Swim/SCY/Solo: Did a workout that I did about a week before Auburn. Warm up: 400 swim 150 kick 150 fly drills 3 x 25 build 25 EZ Speed work: 5 x (25 easy speed fly + 25 EZ) Felt like I had slightly increased DPK & DPS on these. 50 EZ 1 x 50 back AFAP w/fins Went 24ish, my fastest practice time ever. But I did go past the 15 meter mark on the first 25. 150 EZ 1 x 50 dolphin kick on back AFAP Went 23ish, mistimed turn 150 EZ 4 x (25 AFAP free + 50 EZ) 100 C/D Total: 1900 ART 30 minutes of ART for some body work. I bought a tube of traumeel. I've tried many topical creams before, and thought they were all ineffective. This one seems to work and penetrate into the shoulder capsule. Of course, it could just be the placebo effect too, as it is with so many things ... My chiro noticed I was congested, and my throat has been swollen too. Apparently, there is some mold spore going crazy at the moment. That would certainly explain my reaction as I'm allergic to mold too. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Didn't feel too bad in the water today. Didn't feel too sluggish from the deep tissue. And didn't have that "feel like crap" taper feeling yet. I'm wondering if this has been countered somewhat by the increased/better sleep? Just had my 3rd night in a row of 8 hours of sleep. Very odd stuff. I don't even have the taper bitchies yet! On this note, my doc told me to stop taking B complex vitamins, as that can contribute to insomnia. I'm thinking of lending my kid my speed suit for All Stars this weekend. After Chris' and Hulk's suit thefts, I'm a little leery of this though ... I do know many swimmers will be clad in B70s/LZRs. My B70 has also seen some use now. If the suits are legal until May 2010 or so, I may get a new B70 at Nats.
Updated July 29th, 2009 at 09:08 PM by The Fortress
Weights Lite: bench press, 50 x 3 x 8 HS hi row, 70 x 2 x 10 prone scapular scrunches, 2 x 25 internal and external rotators on cable machine, 10 x 3 x 15, each arm seated straight arm dips, 45 x 3 x 25 3 point arm extensions, 3 x 2 x 15 I'm done with all weights and core now. Will only do RC work until Nats. Swim/Solo/SCM: Swam in hot outdoor gym pool. No backstroke attempted. Mellow recovery workout. There wasn't even a pace clock on deck. Warm up: 650 swim, kick, drill Main sets: 10 x 25 UW shooters 10 x 50 flutter kick w/board 50 EZ 16 x 25 odds = easy speed fly evens = EZ 150 C/D Total: 2000 meters Massage Got a deep tissue massage today. She really worked over the calves and mid back area. I blame the mid back tightness on fly. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I managed to dig up my official split request form and documentation and PDF them to Mary Beth Windrath. I'm lucky I found them, usually I don't hold onto things like that. Lesson learned. She still had had no response from the Southeastern TT Recorder. But will include my 100 back time b/c of my back up documentation. Right now, I'm tempted to not swim in the Dixie Zone region since two different TT recorders couldn't do their job. Geez. Looks like tech suits will be legal until May 2010. Happy about that. Think FINA should regulate rather than punting. Plus, Rocket Science does not accept returns (check website carefully!). So I am the owner of the Sprinter suit, which I'll have to give a spin this fall. Got another good night's sleep. But have been feeling groggy during the day. Hope this side effect goes away.
Swim/SCY/Solo: Warm up: 750 variety swim, kick, drill Transition set: 6 x 75 25 UW shooter on back + 25 feet first scull + 25 easy speed fly 50 EZ Speed work: 3 x (100 broken backstrokes w/ fins, 15 second rest at 50, + 200 EZ) Went 26/29 (kid interruption on second 50), 26/27-28, 26/27 50 EZ 2 x (AFAP 50 w/fins + 100 EZ) went 25 on fly, 22-23 on dolphin kick shooter 50 EZ 5 x (25 AFAP + 50 EZ) 3 fast free, 2 fast flutter kick shooter 125 C/D Total: 3050 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Didn't feel the greatest. Kinda tired afterward from the sprinting. I may need to shift into super loafing mode. I've sort of lost track of how close Nats is ... I barely know what day it is lately ... thought it was Tuesday most of the day ... I can't wait to swim in my pool without all the loud nasty interfering children --- why, they're enough to make a person want to have a vasectomy! One kid just walked off with my fins today. Did get a second good night sleep in a row. Was very busy today and have some running around to do tomorrow wrt All Stars. That meet is a zoo. I'm just hoping I can at least watch my kid. I hate it when grown adults insist on saving seats for 24 hours and won't budge to let others watch their kids race. I can forsee the need to be f'in beech ... The food front is pretty much the same. I've just been eating a bit more pasta and some sandwiches instead of salads for lunch. I've tried switching my glass of chard to the dinner/happy hour. That just makes me tired all evening ... Mini Mono and I are going to get pedicures and massages together tomorrow. I've been babying her more than usual.
Updated July 27th, 2009 at 09:15 PM by The Fortress
Swim/SCY/Solo: Warm up: 600 swim, kick 200 fly drills Main sets: 16 x 25 4 point shooters 50 EZ 20 x 25 evens easy speed-fast fly odds easy 50 EZ 3 x (50 AFAP w/fins+ 200 EZ) 2 50 backs = 25ish 1 50 dolphin kick on back = 22-23 5 x (25 AFAP free + 50 EZ) C/D 125 Total: 3100 Need to do some stretching and RC work tonight. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Took a rest day on Saturday. Had a good day at Divisionals and now only one week left of summer swim! Didn't go to Mason today (and who knew Speedo would show?!). Didn't want to swim with the super fast intervals. I may go on Tuesday and swim in a slower lane just to get some LC work in. Or else I'll swim at the 12-2 lunch hour session. The pool closes for the rest of August on Aug 3. And, more importantly, I slept for a solid 8 hours last night for the first time in about 2 years. Uh, life is different with uninterrupted sleep. I just hope it continues.
Weights/RC: standing lat pulldown, 75 x 3 x 10 fast prone scapular scrunches w/5 lb weights, 3 x 25 external and internal rotators, 10 x 3 x 15, each arm seated straight arm dips, 2 x 25 elevated crunches, 2 x 25 dead bug on bosu, 2 x 15 (going to do some arm extensions tonight) Swim/SCY/Solo: Warm up 700 variety swim, kick, drill Aerobic sets: 10 x 25 shooters on back 20 x 50 @ 1:00 odds = flutter kick w/board evens = backstroke, smooth & working on breakouts 50 EZ Speed set: 8 x (4 x 25), no interval #1 = easy speed fly #2 = EZ #3 = AFAP free #4 = EZ 200 C/D Total: 3000 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ran into my PV buddy, NuthinBut50s, who was working out in the adjacent lane. He does his speed work very differently from me. He doesn't do any recovery swimming when doing his fast 25s. He just blasts away on a 1:15 or so interval, to get a 1:4 or 1:5 swim to rest ratio. In contrast, I always use a 1:3 or 1:4 or more ratio of sprint swimming to recovery swimming. It seems to hard to me to do AFAP 25s without some easy swimming in between ... But it was interesting that we interpreted the prescribed ratios so differently. Tomorrow is a scheduled rest day for me, which is good as we have the Divisional Championships and Team Dinner taking up the bulk of the day. No driving -- we're hosting the meet at our pool.
Squeezed in a short workout between very long trips out to MD. Circumstances were not ideal: backstroke flags down, only 4 lap lanes, huge teenage boys crashing off the diving board and dousing 2-3 lap lanes with tremendous splashing and I forgot my fins. Going to try to go at 4:00 pm tomorrow and hopefully try to avoid some of that. Swim/SCY/Solo: Warm up: 700 variety swim, kick, drill Main sets: 20 x 25 UW shooters odds belly, evens on back 50 EZ 2 x (5 x 50) #1-3 cruise free #4 fast kick #5 EZ 50 EZ 10 x 75 (25 AFAP + 25 EZ + 25 scull) AFAPs = 2 free, 2 back, 2 fast flutter kick shooters, 2 fast doggie paddle, 2 free) 150 C/D Total: 2700 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I think in the future I may have to find a LCM meet other than Nats to taper for. An early August meet is just not the greatest timing for me given that late June and July are my busiest time of the year. I didn't even sit down until 11:30 pm last night and had to get up at 5:30 am. Couldn't really sleep much. My post-Nats project is to attempt to get that under better control. My Mini Mono Fort swam her very last JO final tonight. (She's skipping the 200 events.) She was way off her time, but gutted out a good finish, and I was proud of her.
Updated July 24th, 2009 at 10:12 AM by The Fortress
Did three round trip drives to Mason today, as Mini Fort decided to attend a LC practice before JOs and I wanted to get a LC practice in as well. At least the traffic wasn't as bad as usual! LCM/Team: 500 swim 500 (50 kick/50 drill) 3 x 50 build 1 x 50 scull (I missed 300 of this chatting and arriving a tad late.) 3 x (4 x 100) @ 1:50 #1 = 25 fly/50 free/25 fly #2 = 25 back/50 free/25 back #3 = 25 breast/50 free/25 breast I worked #1 & #2 and cruised the breast-free ones. 50 EZ 6 x 50 kick @ 1:15 25 kick w/board + 25 kick on back holding board above head with 2 heads (extremely hard) 50 EZ 9 x 100 freestyle: (I did them all backstroke.) 4 @ 1:40 (skipped one, cramp) 3 @ 1:35 (cruised) 2 @ 1:30 (skipped one and went fast on the last one with fins. went around 1:10 even having to swim around someone. pretty fast for me on backstroke at the end of practice.) 150 EZ Total: 3300 meters (team = 3900) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Random thoughts: I'm feeling pretty strong in the water at the moment. Wonder if it's the explosive lifting or something else? (More carbs? lol) Still need more sleep. Still need to check my taper workouts from last February. I've been operating on pure intuition lately. I've been just crazy busy lately. I think next week after Divisionals and JOs, life will calm down somewhat. Or at least I hope so. Going to lift tomorrow. My teammate wants to know why Jimby is wimping out and not swimming the 800 free against him at Indy. Really happy Fort Son, my homework minimalist, got a 5 on his AP history exam.
ART: 30-35 minutes of ART working on scapular area and calves. Had to do it before swimming, though I prefer it the other way around. Swim/SCY/Solo: Warm up: 700 variety swim, kick, drill Hypoxic kick set: 10 x 50 backstroke kick @ 1:00 10 SDKs off each wall 50 EZ Main set with speed work: 2 x through: 1 x 100 single arm fly drill @ 2:00 1 x 100 backstroke @ 2:00 50 EZ 50 back AFAP 50 EZ 50 flutter kick AFAP w/board 50 EZ 5 x (25 easy speed fly + 25 EZ) 50 EZ 1 x (25 AFAP free + 25 EZ+ 25 AFAP flutter kick shooter + 25 EZ) 200 C/D Total: 3100 Off to the last Monday night summer league meet of the season. Hoping it doesn't rain!
Saturday Feeling a bit jinxed about meets. On Saturday, Mr. Fort left to take the girls to the summer league meet an hour or so from our house for warm up. (I was supposed to follow with my Mom later, as they were both swimming in the second half of the meet.) Unfortunately, he left with both sets of car keys. So I missed both their meet and my own meet. I couldn't get there in time for warm up and positive check in. I was a bit bummed, as I was looking forward to the 100 back. No matter, I'll just see how it goes in Indy. Did 30 minutes on the indoor cycle and 15-20 minutes of Rc exercises Sunday: Weights/dryland: explosive lifting: HS bench press, 50 x 3 x 10 HS hi row, 90 x 3 x 10 tricep press, 45 x 3 x 10 total ab machine, 90 x 3 x 15 external and internal rotators, 10 x 3 x 15, each arm seated straight arm dips, 60 x 2 x 25 elevated crunches w/12.5 lb weights, 2 x 25 windshield wipers, 2 x 20 iron monkey, 1 x 25 back extensions, 2 x 25 stretching Swim/SCY/Solo: 700 warm up 8 x (4 x 50) @ :55-1:00 #1 = backstroke kick #2 = backstroke #3 = flutter kick w/board #4 = fly or br drill #1 & #2 = 10/8 SDK (like Chris, I'm a fan of hypoxic work during taper) 50 EZ 20 x 25 w/fins odds = alternate AFAP free, AFAP flutter kick shooter evens = EZ 150 C/D Total: 3000 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Funny note: My son asked for the Hopper Deck for his birthday. Seems like the coach at his rowing camp is a fan of Cross Fit. http://store.thehopperdeck.com/product/the-hopper-deck
1000 easy 1000 errands (still time to sprinkle flax seeds on the salad though ) Mom is arriving tonight. Mr. Fort is still out of town. Just found out that Mini Mono Fort is swimming at Sr. Champs tomorrow (after avoiding LC all summer). Yikes, it will be a busy weekend! Sr. and Jr. Champs tomorrow and our last summer league A meet and Junior Champs on Saturday. I'm only swimming the 100 back on Saturday, as I wasn't entirely sure I'd get there from the summer league meet in time for the 50 free (and I technically have Sr. Champs cuts in that). Tech suits will be in full force, as an article in today's Washington Post noted: http://reachforthewall.com/2009/07/1.../?hpid=artslot. Mini Fort also said there were tons of B70s & LZRs at the All Star Relays yesterday, which is a bit of a departure from what I recall several years ago. Got a piece of advice from Coach Chris for the 100 fly: breathe 2 up, 1 down the 3rd 25. I have no goals for this event other than to not DQ and to not replicate last years 8 second split differential. But since I don't train for this event, it's always an adventure. Glad I'm swimming at U of Md this weekend. GMU is closed for an underwater hockey tournament and I don't fancy braving the public pools again this weekend. My wrist is still sore, but much better.
Updated July 16th, 2009 at 04:49 PM by The Fortress
AM Weights/Drylands: Quickie weight session while my youngest was swimming. bench press, 50 x 3 x 10 seated narrow grip row, 60 or 70 x 2 x 10 alternating hammers, 15 x 2 x 30 total ab machine, 80 x 2 x 15 crunches w/med ball, 2 x 25 windshield wipers, 2 x 20 seated straight arm dips, 45 x 2 x 25 external and internal rotators, 10 x 2 x 15, each arm prone scapular scrunches, 2 x 25 10 minutes of stretching The explosive lifting at much lighter weights seemed easy. I'm done with leg weights, as Q suggests. Think I'll lift a couple times, lightly, next week. I've never tapered weights before. I also haven't lifted weights the week before a meet in about a year. Nor have I only rested one day. I guess I'll see how that works out this weekend ... PM Swim/SCY/Solo: Warm up: 750 variety swim, kick, drill Aerobic Set: 8 x 100 @ 1:50 odds backstroke kick evens backstroke Speed work: 3 x (50 AFAP backstroke + 200 EZ) 5 x (25 easy speed fly + 25 EZ) 50 EZ 3 x (25 AFAP free + 50 EZ) 100 C/D Total: 2950 ART Went for an ART session right after swimming. As usual, I had an irritated left dorsal scapular nerve. My doc decorated me in pink, blue and black kinesio tape and sent me off to the movies that way. Took my little one to Harry Potter. Now she's a bit scared and having trouble falling asleep -- bad mommy! Still wants me to keep reading Books 6 & 7 though, of course.
Updated July 15th, 2009 at 10:14 PM by The Fortress
Got an massage this morning. I wasn't as dreadfully tight or sore as usual. I was told my tightest muscle was the pectine. I've cut back the intensity somewhat the last week, so this wasn't too surprising. I guess I'm effectively on a more gradual 3 week taper plan at his point ... (Checked my blog. I did 5 swims this last week, but 3 were lesser yardage. Lifted 3x, but with fewer exercises and less weight. Did a couple short spins.) Back to intermittent speed and some lifting tomorrow and then an easy day on Thursday before I try to swim the hardest event I ever attempt (this will be attempt #3) on Friday. Went for a swim (er, kick) this afternoon. Nothing too taxing after a massage: Swim/SCY/Solo: Warm up: 700 variety swim, kick, drill Main sets: 3 x (4 x 50) kick/drill/swim @ 1:00, scull 10 x 25 UW shooter w/MF on back @ 30 50 scull 10 x 25 UW shooter w/MF on left side @ :35 50 scull 10 x 25 UW shooter w/MF on right side @ :35 50 scull 10 x 25 UW shooter w/MF on belly @ :30 50 EZ 4 x (3 x 50) 1 & 2 = flutter kick w/baord @ 1:00 3 = single arm fly drill 100 EZ 10 minutes hot tub Total: 3250 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Very quiet night on the home front. Mr. Fort is travelling, Mini is at the swim team dinner for all star relays and Fort Son is at away rowing camp. So I am taking the little one out to get pasta! I also just realized that I still have my Rocket Science Sprinter suit, which I haven't tried on. This suit it supposed to be 2010 compliant. But who knows what FINA will do in 2010? I'm going to email the company about that issue, since they apparently produced them in reliance on the gradual reduction in neoprene type material that FINA had been contemplating.
Updated July 14th, 2009 at 08:15 PM by The Fortress
Swim/SCY/Solo 700 variety warm up Main sets: Kick mountain (w/fins): 1 x 50 dolphin kick on back @ :45 1 x 100 dolphin kick w/board @ 1:30 1 x 150 dolphin kick on back @ 2:00 1 x 200 dolphin kick w/board @ 3:00 1 x 300 dolphin kick on back (don't know interval, collision, see below) 1 x 200 dolphin kick w/board @ 3:00 1 x 150 dolphin kick on back @ 2:00 1 x 100 dolphin kick w/board @ 1:30 1 x 50 dolphin kick on back @ :45 50 EZ 4 x (4 x 50), done as: #1 = 50 drill (2 single arm fly, 2 br w/dolphin kick) @ 1:00 #2 = cruise free @ 1:30 #3 = AFAP backstroke w/fins (25ish) #4 = easy 100 scull 100 EZ 10 x 25 shooter w/fins (odds belly, evens back)(moderately fast) 50 EZ 10 x 25 (odds easy speed fly, evens EZ DAB) 50 EZ 10 x 25 shooter (odds fast shooter no fins, evens EZ) 50 EZ 100 EZ Total: 3650 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Had a nasty collision during the kick mountain. Big kid from a lifeguard class popped up in my lane as I was kicking on my back. Hurt my wrist. Got home and it's very sore and swollen. I am sooo sick of this happening. The weird thing is that whoever just pops into my lane (apparently without looking) acts as if it's my fault when there's a crash. WTH?! If I'm driving down the road, I can't just space out and drift in some other lane. I'm worried I won't be able to lift much this week ... Going to give it ice baths. It keeps swelling more as time goes on. I skipped my team practice so I could sleep in. I feel a little peppier today. I've also decided I'm done with hard aerobic work. I think I've done a fair amount this summer for a wimpy sprinter and I'm only swimming one 100 and the rest 50s at Nats (even my relays will be 50s). So I'll carry on with some mellow aerobic work and speed work for awhile, then cut back intensity during week one of taper and yardage during week two. And, so sadly, there will be no 6th event at Nats, so I will not be swimming evilstroke. Haven't looked at the timeline yet, but it appears I may be able to show up at the pool around 3:00 in the afternoon that day! Checked the psych sheets for Jr. Champs this weekend. I'm seeded 10th in the 100 fly and 5th in the 100 back right next to a couple of Mini-Fort's friends again. I seeded myself .5 slower than my best times as I won't be tapered.
Updated July 12th, 2009 at 08:55 PM by The Fortress
Had 2 snappy workouts today. My weights session was interrupted by seeing an old friend. Had to catch up on life and her marathon training. My swim was cut short by a "hygiene accident" at my gym pool, forcing me to drive to another pool. My 3 kids have never closed down a pool; it's so frustrating when this happens. Anyhoo, here's what I got in in "less is more" fashion (which is probably good, as I'm still dragging some). Weights/Drylands: tricep press, 50 x 3 x 10 seated narrow grip row, 80 x 3 x 10 leg press, 210 x 3 x 10 deadlift, 80 x 2 x 10 (trying to do these in explosive fashion) bent over rear delt fly w/12.5 DBs, 12.5 x 3 x 10 elevated crunches on bench w/10 lb weight held by feet, 2 x 25 external and internal rotators, 10 x 3 x 15, each arm "chops" w/stomach on bosu w/3 lb weights, 3 x 2 x 25 seated straight arm dips for RC, 2 x 25 3 position arm extensions, 2 x 15 Swim/SCY/Solo: 600 variety warm up 6 x 75 (50 back w/ 10 & 8 SDKs + 25 feet first scull) 6 x 50 single arm fly @ 1:00 6 x 50 breast @ 1:00 (My daughter told me I need to squeeze my elbows together at the end of the pull. Never really focused on that. Duh. Had more DPS.) 50 EZ 6 x 25 shooters (3 dolphin, 3 flutter) 50 EZ 6 x (25 AFAP free or back + 25 EZ + 25 easy speed fly + 25 EZ) 100 EZ Total: 2600 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Food: Breakfast: 2 slices of Ezekial bread w/peanut butter Lunch: Salad w/romaine, chicken, flax seeds, tomato, avocado, currants, peppers, blueberries Snack: StrawnanaBerry smoothie Snack: G2 & balance bar after weights, endurox after swim Dinner: Lobster, steak, corn on the cob, sliced tomatoes, french bread, key lime pie ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ It's less than 4 weeks out from Nats. I'm not exactly feeling as beastly as planned (tired, naggy shoulder). Haven't quite decided on when to quit weights. I notice Q said 3 weeks out on Elise's blog. I'm worried, though, that that much time off my worsen the shoulder situation. So I may taper weights during week 3 and then drop weights (but not RC) for 2 weeks.
Updated July 11th, 2009 at 10:19 PM by The Fortress
As I anticipated, I only had time for a short am swim this morning: Swim/SCY/Solo: Warm up: 700 variety swim, kick, drill Sets: 10 x 25 shooters @ :35 8 x 100 backstroke kick w/fins (no time to dally!) @ 1:30 50 EZ 8 x (25 AFAP free + 25 EZ + 25 scull) 100 EZ Total: 2500 Off to do some RC exercises! Food: Breakfast: oatmeal w/apple, cinnamon & brown sugar Post workout snack: endura, cliff bar (which apparently had oatmeal and soy in eat -- didn't taste very good!) Lunch: cheese & chicken burrito; smoothie w/berries, papaya etc Snack: peach Dinner: Salmon, veggies sauteed in olive oil
Updated July 10th, 2009 at 08:21 PM by The Fortress
Weights/Drylands: HS hi row, 140 x 3 x 10 rear delt fly, 55 x 3 x 10 HS bench press, 20 x 1 x 8, 60 x 2 x 8 tricep press, 45 x 3 x 10 box jumps w/hands on bench, 1 x 1:00 dead bugs on bosu, 2 x 25 back extensions w/10 lb weight, 2 x 25 windshield wipers w/10 lb DBs, 3 x 10 incline crunches w/10 lb weight, 2 x 25 seated straight arm dips for RC, 60 x 2 x 25 prone scapular scrunches, 2 x 25 internal & external rotators, 10 x 2 x 15, each arm Swim/SCM/Solo: Very short workout at the summer league pool before heading off the Divisional Relays. Warm up 700 variety swim, kick, drill Sets: 6 x 50 @ 1:15 3 fly-back, 3 breast-free (Side note: My backstroke has felt appalling lately. I blame it on too much freestyle, the root of all evil. My coach did the mock shock thing when I walked in for the third consecutive Tuesday freestyle night. I had to reassure her that, no, I would not be going postal with some of my teammates on Sunday.) 10 x 25 shooters odds, belly evens, backstroke (how on earth do the kids do backstroke in these 4 foot deep pools?!) 10 x 25 easy speed fly 50 EZ 5 x (25 AFAP free + 25 EZ) 100 EZ Total: 1850 meters ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Assorted Ramblings: My shoulder is bothering me some again. I'm reasonably sure it's the damn planks I did yesterday. Smith will be relieved to know that I'm eliminating the wretched things from my dryland regimen, even though they're great for the core. I looked around for the ab roller today, but couldn't find it. I think that's a pretty good substitute exercise, and will switch to that regularly in the fall. Cut my weights by 30% today and did more explosive lifting. It occurred to me that I perhaps should have switched to explosive lifting right after Zones instead of recommencing regular strength training ... Next periodization cycle I'd like to start this sooner. (2 weeks doesn't seem like enough time?) I also think it would be better to incorporate more plyos throughout the season. (I couldn't really do that earlier this season since my hip was bothering me for awhile.) Don't think I'll have another taper meet until December, so I may formulate a plan (as opposed to just winging it) for the late-Aug-Nov time period. I'd also like to go back to a couple short runs per week in August after Nats. And, on the issue of swimming making me fat, which I joked about on the forums, I found this article in a quick search today. It reflects my experience. I look quite different than I did 4 years ago. YMMV http://www.sportsci.org/news/compeat/fat.html I picked a tick off my littlest kid tonight after the swim meet out in the boonies. Really annoyed and hoping it wasn't one of the lyme disease carrying kind. I may live in a traffic infested area, but at least I don't live in a tick infested area. On an up note, Mini Fort looked slightly perkier for the first time in a long time and I think both of her 13-14 relays may sneak into All Star relays. We'll know tomorrow after all Divisions report times. Team Fastskin was, as expected, clad in tech suits. I told Mini that her team could raid our tech suit collection and suit up for the All Star meet if they make it. The kids were very enthusiastic about the idea. Haha. There needs to be a little fun for the mono kid. And I have yet to meet many age groupers who are purists. :P (Though most won't be seen in a tech suit at a non-champs meet.) For Geek: I saw a moment today when my 8 year old appeared to have "the hate" in her. I smiled at that. I'm not sure if I'll get in a workout tomorrow ... Might only get a chance to hop on the indoor cycle. Tomorrow night, my usual practice time, there is yet another summer league meet, boy vs. girl meet, points scored by swimming a PB. (It's good for the little kids I guess to get more racing practice.) This meet also features the Gutter Guppy Relays where parents are put into teams for the swimmers' "amusement." We do one legit relay, but then a bunch of made up crap. As I dimly recall in my advancing senility, last year, I had to push a beach ball with my nose and do reverse doggy paddle with a kick board on my ass. This year, I'm told, some relay will involve toy soldiers. Our social chair is a real peach. Our theme for our last Saturday home meet is caveman. We have a theme for every A meet. Not sure I have appropriate gear for this one ... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Food log for Bob: Breakfast: omelet w/cheese, tomato & mushroom, strawberries G2 at gym Lunch: salad w/romaine, avocado, grilled chicken, currants, flax seeds and other stuff I forget Snack: smoothie w/mango, banana, strawberry, flax seed oil, L-glutamine and whey protein (no bee pollen for this "wanna-bee") Dinner: hamburger w/lettuce, tomato & onion. (I fear I may grow to hate hamburgers after all these summer league meets. On the upside, I seem to never have to cook dinner in the summer. I gave Fort Son cash for the next two nights and told him to knock himself out in my absence by inviting his friends over for pizza and swimming.) Snack: slice of quiche, blueberries I am contemplating doing a modified version of Patrick's detox after Nats. Don't really want to attempt one before.
Updated July 8th, 2009 at 11:37 PM by The Fortress
Spin: 30 minutes of very relaxed un-triathlete-like spinning on my indoor cycle followed by some RC exercises. Swim/LCM/Team: Warm up: 3 x 200 (swim, kick, swim) 200 IM drill 3 x 300 swim (I think this was it. I was late and missed the first 600 or so.) 6 x vertical kicking. Hands at shoulders for 20 seconds, arms in streamline for 10 seconds, squat jump off bottom of pool. 3 free, 3 fly Main sets: 4 x (4 x 50) w/fins: #1 backstroke kick @ 1:10 #2 dolphin kick @ 1:10 #3 freestyle w/overkick @ 1:00 #4 back or fly @ 1:00 (These are so much harder in LCM than SCY!) 100 EZ 12 x 100 @ 1:30 1-8 swim 9-12 pull optional #10 = 89% #11 = 90% #12 = 100% I kicked the last 4. Went around 1:15-16 on the swims and 1:17s on the kicks. The kicks were vastly easier. The swims made me breathe harder. 200 C/D Total (for me): 3200 meters Hottub ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ There was some discussion about cramping today. Two of my teammates who dislike bananas are drinking coconut water every day. It is apparently a super potassium drink superior to bananas. FWIW. I'm still feeling fatigued, but am thinking my sore throat might be due to my recent ingestion of bee pollen. I have given some by a runner friend who swears by it to throw in smoothies or recovery drinks. I took a quick look at bee pollen on line today. Found an interesting website, www.quackwatch.com and found this on bee pollen: http://www.quackwatch.org/01Quackery...s/DSH/bee.html Since I suffer from ragweed allergies, I think this may be the cause of my sore throat, not mono! lol ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Not sure when to stop weights/drylands again. I'm thinking of switching to lighter explosive weights until 2 weeks out. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Food: Breakfast: 2 slices of Ezekial bread w/peanut butter, blueberries Snack: G2 Post spin Lunch: smoothie w/mango, peach, blackberries, vanilla yogurt, flax seed oil, L-Glutamine, bee pollen & whey protein, can't remember what else I ate ... Snack: banana, balance bar before practice -- no time for a real dinner Post swim food: G2 & balance bar in car, grilled cheese & tomato sandwich at home. 2 glasses of chard. Snacked on potato chips late at night.
Updated July 8th, 2009 at 09:47 AM by The Fortress
Took another day off yesterday. Feeling a bit under the weather. Mr. Fort was under the weather for awhile last week with fatigue, headache, fever, etc. So I think we both have/had a minor bout of flu or something. It is absolutely rampant in the area. Did go to the pool for a short swim today. Did stretch and do RC exercises yesterday. Swim/SCY/Solo Warm up: 700 variety warm up Main sets: 8 x 100 @ 1:50 50 single arm fly drill + 50 backstroke kick 20 x 25 UW shooters on back w/fins @ :35 50 EZ 6 x (25 AFAP free + 25 EZ) 100 EZ Total: 2450 Swam another 400 or so with Lil Fort. She likes to dolphin kick. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Food: Yesterday (if I remember correctly) Breakfast: Ezekial toast w/peanut butter, blueberries Lunch: hamburger w/lettuce, tomato, onion (Hamburgers seems to be a staple of summer swim league and post meet outings) Snack: smoothie w/banana, strawberries, vanilla yogurt Dinner: grilled chicken, loads of veggies sauteed in olive oil Snack: blue corn chips & salsa Today: Breakfast: omelet w/tomato, mushrooms & cheese, blueberries (while watching tennis) Lunch: salad w/veggies, mango Snack: smoothie w/mango, peach, blackberries and vanilla yogurt Dinner: steak, tomato & avocado salad, wine w/GF Smoothies: My kids are obsessed with smoothies lately. I find it a good excuse to serve up the fresh fruit with a dose of flax seed oil, whey protein, bee pollen and L-Glutamine mixed in.
Updated July 5th, 2009 at 10:44 PM by The Fortress
Swim/LCM/Team: Warm up: 50 crunches, squats & lunges (My hamstrings were sore from my squats at the gym yesterday, so I skipped the squats and lunges.) 400 swim 300 kick 200 swim 100 scull Main sets: 2 x 250 pull, breathe 3-5-3, 30 RI I ignored this and breathed every stroke. I loped and breathed to the left. Quite like this, I just have to remember to kick continuously if I lope. 6 x 75 fast kick @ 2:00 75 ascending swim @ 1:30 (AFAP to slow by 25s) done as free/fly/free/back/free/breast This was quite odd. We literally stopped in the middle of the pool at the 75 and waited for the 2:00 sendoff. It's very difficult to go from a dead stop to AFAP and difficult to ascend in general ... Very tiring set. 50 EZ 10 x 100 @ 1:45 odds = 75 free/25 back evens = 75 back/25 free (I just went fast free w/fins on the odds @ 1:11-12 and backstroke kick on the evens. Tired arms.) 1 x 50 fast I was seriously not in the mood to do this. It's hard to sprint after 3500 meters or so for me. I like my sprinting earlier, throughout the workout or completely separate. My legs were shot and calves were crampy. Brad and I did push off fast 50s. Most others went from the blocks. I went a :28 in fly w/fins. 100 EZ Total: 3650 meters ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Almost didn't make the trek to practice tonight. I was very tired. But I decided to take tomorrow off. Though I will be standing around for a good 3 hours stroking & turning tomorrow am at our relay meet. My teammate Mark Jones "complimented" me on the freestyle set from Tuesday. He said, given that I am a sprinter, he was "sure I would die," shocked when I didn't, and wondered how I had much aerobic conditioning when I train mostly solo. (He had been going second in our lane.) At least he didn't call me an f'in beech. That was someone else. He was just joking of course, giving me a hard time for joining THT for Nats. Still only two other GMUP people attending Nats though ... I sent in my entries for Nationals last night. 50 fly 200 back 50 evil 100 back 50 free 50 back Entered a 3:10 in the 200 back. The look up time feature is quite helpful. Much harder to sandbag that way. Was told I might do a 50 evil on a medley relay. Must be hard up! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Food: Breakfast: omelet w/cheese, p. mushrooms and tomatoes, papaya Lunch: tuna melt sandwich on Ezekial bread with cheese and tomatoes, peach slices, green grapes Snack: apple Dinner: Sent Mr. Fort and the kids off to a swim team BBQ at the pool and I had two cheese & ben burritos, blueberries Post swim snack: G2, balance bar, lemon bar (I had made them for the swim team dinner, couldn't resist.)
Updated July 2nd, 2009 at 10:59 PM by The Fortress
Drove out to Mason for freestyle night. I usually succeed in avoiding Tuesday practice. But have been attempting to get more LC practices in, so there I was. Rather than wimp out and do backstroke, I bucked up and did the main set all freestyle. To my shock, this was probably one of my best freestyle practices ever. I started out briskly, and, to my astonishment, didn't die. Perhaps because I didn't lift weights this am? Warm up: 400 swim 4 x 50 kick 200 IM drill (I missed drylands -- bicycles, planks, and crunches -- and a 200 pull.) Main set: 3 x through: 1 x 300 free @ 4:30 1 x 200 free @ 3:00 1 x 100 free @ 1:30 extra 30 seconds rest #1 & 2 = swim, fins optional #3 = pull I used fins, as I always do on freestyle sets. No pulling for me. I find freestyle confusing and difficult when I'm doing anything other than an AFAP 50. Lately, I've tried switching to a loping freestyle, breathing every stroke to the left. This tends to correct my over-reaching/crossing over issue with my left arm somewhat. I've also been concentrating on kicking. Went around 3:52-55s on the 300s, around 2:32ish on the 200s (Can't remember times on the 300s and 200s precisely; I was concentrating on beating fast boys with big paddles/fins and got much more rest than I thought I would.) and 1:13, 1:13, 1:11 on the 100s. This is fast for me LC. 100 EZ Speed set: 200 stroke (drill, scull, drill, swim)(I used all the 200s as recovery) 2 x 50 stroke fast @ 1:30 (did backstroke w/fins, went 30-31s) (cramped on this, hadn't done that in awhile ...) 200 stroke (drill, scull, drill, swim) 2 x 50 kick fast @ 1:30 200 stroke (drill, scull, drill, swim) 2 x 50 stroke fast w/fins (did 28 on fly & 30 on back) 100 EZ Total: 3600 meters ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Feeling very at the moment. I won't swim tomorrow; I'll try to bike and lift, if I have time for both. I've found I can't have a very productive swim practice the afternoon after a hard LC practice at night. Now, I'm off to eat more food and ice my shoulder.
Updated June 30th, 2009 at 10:42 PM by The Fortress
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