Swim Workouts

Woke up before the alarm was scheduled to go off this morning. I was pretty tired, but got up and headed to the pool 5 mins earlier than usual. The senior racer group coach was already at the pool so I got in few minutes earlier than normal. I had a great workout and felt strong throughout.Warm up400 free with snorkel8x50 drill alternating catchup and finger tip drag drill on 50Main set8x200 pull descend 1-4, 5-8 on 2.30100 easy8x100 kick with fins on 1.308x50 alternating drill, build on 1 min10x50 on 45 holding 33 paceWarm down200 easyTotal 4400 metersToday was one of those days where everything felt good and strong. I went 2.15,2.13,2.11,2.09, 2.16,2.13,2.11,2.08 on the descending 200 pulls and felt strong. In fact on the last 200 I ran into some traffic and think I could have gone quicker. The 100 kicks we were told to do them on 1.40 but I felt good so dropped the time on these, and held about 1.10 pace with fins. The build 50s I was around 33-34, and the final 50s I held consistent 33s.

Saturday morning I get to the Y ready to swim and get paged, my system had crashed and I needed to get it back up. Had my laptop in the car so I just sat in my car for 2 hours working remotely. Finally get to a point where the critical sysems are back up and the ones down no one would notice till monday so I could address those later. I also had a vendor handling another one.

So I get out of the car to go swim and here come the guards "Someone pooped in the pool, we are closed". I thought of driving to Savannah but then remembered they were going to be closed at noon for Make a Splash. So Disappointed!

I could have gone to swim yesterday but after poop in there I would rather not yet.

Today became make up the yardage day.

500 free
5x100@2:00 free w/snorkle
5x400@7:00 free w/paddles & bouy went 6:25, 6:27, 6:26, 6:27, 6:16
500 free kick w/zoomers
500 drills w/zoomers EZ

Total 4000 meters

Swim/LCM/Solo:

Warm up:

500 various
100 scull w/agility paddles
6 x 50 DPS free w/agility paddles @ 1:00
6 x 50 kick w/board & fins @ 1:00
100 EZ
4 x 25 shooter + 25 EZ @ 1:15
4 x 50 single arm fly
50 EZ

Main Sets:

8 x 100 w/fins @ 2:00, held 1:14-1:17 -- look, aerobic set!
odds = smooth backstroke
evens = backstroke kick
100 EZ
50 evil kick on back (felt a twang in the groin area. this happened last time I kicked on my back, so the experiment to try to improve the evil kick is ended)
50 EZ

4 x (50 fly @ 100 pace + 50 EZ)
-- breathed every other stroke
-- 29-30s
-- I forgot to count my strokes, but it is way way way more than the 13 strokes I took in my 50 fly in Indy
100 WZ

Total: 2950


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I woke up (way too early for a soccer game) yesterday and felt like I was hit by a mac truck. I may have jumped back in too quickly after nationals. But I really felt like it was the weights + long course. I was useless all day. Managed to go Star Trek in the evening.

Today, it was packed at Mason with age groupers and life guard classes. The cold water at Mason does not really agree with my lungs and I can't stay UW as long. I would prefer the temp around 81-82. I'm so used to 84 that it feels really cold when I sit on the walls as we sprinters must.

I am feeling a bit overwhelmed looking at my schedule for the next couple months -- some travel, grad party, prom, track meets, soccer tournaments, Lil Fort going away/birthday big bash, summer league swim & meets, a mommy visit, my meet, Lil Fort's nationals (assuming she qualifies). Yikes. Plus, I think I will start getting sad about leaving my house. We finished a bit of negotiation about the home inspection. Thankfully, these buyers didn't expect a state of the art modern foundation. They still haven't gotten an appraiser in and, if they don't have a written appraisal in our hands in 7 days, they will have waived that contingency.

I enjoyed a good swim at Riverbank this morning. I didn’t have any workout buddies per se, but the pool was full of familiar faces, some of them former teammates whom I hadn’t seen in a while, so I felt like I was swimming with friends even though I did a solo workout. Today’s sets were of the spur of the moment as-my-mood-dictates sort which sometimes leaves me unmotivated and aimless, but today I stayed focused and felt like I got in some good work on some technique areas that needed addressing. Here’s what I did:

1000 lcm warmup (400s, 200k, 200p, 4 x 50 drill/swim RIMO)

8 x 50, 2 of each stroke IM order, odds = kick 25 fast / 25 easy, evens = swim build

100 FR pull with paddles, 3-stroke breathing, working on good catch on non-breathing side
50 fast FR swim with paddles (strong kick), focusing on early hip rotation
50 FR kickboard-as-buoy pull with paddles, focusing on hip rotation

8 x 50 kick, 25 fast + 25 easy, 1-4 rev IM order, 5-8 IM order

100 FR pull with paddles, 3-stroke breathing, working on good catch on non-breathing side
2 x 50 FR fast swim with paddles and strong kick, focusing on early hip rotation

8 x 50, #s 1,4,6,8 fast kick, reverse IM order, #s 2,3,5,7 easy swim (order manipulated for kickboard-at-the-right-end-of-pool purposes)

100 FR pull with paddles, 3-stroke breathing, working on good catch on non-breathing side
2 x 50 FR fast swim with paddles and strong kick, focusing on early hip rotation
2 x 50 FR kickboard-as-buoy pull with paddles, focusing on hip rotation
2 x 50 FR with strong kick, working on all of the above

100 warmdown

I was really enjoying kicking long course today. My fastest 50 kicks were right at :50 (FR and FL), but my BR kick was slow and seemed like a stranger to me today. I’ll have to start spending more time with it so that we will become friends again.

After my early swim I stretched, had a little nap, enjoyed a diner brunch, then headed out to Brooklyn for diving practice. This wasn’t our regular TNYA workout, but one with a small group of masters divers at St. Francis College. Two of their divers had visited my team’s workout this past Thursday, and had invited me to come to their Sunday afternoon practice. I took them up on it, and was glad I did—I enjoyed a good hour of going off the boards, working on my front approach. With just 4 divers and 2 boards, I got plenty of reps in, and plenty of good feedback. When I started diving my coach said that the approach and takeoff were the hardest part of diving, and the one that takes the longest to master—and that all that flipping and twisting in the air afterwards is simple by comparison. I’m beginning to see his point. I did hit a few good approaches today and could clearly feel the difference—now I need to work on doing that consistently instead of by chance

The Saint Francis pool is super easy to get to—it’s about a half-hour door-to-door from my apartment. And now I have dived, swum a workout, and played in a polo tournament there! The coach was not sure yet what the summer schedule for diving would be out there, but I hope it’s at a time when I can go, and which doesn’t conflict with TNYA’s workouts—it would be great to get in 3 diving practices a week!

Today was a solo swim. I tried convincing my kids to join me, but my son had a birthday party he was attending(these are becoming rare for him and he still really enjoys them) and my daughter just did not want to swim today(she is already swimming 5 days a week at 9 years of age, but is really enjoying it). I decided I,was going to do a pyramid swim today and thought the pool would be setup short course but to my pleasant surprise it was setup long course. I modified the pyramid slightly only going upto 400s but held a pretty quick pace and felt pretty good throughout. I really need to get my yardage backup and this will no doubt hurt, but longer term this will be good. I am going to,sit down with my coach in the next two weeks and work on next years goals and put a plan in place. Despite short course Nationals only just finishing I am ready to get going on the next set of goals. This morning I even caught myself thinking about doing long course nationals in August. My wife will kill me and I know I promised I would back off over the summer, and long term it will be better to reenergize and focus on a longer term goal, but it's tempting.

Warm up
400 free with snorkel
6x50 alternating catchup and finger drag drill on 45

Main set
All done with paddles and buoy
100 on 1.20
200 on 2.40
300 on 4mins
400 on 5.20
400 on 5.20
300 on 4mins
200 on 2.40
100 on 1.20
10x50 kick on 1min
10x50 catchup with 6 beat kick on 50

Warm down
300 easy swum 50 back, 50 free

Total 4000meters

I felt pretty good on the pull set and held 1.08 pace the whole way. I felt quite sore after the second 400 but kept my stroke long and concentrated on quick turns. I noticed in all my swims in Indy my turns were ok, but very slow. I know at 6.5 feet it's hard to tuck into a tight ball but I need to get over quicker. As i write this entry I am tired but I guess that's what happens when you taper all the way to no yardage and then build it back up again. I want to build a good base this summer and fall as a platform for next year.

Saturday 5/18

AM only SCY

400 swim
8x50 @ 1:05 drill 2 each stroke
8x100 @ 2:00 50 kick/50 build 2 each stroke

3x100 @ 1:40 D1-3 I.M.
6x100 @ 1:20 RED HR
3x100 @ 1:40 D1-3 I.M.

100 EZ

8x
3x100
1 @ 1:10
1 @ 1:15
1 @ 1:20

200 EZ

400 for time (4:17)

100 EZ

Total: 6000

Friday 5/17

AM only SCY

500 swim

4x
50 @ 1:00 pull w/ buoy only
100 @ INTERVAL
50 @ 1:00 drill
100 @ INTERVAL
INTERVAL = 1:15/1:10/1:05/1:00 by RD

10x50 @ :45 kick w/ board + fins
8x50 @ 1:00 AE

Total: 2600

28,500 Yards for the Monday-Friday week for me. On top of 50 hours of work, and 10 more tomorrow too! Quite a jump back up since Nationals since my taper yardage took me down below 2000 a practice leading up to the meet.

In other dumb news:
http://www.swimvortex.com/disdain-fo...-overwhelming/
I think this is one of the dumbest ideas that FINA could ever be considering to change. Why would they even think of making unlimited SDKs to the 15 meter mark in breaststroke?? I could do that, then do my pulldown, kickup, and be at the wall. 25 yards completed without doing a single stroke. Granted I couldn't exactly keep that up for a full 100 or 200, but it would completely change anything about the stroke.

==================================

The kids were all tired and worn out at practice tonight as well. I guess that big fin/paddle set we did last night made others tired as well. Normally the kids are all peppy and won't stop talking, but you could just sense they were wiped out. I was even running down Jared in the IMs and breaststroke tonight, which isn't normal!!

Warmup:

300 Free
(300/300)

10 x 100 Kick w/ long fins @ 1:25
did 6 SDK, then 4 Flutter Kick w/ board - I hate flutter with a board AND fins, but had to do something different.
(1000/1300)

Main Set(s):

8 Rounds of:

• 200 IM (25 EZ/25 Fast) @ 3:30
• 50 Fast @ :50 (1&2 Fly, 3&4 Back, 5&6 Breast, 7&8 Free)

I was around 2:30s + - a few seconds on the IMs, and rocked the 50s.

200 EZ
(2200/3500)

6 x 200 Free Pull @ 2:40

• #1/#4 - EZ breathe every 3
• #2/#5 - Build by 50s breathe every 3
• #3/#6 - FAST breathe how you want to - right, right, right, right, right, right, right, left
• went a 2:05 and 2:06 on the fast ones.

(1200/4700)

10 Rounds of: (non-Free on these) (at least 5 of them must be "best stroke")
I did the first 5 Fly, then 2 Breast, 2 Back, and 1 Breast

• 50 Build @ :50
• 25 ~90% Fast @ :45
• 25 ~100% Fast @ :45

(1000/5700)

300 Cooldown

------------------------------
6000 Yards

I had a good practice today. We worked as a group on drills which was fun. We were given a drill that really helped with my catch. I dont know what its called, but you basically swim with your hands in the catch position out front, and then use each arm from the catch position. The weird part is that your hands are almost acting like a break since you start with the hand bent.

400 free with snorkel
6x50 finger drag drill on 45
8x50 shark fin drill
8x50 kick with hands in the catch position
8x50 catch drill(as described above)
6x100 25 catch drill, 75 perfect stroke with 10 seconds rest
3x200 kick with fins on 3 mins
2x(4x25 swum 12.5 fast 12.5 easy, 12.5 easy 12.5 fast, 25 easy, 25 fast, 2x50 on 40)
200 easy

Total 3700

Swim/LCM/Solo:

Warm up:

400 various
100 scull w/agility paddles
6 x 50 DPS free w/agility paddles @ 1:10
50 EZ
4 x 50 w/fins, 30+ shooter + 20- EZ kick @ 1:15
50 EZ

Main Sets:

5 x 30 burst + cruise, dolphin kick @ 1:00
50 EZ
5 x 30 burst + cruise, fast hands drills @ 1:00
100 EZ

4 x 50 w/fins + 150 EZ
1 = fly, 90%, 28 mid
2 = fly, AFAP, 27 flat
3 = back, AFAP, 29 flat
4 = breast, AFAP, 31

2 x
4 x 50 kick @ 150ish pace @ 1:15
-- 4 w/board & fins, 4 backstroke kick w/fins
-- held mostly 32s, couple 33s
100 EZ

50 EZ

Total: 3000


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I could really feel the power wheel rollouts and twisting exercises from yesterday! The kick set was also very ouchy. The length felt endless. I discovered one good thing about long course today -- I don't mind long course breaststroke bc I can see where I'm going. I realize this means my head isn't down, but still. I detest long course backstroke. My only focus event for Zones will be 50 fly. My other events are just filler.

It was lovely. The pool was practically empty; what a great place to practice. The only negative is the drive.

Taking the day off tomorrow. After Lil Fort's soccer game, I'm heading to the the PV Masters spring picnic.

I signed up for LCM Zones, just entered my recent best times. Hoping for a big rest between 100 back and 50 free. At least women swim before men, so that will help. Speaking of best times, whoa!, there was a TON of sandbagging at nationals.

Event Number	Gender	Distance	Stroke	Time	Date
3	Female	100 LCM	Back	1:15.90	06/22/2013
7	Female	50 LCM	Free	0:29.29	06/22/2013
13	Female	50 LCM	Back	0:32.43	06/22/2013
41	Female	50 LCM	Breast	0:39.15	06/23/2013
47	Female	50 LCM	Fly	0:30.47	06/23/2013
49	Female	100 LCM	Breast	1:29.10	06/23/2013

Swam w/ Dave and Dave. Had to get out early to give blood. Still got nearly 5k in.

SCY

600 Warm up

2 x 100 - 1:30
2 x 100 IM - 1:30

5 x 200 IM - 2:45 (did these as 175s except the last one - 2:40)
150 Easy

5 Rounds of:
* 100 Up/Down Kick - 1:30 (:05)
* 100 Pull - 1:30
* 100 Up/Down Kick - 1:30 (:05)
* 200 - 3:00 convert free -> Br (original interval was 2:30 - we decided 3:00 was more realistic)

200 Cool down

(4750 Total)

I must say I am getting faster and better with my pacing. Todays times were much closer to what I did back in 2008 than here recently. Tomorrow will be stroke work over a longer period of time.

The shoulders have calmed down, the left elbow is still a problem but if I remain diligent with the trigger point therapy, it should resolve as well.

500 free
500 free kick w/zoomers

3 times thru
4x100@1:45 free w/paddles & bouy
200@5:00 back w/paddles & bouy
Round 1 went 1:35, 1:33, 1:32, 1:30, 3:01
Round 2 went 1:34, 1:32, 1:30, 1:28, 3:06
Round 3 went 1:30, 1:31, 1:30, 1:28, 3:16

500 free EZ

Total 3300 meters

I talked with coach John about when we may be getting into the outdoor pool. He told me that it is full of water now, and they're going to begin heating it on Monday, so in about 3-4 days after that it should be "swimable". So he says...he's not the one getting into the frigid water!! But it looks like my LCM adventures may begin as early as a week from now. That will give us just about a week to work on our swimmer's tans prior to the home LCM meet the first weekend of June.

Warmup:

600 (25 Free/25 V-Sit Scull)
(600/600)

16 x 50 Flutter Kick w/ board @ 1:10 (held :44-:47s)
(800/1400)

16 x 50 IM Order 4x thru @ 1:00
I did these fast, roughly :30 Fly, :36 Back, :37 Breast, :28 Free
It's pretty sad that my breast is almost the same speed as my back in practice times.
(800/2200)

Main Set: All w/ paddles and long fins

8 Rounds:

• (for reference my 200 Free time is 1:54, so 100s :57, 50s :28.5 times to shoot for)
• 100 Free @ 1:30 at 200 Pace
• 50 Free @ :45 EZ Peezy
• 50 Free @ 1:00 at 200 Pace
• 25 Free @ :45 faster than 200 Pace
• 25 Free @ :45 AFAP Blasto
• I did fine for 4 Rounds, holding at or faster than my "pace times", then I had to back off a bit to around 1:00/100 pace. I guess the IM 50s early did me in a little more than I thought.

200 EZ
(2200/4400)

10 x 50
Odds Front Scull @ 1:15
Evens Breast Fast @ 1:05 (held ~:38-:39s)
(500/4900)

4 x 25 Free AFAP @ 1:00
(100/5000)

300 Cooldown

--------------------------
5300 Yards

Wednesday 5/15

PM only LCM (w/ Trip and Larry...Doug Martin came by and lurked around on the deck stretching while we swam. I think he is still recovering from his AMAZING Nationals last week!)

700 swim

5x200 @ 3:00 AE (2:44s across the board)
6x200 @ 2:50 D1-3, 4-6 (2:44, 2:39, 2:35, 2:43, 2:39, 2:33)

10x100 @ 1:50 25 under H2O kick/25 swim w/ fins
1 - FR
1 - FL

Total: 3900

Tuesday 5/14

PM only LCM (w/ Trip Strauss and Larry Golden)

500 swim 4/6/2 turns
400 kick w/ board + fins

5x200 @ 3:00 D1-3, 4-5 (2:45, 2:42, 2:37, 2:44, 2:40)
5x200 @ 2:50 AE (2:42, 2:42, 2:43, 2:42, 2:43)

100 EZ

5x100 @ 2:00 kick w/ fins on back in S-line

100 EZ

Total: 3600

Swam w/ Dave, Dave, Roger and Andrey. Andrey led my lane until he got tired. It was kind of a mess because the workout switched up between each of our strengths and we were destined to get tangled up a bit. Near the end, another lane opened up which made things easier. I ended up racing Roger on a 300 backstroke. I got paddles and and buoy, he didn't. Even with my paddle advantage, it isn't a race I'm going to win but I kept up with him longer than I would have expected. I was even ahead at 200 yards.

SCY

650 Warm up
5 x 100 - 1:30, Odds IM, evens free

4 Rounds of:
* 2 x 50 Hard stroke - :45 (did these fly except the last round when I came in :15s past the interval)
* 2 x 50 Easy free - :45
* 2 x 50 Hard Kick - 1:00
* 2 x 50 Easy Kick - 1:00
* 2 x 50 Hard Pull - :45
* 2 x 50 Easy Pull - :45
* 300 - 4:00, convert free to stroke by round (rnd 2 - 100 Br/200 Free, rnd 3 - 200 br/100 free, rnd 4 300 bk pull)
100 Easy

4 x 25 - :40, no breath
4 x 25 Kick - :35
4 x 25 IM Order - :30
4 x 25 Free - :25

8 x 50 Kick w/ fins - 1:00 Odds Underwater SDK, Evens IM Order

200 Cool down

(5850 Total)

I thought this would be my recovery day doing breast, not so. I used muscles in ways that I think I actually worked harder today.

500 free
500 free kick w/zoomers

20x50@:10RI
#1-4 Breast pull w/paddles & board(rather than bouy)
#5-8 accordian drill w/snorkle
#9-12 scull drill
#13-16 breast pull w/zoomers
#17-20 breaststroke

8x100@1:45 free relaxed w/paddles & bouy holding 1:40's
200 free EZ

Total 3000 meters

Warmup:

800 MI (Rev. IM) 50 Drill/50 Swim
(800/800)

Kick Set w/ long fins:
6 Rounds:

• 150 SDK moderate @ 2:00 (went 1:45-1:50)
• 75 SDK Build @ 1:20 (went ~:55s)
• 25 SDK FAST @ :40 (went ~:15s)

(1500/2300)

10 x 100 Free Pull @ 1:40 (went 1:05s) worked on breathing both sides, though at a random.
(1000/3300)

Main Set:
12 x 100 Choice Stroke @ 2:45 - EN3 work

• must do same stroke for a group of 4 in a row.
• Free (best time :52 - EN3 time is 1:01) Fly (best time :56 - EN3 time is 1:07.5)

First 4 - Did Free, went 1:00/1:01/1:01/1:00
Second 4 - Did Fly, went 3rd in lane behind two freestylers, with two breaststrokers behind me - went 1:07/1:06/1:08/1:07
Final 4 - Did Free, went 1:02/1:01/1:01/1:00

200 EZ
(1400/4700)

40 x 25 @ :30
10 of each stroke IM Order
Felt great on the Flys. Backs felt like a 400 IM "cooldown from the Fly". Breasts felt strong, Frees were great, driving with the legs
These don't seem hard at first, but once you get going, it's "fun". I'm just glad I was leading the lane rather than being in the middle to the end of it. Those kids looked to be bouncing all over the place.
(1000/5700)

300 EZ

-------------------------
6000 Yards

Swim/LCM/Solo @ Mason

Warm up:

500 various
100 scull w/agility paddles
4 x 50 w/fins @ 1:15
-- 30 shooter + 20 EZ back kick
4 x 50 breast drills
-- kick w/buoy, carla drill, kick on back, 1 pull + 2 kick
-- kicking w/a buoy is worthless -- my heels are constantly breaking the surface
5 attempted crossover turns
-- very awkward
-- i think i managed a couple correctly
-- but i worry that i won't get much distance off the walls unless i'm doing them super fast
50 EZ

Main Sets:

3 x (50 w/fins @ 100 pace + 100 EZ) @ 3-4:00
1 = breast, 33
2 = back, 31
3 = free, 29

4 x (50 w/fins @ 95% + 150 EZ) @ 5:00
-- wasn't sure I could blast away 100% in a LCM pool
1 = flutter kick w/board & fins, 27 (felt like a looong way)
2 = breast, 31
3 = fly, 27
4 = backstroke kick (UW 35m), 25

recovery/technique set:
12 x 50 @ 1:15 w/agility paddles & fins
odds = 25 front scull + 25 DPS free
evens = DPS backstroke
50 EZ DAB

Total: 3000 m


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Whoa, I was really tired after yesterday's first LCM workout. I tried to get a super night's sleep, but was foiled first by Teen Fort waking me up, then Lil Fort waking me up, and then the phone continuously ringing. Hopefully, I can snooze well tonight. I'm still tired from Nats and making up for sleep deprivation there. Still, I feel like I got in a very solid workout today. I worked on a narrower breast pull and my turnover did feel faster.

I was looking at the LCM Zones lineup. I have no idea how big the meet will be; usually CZ isn't very long. The Saturday lineup begins with 100 back, 200 breast, 50 free ... If I swim 100 back, will I have time to recover for the 50s? Can't decide. I may sign up for 100 and see what the timeline is like.

Meet videos:
50 back: http://coverage.takeitlive.tv/Other/...2876&k=kGh6K5v
50 fly: http://coverage.takeitlive.tv/Other/...6764&k=6NgJ2Tq

Swam w/ Sam, Dave and Dave. Felt fairly strong today. Workout was challenging but not beyond what I can do for a change.

SCY

600 Warm up

4 Rounds of:
* 75 Pull - 1:00
* 75 Kick - 1:20
* 75 Stroke - 1:15, Reverse IM Order, no free
1:00 Rest

4 Rounds of:
* 75 Pull - :55
* 75 Kick - 1:20
* 75 Stroke - 1:15, Reverse IM Order, no free
1:00 Rest

4 Rounds of:
* 75 Pull - :50 (made :45s)
* 75 Kick - 1:20
* 75 Stroke - 1:20, Reverse IM Order, no free
100 Easy

10 x 100 Up/Down Kick - 1:30 (:05)
100 Easy

4 x 25 - :40, no breath
4 x 25 - :35, kick
4 x 25 - :30, IM Order
4 x 25 - :25, Free

10 x 50 - 1:00 Easy/Hard, 2 x Fly, 2 x Back, 2 x Br, 2 x Fr, 2 x Kick

200 Cool down

(5600 Total)