Blog

WARMUP
1100 free, S

MAIN
3 x (2 x 50 fr on 2:00, 1 x 50 FK (S) on 3:00)

• 50 fr: 39, 39; 39, 39; 38, 37
• 50 FK: 47, 47, 46

2 x 50 fr on 3:00

• 36, 36

100 bk, F

300 Dr, F, S

1 start from a wobbly block

WARMDOWN
10 x 13 easy sprint on 5s R

Arms and shoulders felt the need for a day off.

The 50 flutter kicks really hurt near the back 15M's, still feeling it 45 min later.

WARMUP
600 free, S

MAIN
5 x 50 free on 2:00, S

• 39, 37, 36, 34, 34

50 easy

25 free fast / 475 free easy, S

• 15 / 7:58

4 x 25 free fast / 75 drill, F, S

• 13's on the fasts

Found a small window of time to swim.

Stroke felt dull from the 5.3Km yesterday so I did 1K of drills.

Tried a new drill: With fins on holding steady and narrow kick tempo, and fists closed, did the equivalent to the finger drag but the fist was fully submersed while other fist (and forearm) worked with propulsive counter resistance. Finding my left shoulder down rotation still needs tuning, as well as the resulting UW stroke (left in / out sweeps too close to center not allowing full use of lat, side, and torso strength).

Did a 50 flutter kick for time:
confident :00 start and touched at 43-44 transition (true 0:44 flat)

Have reserve weekend (starting tomorrow), will definitely cancel tomorrows swim because we plan on grilling steaks after I get back from day 1. Not sure about Sunday, but I decided to swim today and for Saturday at one setting.

Today:
3.5 K of easy free, but with 6 beat, using snorkel and taking several breif breaks

Tomorrow (I did):
1100m flutter kick with board and snorkel

• 24 -25 min

700m Drill

5.3Km total (hungry now)

20 x 25 fr on 0:30, S

• 20's

14 x 25 fr on 0:45, S

• 18's

10 x 25 fr on 1:00, S

• 16's and a couple 15.h's

Drylands

Deadlifts on hack machine with vertical-jump band belt on (4 sets of 10)

• 95lbs + 2 bands
• 95lbs + 4 bands
• 135lbs + 4 bands
• 185lbs + 4 bands

1 set of horizontal leg swings (~50 ̊ of range from straight back to side)
(felt tired after)
Abdominal
Shoulders
Chest

WARMUP
500 fr, S (8:01)

KICK
3 x 50 (+150 easy drill/kick) flutter kick with snorkel

• fast 0:46
• AFAP - 0:44, 0:44

Have room for a close range improvement with the AFAP 50 FK's as the first one I pushed the turn before arms were fully locked and the second one took me too deep. Estimate I'm currently capable of 0:42 with luck, so it is my close-range goal to reach 0:39

WARMUP / MAIN
5 x 500 free on 9:00, S (8:41, 8:23, 8:18, 8:15, 8:13)

KICK
500 FK, S (12:11)

DRILL
500 one-arm fisted free (static arm back), S, as 50 per arm

STROKE
10 x 50 on 1:30 as bk-br per 25

WARMDOWN
150 easy kick on sides, belly, back, and transient, with arms back

WARMUP
500 fr, S

• 8:40's

MAIN
4 x 50 fr on 1:30 (as 25m 95% E sprint / 25m easy)
500 fr, S (as 25m 95% E sprint / 475m recovery)

• 8:32

550 fr, S (as 25m 95% E sprint / 525m recovery)

• 9:04

Sprints felt easy, smooth, and fluid. Didn't notice any errors at speed either.


Lifted weights during my lunch -
Warmed up, then did 3 sets of:

• incline DB BP (50's)
• DB rows (30's)
• DB curl to shoulder press at slow motion (30's)
• step-ups on bench lunges holding DB's (35's)
• wrist curls
• upright DB rows (10's)

Need to force myself to always go super light doing any lat exercises (e.g., pulldowns, rows) because my right lateral deltoid muscle has been messed up for almost 2 years - totally weaker than the left. I never really allowed it heal as I seem to train it like I'm 20. If it's not too late, maybe I can gradually rejuvinate if I go easy.

Did weights last night - chest, back, shoulders, thighs, abdominal, butt, and hips

Plyometric activity also done

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500 fr, S

• 9:10

rest 1 min

500 fr, S

• 9:01

rest 1 min

500 fr, S

• 8:35

rest 3 min

500 fr, S

• 8:36

500 Drill/Bk, F

500 Drill, with and without S and F

2 x 500 FK

4K net

500 fr with snorkel

• 8:40

rest 1 minute

500 FK with snorkel

• 11:58

rest 2 minutes

500 fr with snorkel

• 8:48

1000 drill

3 x 500 free on 10:00

• 8:40, 8:20, 8:25

500 drills, S, F

600 FK

18 x 50 FR with 30 seconds rest

• alternated CCW and CW rotation off turn to see if there's a difference, there is (below):

3 x 50 FR on 2:00

• planed to go fast but decided to hold off

2 x 500 FR, S

• 8:50, 8:20

Via meet mobile:
Event 04 - 50 Back 35.05
Event 07 - 200 Medley Relay (free leg) 25.81
Event 10 - 50 Free 25.67
Event 11 - 200 Free Relay (leg 4) 24.98
Event 16 - 100 Free 1:10.56 / (50 Free SR) 26.10
Event 18 - 200 Free Relay (leg 1) 26.19
Event 22 - Medley Relay (free leg) 25.32

WARMUP
2 x 500 free on 10:00, S

• 8:40, 8:20

MAIN
4 x 50 free on 0:50
rest 1 min
5 x 50 free on 0:50
rest 1 minute
5 x 50 free with 0:30 R

• 43 - 45's

Meet report (SC SCY championships):

This meet was well run, and had a fun atmosphere. I always enjoy this one. Don't have the times but I remember roughly.

50 back (warmup suit) 35.05
I flipped on belly too early into the turn and over exerted myself to catch up to the guy next to me. Mistake, my legs were toast after - lol

The remaining racing for the weekend was a dream come true - 6 each 50 free's (i.e, a 50 fr, a 50 fr SR, and four relays). Could not manage a PB this meet, (master's excuse opportunity here) my back injury was killing my turns as my legs would not flip over properly. They kept hitting the water and stopping me before the flip was completed. My teammate Pat was next to me in my 50 SR (26.10) and said I was well past him into the wall and we were even out. Same thing happened with the 50fr (25.67) against a fast whipper-snapper who had a bad start making us even to the wall, furthermore making me go nuts chacing him after my turn deficit.

So one of the relays was a 24.98, and the rest were 26 lows, maybe a 25 high also. I am still quite exhausted and the back is bothering me. During the meet I had brought a chair but was not able to sit in it because it would hurt to stand back up if I did. So I was either in the shower, in the warmup pool, or moving about on my feet between.

Though I did not perform to personal standards as life does have an impact on things (Joel reminded me), one thing for sure is the experience will, for sure, help in future meets, as racing is the best preparation for racing.

LCM preparation now - I'm going 27's this summer

about 1700 of easy swimming

Just watched the women's slalom, Mikaela Shifferin (or something close to that) from USA just took a gold. It was the last run. What an intense competitor, she went out real fast and at midcourse was over a second faster than the leader from Austria when both ski's popped up in the air due to her speed. She somehow managed to recover with enough to win by several tenths.

Meet tomorrow morning. Slept in last night so I won't be stressed out tonight thinking about it. Better get to bed now though to be up early enough to drive 2 hours and be ready for the block lanes at 8:45

1500 SCM of drills

Yesterday's drill #2 made me sore today - oops

Muscle aching is just minor, more worrisome for me is I injured my back last week (squats again), and something triggered it yesterday causing the inflammation to pinnacle. Today it is a little better and I'm sure tomorrow should be almost pain free, but I'm concerned I may reinjure myself at the meet and be in a world of hurt. I have got to play it cautious, be fully warm before jumping in the competition pool, and take care picking things up and stuff in the meantime.

Did about 1500M using fins and snorkel mostly doing drills. Also did about 200 of back to experiment with different turn techniques.

A couple new drills tried today:
1) One-arm free, weighted fist drill (1 lb) - this really synchronizes my kick and rotation with hand entry. My left side is way off, as in the early days my stroke developed while protecting the shoulder joint from dislocating. Shoulder is more stable now so I can fix this area.

2) human-paddle drill done as a "pull" stroke - can really get the feel of holding good water pressure. Also able to focus the load directly on the lats, all stretched out and stuff - felt good.

WARMUP/DRILLS
2000M F, S

DRILLS
6 each starts from the block

• without breakouts

3 each practice forward start sequences, without actually starting

SWIM
2 x 50M free on 2:00, 1 breath each

• easy sprint - high 30's

The two blocks available at this pool are temporary and removable - bolted together with 2 x 4 lumber - LOL, but they get the job done (sorta). One is too high and has a sharp leading edge, the other one (that I prefer) wobbles fore and aft. The final practiced start resulted in left hip pain. I was too zealous for both me and the block, and my trailing leg kicked up too high overextending the hip. Just a minor pull, with most of the inflammation gone hours later, but I have got to be more careful leading up to meets.

3000M of drills, form, and easy fun stuff with fins and snorkel and without

Yesterday

Weights

SCM

about 20 x 25 on 2:00 free from 95%E to AFAP

• kept them in 15s range with a few in the 14's
• noticed I am not any faster at 100%E than slightly less

10 TD's

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Today

SCM

10 x 25 on 1:00 free, 90%, 1 breath

• tried to let my form get me to the wall in 15s, most were high's to 16's

10 x 25 on 1:00 free, 90%, S, alternated by 50m with and without fins

• fins help about 1.5 sec per 25

400 drill, F

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SCY meet next weekend

50 back - goal is to loosen up and stay warm until the 50 free to avoid block anxiety
50 free - no goals, I've already done the work, will leave mind in the warm-up pool
100 free - either a genuine 100 or 50 fr SR
Available for 4 relays - would like to do one (or more) for the spirit.



Will have a split request form ready for the 100 free in case I don't make some relay's. I seeded a 1:05, right in the middle of each estimated time if done as a sandbagged 100, or SR. If SR I shouldn't finish too much over 5 seconds behind, but it will hurt, and yes, 100 SCY free is a long distance for me when done in the SR fashion.

Measured the section of the pool I use for short efforts that was originally estimated at 12.2M, it is actually 12.6M.

WARMUP
30 x 12.6 on 0:20 free :/

WORK
10 x 12.6 on 1:00 free, fast :/ (12.6 easy)

5 blocks from the start