Daily Practices

28,500 Yards for the Monday-Friday week for me. On top of 50 hours of work, and 10 more tomorrow too! Quite a jump back up since Nationals since my taper yardage took me down below 2000 a practice leading up to the meet.

In other dumb news:
http://www.swimvortex.com/disdain-fo...-overwhelming/
I think this is one of the dumbest ideas that FINA could ever be considering to change. Why would they even think of making unlimited SDKs to the 15 meter mark in breaststroke?? I could do that, then do my pulldown, kickup, and be at the wall. 25 yards completed without doing a single stroke. Granted I couldn't exactly keep that up for a full 100 or 200, but it would completely change anything about the stroke.

==================================

The kids were all tired and worn out at practice tonight as well. I guess that big fin/paddle set we did last night made others tired as well. Normally the kids are all peppy and won't stop talking, but you could just sense they were wiped out. I was even running down Jared in the IMs and breaststroke tonight, which isn't normal!!

Warmup:

300 Free
(300/300)

10 x 100 Kick w/ long fins @ 1:25
did 6 SDK, then 4 Flutter Kick w/ board - I hate flutter with a board AND fins, but had to do something different.
(1000/1300)

Main Set(s):

8 Rounds of:

• 200 IM (25 EZ/25 Fast) @ 3:30
• 50 Fast @ :50 (1&2 Fly, 3&4 Back, 5&6 Breast, 7&8 Free)

I was around 2:30s + - a few seconds on the IMs, and rocked the 50s.

200 EZ
(2200/3500)

6 x 200 Free Pull @ 2:40

• #1/#4 - EZ breathe every 3
• #2/#5 - Build by 50s breathe every 3
• #3/#6 - FAST breathe how you want to - right, right, right, right, right, right, right, left
• went a 2:05 and 2:06 on the fast ones.

(1200/4700)

10 Rounds of: (non-Free on these) (at least 5 of them must be "best stroke")
I did the first 5 Fly, then 2 Breast, 2 Back, and 1 Breast

• 50 Build @ :50
• 25 ~90% Fast @ :45
• 25 ~100% Fast @ :45

(1000/5700)

300 Cooldown

------------------------------
6000 Yards

I talked with coach John about when we may be getting into the outdoor pool. He told me that it is full of water now, and they're going to begin heating it on Monday, so in about 3-4 days after that it should be "swimable". So he says...he's not the one getting into the frigid water!! But it looks like my LCM adventures may begin as early as a week from now. That will give us just about a week to work on our swimmer's tans prior to the home LCM meet the first weekend of June.

Warmup:

600 (25 Free/25 V-Sit Scull)
(600/600)

16 x 50 Flutter Kick w/ board @ 1:10 (held :44-:47s)
(800/1400)

16 x 50 IM Order 4x thru @ 1:00
I did these fast, roughly :30 Fly, :36 Back, :37 Breast, :28 Free
It's pretty sad that my breast is almost the same speed as my back in practice times.
(800/2200)

Main Set: All w/ paddles and long fins

8 Rounds:

• (for reference my 200 Free time is 1:54, so 100s :57, 50s :28.5 times to shoot for)
• 100 Free @ 1:30 at 200 Pace
• 50 Free @ :45 EZ Peezy
• 50 Free @ 1:00 at 200 Pace
• 25 Free @ :45 faster than 200 Pace
• 25 Free @ :45 AFAP Blasto
• I did fine for 4 Rounds, holding at or faster than my "pace times", then I had to back off a bit to around 1:00/100 pace. I guess the IM 50s early did me in a little more than I thought.

200 EZ
(2200/4400)

10 x 50
Odds Front Scull @ 1:15
Evens Breast Fast @ 1:05 (held ~:38-:39s)
(500/4900)

4 x 25 Free AFAP @ 1:00
(100/5000)

300 Cooldown

--------------------------
5300 Yards

Warmup:

800 MI (Rev. IM) 50 Drill/50 Swim
(800/800)

Kick Set w/ long fins:
6 Rounds:

• 150 SDK moderate @ 2:00 (went 1:45-1:50)
• 75 SDK Build @ 1:20 (went ~:55s)
• 25 SDK FAST @ :40 (went ~:15s)

(1500/2300)

10 x 100 Free Pull @ 1:40 (went 1:05s) worked on breathing both sides, though at a random.
(1000/3300)

Main Set:
12 x 100 Choice Stroke @ 2:45 - EN3 work

• must do same stroke for a group of 4 in a row.
• Free (best time :52 - EN3 time is 1:01) Fly (best time :56 - EN3 time is 1:07.5)

First 4 - Did Free, went 1:00/1:01/1:01/1:00
Second 4 - Did Fly, went 3rd in lane behind two freestylers, with two breaststrokers behind me - went 1:07/1:06/1:08/1:07
Final 4 - Did Free, went 1:02/1:01/1:01/1:00

200 EZ
(1400/4700)

40 x 25 @ :30
10 of each stroke IM Order
Felt great on the Flys. Backs felt like a 400 IM "cooldown from the Fly". Breasts felt strong, Frees were great, driving with the legs
These don't seem hard at first, but once you get going, it's "fun". I'm just glad I was leading the lane rather than being in the middle to the end of it. Those kids looked to be bouncing all over the place.
(1000/5700)

300 EZ

-------------------------
6000 Yards

substitute coach tonight - Anne, who is the White Group coach (next level below ours) gave us a minor butt kicking tonight.

Warmup:
1000 Free
(1000/1000)

7 Rounds of (X + Y + Z)

• X = 25, 50, 75, or 100 @ 1:15 Sprint
• Y = 50 (25 EZ/25 Fast) @ 2:15
• Z = 100, 150, or 200 @ 3:15 Sprint

Depending on if your are a sprinter/distance person/or working strokes, you choose the distance you can make and/or put the best effort into. If you're doing shorter distances just stay out of the way of the others in the lane.

I did 4 Rounds of Free

• 100 @ 1:15 (held 1:00-1:01s)
• 50 @ 2:15
• 200 @ 3:15 (held 2:06-2:08s)

Then 3 Rounds of Fly

• 25 @ 1:15 Sprint (did a 50 @ 3rd round)
• 50 @ 2:15 EZ/Fast
• 100 @ 3:15 (went 1:06/1:04/1:05) <-- the end of the third round was like "whoa!" and my arms were glad it was over!

Fun little set, I enjoyed it.
(1400 Free + 550 Fly/2950)

6 x 100 Flutter Kick w/ fins @ 1:25 (25 Back/25 Side/25 Side/25 Back)
(600/3550)

16 x 50 Pull/Scull stuff w/ no paddles @ LIFO (last in-first out)

• 4 x 50 (25 Front Scull/25 Free)
• 4 x 50 DPS Free
• 4 x 50 Build Free
• 4 x 50 Scull

I suck at pulling without paddles. 15+ SPL, and the kids are outswimming me. With paddles, I can go, but with buoy only...I'm almost a sitting duck out there! I actually am a kick-based swimmer, weird for a distance guy.
(800/4350)

20 x 25 Dolphin Kick w/ fins & board
Odds Underwater Kick w/ board
Evens Kick w/ board on surface
(500/4850)

Various 2 person relays, one person is the arms, one is the legs...though the one with the legs was only drag floating with a buoy. Did breaststroke, back, and free. I was best at breaststroke like this.
(250/5100)

100 EZ

-------------------------
5200 Yards

Back at it regular training again with the kids, back to using my long fins on the kick sets again, back to doing ALL the reps on the sets, and ALL the yardage as given. Oh boy...coming off tapers can be a b**** at times, but I need a little kick in the butt now.

Only had 6-7 per lane tonight, so it was a joy!

Warmup:

1000 Free
(1000/1000)

24 x 50 SDK on back w/ long fins @ :45 - pretty much kicking in a wave pool
(1200/2200)

Lane Station Rotator - Main Set

Lane 6: 7 x 100 Free @ 1:30 EN2 work
using the chart we've been given my :52 best time shows the EN2 100 is about 1:08s - EN2 is supposed to be a pace you could hold "forever" while keeping your HR 130-150 or so.

Lane 5: 7 x 100 Stroke @ 1:40 EN2 work
Did Fly - with my :57 best time showed 1:15 (+2 for fly/back) so 1:17 per 100. I couldn't swim fly that slow and keep it in control, so I just swam them at 1:07/1:08s. Because I did Fly, the odds were stroke, evens were EZ Free

Lane 4: 7 x 100 Free @ 1:30 EN2 work (same as Lane 6)
just held them around 1:08s

Deep Tank: 12 x underwater SDK bursts across tank (about 12.5 yards)

200 EZ
(2400/4600)

All w/ long fins and paddles:
10 Rounds of:

• 50 Free @ :45 holding ~200 best time pace per 50 (~28.5) - went :26s/:27s
• 2 x 25 Free @ :45 - Faster speed than the 50s

(1000/5600)

200 EZ

--------------------------
5800 Yards

My abs and legs are already killing me with all this fin work today. Time to start adding some pushups and light weights into my life...just stuff I have around the house though...I'm not a gym rat type of person.

I decided last night during/after the forumite dinner that I was going to swim today's events "cold turkey". What that means is basically ZERO warmup/ZERO cooldown. I broke that rule by doing a 100 cooldown after my 500, but that was it. A total of 700 GTD yards for the day. And I don't regret my decision at all. It worked out fine, and honestly I don't believe I would've been any faster in the 500 even with a warmup.

Here it is:

500 Free - 8th Place - I posted my splits, along with Jorge, who was right next to me in the heat. He was coming back at me slowly during the race, and around the 400 I really noticed him coming!! Went to the legs like my coach always says, and that is was pulled me through! Without my legs, I would've lost this race. Thank you Coach John!!
While it looks like I added time, I didn't. It was a masters best time by over 2 seconds from when I wore a full-leg tech suit back when I was 32 years old. So this is by far my master's best time. I held very consistent, and definitely hit the afterburners at the end.

8 Adams, James 35 HMS 5:05.00 5:10.30
27.42 58.01 (30.59)
1:29.51 (31.50) 2:01.38 (31.87)
2:33.06 (31.68) 3:04.93 (31.87)
3:36.88 (31.95) 4:08.59 (31.71)
4:40.53 (31.94) 5:10.30 (29.77)
9 Albino, Jorge 38 SYSM 5:02.00 5:10.72
27.73 58.74 (31.01)
1:30.97 (32.23) 2:03.23 (32.26)
2:35.63 (32.40) 3:07.80 (32.17)
3:38.78 (30.98) 4:10.00 (31.22)
4:40.99 (30.99) 5:10.72 (29.73)

100 Free - 28th Place - this was my sixth event choice, or "filler material" for the meet. I knew my flight outta here was at 3:00pm, and just signed up for the first event of the day regardless of what it was...thankfully it wasn't the 50 Breast!

28 Adams, James 35 HMS 52.49 52.72
25.08 52.72 (27.64)

It is what it is. The 100 isn't exactly my style anymore, but I gave it all I had. Felt more like flailing in the water vs. that EZ swim that I remember back in college. Oh well, back home soon, and back to hardcore training again with the kiddos at Velocity Swimming. LCM season is upon us, even though I won't be in a LCM pool till June, right when our opening of the season LCM meet is.

It was great seeing and meeting all the forum folks this year at Nationals as well. Good luck to everyone, and thank you all for your support!

Woke up this morning after a wonderful night of almost 12 hours of sleep! Awesome!

Went over to the pool about 7:50am, waited till I saw the online postings for the 400 IM heat seedings to see how much time I had. Then I hit the Gold Medal breakfast session prior to getting wet. Squeezed into my suit, warmed up about 300 or so, (seriously). This also acted as my cooldown from last night's 1650. This is my training secret, other than snacking on fast food which everyone already knows about! I train like an animal, but when meets come, I do very little warmup and cooldowns. It's just the way I roll, and at least for now it works.


400 IM - 4th place - I thought I was going out quick, but I just couldn't keep up with the guy next to me who went out in a low 57. Ran him down in the final 100 though. In regards to that final 100, I had the fastest 100 Free split of all but the 1st place guy in my age group. Didn't break 1:00, but was close. 5 second+ drop for a season best, 3 seconds away from a masters best.

4 Adams, James 35 HMS 4:35.35 4:33.25
27.31 59.44 (32.13)
1:36.10 (36.66) 2:12.08 (35.98)
2:52.69 (40.61) 3:32.79 (40.10)
4:04.06 (31.27) 4:33.25 (29.19)

200 Free - 14th place - Dropped a second from my meet about 3 weeks ago, but I was just tired overall. Not fully recovered from the IM I guess. 10th place for a medal was 0.7 seconds faster than I went.

14 Adams, James 35 HMS 1:56.35 1:54.49
26.46 55.36 (28.90)
1:24.81 (29.45) 1:54.49 (29.68)

200 Fly - 5th place - 3rd event of the day, and I felt it. I didn't die, but I just couldn't get going, nor keep the momentum going strong like I wanted. Equalled the season best time I did back in February, so that is fine. Quite a few people did this same triple of events today, and congrats to all of them. You'll hear stories about some who did BOTH the 50 Back and 50 Breast too...but...

5 Adams, James 35 HMS 2:05.35 2:07.52
27.32 59.19 (31.87)
1:33.47 (34.28) 2:07.52 (34.05)


Tomorrow is my SUPER EZ day with only the 500 Free and 100 Free. After that we pack up, and get outta Dodge, getting back to Seattle around 8:30pm PST...then the almost 3 hour drive home over the mountains to Wenatchee.

Thursday was a rough day to start with...

At least starting on Wednesday night, leaving Seattle airport at 11:25pm, flying to Chicago. Got awoken about WAY TOO EARLY somewhere over Salt Lake City as the capitan mistakenly spoke through the cabin speakers rather than the transmission do the air tower in Salt Lake. Grrrr.... I never really got back to "good sleep", if you can call it that, for the remainder of the flight.
2 hours of sitting in Chicago, with a McDs Hot Cakes Big Breakfast as well about 5:30am local time (3:30am to my body).
We boarded the plane to Indy. That seat felt amazing, and I was instantly out. I don't even remember leaving Chicago, but woke up as the wheels hit the ground with a bump in Indianapolis.


...but it finished quite nicely:

2 Adams, James 35 HMS 18:03.13 17:46.96
1:31.10 ( ) 2:02.87 (31.77)
2:35.30 (32.43) 3:07.38 (32.08)
3:39.55 (32.17) 4:11.72 (32.17)
4:44.28 (32.56) 5:16.81 (32.53)
5:49.44 (32.63) 6:21.90 (32.46)
6:54.47 (32.57) 7:27.41 (32.94)
8:00.21 (32.80) 8:32.90 (32.69)
9:05.58 (32.68) 9:38.47 (32.89)
10:11.33 (32.86) 10:44.39 (33.06)
11:17.48 (33.09) 11:50.12 (32.64)
12:22.70 (32.58) 12:55.58 (32.88)
13:28.38 (32.80) 14:01.15 (32.77)
14:34.02 (32.87) 15:06.50 (32.48)
15:39.08 (32.58) 16:11.79 (32.71)
16:44.24 (32.45) 17:16.38 (32.14) 17:46.96 (30.58)


Season best 500 time, and season best 1000 time on the way out for the race. Dropped over 16 seconds on the race from last January. I probably could've been faster, but I'm happy with it. It was very consistent, even though it didn't feel that way. I began picking up my kick intensity about 400 to go, even though the splits don't show it, but perhaps this kept me from going the other way too.

Not to bad with roughly 3 hours or so of sleep, plus the East Coast time zone change. I'll hopefully get more rest tonight in the hotel.

Tomorrow is my marathon day: 400 IM, 200 Free, 200 Fly...then forum dinner time.

Indy!!!

All I have left is 10 hours of work to survive through tomorrow, and then it'll be time to shave, get to the airport in Seattle, and then final sleep on my way to Chicago and Indy. I'm ready to race!


I did a 400 Free warmup tonight, and then just intermixed a bunch of 50s, with a few EZ EZ 100s while the kids were doing a 2000 yard kick set.
I did build 50s, a few at 500 pace (29/30s), and EZ stuff. A few of each stroke as well, then just cooled down a couple 100s.

-----------------------------

1500 of pretty much nothing but feel good swimming.

Next time I'm wet in the pool, it'll be warming up for the mile.


======================


Final conversation with coach John were:

"Wow, that was a quick one!"
"Yeah, about 1500" I said, "Now it's just time to have fun".
His final words were "Go to the legs...and have fun".
"Don't worry, I'm already trained that way. It's my go-to stuff now."

I took off the last 3 days, not by choice, but because the pools in town were closed for the city-wide "holiday" festival of Apple Blossom. It's a big deal around here, I guess, they have a few parades and such, the carnival rides, the way overpriced food court in the park, etc. It's fun in a way, but not really what I'm in to. I just relaxed the weekend out of the pool, and more time spent at work getting overtime.
I enjoyed my time on Sunday down along the river with my wife, kids, and two of the cousins. We did a bit of casual bike riding along the paved path, played on the toys, threw rocks in the river...just wasted away a few hours. Hot sun though. It's actually hotter here right now than it is in Arizona if you can believe that!! Low 90s here, low to mid 80s there. I'd rather have 70s and sun all the time though.

--------------------------

I started off my swim feeling a bit sluggish, but 3 days out of the water can do that to you. I was quickly back to feeling good, and just did the kids set EZ, or with modifications, aiming for a 2500-3000 yard distance, or about an hour.

Warmup:

10 minute choice (did 500 Free)
(500)

Main Set (or at least what I was there for):

Asst. coach just said to swim these aerobic, not big rush on the speed.
1 x 200 Free @ 3:00 Did 1 x 200 Free went 2:25
2 x 175 Free @ 2:40 Did 2 x 175 Free cruise didnt look at the clock
3 x 150 Free @ 2:20 Did 3 x 150 Free Pull @ 80%+ effort (1:40,1:40,1:37)
4 x 125 Free @ 2:00 Did 4 Sets of 1 x 25 Free @ 2:00 (that's 4 x 1-25s, right??)
5 x 100 Free @ 1:40 Did 5 x 50 Free EZ @ 1:40
6 x 75 Free @ 1:20 Did 6 x 75 Free Build @ 1:20, but at back of lane
7 x 50 Free @ 1:00 Did 4 x 50 Free (swam the odd ones, rested the evens) @ 1:00
8 x 25 Free @ :40 Did 4 x 25 Free Semi-Fast @ 1:20ish

-----------------------------
Roughly 2600, if I counted it right.

I was done for the night, and will cut it down a bit more tomorrow, which will be my final swim before getting to Indy. No swim for me on Wednesday, just doesn't work out with the work/airplane travel schedule. At least I'll be rested this week.

Let the serious drop in yardage begin!

Warmup:

600 (25 Free, 25 Long Axis Alternator*, 25 Back, 25 Long Axis Alternator)
(600/600)

*Long Axis Alternator is 4 stroke Back, then roll into 3 strokes Free, then roll into 4 Back, etc. Works better in LCM cause you run out of pool space after a little bit in SCY.

Kick Set:
4 Rounds of

• 200 @ 3:00
• 100 @ 1:20
• 50 @ 1:00

I ended up starting with a 100 Kick on the first one, but was bobbing around like a cork with all the swimmers in the lanes, 6-8 per!!!, so I switched to EZ Free swimming.
Did a 100 EZ @ 3:00, 50 EZ @ 1:20, 50 EZ @ 1:00
(800/1400)

12 x 75 IM no Free @ 1:30

• I did Odds 75 IM
• Evens 25 Free, then get out of the way.
• Basically it was a 100 IM @ 3:00, broken at the 75 for about :35 seconds.

(600/2000)

12 x 50 @ 1:15

• 3 of each stroke
• 1 EZ, 1 Build, 1 FAST
• Felt really good on these, especially the Fly and Free. Breast was feeling good as well. Back is only used for the cooldown after the Fly in the 400 IM!! <--PWB will like that one

(600/2600)

100 EZ
(100/2700)

To the Blocks:
12 x 25 Sprints from a dive @ coach's sendoff

• 3 of each stroke, IM Order
• John set us up in heats organized by speed, so I was set with the fastest two boys of the group
• We had enough rest, kinda. I was huffing and puffing but did fine.
• I blasted the Flys, felt great.
• Blasted the starts and SDKs of the Back, then cruised into a floating finish.
• Same for the Breast, worked the pullout, 1 stroke, then cruised. 4 strokes per length.
• BLASTO on the Frees. Coach John was asking the older boys why James was beating them. "cause he's tapering..." "That's not an excuse" replied John.

(300/3000)

300 EZ and out

--------------------------------
3300 Yards

This was an EZish workout even if I'd done the whole thing as written. I just had a yardage "goal" to not exceed today, and stayed below that. Plus I had fun sprinting.

Yesterday I took my kids down to the riverfront park to go to the annual Apple Blossom carnival that comes to town every spring. Rides and rides and rides. My son is now big enough to go on the "big kid" rides with his big sister, so they had a blast. Though little 3 year old was in a tissy the whole time 'cause she couldn't do the big rides. But she had fun on the little ones, which were "way too boring" to quote my son.
Friday night will be the annual "Classy Chassis" parade, where all the old cars, muscle cars, unique cars, and more come out to cruise down the main street in East Wenatchee. It's the best of the 3 parades here in my opinion over the 2 week period.
So there will be no swimming Friday, Saturday, Sunday around here, but it's taper time anyway. I've still got one more lighter swim tomorrow, and then a couple splash n' dashes on Mon/Tues. next week.


Warmup:

600 (25 Free/25 V-Sit scull)
(600/600)

12 x 100 Kick w/ fins 4 @ 1:25, 4 @ 1:20, 4 @ 1:15 make 'em
I did 12 x 50 Flutter Kick w/ board Odds EZ/Evens Fast on those intervals.
Went between :40 to :42 on the fast ones.
(600/1200)

Main Set:

10 x 200 Choice Stroke FAST 180+ HR @ 5:30
I did a rotation of 1 EZ, 1 Build, 1 FAST
On #3 I went Free, did a 2:03 - wow! I thought, and not even breathing too hard
On #6 I went Free again, did a 2:02
On #9 I went IM, did a 2:19, which is my best ever practice time
Not bad times considering we had 5 people in the lanes, and the 13 year old girls were doing oddball (non-Free) strokes most of the time, so lapping was not fun.

200 EZ
(2200/3400)

500 Free Pull Stretch out
(500/3900)

16 x 25 Fast, IM Order 4 each stroke @ 1:00
I did desc. by 25s on each stroke
(400/4300)

200 EZ and out

---------------------------
4500 Yards


In other good news, I'll be on overtime at work near the end of my day tomorrow (Thursday), and still have 10 hours+ each on Friday and Saturday.

It's tough to taper with an age group team for USMS Nationals. The USA-S season and the USMS season just don't match up at all. Not even close, so I'm tapering on my own. At least my coach is understanding of it, and works with me on doing so. He wants me to succeed just as much as any other swimmer he has, which is good. I like how he supports me the same as the youngin's.


Warmup:

800 Free
(800/800)

8 x 100 Free Pull @ 1:30 Desc. 1-4, 5-8
went 1:07 down to 1:01, then 1:07 down to 1:00
(800/1600)

8 x 100 IM @ 1:40 Desc. 1-4, 5-8
went 3rd in the lane and just cruised them. Last one went under 1:10 pretty easily
(800/2400)

10 x 100 Kick w/ fins @ 1:30 Max Rest
(I did 10 x 50 Flutter Kick w/ board no fins @ 1:30 Odds EZ, Evens FAST)
went on the Fast ones: :44, :43, :42, :42, :42
pretty wavy out there with 5-6 per lane...I felt like a boat lost at sea in a hurricane
(500/2900)

Main Set:

8 x 250 @ 4:00

• each 250 is 200 Free, 50 Stroke
• The stroke is rotated thru in IM Order
• The first 150 Free is build, the last 50 Free is FAST, the 50 Stroke is FAST

I did 4 x 250 @ 8:00 (basically went every other one) so my strokes were Fly and Breast twice through
After each 250, while the kids were doing their next 250s, I was swimming EZ in the deep tank about 150 yards, just to stay relaxed

200 EZ
(1800/4700) (kids are at 5600 here)

12 x 100 Free

• 3 @ 1:25
• 3 @ 1:20
• 3 @ 1:15
• 3 @ 1:10

I was told to do every other one, and build each one to a sprint. Using the legs on the 2nd 50 too. I chose to try for a fast 500 pace.
So, I did 6 x 100 Free @ ~2:20 to 2:50 interval
Went 1:01, 1:00, 0:59, 1:00, 0:59, 0:58!!
(600/5300)

400 EZ (I did 200 EZ)

-------------------------------
5500 Yards for me, kids did 7200 tonight.


Good workout. Yardage is still up a bit, but I'm getting plenty of faster racing stuff in now as well. I'll be missing a few days as well this week with the Apple Blossom Festival happening this week here in town. Everything pretty much shuts down over the weekend, and no swimming Friday, Saturday, Sunday. Plus we're taking the kids to the carnival rides and stuff down along the river tomorrow, so most likely no swimming Tuesday either. I'll be tapering by not swimming too. Plus my next few workouts will definitely get cut down shorter in length. Just a little over a week till we get on the airplane...I'm ready.

I met with coach John prior to our practice tonight for a scheduled coach/swimmer/parent talk that he is doing with all the Black Group swimmers. My parents couldn't make it tonight, so I just wore two hats for the sit down.
He said he really enjoys having me there at practices, and that my work ethic is above anything he ever expected. Talked a little about the upcoming Nationals (he noted that my entry times looked a little slow in some events), and looking forward into LCM training as well. He stressed the biggest thing is to make sure I take breaks every now and then in training cycles, so as to "re-light" the fire to keep on going. Too much training with no fun or breaks can make it be more like a job than a fun activity. He learned a lot more about me from my recent past as well during the meeting, about how swimming brought my life back to "normal", got my health back on track, and in general made me a more happy person.


-------------------------------

Taper continues...though this workout had a bit more of a distance flare to it at the end, which I loved, kinda...

Warmup:

1000 Free
(1000/1000)

20 x 50 Kick w/ fins (Odds - dolphin, Evens - flutter)
5 @ :50, 5 @ :45, 5 @ :40, 1:00 rest, 5 @ :35
(I did 20 x 25 Kick no fins on same intervals) - my "EZness" for the day.
(500/1500)

8 x 150 Free Pull @ 2:30
50 EZ/50 Build/50 Fast (held 1:35-1:38s)
(1200/2700)

16 x 50 @ 1:15
4 each stroke IMOrder (Drill/Swim Fast/Drill/Swim Fast)
Flys went :31/:31
Backs went :35/:32
Breasts went :39/:39
Frees went :28/:26

100 EZ
(900/3600)

Main Set:

• start out with a "strong" 500 pace, get your 100 average
• on the next one (400), you need to beat the 100 average of the previous distance (500) by at least 1 second
• and so on...
• Interval was a 1:30 Base/100 + addt'l :30, plenty of rest to give it some gas

500 Free @ 8:00 I went a feel good pace, and did a 5:45 (1:09s) Hmmmmm...
400 Free @ 6:30 (went 4:32) - 1:08s
300 Free @ 5:00 (went 3:18) - oops...a bit fast 1:06s
200 Free @ 3:30 (went 2:10.5) - 1:05s
100 Free @ 1:45 (went 1:02) - 1:02
100 Free @ 1:30 (went 1:00) - 1:00
50 Free @ All you have left (went :28)

This adds up to an 18:15...not too shabby considering how it started "EZ"
(1650/5250)

300 EZ cooldown

-----------------------
5550 Yards - It was an EZ day for the most part, aside from the final set, but I still need to maintain that kind of intensity in distance for a bit too.

Tonight was a very very light day in terms of attendance. There was some kind of school activity that took away 2/3 or so of the Black Group tonight. I didn't mind, because I got a lane to myself, and really got to treat the night as a taper, and John worked with me on it as well.

Warmup:

600 (25 Free/25 V-sit scull)
(600/600)

10 x 50 Tombstone Flutter Kick @ 1:30 (held ~1:05s)
(500/1100)


Main Set - 2 Groups that we rotated 3 lanes at a time:

1st set:
6 x 200 Choice Stroke @ 5:00 EN3 work, 31+ HR/10 sec. - go FAST!

• I modified slightly, but with the same general theme:
• 2 x 200 Free (went 2:06/2:06)
• 2 x 200 Free Broken @ 100 for :15 sec. (went 2:05/2:03)
• 2 x 200 Free Broken @ 50s for :10 sec. (went 2:00/1:57)

100 EZEZ
(1300/2400)

2nd set:
20 x 25 Bucket Pulling w/ paddles & buoy @ 1:30

• John had me do something entirely different -
• 20 x 25 Free @ 1:30 Odds EZEZ, Evens AFAP w/ overkick (these I held :12s, maybe even close to an :11)
• He said I was looking very good on these

100 EZEZ
(600/3000)


16 x 50 Free w/ paddles and fins @ 1:15
Odds EZEZ, Evens FAST - but use the paddles to go, don't rely on the fins

• I didn't have my fins today, but borrowed some of the zoomers from the pool
• went :25s pretty much for all the fast ones
• was racing a 15 year old girl in the next lane over who was very fast...she had long fins on which helped too. I'm sure I would have probably gone slower with long fins on freestyle
• The last one we were in the high :23/low :24 range and neither of us wanted to lose. Not sure who won it though.

(800/3800)

200 Cooldown

------------------------
4000 Yards



Now that's a good way to start tapering. I had fun with it, and went really fast on my swims too! Just need more rest, and less work at work. I can at least fix the resting part...work is going to be there whether I like it or not. Good thing we're getting close to finishing our installation/fabrication project on part of the cherry room, 'cause I'm getting too many welding spark burns! Oww!

2 weeks from today (at this very time) I'll be in the airport in Seattle getting ready to head out on my overnight flight to Indy, via a stop in Chicago. My wife will be accompanying me on the trip, so she'll be bored. Swim meets are boring if you're not the one in them! She'll have plenty of entertainment for sure...I just need to keep Jim Thornton away from her, if he's there!

Taper time will be officially starting...or at least soon. Coach John told me today, that I'm just going to have to sort of manage my own taper within his workouts. He can't afford to change everything, or give me a lane to myself, and I understand that. I can get things figured out (I've read Chowmi's blog on how to do a Fast 50 when assigned a 200 Free after first giving an "oh hell no!")
I've already taken away my long fins, and all fins, altogether to begin resting my legs. I still do the kick sets that are given, but I just do modified distances to match the interval the kids are doing for their longer distances. I'll start a lot more wall hugging in the next week or so as well.

I'm tired and wiped out...good thing work is kicking my butt, so I'll have to figure out the resting part of this some other way. Gosh I wish sometimes I had a desk job!! But then I'd probably get bored and...

Warmup:

1000 Free
(1000/1000)

10 x 100 Kick w/ long fins @ 1:20
(I did 10 x 75 Flutter w/ board @ 1:20) held 1:10ish
(750/1750)

12 x 100 Free Pull @ 1:25 (held 1:03-1:05s)
(1200/2950)

Main Set:
8 Rounds of:

• 200 IM, build by 50 so the FLy is EZ, and gradually gets harder to the Free is FAST
• Take :15 rest
• 1 x 50 Free AFAP
• Interval is 4:00 for all the above...

After the first 2 rounds, I began skipping the Fly of the IMs, and just joined the guys on the backstroke

200 EZ
(1900/4850)

20 x 50 Free
5 @ :55, 5 @ :50, 5 @ :45, 5 @ :40
pretty much held them around :32/:33s
(1000/5850)

6 x 25 AFAP (Fly or Breast) I did Fly @ 1:00, cruised them around :15s
(150/6000)

300 EZ

-----------------------------
6300 Yards

Quite a bit of yardage, and that was even with subtracting out for what I skipped. THe whole practice was somewhere around 6800 yards or so. That's still chump change for the likes of KNelson though...

Warmup:

600 Free
(600/600)

Kick Set w/ long fins
4 Rounds of:
(assigned / what I did - w/out fins)
200 Kick Cruise (150 Kick) @ 3:30
100 MaxRest Kick (75 Kick) @ 1:30
50 FAST Kick (25 Kick) @ :40
Odd Rounds were flutter kick, Even Rounds were dolphin kick
(1000/1600)

600 Pull (25 Front Scull/25 Free Alt. Breathing)
(600/2200)

"Different" Set: (I think John was talking to another coach at the meet this weekend)
8 x 25 Free @ 2:30

• start on the "T"
• Do 10 streamline vertical jumps in place (3 1/2 feet of water)
• On the 10th one, jump forward, do 4 strokes and fast flip turn in midpool...return to feet
• Do 10 more streamline vertical jumps in place (about 5 feet of water)
• On the 10th one, again jump forward and race to the wall.
• The 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th people in the lane don't start till the person in front of them begins the 2nd set of vertical leaps. It actually works out pretty good.

That was a good way to kill 20+ minutes.
(200/2400)

16 x 50 (4 of each stroke) @ 1:10
Odds Drill, Evens Swim Fast
(800/3200)

400 Free Pull - breathe every 5
I hate doing this...my swimming and body is made to take in oxygen. I did a 2-5-4 then flipturn for my breathing pattern each length. The two breaths at the beginning made it possible.
(400/3600)

8 x 25 AFAP @ 1:00
did 2 Fly, 2 Back, 4 Free
(200/3800)

300 EZ swim

-----------------------------
4100 Yards

I don't think I missed anything, John was just taking it easy after the meet for the kids. Most of them swim 15 events over the weekend (thus the Triple Pentathlon)

I drove over and back to/from Spokane, Washington today for the final day of a 3-day pentathlon meet. Friday night they did the short version, 50s plus 100 IM. Saturday was the 100s plus 200 IM. Today was the day I went for: 200s plus 400 IM. Gotta get my money's worth of course!

I was tired this morning for sure. Yesterday I ended up working 8 hours of OT in the morning, then did plenty more unpaid work at home to finish my night. We had all the cousins over here with my kids last night, so we decided to rent a movie from the RedBox - "Wreck It Ralph". A good kids movie, very funny, and did actually teach life lessons. That set me back to about 10:30pm for bedtime though.

Alarm went off at 4:30am and I was out the door for my almost 3 hour drive to Spokane. USAS meets have such darn early warmups, and then the meets last most of the day as well. That's the bummer part of the whole thing...otherwise I love every bit of them, especially the great competition!

Team Warmup:

500 Free
3 x 200 "IM" stroke down/free back @ ~1:00 rest
8 x 50 Build Choice (did 1 Fly, 7 Free) @ 1:15
2 x Dive 25s (1 Fly, 1 Free)
(1550 yards)

I did plenty of cooling down after each of the following races, but ZERO warmup prior to any of them. That's how I roll...

400 IM - 4:38.60
27.6 / 31.8 (59.4)
36.7 / 37.1 (1:13.8)
41.4 / 40.6 (1:22.0)
32.0 / 31.6 (1:03.6)
This was a season best time for me by 2 seconds, but I wasn't very happy with it. My legs just killed me after a 50 of the backstroke. Probably the lack of rest, plus sitting in a car for 3 hours prior to this didn't help. I'll go faster in a couple weeks.

Got in a Power Nap in my chair here for about 30 minutes

200 Back - 2:17.89
31.9 / 35.3 / 35.6 / 35.2
Right on the time I did a couple weeks ago at the LMSC Masters Champs meet. I was huffing and puffing afterward, and my legs still weren't happy with me.

Another Power Nap in the chair...who knows how long, but each event was spaced out almost 1 1/2 hours or more.

200 Breast - 2:32.65
34.3 / 38.5 / 39.5 / 39.6
Good season best time, I can live with it. I had explosive wall pushoffs, and my pullouts carried me a long way, so I didn't have to swim much. That's the goal of breaststroke - not to have to do very much, right?

Power Nap right up till 2 heats before I swam the next one - the parent next to me woke me up to see if I wanted to swim or not.

200 Fly - 2:10.09
28.2 / 32.6 / (1:09.2 2nd 100)
This one felt pretty okay. I was back and forth with the boy next to me, each of us taking turns leading the other. Good race. I ended up 4th place in this race, my only ribbon-worthy swim of the day. I need to remember to keep my head down on the 1st stroke off each wall in this race. If I breathe first thing, it slows my momentum for the entire 25, and then I start sucking...

200 Free - 1:55.33 (Masters Best Time - at least untapered/unshaved)
27.0 / 29.9 / 29.9 / 28.7
I didn't feel excellent as I stepped up onto the blocks for this one, so I decided to start out easy and see what happened. The kids next to me got out ahead in the first 100, but I kept them close. Started giving more power in the 3rd 50, and kept going on the 4th 50. The final 25 though is where I really made up ground, over a bodylength on the boy next to me to finish strong. This makes me happy leading into Nationals to be able to have a best time like that.

Only time for a short swim tonight. I had to attend my daughter's "Math is Cool" competition. All the 4th grades from the various elementary school in central Washington were there for the competition. They did various individual and team testing first, then I came later and watched the "college bowl" games being played. They were paired up against 3 other schools in our room, and each went against the other schools in a battle of sorts. Needless to say...our school was there...may not have answered many questions ahead of the other teams buzzing in...but they were there, and had fun.
Some of the questions were EZ (remember, these are 4th graders), but other questions were like "HUH????" and made me think of the gameshow "Are you smarter than a 5th grader?" w/ Jeff Foxworthy. I'm glad my daughter had fun tonight.

=====================================

Quick swim, there were very few kids there tonight with the meet going on this weekend in Spokane. I was able to get my own lane, and also able to just blaze my way through my own workout before I had to get out...

Warmup:

500 Free
400 Free Pull
300 IM Drill on the Fly
200 Flutter Kick w/ board
100 Free
(1500/1500)

4 x 125 Free Pull @ 1:35 (avg'd 1:23/1:24)
(500/2000)

4 x 100 (1 of each stroke IMOrder) @ 1:30
went 1:10/1:20/1:29/1:08
(400/2400)

4 Rounds of:

• 75 Free Build @ 1:00 (about :53s)
• 25 Free Sprint @ :45 (:14-15s)

(400/2800)

100 EZ and gone

-----------------------------------------
2900 Yards


Swim meet coming up on Sunday, USAS with the kids. Hopefully I'll keep up with them. Lots of fast ones there this year which is great! I doubt I'll make the podium for the distance pentathlon this time.
400 IM, 200 Back, 200 Breast, 200 Fly, 200 Free

Coach swap day today. Tonight we had the "Splash Group" coach, or the intro level kids coach, who is also the masters coach/swimmer, so she and I know each other well. She's honestly a little to nice to be a coach full time of a senior level/advanced group, and the practice was a bit easy tonight. Though she did give us a good main set that I took advantage of.


Warmup:

500 Free
(500/500)

10 x 75 w/ fins (I did not use fins due to the blisters on my feet) @ :15 rest

• 25 Flutter Kick w/ board
• 50 Free Fast using legs to drive

I didn't get more than 1 x 75 behind the group, and actually kept 1/2 of the total group even with me, without the use of fins.
(750/1250)

5 x 100 Back @ 2:00
(25 Streamline Kick, 25 Left Side Kick (head to ceiling), 25 Right Side Kick, 25 Full Stroke)
(500/1750)

10 x 100 @ 2:00
Odds Free/Evens Back

• 1st 25 - 4 SDKs
• 2nd 25 - 5 SDKs
• 3rd 25 - 6 SDKs
• 4th 25 - 7 SDKs

Needless to say, I didn't make many of the 3rd and 4th lengths. Some of the kids do such small fast wimpy SDKs that they somehow "complete" 7 of them before I've begun my first one. I do hold a fairly long streamline glide before initiating a kick though.
(1000/2750)

Had a bit of break time her as she explained the next set, and waited for the minute hand to get to a good starting point on the clock (30) for time reference...

Main Set: Broken 1650

11 lengths :15 rest after
10 lengths :15 rest
9 lengths
8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1 lengths

She wanted us to start out "EZ", and descend the set as the distances got shorter. I took the opportunity to crank out a good broken 1650 in practice since we only had 2 in the lane tonight.

If done correctly, and you actually take the 15 rest like you're supposed to, you can subtract 2:30 from the time to get your broken 1650 time.

I pushed it pretty good. A few of the times I remember: 275 - 3:05, 200 - 2:11, 100 - 1:04,

My total time was 20:30, so minus 2:30 puts me right about 18:00 for a broken time. I did an 18:03 in my meet back in January when racing with That Guy. Tonight...full beard, drag suit, no cap, minimal lap traffic.

100 EZ

(1750/4400)

8 x 50 Kick w/ board

• 1st 4 no fins @ 1:15
• 2nd 4 w/ fins @ 1:00 fast (I did no fins again)

(400/4800)

25 EZ to the deep end
3 x Dive 25s and walk around

100 EZ and out

--------------------------
5000 Yards