Blog

WARMUP
572 ez FR (11 laps)

STROKE
4 x 208 BR on 5:00 (worked walls, pullouts, and breathing)

KICK
1 x 26 flutter kick from block afap

LP
3 x 104 FR [(broken at 26 yds on 0:30, 2 breaths ea length) plus a 50 ez with TYR snorkel having blue restrictor on] on 4:00

WARMDOWN
150 FR with fins and snorkel, very slow, with fast rotation/roll

---

A shavedown before a workout is a dandy way to boost ones confidence.

The TYR blue restrictor hole is about the size of a pea. Have to zip-tie it on because it keeps popping off. Assume it restrictive breathing might provide some benefit.




.

5 x 208 fr on 5:00 (2 min rest or less)

156 one arm drill

• dead arm facing back, alternate left and right arm per 52 yard

520 kick (10:50)

• alternate lengths with flutter and frog

312 with fins doing various fun drills

26yd fly from block fast

26yd br from block fast

---

13 months have passed since last attended swim meet. I'll do one before 2018

Again, various swimming with no structure in the workout. It was hot and the water close to 88.

worked out with weights yesterday. trying to gain back my strength and weight (was 160, 164 now, should be 170+) as I have been super busy since last October. feel fatigued often but I push through it. Vacation planned soon (Aruba ) after I get back from a couple weeks in spain for work. If I still feel drained it will be time for a checkup

swam for about 90 min in the heat and sun, didn't take note or performed specifics sets, just swam at various speeds above and UW. Work to rest was about 1 to 1

---

drylands for about 20 min
1 set of leg presses
1 set of leg push downs on dip assist mach
1 42" box jump
single leg box jumps on and off of 12" stand both fwd and to side
stretched

drylands - chest, back, and arms for about 25 min

---

SCM
15 x 30m on 1:00, 15m sprt fr breakout and stroke form / 15m (bk o / br e) ez

5 x 30m on 1:00, 15m sprt fr breakout and stroke form / 15m (bk o / br e) ez

• practice turns w/o push for the ez's (bk's were blind gainer turns)

30 x 16m turn drills on 0:20

10 x 30m on 1:00, 15m sprt fr breakout and stroke form / 15m bk ez

• practice bk turns as above

10 x 30m on 1:00, 15m sprt fr breakout and stroke form / 15m UW breaststroke

SCM all free
150 ez
10 x 50 on 1:00, 12.5m fast / remaining ez (50)
8 x 50 on 1:30, 12.5m afap / remaining very slow (50)
pool closed and had to leave
------------------------------------------------------------------------------ drylands
2 x 10 of RC bands with scapula set
1 x 10 ea of the following four exercises
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MxHX9j15BU
3 sets of leg exercises
1 x 30 standing calf mach raises 250lbs added

53 minutes in water

Easy free

• made effort in keeping HR <120 BPM by stopping every 100 or 150 for a 10 sec HR count (20 or less)

easy 250 bk

450 easy kick (fly, frog, free order by 50)

300 easy kick on back with fins, mostly UW

6|25|17 - drylands / stretching

---

6|27|17 SCM - lactate production was the goal

200 ez with fins

100 one arm drill

12 x 50 from block on 2:00

• 1st was fly - 36
• remaining odds free - 38's
• evens breast - 46's

200 kick (free / frog ea 25m) with board - 4:13

Felt more out of breath than muscle failure. Doing fly first may have demanded too much O2 making rest of set trying to recover. Because of this my times for fr and br little slower than typical. Maybe an addition 30 seconds rest on them would've made the workout much more productive

---

drylands tonight - tossing heavy balls, catching the lighter ones, 3:20 plank, single stiff leg deadlifts with a kettle bell on one side, rowing machine used for abs)

scy 3am outdoor pool fence jump

1500 of free and kicking keeping it quiet to not cause attention. kicked with feet under avoiding splash and noise

---

scy 5pm in another outdoor pool

500 ez with fins
4 x 50 (blocks) on 1:30 15m fast / 35m ez (fasts: IM order)
4 x 50 (blocks) on 2:00 15m fast / 35m ez (fasts: IM order)
4 x 30 (blocks) on 1:00 15m fast / 15m ez (fasts: IM order)
6 x 25 on 0:45 kick (fr, fl, br)
6 x 25 on 1:00 fast fr NB's
4 x 50 one arm drill, static arm dragging behind, breathe to static side
350 various drills with / without fins, random bursts off walls

h2O

400 ez
7 x 50fr on 1:30, 75-70% 50 pace (#4 was br)
5 x 50fr from block on 2:00, 80-75% 50 pace
200 kick (25 flutter/25 frog), 4:40

---

dryland

4 x 10 horiz medball tosses w/t legs anchored and upper body unsupported
9 x 5 fwd 1 leg hop up/dn box, repeat in reverse (various # of boxes @ 8" ea)
9 x 5 side 1 leg hop up/dn box, out and back in (various # of boxes @ 8" ea)
1 x 3 fwd 1 leg hops @ four 8" increments to 32", and a (both leg) grav drop/hop
Several additional nameless core exercises focusing chiefly on ab/core

35 min aerobic based, speed, SCM swim

warmup

30 x 30M on 1:00

• dive from side, go 15m fr. fast
• 15m easy back to wall bk/br/fr order, and jump out with both feet landing on deck

1 x 15M fast flutter kick

Currently: excellent physical shape, poor swimming condition (1 - 2 swims a week)

SCY
200 easy with fins on

10 x 25 fr on 0:30, one breath each, fins

100 pace efforts all from block

• 8 x 50 fr on 2:00
• 1 x 50 br on 2:00
• 1 x 50 fr on 2:00
• 12 x 50 on ~2:30 (o-fr / e-br)

Didn't go under 30 for the fr, barely under 40 for br. No surprise, can't expect to perform well without practicing. Should have more freedom to dedicate to swimming as house repairs finalize, and property claims are accomplished.

20 x 25fr on 0:30 fins (2 breaths)
15 x 25fr on 0:40 fins (1 - 2 breaths)
4 x 25fr on 3:00 fins, fast (nb's)
16 x 12.5 UWDK (odds) UWFK (evens) on 0:20

SCM
500 various fr drills with fins

12 x 30m on 1:00 15m fast / 15m easy

• fasts were fr, UWDK, UWFK
• easys were all br

200 UW kicking

• as 8 x 12.5 UWDK (breathe) 12.5 UWFK

10 x 13.5m turn drill on 0:30

15 x 13.5m turn drill on 0:20


Drylands
12 x 0:30 on 1:00 on curve treadmill

• 9 - 10 mph run / 3 mph walk

weights - upper body

The Woodway Curve treadmill is similar to rollers for a bike - self propelled. It has helped my running considerably (31 sec drop in my 1.5 mile time from prior years). Now that I no longer run I still use it to warm up the body for dryland training.

Back to Swimming

SCM
20 x 25fr on 0:30 with fins (18's)
15 x 25fr on 0:40 with fins (16's)
10 x 25fr on 1:00 with fins (14's)

• easy-moderate sprint, solid form

6 x 25 flutter kick on 0:40

4 x 10m UWDK+10m UWFK+5m UW frog (take a breath after each section)

Drylands
10 x 30 seconds on 1:00 at 9+mph on Woodway Curve
Weights and other stuff: Worked everything
15 minutes stretching

Had to push swimming back in priority due to hurricane matthew, which blew down a healthy 60 year old red oak directly through my home. Crushed our master bedroom and garage (with BMW pinned inside). Thank God nobody was in area at the time. If it happened 30 minutes earlier it would've been another story cuz I was sleeping in the bedroom. Has been rather an ongoing nightmare, we're rebuilding that part of the home now. Enough blogging about that.

I didn't get out of shape during time off from swimming because I've been running and continuing with other stuff. Interestingly I've noticed this break seemed to be beneficial to my form as I started back up, I'll find out at my next meet in February, but my swimming feels quite refreshed. Maybe it was overdue.

Had a freak injury about 7 weeks ago, I was stretching my quads/hips (couch stretch) then my left hip opened up with an audible ripping sound (like sound of fabric tearing). I immediately closed the joint back and hobbled off in frustration and pain. Doctor said I tore a hip flexor. It took about 3 weeks to walk correctly after, and now, though everything seems to be good, my hip looks different than the other one, like it's missing one of the smaller muscles - lol. Strangely, after this injury my lower back doesn't act up nearly as much. Anyway, not concerned because it seems to be working fine.

One bit of good news for me is I finally scored 100% on my AF fitness test last week.

Sep 30

SCM
500 fr with snorkel warmup fr
6 x 50 on 2:00, as f/s per 25 done in order of fr, br, fl (fins)
700 flutter kick with fins

Drylands
6 x 400 run on 3:00 at target 1:45 2.4k pace (1:37, 1:40, 1:42, 1:44, 1:46, 1:46)
weights - legs

---

Oct 1

SCM
700 fr warmup with snorkel
3 x 50 br on 1:30 (57, 53, 47)
4 x 10m bursts
5 x 25fr on 0:30 with fins, breathe once each

---

Oct 2

Drylands
treadmill
8 mph 3% incline for 5:00
5 x 0:30 rest / 0:30 run (8 mph 3%)
3 x 0:30 rest / 1:00 run (8 mph 3%)
1 x 0:30 rest / 1:00 run (8.1 mph 3%)
1 x 0:30 rest / 1:00 run (8.2 mph 3%)
1 x 0:30 rest / 1:00 run (8.3 mph 3%)

Pushups, pullups and shoulder exercises

---

Oct 3

SCM
500 fr with snorkel warmup, then went home to pay bills

drylands
treadmill 5:30 8 mph 3.75% incline
3 sets of light squats on smith machine, used wide (kungfu) stance

Easy free and kicking, nice day outside
250 fr warmup
5 x 50 fr on 1:00 (38, 38, 40, 41, 41)
500 drill with fins
20 x 25 flutter kick on 0:40 (about 10 sec rest near the end)

drylands during lunch break
Treadmill at 3% grade
6 min at 8 mph
rest 5 min
1 min at 7 mph
1 min at 8 mph
1 min at 6 mph
1 min at 8 mph
1 min at 6 mph
1 min at 8 mph
0:12 at 6 mph

Stretched for 15 min

Treadmill felt tough for some reason. Placed H2O bottle on belt and it rolled off the back, even though the % incline showed 0. Apparently it's stuck at an incline, but I needed to know where. Measured 84" run for a 2.5" rise = 3% grade

9|23|16 LCM
100 bk with fins warmup
200 drill with fins
4 x 50 fr on 3:00 (35, 35, 32, 32)
100 easy fr
50 fr breathe every 2 strokes (34)
50 br
3 x 30 on 1:00 as 15 fr bursts / 15 easy br

9|24|16 SCM
500 warmup with snorkel 7:58
20 x 25 flutter kick on 0:45
4 x 50 fl/bk's with fins on 1:00
8 x 25 lungbuster fr's (take 1 breath ea) with fins on 0:30 (PB)
Several UWDK bursts

9|25|16 Drylands
Weights:
(superset) 1x DBBP (#70) + dips + pushups + pullups (rest 1 sec at bottom of rep)

• 19 (3/4) reps, 6 reps, 5 reps, 14 reps (+10 negative reps)

1x 12 DB shoulder exercise that includes 2.5 different moments per rep

Warm up on bike for one min
Treadmill 9 MPH for 6:30

1 x 10 Single leg pushdowns on dip/pullup assist platform set to #100

1 x 15 Neck raises using glute machine set to #40

10 reps of hip exercise that's hard to explain with words or title that doesn't exist

1 x 10 of LE's and LC's

75 crunches

---

Happy with managing 8 lungbusters yesterday, but I think next attempt I will ask someone to watch me for safety. Breathing quite desperately on last few rests, even though breathing urge pain was there during the swim, I was paranoid I could be slightly hyperventilated.

Next treadmill goal will be 7:00 of 9 MPH, perhaps on Tuesday. These runs hurt from the first 15 seconds of running lol. More a test of will, can't imaging hurting as such while swimming

16 x 50 free on 1:15 with snorkel, evens with fins, build to 33 - 34
200 ez fr with fins
2 x 50 fr ez sprint on 2:00
2 x 25 br on 1:00

drylands:
ran on treadmill @ 9 MPH for 6 minutes, felt sick to stomach then took a 2 minute nap. Then Felt better

Once this fitness test is over (Nov), and hopefully my run was at least 10.5 min, I plan to never train for a run again. I'm just going for it now because I aged up to the 50 - 59 category, and why not strive for excellence? I also have reasons more dear to me, and whether achieving goal makes a difference afterwards or not, at least I pursued this. Window of opportunity is here and I'm on it, even though it may be detracting my swimming.

Preparation method requires to remain uninjured and avoid running > 4x /wk. Like using the treadmill because it keeps form in check. Plan is to be able to sustain 9 mph (6:40 pace) for 10 min. and at that level, run as little as possible, yet still be able to go 9 mph for 10 min anytime (which will have to be in 4 weeks). Raceday goal will require an average 7:00 pace, the 6:40 will make up for the mill vs road conversion differential, plus the added legspeed will give me the mental confidence to increase tempo when needed during test.

500 fr warmup with snorkel 8:30
2 x 50 flutter kick on 2:00
2 x 50 flutter kick on 2:30
50 fl / 50 easy with fins
100 fr with MF (fast / easy)
50 br / 50 bk

Drylands yesterday - mostly stretching, worked hips and some torso stuff.

Then I discovered an entire different wing to the gym on base that is open after hours with nobody around. Appears to be where the crossfit type people hang out. Tossed a 45lb ball for about 3 minutes as a shotputting-like toss with right arm, pick it up, then left, etc. By end of 3 minutes the ball would just roll off my extended arm as I was tired. Also ran a couple circles while holding that ball (appears to work just about everything I can think of- lol). I noticed some wood boxes that (I believe) are used for jerks and started experimenting with high jumping to the top, the last jump was 44.25" and was quite easy. I filmed it with my iphone se in slow-mo and noticed I didn't really jump too high, just managed to get my feet up there.