Pete's swim blog

Swam w/ Dave, Dave and Dave. With my back hurting still, I was anxious to get a long workout behind me. Swimming helps a lot and the more the better. Plus, why waste my taper on rest?

SCY

600 warm up

25 fly/75 free - 1:30
3 x 100 - 1:20
25 fly/75 free - 1:30
50 fly/50 free - 1:30
3 x 100 - 1:20
25 fly/75 free - 1:30
50 fly/50 free - 1:30
75 fly/25 free - 1:30
3 x 100 - 1:20
25 fly/75 free - 1:30
50 fly/50 free - 1:30
75 fly/25 free - 1:30
100 fly - 1:30 (made 1:19 <- that's the taper working!)
50 easy

4 x 75 fly/bk/br - 1:20
10 x 75 25k hard/50 easy - 1:15

5 x 100 kick - 1:50

6 x 150 Pull - 2:15 (50bk/50fr/50bk)

200 Cool down

(5200 Total)

At 1:00 AM this morning, I decided my meet was done. I couldn't sleep because I could only minimize pain. It just hurt no matter what position I was in. It was about time for more ibuprofen so I took it and tried my best to get comfortable. I did sleep because sometime around 4:30 Dave sneaked out of the room to head to Starbucks. I had planned to catch him on the way out so I could ride along and apply some heat to my back from the heated seats in his car. Woke up at 6:00 AM about the time he was getting back in. Everything was painful. Getting out of bed, putting clothes on, going to be bathroom... it all hurt.

About 7:00 Roger came to the room and we discussed the situation. I've gone to practice Monday mornings before after hurting my back playing soccer. However, that didn't involve swimming @ meet speeds and diving into the pool. And I've never tried swimming with this much pain before. We decided it would be taken one step at a time. First, I'd see if I could get into a racing suit. Then, I'd test things out. Light swimming, followed by some easy flip turns and then hard swimming. I planned to start the 500 from the wall for fear I'd hurt my back worse. They had a physical therapist and a massage table available. I was going to give that a try. Finally, I'd take my next dose of Ibuprofen at 9:00 AM about 40 minutes before the 500 start. If it wasn't meant to happen, I'd just scratch races until I felt I was ready. Roger led a prayer for my healing. At this point, I felt like I needed a miracle just to get into my suit.

We got to the pool at about 8:30. The heated seats in Dave's car did feel great but getting out of his car didn't. We got our stuff settled in and I went to the locker room for my first test: the swim suit. I got it on surprisingly easily even though I was very ginger about my movements. I jumped into the pool and it felt amazing. All the weight was off my back and the pain just washed away. Took a few strokes and everything was working. Did some easy laps w/ flip turns and absolutely no pain. Did some breaststroke and no pain. Did some strokes of fly and... ok that hurt a little. But I only had 50 fly left and that was at the end of the day. After 1000 yards or so, I got the courage up to go off the blocks once they opened up a lane. I was unable to start like I normally do but I could reach down and grab the block in something that resembled a track start. I pushed off, hit the water perfect and had a smooth entry with no pain. Great! I was already doing things I hadn't planned on doing. I got out of the pool and the pain was back... but not as bad as it was earlier. Took my ibuprofen and headed over to Roger's Christian devotional. Got more prayers from my back. After that, I headed over to the physical therapist. That was 10 minutes I was not wanting to end. Back still hurt but at least I was more relaxed. Back in the pool for some speed tests. I was a bit slower than I wanted to be. Did a couple 50s @ 500 pace and a 100 @ 500 pace. The 100 was a 1:08-1:09. I was looking for 1:07. Did some more easy stuff and got ready to race.

500 Free
Seed time: 5:37.54
Meet time: 5:39.09
Splits: 1:06.52, 1:08.78, 1:08.65, 1:08.79, 1:06.35

Start was good even with my awkward stance. It didn't take long for the swimmers around me to start pulling away. I wanted to go with them badly but at this point finishing was a victory in itself. For the first time today, my arms hurt worse than my back. It was a good feeling. I got out of the pool and suddenly felt 100% better. Did a couple hundred cool down and got ready for 200 Br.

200 Br
Seed time: 2:34.13
Meet time: 2:34.24
Splits: 35.59, 39.62, 39.45, 39.58

This start was much better and I was flexible enough to do a normal track start. I might have chased a faster swimmer in the lane next to me a bit too much on the first 50 but held a consistent pace throughout. I really didn't think about it too much. I was still hoping to just finish. Holding my time from last year was a bonus as far as I was concerned. No cool down or warm up for 200 back.

At this point, I had 200 back and 200 IM left. I knew I could finish the day since the backstroke start would have little risk of injury. I could gut out the 200 IM if something went wrong and I hurt my back again on that dive. It was all downhill and I was determined to finish this meet.

200 Back
Seed time: 3:00
Meet time: 2:41.39
Splits: 40.44, 40.52, 41.01, 39.42

Turned out that ekw was in my heat, two lanes over. My plans to cruise this event were suddenly cut short. This was the swimming equivalent to challenging people to drag races in a stock ford pinto but I was going to try. I didn't do too bad but Ellen beat me anyway. Next year! Even worse, I lost by a second to the person closest to me in the high point trophy race. And he and I both were in the 200 IM. I didn't know the exact point difference but I knew it would be really close if I didn't win the 200 IM. He was seeded 5 seconds ahead of me and one heat after mine. I decide that if I was going to lose, I'd make sure he had to do a lot better than his seed time to beat me. Obviously, I was feeling better much better as my priorities had changed from managing pain to racing for points.

200 IM
Seed time: 2:35
Meet time: 2:22.58!
Splits: 31.06, 40.87, 38.48, 32.17

Great finish for the weekend! It was fast enough by about 12 seconds for high point. I thought I had a 2:25 in me but didn't think 2:22 was possible. Took an easy 200 IM cool down.

So, I finished the brute squad meet. 1650, 200 fly, 200 free, 400 IM, 500 free, 200 br, 200 bk, 200 IM. It was fun despite my challenges. The one thing I missed was swimming more breaststroke events. It felt weird to watch waves of 50 and 100 br heats to pass by without me getting ready to join one. Not sure if I'll do this again but I enjoyed every race. I had the strength to compete in them and recovered sufficiently to get ready for the next.

As usual, the meet was well run. AMS always puts on a top-notch even in a really fast pool. Great to meet all the forumites that were at the meet. Seeing all of you and your achievements despite your own struggles was awesome. Thanks to my teammates that encouraged and prayed for me throughout the weekend. I couldn't find a better team. Look forward to next year!

Events for today:

1650 free
200 fly
200 free
400 I'm

Warmed up for the 1650:

500 build
4 rounds of:
* 25 no breath - :40
* 50 free @ 1650 pace - 1:00
3 x 100 free @ 1650 pace - 2:00

(1100 total)

Couple forumites are here: ekw, Elaine, swimosaur... probably a couple more.

Settled in @ Auburn and headed to the pool w/ Roger, Danny, Dave and Teresa. Met our new teammate Pat. Did some light stuff mostly getting used to pool markings.

SCY

400 Warm up

2 x 50 - ??

100 @ 1650 Pace (1:09)

200 Cool down

(800 Total)

Swam w/ Dave, Dave and Dave this morning. Pretty light workout again.

SCY

600 Warm up

2 x 50 - 1:30 Fly, Br @ 200 pace

200 free @ 1650 pace (2:17 - a bit faster than I wanted)

100 Cool down

(1000 Total)

I think we are going to make a quick visit to the pool tonight and then get some rest for tomorrow.

Light stuff today w/ a couple sprints. Feeling much stronger and I'm no longer sore from piling on the miles.

SCY

600 Warm up

4 x 50 Fly - 1:45 (:37, :35, :31, :32)

100 Easy

16 x 25 - :40 Swim Easy/Swim Hard/Kick Easy/Kick hard

50 Fly from dive (0:30.15 )

(1350 Total)

Quick swim w/ everyone on the team named Dave today. Just a warm-up and a couple sprints. Psych sheets came out for the Auburn meet this weekend. Despite an increased attendance from last year, there aren't as many swimmers in my age group this year. Some of the really fast swimmers have aged up. Most in my age group seem content to battle it out in the 50s and 100s where I'm happier in the distance events. So, I'm really more focused this year on dropping time since I don't have any 40-44 competitors in most of my heats. I'm really concerned that I'm not a whole lot faster than last year. On the other hand, taper has gone pretty well. I'm ready to go.

SCY

600 Warm up

4 x 50 Br - 1:30 (Made :35 on the last one)

4 rounds of:
* 25 Easy stroke - :40
* 25 Hard stroke - :40 (no breath)
* 25 Easy kick - :40
* 25 hard kick - :40

200 Medley relay (Br - 33.5)
200 Free relay (27.5)

Breaststroke wasn't too bad. Was hoping for a little quicker on the free split.

50 Cool down

(1350 total)

Swam w/ Dave, Dave, Dave, Roger and Danny. Light day. Going to really cut back for the rest of the week.

SCY

600 Warm up

8 x 50 - :40, No breath
50 Easy

4 Rounds of:
* 50 Drill - 1:00
* 25 Hard - 1:00

4 Rounds of:
* 50 Drill - 1:00
* 50 Hard kick - 1:00 (1:00 Rest before last kick)

200 Medley relay (2:07 - I did the breaststroke leg)

200 Free Timed (2:01, broken @50s for 10 seconds)

(2000 Total)

Rested most of yesterday with back problems. I seem to be much better now. Swam this morning with Dave, Dave, Dave, Roger and Danny.

SCY

600 Warm up

6 x 25 Sprint from dive to 15m, cruise - lots of rest

8 x 25 kick - :40 easy/hard

2 x 100 IM - 4:00 easy/hard

16 x 25 - :40 IM Order (Easy/no breath/kick easy/kick hard for each stroke)

200 IM Timed - Rest :10 @ Each 50. (2:27)
I think I could have gone faster. Didn't feel like a 100% effort.

50 Easy & out

(2150 Total)

Swam at HSA w/ Dave, Dave, Dave and a few others. We more or less followed the workout give to us but truncated it and took it very easy. Dave knocked out a 1:06.5 100 fly inspiring me to do a really hard 200 broken breaststroke.

SCY

400 Choice
3 x 100 free - 1:30, descend (1:18, 1:12, 1:07)
4 x 50 Kick w/ fins - 1:00
4 x 25 - :30 easy/hard

200 Kick w/ fins
4 x 75 - 25 easy, 25 drill, 25 hard, IM Order
200 Br kick
50 Easy

200 Timed Br, :10s rest @ each 50 (2:37) - about where I thought I would be. 1st 2 50s were fairly easy. 2nd two were painful. I was going a little late because Dave was calling my sendoffs from a different clock than i was looking at. Probably closer to 2:32-2:34 w/ :11s-:12s rest.

150 Easy

(2100 Total)

Feeling somewhat demotivated about blogging my taper. Swam w/ Dave, Dave, Dave, Danny, Roger and Meredith. Meredith got to swim hard since she isn't tapering. Never thought I'd be jealous of someone swimming a long hard fly set. Yesterday, we truncated a workout from the HIT forums. Lots of 25s on 40 or so. I think we did about 2000 yards.

Today, we did a broken 500. I did better than I thought I would. After 2 days of light workouts, I'm starting to recover a bit. Hopefully it will continue over the next few days.

SCY

600 Warm up
Splashed around, practiced turns for a while.

6 x 50 - :50
2:00 Rest
500 Hard, broken @ 50s, rest :10s
Did 5:27. Hope that simulates what I can do in Auburn. I'd be really happy w/ anything under 5:30. On the 9th or so 50, lactic acid started building up pretty bad but the 50s were fairly smooth and I was able to hold :32 to :33 fairly easily.

100 Easy

4 rounds of (IM Order by round):
* 2 x 50 Stroke - :40 easy/hard
* 2 x 50 kick - :40 easy/hard

Called times out for Roger's broken 400 IM and out.

(1900 total - probably did a bit more)

Swam w/ Dave, Dave, Dave, Meredith and Danny. First day of taper. Kind of feels weird walking away from the pool and not feeling beat up. Kept around 2K today. Lots of fast 25s with lots of rest.

SCY

600 Warm up

200 IM, 12.5 kick/12.5 stroke

6 x 25 shooters - 1:00 (2 front, 2 back, 2 flutter)
50 Easy

6 x 25 IM Order no free - 1:00
50 Easy

6 x 25 Burst to 15M, cruise - 1:10
50 Easy

10 x 25 Fast, IM Order - 1:15
100 Easy

4 x 100 w/ fins - 5:00 AFAP
* #1 - :15 rest @ 75
* #2 - :15 rest @ 50
* #3 - :15 rest @ 50 & 75
* #4 - :15 rest @ all walls
Made these on :54 - :56 subtracting out the rest

Did a little turn work and out.

(2150 Total)

Swam w/ Dave, Dave, Aundrey, Meredith, Roger and Danny. Keith, Ray and Dave did something different a couple lanes over. Did one last hard 5k and now I'm officially tapering. Last year I did more yardage in January but this year, I've pushed hard in the last two weeks with no rest days and two 8K+ days. I'm definitely more exhausted than I was last year. We'll see how well that translates to faster times.

SCY

600 Warm up

4 x 100 - 1:30 Convert free -> IM
1:00 Rest
8 x 100 Up/Down Fly - 1:30 (:10) Start w/ 100 Fly
8 x 100 Up/Down Fly - 1:30 (:05)
50 Easy
First 8 went about as I expected. Went 100, 75, 50, 25 fly and then alternated between 50 and 25 fly the rest of the way. On #9, I made 50 fly easily and prepared to make the jump to 75 fly for #10. I was not planning on making 75 fly/25 free on 1:25 but somehow did and was now facing another 100 fly. Made that on about 1:33 and dropped all the way down to 0 fly before I caught up to the interval again .

75 Fly/225 Free - 4:30
50 Fly/250 Free - 4:15
25 Fly/275 Free - 4:00
1:00 Rest
300 Free - 3:45 (made 3:33)
50 Easy

5 Rounds of:
* 100 Pull - 1:20 Hard (1:05-1:08)
* 50 Pull - :50 easy

12 x 50 Kick - 1:00 (IM Order x 3)

100 Cool down

(5350 Total)

Swam w/ Dave, Dave, Aundrey, Roger and Meredith. Keith and Dave swam a couple lanes over doing their own workout. Very tired and worn out today. Could not get going at all. Glad taper is coming soon. I'd have given up on this workout if I weren't so close to taper.

SCY

600 Warm up

6 x 50 - :45
50 Easy - 2:00
800 Timed, Open turns at 200s to check clock.
Went 2:28, 2:30, 2:30, 2:27 (9:55) Just under 1:15 pace. Should be faster than that.
100 Easy

4 Rounds of (Stroke = IM Order by round)
* 250 Kick - 5:00 (did 300 kick on breaststroke round)
* 6 x 50, Odds stroke, evens pull, #5 hard
50 Easy

50 Br - 1:00
100 Br - 2:00
150 Br - 3:00
200 Br - 4:00 (2:55)
Tried to keep these as fast as I could go. Definitely wanted to break 3:00 on the 200 but I was hoping for a 2:50 or better.

50 Fly - 1:00
100 Fly - 2:00
150 Fly - 3:00 (did 100 fly/50 back)
200 Fly - 4:00 (did 200 IM)
Took this round much easier but eventually just fell apart from exhaustion.

200 Cool down

(5350 Total)

Decided to squeeze in an extra workout this afternoon. Dave had the same idea and we happened to show up at the exact same time. Worked out perfect since we tend to push each other a little harder than we would solo.

SCY

600 Warm up

5 x 300 - 4:30, descend (4:00, 3:45, 3:42, 3:35, 3:30)
100 Easy

6 rounds of:
* 50 Free - :50
* 25 Fly, no breath - :20
* 50 Free - :50
50 Easy

3 rounds of:
* 25 Kick free/25 free - 1:00
* 25 Free, no breath - :20
* 25 kick free/25 free - 1:00
* 25 free/25 kick fly - 1:00
* 25 fly, no breath - :20
* 25 free/25 kick fly - 1:00
50 Easy

Timed 400 (4:47 - really shocked I could do this considering the yardage I've put in over the last couple days)

100 Cool down

(4300 Total)

Swam at the Hsv Nat w/ Dave, Dave and Hunter. A bunch of others were there but they were on different intervals and most truncated the workout. Swam solo at Dublin this afternoon. Pretty much found my limit. On my last 50 kick, my calf seized up and I was done. Felt strong for the yardage put in.

Morning - SCY

600 Warm up

12 x 50 Kick w/ fins - :50 odds on side, evens choice
12 x 25 - :30 2 easy/2 hard
6 x 100 - 1:20
6 x 100 - 1:15
100 Easy

12 x 25 - :30 2 easy/2 hard fly, back, br
12 x 100 Stroke - 1:40 (IM Order x 3)
200 Cool down

(4500 Total)

Afternoon - SCY

600 Warm up

Only had an hour so I packed in as much as I could. Did a lot of IM so I could practice my back/breast turns.

20 x 100 IM - 1:30 (Made all on 1:23-1:25)
50 Easy - 2:00
16 x 100 - 1:20 (These got tougher as I went but most were 1:15-1:16)
50 Hard - 1:10 (Made :35)
6 x 50 Kick w/ fins - :45
100 Cool down

(4700 Total, 9200 for the day)

Shoulder pain has gone down considerably. I'm still putting away the paddles until after the meet. Swam w/ Dave, Dave and Roger. Keith and Dave did their own thing in the adjacent lane.

SCY

700 Warm up

8 x 50 - :50 IM Order x 2
2:00 Rest
10 x 100 IM - 1:25
50 Easy
Made the IMs (1:22s-1:23s). We did this late last year and I made it a lot easier. I'm far more worn out right now.

8 x 100 Up/down Kick - 1:40 (:05) base stroke fly
50 Easy

4 rounds of (IM Order by round):
* 50 Kick - 1:10
* 25 Stroke, no breath - :30
* 50 Kick - 1:10
* 25 Stroke, no breath - :30
* 50 Kick - 1:10

5 x 200 - 3:00 Convert Free -> Fly (made it - 2:59)

200 Cool down

(5000 Total)

Swam w/ Dave, Dave, Roger, Danny and Aundrey. Backed off the yardage today with slight right shoulder pain. Might have been from pulling yesterday without warming up first. Going to take it easy until I know it is better.

SCY

600 Warm up
200 IM, 12.5 kick/12.5 swim
2 rounds of:
* 4 x 25 - :40 Shooters w/ fins, IM Order (Front, back, sdk w/ br pull, flutter)
50 Easy
8 x 25 -:40, IM order; Odds build, evens fast
50 Easy


4 x 25 drag race shooters - 1:00
50 easy
4 x 50 - 1:30(?) :10 fast kick at wall + flip turn + build to mid-pool + fast flip turn mid-pool + 25 fast + 12.5 cruise to wall
100 easy
4 x 25 w/ankle straps - 1:00 dive + strong SDK to 12.5-15m + cruise
50 easy
4 x 25 - 1:00 dive + AFAP SDK to 12.5-15 m + cruise
50 easy
4 x 50 - 1:30 :15 egg beater at wall + 25 br + 25 easy
50 easy
4 x 50 - 1:30 :15 fast VK w arms over head + :5 rest + 25 burst + 25 easy
100 easy
8 x (25 AFAP + 75 easy stroke) - 2:00 (did fly, br, br, free)


200 Cool down

(3550 Total)

Storms rolled through early this morning. When I got to my car, I saw lightning followed by the low rumble of thunder. The front was still 30 minutes away so I didn't see much hope of practice. Went back to bed. Dave and Dave met me at 11:30 AM for a lunch swim. I got there a little late and missed warm-ups. Felt sore the whole way through this one.

SCY

3 rounds of:
* 2 x 50 Pull - :50
* 2 x 50 Kick - 1:10
5 x 50 Br - 1:00, descend (made :38 on the last one)
50 Easy

10 x 100 Up/down Kick - 1:40 (:10)
5 x 50 Back - 1:00, descend (:39 on last one)
3 rounds of:
* 2 x 50 Pull - :40
* 2 x 50 Kick - 1:10
5 x 50 Free - 1:00, descend (:30 on last one)
50 easy

6 x 100 Up/down Kick - 1:40 (:05) Base stroke fly
5 x 50 fly - 1:00, descend (:36 on last one)

200 Cool down

(4100 Total)

Swam w/ Dave, Dave, Danny, Meredith and Roger. Dave, Ray and Keith did their own thing a couple lanes over.

SCY

600 Warm up
200 IM, 12.5 kick/12.5 swim


2 rounds of:
* 4 x 25 - :40 Shooters w/ fins, IM Order (Front, back, sdk w/ br pull, flutter)
50 Easy


8 x 25 -:40, IM order; Odds build, evens fast
50 Easy


8 x 25 - 1:00 burst 15M + cruise
50 Easy


3 rounds of
* 4 x 50 IM Order - 1:30, break for :10 @25
* 1 x 50 Easy
100 Easy


3 rounds of
* 5 x 50 kick w/fins - 1:30, odds afap, evens easy
Did middle round br kick w/o fins. Made sub-:40s (:37.5 on one). Didn't think I could do that.
50 Easy


1000 Timed, alternate 100 Pull w/ 100 Kick (13:20)


200 Cool down


(4400 Total)