Pete's swim blog

I remember thinking I would never be able to do a workout like this. Now its a matter of how much rest I'll get. I had to push on the shorter fly sets but on the distance I can stretch out a little and it doesn't hurt quite so bad. Need to start working on going a little faster and developing easy speed with my fly.

SCY

450 Warm up

2 times through:
* 25 Fly - :30
* 25 Free - :30
* 50 Fly/50 Free - 1:30
* 400 IM - 7:00
* 50 Easy
* 200 IM - 3:30 (125 Fly/25 bk/25 br/25 fr)
* 300 IM - 5:30 (150 Fly/50 bk/50 br/50 fr)
* 175 Fly - 3:00
* 175 Free - 2:30
50 Easy

10 x 50 Free - :45

200 Fly easy

50 Cool down

(4150 Total)

Tried something a little different this weekend and entered the Mountain Lakes Triathlon in Guntersville, AL. Did the whole thing and not just the swim leg. It was a pretty well run event with excellent traffic control, a flat course and beautiful views of Lake Guntersville. I couldn't really train for this since Nationals was last week and I was tapering. So, basically, I got a lot of swimming practice, one week of cycling before my taper and no practice running. It's just a 5k run... how hard can that be? I would soon find out.

The swim was 600 yards and took off from a beach... if you could call it that. For about 25 yards, it was knee deep. More "swimmable" after that. Started out with sand which then went through rock followed by mud covered with a layer of weeds and finally just plain nasty lake mud. Visibility was about 2 feet at best. I dove in over the rocks and just sucked it up as my hand occasionally dug into weeds and mud. Started 37th (individual timed starts about 5 sec apart)... a few spots behind my MATT teammate Roger and his daughter. The catch was that they let the college teams go first. Alabama, Auburn and Clemson sent sizable college triathlete teams... some of which weren't terribly good swimmers. So, I ended up picking my way through the crowd. Crawled over a couple people challenged with swimming straight lines. Came out of the water right behind Roger and his daughter. That was really odd because I never swim faster that Roger under any conditions. Final time: 8:01... good enough for first in my age group. Probably good enough for the fastest swim for anyone over 40. There were some college swimmers I know I didn't catch but I was very happy with where I was.

The bike was 16.1 miles... not too far. Started with a horrible transition though. Couldn't get anything on correctly. Should have just taken off with cycling shoes and a helmet and forgotten the rest. The time lost wasn't worth it. Bike went well anyway. I've got a decent road bike but nothing even close to the $6000 tri bikes that constantly blew past me at 25+ mph. Its a rich man's sport and I don't intend to put a lot of time into triathlons until I can afford the equipment necessary to compete. That's one thing I love about swimming. You can be competitive with less than $100 worth of equipment. I managed to average 20. Not too bad for being out of the sport for so long. I expected to eventually catch Roger (he had a better transition) but it never happened. Turns out he blew me away on the bike. No equipment or training excuses there... he was just faster than I was.

Somehow over the years, I've forgotten how painful it is to dismount a bicycle and immediately start running. It hurts bad and IMO, just isn't worth it. I'm not a runner and didn't train so starting a 5K in the condition I was in was just not a great idea. The miles drug on forever and eventually my left quad started cramping up. Fortunately, I had no knee problems (I run like a duck) and I was able to gut out the pain to finish.

The best part about the triathlon is that at some point you get to stop. The pain is still there but just isn't quite so bad when you reflect on what you have done. In all, I spent and hour and a half giving it all I had and refusing to quit. I knew my swim time was good and aside from that, I just wanted to finish. I'm glad I did it but I don't see myself doing it again. I love doing swimming legs of triathlons and I'll definitely stick to that for now. Might do a 1500m swim in the Tennessee river for the Rocketman triathlon in a couple weeks.

The 2200 yd set was kind of interesting. I had to pick out parts where I could recover so I could keep going. Did the whole thing on the edge of falling apart but in the end I had enough to finish the last 100 on 1:11. Once we were done, Dave got the idea of swimming a hard 100 fly. I'm doing a triathlon tomorrow so I passed. He finished in 1:14 with a drag suit on. Nice swim Dave!

SCY

400 Warm up

4 times through
* 25 Kick - :30
* 50 Fly/Free - :45
* 75 Kick/Fly/free - 1:15
* 25 Back/75 Free - 1:30
* 100 Free - 1:25
* 100 Free - 1:20
* 100 Free - 1:15
50 Easy

5 x 200 IM - 3:30 (made all on 3:00)
100 Stroke - 2:00
200 IM - 3:00
300 Free - 4:00

250 Cool Down

(4500 Total)

Workout hurt today. I'm slowly getting back into grinding out the yards. My IM's have improved significantly probably due to a better fly.

SCY

450 Warm up

8 x 50 Pull - :50 Easy/Hard
100 Stroke - 2:00
8 x 50 Kick - :50
100 Stroke - 2:00
200 IM - 3:00
50 Easy

8 x 50 Pull - :50
100 Stroke - 2:00
200 IM - 3:00
300 Free - 4:00
50 Easy

8 x 50 Kick - :50 (did 25k/25stroke)
100 Stroke - 2:00 (removed drag suit)
200 IM - 3:00
300 Free - 4:00
1:00 Rest
400 Free - 5:00 (4:55)

200 Cool Down

(4350 Total)

Clearly still tapered. Mentioned below about the fly set. Saturated the Up/down and held it through all 16 100s pretty easily. Primarily used breast stroke kick but mixed in a bit of fly and back kick to relieve pressure on the knees. Kicked free on the final set... tried to keep a fast pace on the kick and go easier on the swim parts.

SCY

700 Warm up

4 Times through
* 25 Fly/50 Free - 1:10
* 50 Fly/25 Free - 1:10
* 75 Fly - 1:10
50 Easy

I've never been even close to making this set. I did drop the drag suit but was still surprised at how easily I made it. Allways had 5+ sec of rest on the wall and never really got tired at all. Very encouraging.

16 x 100 Up/Down Kick - 1:40 (:10 rest)

12 x 50 - :50
* Odds Kick/Swim
* Evens Free

300 Cool down

(4450 Total)

Woke up to torrential rains, thunder and lighting this morning. Checked the weather radar and it was all moving off to the east fairly quickly. Figured there was a half chance the pool would open even if it was a few minutes late. Sure enough... 30 minute delay. While waiting around, a new storm formed that was passing about 20 miles south of us. Saw some lightning flashes and low distant rumble of thunder but suprisingly, they opened anyway. 5 minutes later, we were kicked out due to lightning. Apparently, the lifeguards weren't paying attention and finally saw it.

I'm not ranting about the thunderstorms... we are thankful to not experience the droughts in the soutwest. It's the nonsensical weather policies the pool has in place. Technology is to the point where lighning strikes can be pinpointed and thier associated storms easily tracked. Yet lightning 40 miles away that would go unnoticed at noon shuts down the pool in the morning because it is still dark outside. Storms far off to the south and east shut the pool down (even when they are moving away from us) while storms to the north and west get dangerously close because the building blocks lifeguard's view. Enough ranting...

SCY

400 Warm up

Kicked out due to lightning

Wednesday: Headed south early so we could catch Dave's 1500 Swim. He did a great job and the team all went out for lunch afterwards. Checked into the hotel and then headed back to the pool for a warmup swim. Turns out the wording was a little confusing and we ended up getting there too late. We did get a couple hundred meters in the competition pool before they kicked us out.

Thursday: Up early to go see Dave's 400. Warmed up before his 400 - big mistake. I did too much too early. Very nervous/excited about my 50 br. About 30 min before my event, I did a couple hard br 50's from the wall in the outdoor pool. Times were in the 42-43 second range. I was wondering if I would even make my seed time. Changed from my warm-up jammer to my new Yingfa and waited for the race to start.

50 BR
Seed time - 37.80
Expected time - 37.00
Race time - 37.04
Video - [nomedia="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyF31nrAjr4"]‪peterm 50br‬‏ - YouTube[/nomedia]
Lane - 7

Had dreams of breaking 36 but after my warmup, I was very happy with 37.04. Biggest problem I had was that I was not tired after the race. I think my stroke rate was too low and decided I hold this pace for the 100br.

Cooled down and took it easy... this was my only event for Thursday.

Friday: Back at the pool early but not quite as early since we didn't know anyone swimming the women's 400. Not quite as nervous. Couldn't wait to get to the 100 Br and see if I could hold my stroke rate. Warm up was better timed and I was running about the same pace from a push-off as I was Wednesday.

100 BR
Seed time - 1:25.76
Expected time - 1:25.00
Race time - 1:21:51 (38.43/43.08 + 4.65)
Video - [nomedia="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8m6KoAXi7g"]‪peterm 100br‬‏ - YouTube[/nomedia]
Lane - 7

I've had pacing issues in the past on 100 br. My strategy of using a higher stroke rate seemed good until I got to the wall and turned. Then, the pain hit and I knew it wasn't going to be good. Fortunately, I had someone to chase and he was in worse shape than I was. He had a half second on me at the wall. I closed the gap but it was short by .04s. Could have split this one better and gone under 1:21 but I'm happy with how it came out. Gave me a lot of confidence for the 200br. Cooled down and started going into "freestyle mode" for the 100 fr later in the day.

I badly estimated my freestye start time. Ended up warming up about 30 min too early... and eating too much candy way too early.

100 FR
Seed time - 1:07.37
Expected time - 1:05.00
Race time - 1:06.66 (31.93/34.73 + 2.80)
Video - [nomedia="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZ03Oo7dCcI"]‪peterm 100fr‬‏ - YouTube[/nomedia]
Lane - 5

I had a sum total of one freestyle turn the whole meet and I managed to botch it. Not too badly but I was very angry with myself. Then I started feeling sick. Turns out I split it ok but I know I'm capable of doing much faster. Disappointing. Cooled down and rested up for the 200 fr relay. No warm-up for the relay.

Men's 200 FR relay
Race time - DQ

Not much to say here. I was excited... too excited. Leaned forward too soon and held my toes to the block as long as I could while watching Dave reach for the wall. Seemed like an eternity. I finally closed my eyes and jumped hoping that somehow his hand made it in time. It didn't. Big letdown. We weren't in contention for a top spot but it was the last thing I wanted to do. My teammates were all good about it aside from a couple jokes. I deserved them. I beat my seed times and my freestyle relay split was really fast but heading back to the hotel was kind of a low point for the weekend.

Saturday: With 12 hours to stew on my gaffe the previous day, I woke up looking for redemption. Got my first opportunity in the 200 IM Relay. Warmed up shorter and much smarter. 200 fr warm up and 3 easy br 50s followed by a hard 50br. 40.0! I was faster today... just had to be patient on my start.

Men's 200 IM Relay
Seed time - 2:15.00
Expected time - 2:10.00 (36.5)
Race time - 2:07.29 (36.06)
Video - [nomedia="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGbQxe0YYVY"]‪matt 200im men relay‬‏ - YouTube[/nomedia]
Lane - 5

Great start to the day. We all shattered our expectations and had great races. At a combined age of 193, we weren't competitve with the top teams but we were all very pleased with this race. I was tired after my 50 br this time.

I laid off the candy some Saturday and went with peanuts. Timed my 200 br warm up great. Did and easy 100 fr and and easy 50 br followed by a hard 50 br with a 200 pace glide. 45 seconds... about where I wanted to be.

200 BR
Seed time - 3:05.42
Expected time - 3:00.00
Race time - 2:58.17 (41.43, 45.40, 46.10, 45.24 + 4.51)
Video - [nomedia="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMl36fz96jk"]‪peterm rogerv 200br‬‏ - YouTube[/nomedia] (start at 3:48)
Lane - 3

This is what I trained for all summer. I was right between two competitors seeded a bit faster than me but at about what I wanted to do in the race. Good start and I quickly got into my glide. Watched the other two take off but their stroke rate was way too high for me to match this early. Figured they would either blow me away or blow up... either way, I wasn't going to follow them. At 100m, they were both starting to look like they were in trouble. I was still strong but getting concerned that they had too much time on me. At 60m to go, I decided it was time to chase them down. Then, on the last turn... disaster... hand slipped on the wall and I got a short breath off the turn. Had to surface early but I wasn't giving up. Pulled even with lane 2 at the wall and... missed it by .04 seconds . I'm not in the least bit disappointed though. Even with the mistake, I far exceeded my expectations. Cooled down and got ready for my final event...

50 FR
Seed time - 31.37
Expected time - 30.00
Race time - 29.83
Video - [nomedia="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8O_cxm6Vutg"]‪peterm 50fr‬‏ - YouTube[/nomedia]
Lane - 7

I mostly entered this so I would spend some time training for the 50 fr relay. I'm not a sprinter so this was an afterthought. Still, I wanted to do well and was feeling great after the 200br. The video looks a lot better than how I felt swimming it and I look far better than I did this winter. Good race for me and I managed to break 30 seconds. Got out and I was tired. Ready to head back home.

Great event with lots of memories that will last a lifetime. Met old friends, made some new ones and had a wonderful time. Many thanks to the people that put these races on!

Back at Dublin park this morning. It's been two months since I've been here and things moved around a bit. Pool is still warm though. Enjoyed what was left of my taper. Back in my drag suit and grinding out the yards again.

SCY

400 Warmup

3 x 100 - 1:35
3 x 100 - 1:30
3 x 100 - 1:25
3 x 100 - 1:20
Did bilateral breathing down to the 1:20s. Made roughly 1:15s on all of them.
50 Easy

4 x 100 - 1:30 Kick Fly on 1st/2nd/3rd/4th 25
4 x 100 - 2:00 IM
4 x 100 - 1:30 Kick Free on 1st/2nd/3rd/4th 25

400 Cool down

(3250 Total)

Last day before Nationals. I actually kind of miss the 6000m workouts. I got used to it. I feel kind of lazy tapering. Slept poorly again. I'm too nervous/excited... not sure which. Headed to Auburn tomorrow. Hopefully all will go well.

LCM

600 Br/Free
200 Pull
200 Kick

4 x 50 Dive/sprint - back easy

(1200m total)

I'll splash around a bit tomorrow and maybe do some more practice dives. Nothing hard. I'm already having trouble sleeping. Usually that doesn't happen until the night before. Probably a good thing... I'll be so tired by the time Wednesday evening rolls around, I won't be able to avoid some deep sleep.

LCM

1000 Warm up

3 x 100 down easy free/back build, fast, sprint br

200 cool down

Did a couple practice dives and called it a day.

(1500m total)

Worked on dives today. Getting better at surfacing and getting going quicker.

LCM

400 Free
400 IM Kick down/Drill back
200 Free
4 x 100 Pull

7 x 50 From dive - sprint 25/25 easy

(1750m total)

Easy day. Worked mostly on the dive at the end. I have trouble getting started once I surface. Did much better today and will work on it a bit tomorrow.

LCM

7 x 100 Mixed Free and breast warm up
200 Pull Easy
200 Kick
200 Drill

4 x 50 Build up
2 x 25 sprint from dive

175 Cool down

(1725m Total)

Tried out the new Yingfa which I really like. Good compression but doesn't cut any circulation. Kind of weird the way water beads off of it in the shower. Is it faster? Hard to tell. My seed time for Nationals is 3:05 based on my converted pb from Auburn in Feb. On the broken 200 today, my timer said I was taking 11 seconds instead of 10 at each wall so I'm maybe looking at 2:59. I've put a lot of time and effort into improving my breast stroke so it's hard to say it is all the suit. I'm sure it doesn't hurt though.

LCM

600 Warm up

8 x 25 - :40 Easy/Hard
4 x 25 Kick - :50 Easy/Hard
8 x 25 - :40 Easy/Hard

200 Br broken - :10 rest at each 50 (3:32)

100 Cool down

(1400m Total)

Felt sluggish early. Picked it up later. Found that I pull better breathing left than I do to the right. But I swim better breathing to the right. Not sure why that is. Perhaps a mystery to be solved after nationals.

LCM

200 Free
200 IM
200 Kick
200 Pull
200 IM
200 Free
Nothing hard... just warming up

3 x 100 Kick
4 x 50 Build

3 x 100 Pull
3 x 25 Sprint (Free 13.7, Br 16.3)

175 Cool down

2450 Total

Swam a 1:09 100 today. No drag suit from a dive. Seems to be significant improvement over what I have been doing. Got a little sloppy on the way back. I think going under 1:05 is definitely possible for me. I'm seeded at 1:07.37. It would be nice to break that in practice.

LCM

500 Free
400 IM Drill

200 Kick
200 Pull
4 x 50 Build

200 Pull
200 Kick

100 Free (1:09)

300 Cool down

(2500m Total)

Laid around a lot yesterday. Felt pretty good this morning. Got rid fo the drag suit after the 300 Free and swam the rest in a Speedo. Felt nekkid. Pulls were between 1:05 and 1:15. I did breast stroke on the free/stroke at the end. Didn't get a time but it felt different without a drag suit. I'm going to have to adjust somehow... got a week to figure it out.

LCM

300 Free
100 Drill
200 Free
100 Drill
100 Free

3 x 200 Kick
100 Easy

6 x 100 Pull - 2:00 neg split

3 x 100 Easy Free/Sprint stroke
200 Cool down

(2600m Total)

Physically, I'm at my end. Cycling and swimming have piled up and I'm just tired. I did ok until the pulls and I just couldn't turn the paddles over fast enough to keep up.

I wasn't planning on riding any today but I talked to Roger about setting up a ride after Nationals that was roughly the difficulty of the triathlon we were doing. He suggested we do it today. How could I say no? So, after I got my youngest son back from soccer practice, Roger, his daughter, a friend and I headed out in the midday sun. Nice hot and humid Alabama day. We all felt pretty good but it was hot. Once done, they ran a couple miles and I went to pick up my son so I could run his soccer practice. In all, I'd say it was a great "last hard day". The rest is here and I've done all the beating on myself I can. Going to bed and waking up in a taper phase!

LCM

5 x 200 Odds Free, Evens Drill
200 Easy

5 x 100 Odds Free, Evens Drill

3 Times through
* 200 Kick
* 4 x 50 Stroke
* 100 Kick Hard

3 Times through
* 200 Pull
* 200 IM
* 4 x 50 Free

200 IM Cool down

(5200m Total)

We decided to do one last hard workout tomorrow. I'll head out for one more bike ride this afternoon and hope that between that and running a soccer practice Saturday, I can get back down to 180. The tough part about having a newborn is that people bring over lots of good food. Can't help myself sometimes. The combination of cutting back on the swimming and the Oreo Cream pie someone brought us last week really put me over the edge. It was worth it though .

LCM

300 Free
100 Drill
200 Free
100 Drill
100 Free
100 Easy

3 x 50 Kick
100 Free
3 x 100 Kick
200 Free
3 x 150 (50K/100 Choice)
300 Free

4 x 50 Free - Fast
4 Times through
* 100 Pull Easy
* 50 Pull Fast, Breathe every 5 strokes

3 Times through
* 50 Stroke Build
* 100 Free
* 50 Stroke Sprint

200 Cool down

(4000m Total)

Biking and swimming is wearing me out fast but my weight is back under control. Don't know how I'm going to make it through taper without gaining 10 lbs.

LCM

500 Free
5 x 100 Free down / drill back

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

5 x 100 - 2:30 Odds Easy/ Evens hard
500 Pull
5 x 100 - 2:30 Evens Eady/ Odds hard

200 Pull
4 x 50 IM Order
200 Kick
4 x 50 Choice Stroke

200 Cool down

(4500m Total)

Rode my bike some yesterday. I'd forgotten how much I enjoy it. Went out at mid-day in 93 degree heat. For some reason, I'm not bothered by the heat when I'm riding. Absolutely can't stand it when it is cold though. I put in 20 miles. Definitely not as strong as I used to be but it started coming back near the end of the ride. Biggest problem with cycling... I don't have anyone to ride with. It gets boring. There's a triathlon about a week after nationals. I'm pretty sure I'm going to do the whole thing... not just the swim this time.

LCM

300 Free
200 Kick
200 Pull
300 Free

3 x 200 Kick

4 x 300
Odds - Stroke/Free/Stroke
Evens - Free/Stroke/Free

3 x 200 Pull

4 x 50 IM Order
4 x 50 Kick
4 x 50 Pull
4 x 50 Choice stroke

200 Cool Down

(4400m Total)