms

I really didn't want to be cold.  The weather is starting to turn to chill and the last thing I want to do is dip into a pool of cool water.  I contemplated doing all of my drills in the (much warmer) rec. pool, but it was packed with kids and their fathers, happily splashing and being generally obnoxious.  Conversely, the often busy lap pool had only two occupants.  I sucked it up.

I got into the slow lane, which is wider than the other three lanes and began back stroke.  After 100y, I was warmed up and the temperature of the pool no longer bothered me.  I still hate the initial shock. 

I swam 150y backstroke, followed by 150y breast stroke and then went right into 100y of finger drag drills.  I tried to focus on the shape of my arm throughout the stroke and took my time swimming each length.  I took about 30s to rest between each drill and swam 100y each of 3T, one-arm freestyle and high elbows, then 50y each of underwater switch and catch up.  In total, I swam 300y to warm up and 500y of drills.

I was pretty tired at this point, mostly because I had paid such close attention to each stroke and was trying my hardest to concentrate on my form and pull without losing focus and without going too fast.  However, I still had 3 sets of 300y to swim. 

I tried to swim with the same kind of attention to my stroke during the main set.  That, coupled with fatigue, slowed me down.  After the first set, which was pretty consistent, I felt very tired.  I completed the second set and felt unable to do the final set.  But, I told myself that I should experience what it feels like to swim tired.  I feel confident enough now in my stroke, my breathing and my muscles to know that I won't drown.  As I began the last set, everything seemed fine, but I quickly became fatigued and it felt as though someone had turned on the "infinity pool" settings, sending me backward with each stroke.  When I finally finished the last set, I felt glad to have done it and exhausted for the effort.

L1	61.59	L1	62.13	L1	62.22
L2	65.1	L2	69.09	L2	68.32
L3	68.39	L3	69	L3	72.34
L4	69.26	L4	69.31	L4	72.64
L5	69.34	L5	71.26	L5	70.94
L6	69.75	L6	67.5	L6	69.97
R	64.03	R	63.46	Av	67.78