Pete's swim blog

Yesterday was long but worth it. The birth mother went through 24 hours of labor before having to do a c-section delivery. Hard to complain about lack of sleep... she had it much worse. Baby is healthy and peacefully sleeping while I type.

Adoption has been a much different experience than with my three biological children. For us (adoptive parents), there is the same excitement with the constant fear of something going wrong as with our biological children. But we also see the sorrow and loss from the family of the mother giving her child away. It is harder to watch than I would have thought despite all the councelling and advice we have received. Overall, I know this is a positive thing for all involved but the next few days will be hard on everyone.

I did manage to work in enough sleep to get up and swim this morning. Here's what we did:

200 Free
100 Drill
200 Free

200 IM Drill
200 Free
4 x 50 Kick
200 Free
200 IM Drill

200 Kick negative split
200 Free negative split
4 x 50 IM Order

200 Kick negative split
4 x 50 IM Order
2 x 100 Free negative split

200 Pull Breathe Right
200 Pull Breathe Left
100 Pull Breathe Right
100 Pull Breath Left

2 x 200 Pull alternate breath
2 x 100 Free alternate breath negative split
4 x 50 worst stroke

6 x 50 Choice Drill

5 x 200 Breast/Free/Breast/Free/Breast

200 Cool down

(5600m total)

The mother of the child we are adopting went into labor early this morning. Someone today I should be a dad...again. This is our first adoption. Its been an interesting process so far. Hopefully all will continue to go welll.

Managed to sneak out for a swim this morning:

LCM

400 free
300 kick
200 pull
100 drill

3x50 fly
100 free
3x50 back
200 free
3x 50 breast
300 free
3x50 free
400 free

3x100 kick
300 free down/fly back
3x100 pull
3x100 kick
300 back
3x100 pull
3x100 kick
300 breast
3x100 pull

200 cool down

(5500m total)

No sign of the video taken of us yesterday. I guess we were bumped by more important local stories. Felt good today. Did some breast stroke sprints on the choice 50s. Not as fast as I'd like but I was under 45.

LCM

200 Free
6 x 100 (Catch up/Breathe Right/Catch up/Breathe Left/Catch up/Alternate)
2 x 200 Free

8 x 100 w/Fins - Odds kick/evens swim
2 x 200 IM

4 x 100 Free Negative Split
4 x 50 IM Order
400 Pull
4 x 100 Down Free back IM
4 x 50 Free
400 Pull

2 x 50 Choice Easy/Hard
200 Pull
2 x 50 Choice Easy/Hard
200 Kick/no fins
2 x 50 Choice Both Hard

200 Cool Down

(5300m Total)

Had a great Father's day. The kids got me an acoustic guitar which is good because I'm too lazy to plug in my electric guitar. Plans worked out so that I got to play soccer last night. I'm not terribly good at soccer but I love playing the game. The problem with soccer is injuries. At some point, my heel got injured and I played on it for too long. Didn't affect my swimming much but I got a painful reminder of last night every time I took a breast stroke kick or pushed off a wall.

A man from a local television station showed up this morning with a camera. I have no idea what it was for but he took a lot of footage of our lane. I suppose I might end up on the local news tonight.

LCM

200 Free
200 Kick
400 Free

4 x 100 Free
4 x 100 Kick (No fins)
4 x 100 Pull

4 Times through:
* 100 Free down/Stroke drill back (IM Order)
* 50 Stroke (IM Order)

2 Times through:
* 200 IM
* 200 Free
* 4 x 50 IM Order
* 200 Free
* 200 IM
* 4 x 50 Free

200 cool down

(5200m total)

Just under 32000 meters this week. That's about where I wanted to be. My weight is slowly coming down. I'm at 185 right now and would like to be 175 before I taper. Would have like to do a little better than 1:17 on the free but I did do a 50 br in just under :42. That's about where I want to be with no dive, a drag suit and no taper.

LCM

300 Free
200 Kick
200 Free
200 Kick

100 Free
3 x 50 IM Order
200 Free
3 x 50 IM Order
300 Free
3 x 50 IM Order
400 Free
3 x 50 IM Order

100 Kick Fly on back
100 Kick Free hard
100 Kick back
100 Kick Free hard
100 Kick Fly on side down/Free on side back
100 Kick free hard

200 Pull
400 Free
4 x 50 Fly
200 Pull
300 Free
4 x 50 Back
200 Pull
200 free
4 x 50 Breast

100 Easy
100 Smooth down/Hard back (1:17)

200 Cool down

(5600m total)

I used to have no catch. Stiff straight wrist all the way through my stroke. Someone finally pointed it out to me yesterday. Sure makes a big difference. It also works a slightly different muscle group which is now very sore. I'm excited about developing this further. Gives me a lot of confidence going into Nationals.

LCM

200 Free
400 Kick down/Free back
400 Free

2 x 200 Kick
2 x 200 Free
2 x 200 Kick

3 times through
* 200 Stroke down/Free back
* 4 x 50 Free down/Stroke back
* 200 Pull

400 IM Drill
3 x 50 IM order
100 Free Fast
3 x 100 Free negative split
3 x 50 choice stroke

100 Cool Down

(5200m Total)

Dave was back today so I drafted a lot. It is easier but I'm not sure if it helps me get faster. Lots of varied breathing sets. I stink at breathing on my left side and have avoided fixing that for years. Brooke decided it has become his personal project to fix that. He seems to think that more left side breathing will work our some of the stroke problems I'm having. I'm open to it so I give it my best effort.

LCM

600 Warm up
4 x 100 Down Free back IM order
100 Easy

300 Kick/Catch-up/Breathe Right
300 Kick/Catch-up/Breathe Left
300 Kick/Catch-up/Alternate breathing

4 times through
* 3 x 50 Stroke
* 100 Free Breathe Left/Right/Alternate/Choice
* 50 Free sprint

4 x 200 Pull Breathe Left/Alternate/Right/Alternate

3 times through
* 50 Stroke sprint
* 100 Free Breathe Left/Right/Alternate/Choice
* 50 Stroke sprint

2 x 500 - 7:45 (7:25, 7:25)
I pretty much drafted the whole way on this one.

200 IM Easy cool down

(5800m Total)

Dave didn't show up today which meant I had to lead the lane. That isn't so bad... I don't like being in the middle during flip turns. I missed the draft though.

LCM

300 Free Warm up
200 Kick
200 Pull
400 Free

4 x 100 Kick
2 x 200 Free
4 x 50 Kick

4 x 100 Pull
4 x 100 Free Down/IM Back
2 x 200 Free
4 x 50 Pull
4 x 50 IM

5 x 200 - Odds IM/Evens Free

200 Cool Down

(4900m total)

I've switched over all my fly to breast stroke until nationals. I figure I'm not swimming fly at nationals so there isn't much reason to train hard at it for the next month. Will probably convert back to free drill as well... or at least use a breathing pattern.

LCM

700 Warm up

4 x 50 IM order
200 Kick
4 x 50 IM order
500 Free negative split

4 x 100 Free Down/IM Back
200 Kick
4 x 100 Free neg. split
500 Pull

100 Free
50 Choice Fast
100 Free
2 x 50 Choice (2nd Fast)
100 Free
3 x 50 Choice (3rd Fast)
100 Free
4 x 50 Choice (4th Fast)

4 x 100 Choice Drill/Free/Free/Choice stroke
100 Easy

400 IM Easy cool down

(5100m Total)

Not much rest today. Dave led the lane until an ex-HS swimmer got warmed up. He cruised, we drafted. Didn't take him too long to drop us but it was fun trying to keep up.

LCM

Warm up
200 Free/200 Kick/200 Free

200 Br down/Free Back /200 Pull/ 200 Br down/Free Back
200 Bk down/Free back /200 Kick/ 200 Bk down/Free Back
200 Fl down/Free Back /200 Pull/ 200 Fl down/Free Back

300 Pull / 300 Free down/ IM Back
200 Free / 200 IM / 200 Free
6 x 100 Free

4 x 50 Kick
200 Free negative split
4 x 50 Kick
2 x 100 Free negative split
4 x 50 Kick

200 Cool Down

(5400m Total)

Short course today. Kind of good to go back to the old walls for a while.

SCY

700 Warm up 400 IM/300 Free easy

4 x 100 Free - 1:30
600 Kick/Drill/Swim

2 Times through
* 200 Kick
* 4 x 50 Kick - 1:00
* 200 IM
* 4 x 75 IM Order (50 Easy/25 Hard) - 1:30

3 Times through
* 200 Pull
* 25 Free
* 50 Free
* 75 Free
* 100 Free Hard

200 Easy

6 x 75 - Kick/Drill/IM

200 Cool Down

(5700 Total)

Not much today. Donated apheresis after swimming. Allways fun to wear yourself out and then follow it up with a blood donation. I did manage to pick up a quick breakfast prior to giving blood.

LCM

300 Warm up
200 Kick
100 Free
100 Free
200 Kick
300 IM Drill down/Swim Back

300 Pull
3 x 200 IM
3 x 100 Free
6 x 50 Kick

300 Pull
3 x 200 Free
200 Fly/Free/Free/Fly
200 Back/Free/Free/Back
200 Breast/Free/Free/Breast
6 x 50 Kick

800 IM Easy
100 Cool Down

(5400m Total)

Wife and I got a stomach bug about 10 minutes apart wednesday morning. Felt miserable the rest of the day. No swimming. Woke up this morning in much better shape.

Did some 100m sprints today. I've never done that distance so I ended up going way too fast on my first attempt. Slowly dropped the time from there. Hope to do more as nationals starts approaching.

300 Warm up
300 Br/Back
300 Kick - no board
300 Breathe right/left/every 3 down/swim back
300 Swim

3 x 200 Pull
200 Free down/Fly drill back
2 x 50 Fly - Build/Hard
200 Free down/Back drill back
2 x 50 Back - Build/Hard
200 Free down/Breast drill back
2 x 50 Breast - Build/Hard

4 times through - 4:00
*100 Sprint free (1:17, 1:15, 1:15, 1:14)
*100 Easy

400 Swim
800 IM Easy - Cool down

(5000m total)

Must have counted wrong this morning. Thought I had done 5200 but when I wrote it all down, I'm 600 short. Pushed through this one pretty hard. Dave led the lane which meant rest breaks were few and far between.


LCM

Warm Up
200 Free / 200 Kick / 200 Free
4 x 100 Breathe Right/Alternate/Left/Alternate

200 IM Drill
200 Pull
200 IM

4 x 150 100 Free/50 IM order
4 x 100 Kick
4 x 150 100 Free Easy/50 Free Hard

3 times through
* 200 Pull
* 4 x 50 Free down/Hard Stroke back

200 Cool Down

(4600m Total)

I've been teaching my 7 yr old daughter and 5 yr old son how to swim over the last few weeks. I've never taught anyone how to swim but both seem to be doing fine and my patience is holding up. I've tried pretty hard to get them to do a "crawl" arm motion and both give it a try but revert back to a simultaneous arm pull. My daughter pulls outward and recovers similar to breast stroke. My son pulls down and recovers outward with his hands under water. Yesterday, he started doing a simultaneous arm recovery over water. He still flutter kicks and it is more of a 2 down/doggie paddle kind of stroke but he moves along pretty good for being 5. For now, I'm just going to let him have fun with it and see where it goes.

Short swim today... relatively speaking. Only 4700 Meters. Kicked out by the age groupers.

Warm up
400 Free
300 Kick
200 IM
400 Free

200 Kick
4 x 50 IM Order
200 Free
4 x 50 Reverse IM Order
200 Kick

4 x 100 Pull - 1:30
4 x 100 Down IM/Back Free
2 x 100 Pull - 1:30
4 x 50 IM Order
100 Easy

4 x 100 - 1:35
200 Pull Back/Breast
2 x 100 - 1:40
4 x 50 IM Pull

100 Cool Down

(4700m total)

Aside from ramping up my distance, I've been getting up earlier all week. It has been a major adjustment and my body isn't liking it at all. The big problem is sleep. Getting up at 4:05 means I really need to get to bed at 8:00. With 3 kids, this just isn't practical. So, I'm dragging through with 6 hours of sleep a night. Not sure how long I can hold up like that. There have been lots of positives though. I'm adjusting to long course quickly. I've put in 25 Km this week which includes taking monday off. My breast stroke feels great. I'm slowly getting to where I'm the fastest on all breast stroke sets except for the high school kids. Lots of catch up drills and left side breathing has helped iron out some flaws in my freestyle stroke. Look forward to next week but for now... some rest.

LCM

Warm up
400 IM down/free back
200 Kick

2 Times through
* 3 x 200 100IM/100Free
* 3 x 150 Pull one paddle only
* 3 x 100 stroke down/Free back descend

12 x 50 Free - 1:00 2 hard/1 easy
400 Kick down/pull with board back

300 Fly/Back/Free
4 x 50 Breast Drill/Swim/Drill/Swim

200 Cool Down

(5000m Total)

Swam inspired by the 4x100 Jason Lezak video posted yesterday. Felt great until the 2 x 50 Fly and then I got a painful reminder that I am not in fact Jason Lezak. It was fun while it lasted though. Still had a pretty good day. Starting to wear out while adjusting from 4000 yards/day of short course to 5000 m/day of long course. I think Roger wants us to get up to 6000 eventually.

LCM

700 Warm up

3 x 100 Pull
3 x 100 Kick
3 x 100 Choice

3 Times through
* 200 IM
* 2 x 50 Stroke (#1 Fly, #2 Back, #3 Breast)
* 200 Free
* 2 x 50 Free

2 x 100 Kick - no board
2 x 100 Kick w/ board
2 x 100 Choice

2 Times through
* 3 x 100 - 1:30 Pull
* 2 x 50 - 1:00 Fast

200 Cool Down

(5000m Total)

Lots of drill today. I've been working on catch up stroke and breathing left anyway so this was a good day to focus on that.

LCM

400 Free
2 x 100 Choice

7 x 300 - Various kick/pull/drill combinations

6 times through
* 200 Pull 2-3-2-3 breathing pattern
* 50 Build

2 x 50 Stroke build

800 IM Easy

(5100m total)

Free is improving a lot. I'm still catching out too far with my right hand and not pulling directly under my shoulder. Left side breathing is getting better and my stroke overall is more balanced.

LCM

400 Warm up
200 Kick down/Drill back
200 Worst stroke down/ Best back
100 Easy
400 Free

300 Kick
3 x 100 Free down/Fly back
2 x 150 IM
6 x 50 Free

300 Pull
3 x 100 Free down/Back back
150 IM
3 x 50 Free
150 IM
3 x 50 Free

300 Kick
150 IM
3 x 50 Breast
300 Pull
150 IM
3 x 50 Free

200 Cool Down

(5100m total)

Yesterday, we went to help clean up the pool we were supposed to use to train at for nationals. It is kind of a strange pool. It is 200 feet long by about 100 feet wide. That's 61 meters for anyone converting. The pool took a direct hit from the tornado. Rumor has it that the tornado sucked about half the water out of the pool. The pump house and bathrooms (all made of cinder blocks) were reduced to rubble. Someones washing machine landed in their parking lot. Tin roofing sheets were wrapped around trees and shingles/pieces of roofs were all over the place. We spent about 2 hours clearing out fallen trees. It was a good dryland exercise day. The soreness was there this morning but it wasn't too bad. My biggest problem right now is a nasty crick in my neck. I got that from treating an ear infection from swimming Saturday. That pretty much means I laid around on the couch too long.

LCM

400 Warm up

3 x 200 Kick/Drill, Kick/Swim, Kick/Drill

200/150/100/50 Kick
5 x 100 Free

5 x 100 Pull
50/100/150/200 Free

400 Free Easy
4 x 50 - 1:00 IM Order Hard
300 Free Easy
4 x 50 - 1:15 Best stroke Hard (no free)
200 Free Easy
4 x 50 - 1:00 Free Hard
100 Free Easy

200 Cool down

(4800m Total)