Pete's swim blog

Swam w/ Dave, Dave and Danny. Yesterday, my son called me out to the front yard in the late afternoon because something cool was happening in the sky. Turns out he was right... there were rainbows everywhere. The sky was mostly clear but hazy enough to refract light all over the place. My cell phone camera unfortunately doesn't do justice to what this really looked like but here are some photos I caught:

Rainbows, rainbows, rainbows and more rainbows.

Never seen anything like it.

This morning, I made up the workout. I'm always worried someone won't like it but I was the only one speaking up.

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600 Warm up

4 Rounds of:
* 100 Kick - 1:45
* 100 stroke - 1:35
* 100 IM - 1:30
* 100 Free - 1:25
200 Easy

3 Rounds of:
* 4 x 25 IM Order - :30 Turn at midway point in the pool
4 x 25 - :45 Odds Fly, Back; Evens Fly no breath
4 x 25 - :40 Odds Breast, Fly; Evens underwater br pullouts
4 x 25 - :35 Odds Back, Breast; Evens free no breath
50 Easy

4 Rounds of:
* 50 Kick - 1:00
* 50 Back - :55
* 50 Breast - :50
* 50 Fly - :45
* 50 Free - :40
* Subtract :05s from each interval on the last round
50 Easy

1000 Pull - Open turns on each 200
I took this easy at first and built speed. Started on a 1:15 pace and made 2:16 on the last 200.

100 Cool down

(5200 Total)

Swam w/ Dave, Dave and Ray. Got my GTD suit in the mail yesterday. Nike is once again sponsoring my swimming efforts. I'm sure that royalty checks will soon follow. Quick note for Speedo and TYR... I haven't worn the suit yet so there's still time to sign me for a better contract.

Ray had us doing a "power hour" today. Intervals on a 1:30 pace for 4000 yards. I stuck with free/pull today and added some extra yardage in.

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200 Warm up

2 x 500 Pull - 6:00 (Made 5:40, 5:48)
2 x 300 Pull - 4:30 Recovery
2 x 250 Pull - 3:00 (Made 2:50 both times)
2 x 100 Pull - 1:30 Recovery
2 x 100 Free - 1:30 Recovery
250 Free (3:05), 200 Free - 3:00
2 x 300 Free - 4:30
500 Free (6:05), 400 Free - 6:00
100 Easy
Dropped my drag suit for the last 500 Free. It wasn't quite enough. Distance had caught up with me and I was hurting bad.

6 x 50 Kick - 1:00 (no breaststroke)

12 x 25 - :40
* Odds Hard stroke
* Evens no breath

200 Cool down

(5550 Total)

Swam w/ Dave, Dave, Dave, Roger, Aundrey, Meredith, Danny and Ray. Soccer was exhausting last night. We had a really light turnout despite perfect weather. Played 3 v 2 where the team that last got scored on got the extra player. Fewer players means more running, more touches on the ball and more aches and pains from falls. I really thought I'd have a rough morning in the pool but it wasn't bad at all. Made 5 x 300 IM on 4:30 with a drag suit. That's not something I thought I could do.

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600 warm up

5 x 300 IM - 4:30 Made 4:20-4:25
100 Easy

5 x 200 - 3:00, Make 2:30 on first and descend
100 Easy
Aundrey led our lane but was having some knee trouble. I went 2:32 and 2:30 on the first 2 drafting Aundrey. On 3-5, I led the lane and made 2:25, 2:22 and 2:18.

5 x 100 - 1:30, 75 Kick/25 Free
100 Easy

10 x 50 - 1:00
* Odds hard fly (:37s)
* Evens easy pull
50 Easy

12 x 50 - :55
* 1-4 Pull, descended :35 to :30
* 5-8 IM
* 9-12 Kick, IM Order

200 Cool down

(5250 Total)

Swam w/ Roger, Dave, Dave, Dave, Chris, Meredith and Danny. Not much distance today but some good quality sets near race pace. My GTD stats are going to take a hit from low yardage today and the Nat being closed tomorrow. I'll have to catch up next week I guess.

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600 Warm up

Challenge set
6 x 50 - :50
2:00 Break
200 Free broken by 50s w/ :15s rest in between 50s
Made 1:59. No missed turns this time but I was fading on the last 50. Splits were :30, :29, :29, :31.
50 Easy

5 x 200 - 2:30, convert free to pull
100 Easy
Made all but the second (150 free, 50 Pull) on 2:20 or faster. On the second one, the 50 pull wasn't worth having to stop and put my paddles on. Made the last on 2:10.

10 x 100 - 1:30
* Odds IM (1:15-1:20, most around 1:16)
* Evens free (1:07-1:09, last one 1:05)
25 Easy

Relays
Started with 3 three team relays. We did a 3 x 200 relay broken into 50s. Made 6:00. I don't know what my splits were but I'm pretty sure I was around :26 to :27. After that, we did 2 four team relays (Keith had to leave). This one was more complicated. We started with 200 kick broken into 50s. The catch was that we had to tag off by handing our board to the next person in the relay. Continued directly into 200 pull. Same thing with some really awkward buoy transfers. Then we each did 200 backstroke. That was followed by each of us doing 3 rounds of our strongest (kick, pull, free or back). Each team member had to pick one... no duplicating what someone else was doing. I took the kick leg. Ended up racing against a teenage fly kicker. My breaststroke kick is pretty strong but this was no contest. I mostly saw fly wake.

225 Cool down

(4000 Total)

Swam w/ Dave, Dave and Ray.

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600 Warm-up

5 x 300 - 4:30
* 1-3 Free (3:50, 3:40, 3:35)
* 4, 5 Pull (3:25, 3:13)
100 Easy

4 x 150 - 2:30 IM Order/Kick/Free
4 x 150 - 2:30 Fly/Back/50 Kick/Breast/Free
100 Easy

12 x 75 - 1:15 Sliding IM
50 Easy

4 x 50 - :55 Free/IM Order
4 x 50 - :55 IM Order
4 x 50 - :55 Kick

200 Cool down

(5250 Total)

Swam w/ Dave, Dave, Dave, Roger, Ray, Chris, Meredith and Danny. Feeling pretty good so far this week. Getting used to the 5K/day workload.

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600 Warm up

150 Br/50 Fr - 3:00
100 Br/100 Fr - 2:55
50 Br/150 Fr - 2:50
200 Free - 2:45
200 Free - 2:40
200 Free - 2:35
200 Free - 2:30
200 Free - 2:25
200 Free - 2:20 (Made 2:26)
100 Easy
Kind of disappointed w/ the breaststroke. I've changed my pull and while it seems easier, I don't appear to be faster. My shoulders are a lot more sore than usual so I'm hoping that developing more strength will improve the speed eventually.

10 x 100 - 1:30
* Odds - 25 flutter kick/75 Free
* Evens - 50 Breast/50 Br kick
100 Easy

4 x 25 Fly - :45 No breath
4 x 25 Kick - :40 (odds easy, evens sprint)
4 x 25 br pullouts - :40 No breath
4 x 25 Kick - :40 (odds easy, evens sprint)
4 x 25 Free - :35 No breath
4 x 25 Kick - :40 (odds easy, evens sprint)

300 Pull Timed - One breath per 25 yards, rest on walls all you want. Made 4:07.

16 x 50 - :55
* 4 fly Descend, 4 back descend, 4 br descend, 4 free descend

200 Cool down

(5500 Total)

Swam w/ Dave, Dave and Ray.

600 Warm up

5 x 500 Free - 7:30 Made 6:30, 6:10 and 6:00 on the first three. Pulled the last two on 5:50 and 5:38.
100 Easy

15 x 100 Up/Down IM kick - 1:45 (:05)
* 1-5 Base stroke Fly
* 6-10 Base stroke Free
* 11-15 Base stroke Fly
100 Easy

4 x 25 Fly - :45 No breath
4 x 25 Br pullouts - :40 No breath
4 x 25 Free - :35 No breath

6 x 50 IM Order, No free - 1:00 (Second round hard)

200 Cool down

(5600 Total)

Swam w/ Dave, Dave, Dave, Ray, Keith and Aundrey. I didn't play soccer yesterday . On the positive side, I had a lot more energy for all the kicking we did today. Also felt generally better overall.

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600 Warm up

8 x 125 - 2:00
* Odds 100 Kick/25 Free
* Evens IM
100 Easy

8 x 100 Up/Down Kick - 1:45 (:05)
* Base stroke fly, start w/ 100 fly
100 Easy

8 x 75 Sliding IM - 1:15
100 Easy

8 x 50 Pull - 1:00 Fast (:35, :35, :32, :32, :29, :29, :29, :29)
100 Easy

6 x 25 - :30

10 x 100 Up/Down Kick - 1:45
* Base stroke free, start w/ 100 Kick, no breaststroke kick

4 x 25 Pull - :40 No breath
4 x 25 Pull - :35 No breath

100 Cool down

(5250 Total)

Swam at the Huntsville NAT w/ Dave, Dave, Bob, Bob, Mary and Tucker.

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600 Warm up

200 Kick
200 Free
200 Pull
200 Kick

4 x 50 IM Order - 1:00
4 x 100 IM - 1:45
4 x 200 IM Down/Free back

10 x 25 Kick - :30

4 x 200 Free - 3:00
4 x 100 Down Free/Back IM Order - 1:40
4 x 50 Free - :50

4 Times through:
* 25 Pull - :30 No breath
* 100 Pull - 1:30

200 Cool down

(5150 Total)

Swam w/ Dave, Dave, Dave, Ray, Keith, Teresa, Chris and Meredith. Wore my Yingfa jammer w/ no drag suit.

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Challenge set
6 x 50 - :50
2:00 Rest
Broken 200 - 4 x 50 w/ :16 s rest in between each 50. Made 2:01 which is disappointing. I was under the 2:00 pace at 150 yards but had a really bad turn. I'm not getting tired... just sloppy.
100 Easy

200 Back - 3:00
200 Back - 2:55
200 Back - 2:50
200 Free - 2:45
200 Back - 2:50
200 Back - 2:55
200 Back - 3:00
100 Easy
All 200s except the middle one were supposed to be stroke/no free. I fell behind on the first three but caught up on the middle 200. From there, I held the interval. Have never done this much backstroke before. I made 2:48 on the 5th 200 which I believe is a personal best for me.

10 x 100
* Odds Free - 1:20 (did 1:07 - 1:09)
* Evens kick - 1:40 (did 1:25 - 1:30)
100 Easy

8 x 75 - 1:15 (Convert Fly -> Back -> Breast)
150 Easy

4 x 100 Pull - 1:30, Descend (1:15, 1:10, 1:05, 1:02)

200 Cool down

(5150 Total)

Swam w/ Ray, Dave, Blakely, Teresa and Keith. Got a lot of breaststroke pointers from Blakely after we did out main set. She had me doing some sculling drills that seem to help a lot.

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600 Warm up

2 Times through:
* 4 x 125 (Round 1 - 1:45, Convert Free-IM; Round 2 - 2:00, stroke IM Order)
* 50 Easy
* 4 x 100 (Round 1 - 1:30, Free, descend; Round 2 - 1:45 Kick)
* 50 Easy
* 4 x 75 - 1:15 (Round 1 - Convert Fly to back; Round 2 - Pull, descend)
* 50 Easy
* 4 x 50 Kick - 1:00 (Round 1, fins; Round 2, no fins)
* 50 Easy
* 4 x 25 - :30 (Round 1, IM Order fast; Round 2 free w/ strap on ankles)

300 Pull w/ ankle strap
300 Yards of sculling drills mixed w/ br kick
4 x 50 Breaststroke - 1:00 (Made :40-:42 keeping elbows higher and pulling wider; not too bad for changing up my stroke completely)

200 Cool down

(5000 Total)

Swam w/ Dave, Dave, Dave, Roger, Chris, Meredith and Danny.

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600 Warm up

10 x 150 - Swim/Kick/Pull
* Interval starts at 2:45 and drops :05 each 150.
* On first 6, no free, no strongest kick
100 Easy

8 x 100 Up/Down kick - 1:40 (:05)
* Base stroke fly, start w/ 100 fly
100 Easy

100 Free - 1:20
25 Easy - :40/ 25 no breath - :40
200 Free - 2:40
25 Easy - :40/ 25 no breath - :40
300 Free - 4:00
25 Easy - :40/ 25 no breath - :40
400 Free - 5:20
25 Easy - :40/ 25 no breath - :40
100 Easy

16 x 50 - 1:00
1-4: Free, descend
5-8: IM Order
9-12: Stroke, descend
13-16: Kick

200 Cool down

(5400 Total)

Swam w/ Ray, Dave, Dave, Dave and Keith. Did a 4K main set straight through on a 1:30 pace. Went faster than I thought it would.

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250 Warm up

400 IM/400 Free - 6:00
300 IM/300 Free - 4:30
200 IM/200 Free - 3:00
100 IM/100 Free - 1:30
100 Free/100 IM - 1:30
200 Free/200 IM - 3:00
300 Free/300 IM - 4:30
400 Free/400 IM - 6:00
150 Easy
Made the last IM on 5:40

6 x 50 Kick - 1:00
12 x 25 - :40
* odds - IM Order hard
* evens - no breath

200 Cool down

(5200 Total)

Swam w/ Dave, Dave, Ray, Meredith, Roger, Aundrey, Leah, and another age grouper. Felt fairly good for having played soccer yesterday. My knee is a little tweaked but nothing to complain about really. Back is doing exceptionally well.

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600 Warm up

5 x 300 - 4:30
* Odds IM
* Evens Free
100 Easy

8 x 150 - 2:30 Stroke/Kick/Free
100 Easy

8 x 75 - 1:15 Sliding IM
8 x 37.5 - :40 (?) IM Order (Snappy turns)
100 Easy

5 x 100 Pull - 1:30, Descend (1:12, 1:10, 1:05, 1:03, :59)

250 Cool down

(5250 Total)

Swam at HSA w/ Dave, Dave, Dave, Mary, Bob and Bob. Some others filtered in as time went on. Pretty tired today. No speed. Guess I was burn out from yesterday.

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Warm up
200 Free/300 Breast, drill down/swim back/200 Free
400 IM Drill

100 Free
2 x 200 Kick w/ fins
3 x 300 Pull (Had trouble making 3:30 which is usually pretty easy for me w/ paddles)

400 IM Order down/Free back
4 x 100 Free - 1:45 (made 1:08-1:10)
400 Free down/IM Order back
4 x 100 Free - 1:30 (descended - 1:20, 1:15, 1:08, 1:05)

300 Free - Smooth
200 Fly - Hard (more of a survive than hard)
100 Free - fast
300 Free - Smooth
200 Back - Hard (I pulled)
100 Free - fast

I got out here to go coach soccer. Everyone else stayed for one more round of the above doing breaststroke for the 200.

200 Cool down

(5500 Total)

Had a bunch of people today. Swam in a lane w/ Roger and Danny. Dave, Dave and Meredith were on our right. Ray, Dave and Meredith's sister (?) were on our left. Definitely one of my best practices in a long time. I was really sore from all the pull yesterday but it didn't seem to slow me down much. Wore my Yingfa jammer instead of a drag suit.

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600 Warm up

Challenge set
6 x 50 Free - :50
2:00 Rest
4 x 50 Free - Broken 200 w/ :17 seconds rest in between 50s. Made 1:59. Forgot my splits but I was at :31 on the first so I got faster somewhere.
100 Easy

4 x 200 - 3:00 convert free to kick (Made 2:53 on last kick)
50 Easy
4 x 100 IM - 1:30 (Held 1:20s)
50 Easy
4 x 50 Kick - 1:00

1650 Timed (19:47) Open turns every 300
This was a really good swim for practice. I split it very even (3:37, 7:15, 10:52, 14:28, 18:02, 19:47). Pretty much 1:12.5 pace until then end where I dropped it to a 1:10 pace. Really did not think a sub-20 was going to happen today. I knew I was on the pace but kept thinking I would run out of gas.
50 Easy

12 x 25 - :40
Odds fly
Evens underwater

6 x 100 Pull - 1:20 Descend (1:15, 1:15, 1:10, 1:08, 1:05, 1:03)

200 Cool down

(5400 Total)

Swam w/ Dave, Dave and Blakely.

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600 Warm up

6 x 300 Pull - 4:00 (3:25s... except the last one where my paddle fell off twice)
100 Easy

20 x 50 Kick w/ fins - :55

6 x 100 IM/Stroke - 1:30

12 x 25 - :40
Odds hard stroke
Evens no breath

5 x 100 - 1:30 Descend (1:16, 1:14, 1:10, 1:08, 1:04)

6 x 50 Kick/stroke - 1:00

200 Cool down

(5400 Total)

Swam w/ Dave, Dave, Roger, Meredith, Ray, Leah and Wendy.

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650 Warm up

200 Kick - 3:00 (made 3:02)
50 Fly/Free / 150 Kick - 2:55 (already way behind)
100 Free/100 Kick - 2:50 (Still off the pace)
150 Free/50 Kick - 2:45 (Catching up)
125 Free/75 Kick - 2:50 (Finally got a couple seconds rest)
75 Free/125 Kick - 2:55
200 Kick - 3:00 (made 3:05)
100 Easy
Tough set and a bit out of my reach. I could probably make it w/o a drag suit.

4 x 125 Free - 1:45 (Made 1:20-1:25)
50 Easy
4 x 125 Stroke, IM Order - 2:00
50 Easy

12 x 75 - 1:15 Sliding IM
100 Easy

12 x 25 - :30
Odds free no breath
Evens Fly no breath
:30 is pretty tough for me. I could probably make :35 and definitely :40. I did do 4 of them but needed one breath on the other 8.

4 x 200 - 3:00 Convert IM to pull

200 IM Easy - Cool down

(5550 Total)

Swam w/ Dave, Dave, Dave and John. Got a flu shot yesterday. That left a special lingering soreness in my left shoulder. Dave offered to punch my right shoulder to even out the pain.

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700 Warm up

2 x 500 - 7:30 (6:05, 5:55 <- pull buoy, no paddles)
100 Easy

300 Free/IM/Free - 4:30
300 IM/Free/IM - 4:30
300 Free/IM/Free - 4:30
100 Easy

200 IM - 3:00
200 Pull - 3:00
200 Kick - 3:00
200 Pull - 3:00
200 IM - 3:00
100 Easy
Got started :30 late so I did touch and go until I caught up. Made 2:50 on the last IM

10 x 100 - 1:30
1-5 Descend (1:25, 1:20, 1:14, 1:10, 1:05)
6-10 Ascend (1:05, 1:12, 1:15, 1:20, 1:25)

12 x 25 - :40 Odds hard stroke, evens no breath

200 Cool down

(5400 Total)

Swam w/ Roger, Dave, Dave, Ray, Keith, Meredith and Aundrey. A little sore from soccer yesterday (nothing new there). We played 3 v 3 due to a lack of players on an otherwise perfect afternoon. Once the kinks worked out of my back, I swam pretty well today.

700 warm up

100 Kick - 2:00
100 Kick - 2:00
200 IM - 3:00
100 Kick - 2:00
100 Kick - 2:00
200 IM - 3:00
300 Free - 4:00
200 IM - 3:00
100 Kick - 2:00
100 Kick - 2:00
200 IM - 3:00
300 Free - 4:00
400 Free - 5:00 (made 4:50)
300 Free - 4:00
200 IM - 3:00
100 Kick - 2:00
100 Easy
Drafted off of Roger which made this set a lot easier. It's still a lot for me w/ a drag suit on. I was very happy to make the splits especially near the end. Mixed in some stroke on the 300s when I started catching Roger.

25 Easy
3 x 1200 Relay - Ended up being 8 x 50 from a dive with 1:00 rest in between. The goal was for each of the 3 relays to make 12:00. I felt really good on these holding about :27.5.
25 Easy

6 x 100 - 1:30 Descend (1:18, 1:16, 1:14, 1:10, 1:07, 1:04)
200 Easy

Did some turn drill work that Blakely had shown us last week. I floated flat on the surface and then snapped my knees up to my chest. The idea is to carry enough momentum from your legs to do a full backwards somersault. Usually, I ended up stranded with my head straight down. I did get better after a few of them although I'm not sure I'm doing it right.

300 back/breast - easy swim, hard fast turns. Just extending the drill from above and applying it to the breaststroke turns on the wall. The drill does help. My turns are much faster and I'm not feeling the need to grab onto the walls anymore. I experimented with the back -> breast turns. I don't think I was doing this right at all.

200 Cool down

(5550 Total)