LCM@FGCU Aquatic Center Air temp 72, Water temp 77 Sunny, humidity at 80% Warm Up Dryland bands 400 FR as 4(25RA-25LA-50CU) 1000 FR as DPS @SPL-28 *Set 1* 5x200 DK on back-side-front, w/fins on 3:30 *Set 2* 400-300-200-100 on 1:00 rest, w/agility paddles-buoy-tube *5:38, 4:02, 2:38, 1:17 ---200BK *Set 3* 10x50 FR on 1:00 w/snorkel, smooth@SPL28-30 *37-35 *Set 4* 1500 FR w/fins-snorkel-agility paddles Warm Down 400 FR/BK/FLY Dryland bands Comments Moderate swims with emphasis on stroke efficiency. Made some effort on the Pull set. Tomorrow I will try out my new Yingfa jammers for a set or two. I ordered two sizes, L and XL, not sure which would be best, as my hip width is 30. It turns out the XL was an easy fit, and size L was more snug. I will use size L just for competition. Friday afternoon I can go to Miramar Lakes and do a loop around the course after it is set up. Interesting article, surprisingly from the Washington Post: Lifelong exercise can help you maintain speed and fitness as you age Or go to: http://goo.gl/euXGi Most active USMS swimmers already know this, which is one of the reasons, beyond personal enjoyment, for making the lifestyle effort to pursue ongoing training and competition. Many of the active long term USMS swimmers I have known were consistently involved in lifelong functional exercise, sports, as well as training for fitness and competition.
Updated April 23rd, 2013 at 09:58 PM by fdtotten
Swim/SCY/Solo: Warm up: 600 various 8 x (25 front scull + 25 free) w/agility paddles @ 1:10 50 EZ 5 x 50 hypoxic w/fins @ 1:15 -- dolphin kick on belly UW 20 yards each 25 with open turn 50 EZ 3 x 100 hypoxic backstroke kick w/fins @ 2:00-2:15 -- UW 15 m+ each 25 100 EZ Main Sets: 8 x 25 burst + cruise, fast hands drills @ 1:00 100 EZ 24 x 25 odds = 25 @ 100 pace @ :30 (6 free & 6 back w/fins, 12s) evens = EZ backstroke kick @ :45 100 EZ 5 x (50 @ 100 pace w/fins + 150 EZ) -- back (25), breast (29), free (24), back (25 flat), fly-back (25) 100 scull Total: 3850 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Still feeling very beat from the meet. Last night's "gentle deep" tissue and several night's poor sleep probably are compounding this. I laid off full throttle today, but did plenty of 100 pace efforts. Would really love a long sleep tonight. My son Jimby left this am. He had a very good Zones despite professing to be "sick" before hand. I can't remember a meet where he didn't make this complaint. :-) We had a discussion at the meet about whether "mind matters" for racing. He says no. I say yes. This was one of the first meets in ages where I did not contemplate scratching 100 fly or spend the whole meet dreading it. And I had a breakthrough swim. On the house sale, this is hilarious. The psycho buyers want to bring in a fourth structural engineer. This is after the third engineer, whom they paid, opined that the foundation was structurally sound and that there were only discretionary future repairs. They are nuts!
Swam w/ Dave, Dave and Dave. This was a good workout for me. The descending interval let me slowly work into a faster pace. Felt pretty good aside from a couple bad turns on the walls. SCY 600 warm up 4 x 100 - 1:30 1st 25 kick 50 Easy - 2:00 4 x 100 - 1:25 1st 25 stroke 50 Easy - 2:00 4 x 100 - 1:20 1st 25 of #2 and #4 50 Easy - 2:00 4 x 100 - 1:15 1st 25 of #4 fly 50 Easy 16 x 25 - :40 Odds no breath, evens easy 400 Timed pull - 4:18 50 Easy 100 Pull/100 Pull, no paddles/100 IM/100 kick 50 Easy 9 x 100 Up/Down Kick - 1:40 (:05) base stroke fly 100 Timed IM Kick - 1:35 12 x 50 IM Order - 1:00 Descended by round. Last round I went :31, :42, :38, :29 200 Cool down (5500 Total)
Next week the main lap pool at the Aquatic Center will be closed Tuesday and Wednesday. My two choices are swim in the HOT 87 degree therapy pool or swim at the Y. The Y would require me to cut my workout short and I wouldn't really be able to start until after 5 am, then have to fight traffic or just suck it up and do stroke drill at the CCAC. I think I am leaning toward the warm pool for 2 days and use it as serious recovery days. As for today had a great workout. I think I will be ready for the meet this weekend. 500 free 500 free kick w/zoomers 8x200@3:00 free w/paddles & bouy went 2:47, 2:47, 2:46, 2:47, 2:46, 2:46, 2:45, 2:44 50 w/paddle & bouy in :40 350 free EZ 500 free kick w/zoomers 200 free EZ Total 3700 yards
Warmup: 600 Free (600/600) Kick Set w/ long fins 4 Rounds of: (assigned / what I did - w/out fins) 200 Kick Cruise (150 Kick) @ 3:30 100 MaxRest Kick (75 Kick) @ 1:30 50 FAST Kick (25 Kick) @ :40 Odd Rounds were flutter kick, Even Rounds were dolphin kick (1000/1600) 600 Pull (25 Front Scull/25 Free Alt. Breathing) (600/2200) "Different" Set: (I think John was talking to another coach at the meet this weekend) 8 x 25 Free @ 2:30 start on the "T"Do 10 streamline vertical jumps in place (3 1/2 feet of water)On the 10th one, jump forward, do 4 strokes and fast flip turn in midpool...return to feetDo 10 more streamline vertical jumps in place (about 5 feet of water)On the 10th one, again jump forward and race to the wall.The 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th people in the lane don't start till the person in front of them begins the 2nd set of vertical leaps. It actually works out pretty good. That was a good way to kill 20+ minutes. (200/2400) 16 x 50 (4 of each stroke) @ 1:10 Odds Drill, Evens Swim Fast (800/3200) 400 Free Pull - breathe every 5 I hate doing this...my swimming and body is made to take in oxygen. I did a 2-5-4 then flipturn for my breathing pattern each length. The two breaths at the beginning made it possible. (400/3600) 8 x 25 AFAP @ 1:00 did 2 Fly, 2 Back, 4 Free (200/3800) 300 EZ swim ----------------------------- 4100 Yards I don't think I missed anything, John was just taking it easy after the meet for the kids. Most of them swim 15 events over the weekend (thus the Triple Pentathlon)
So tonight we had a longer main set and some pace work. Overall we are down about 3000 yards per day from the training camp a few weeks ago and surprisingly i am starting to feel better. Despite not really droping significant yardage i feel more refreshed and finally starting to swim on top of the water instead of swimming through the water. Next week we start to drop doubles so fingers crossed this feeling will get better. Warm up 400 free with snorkel 6x50 catchup on 45 Main set 10x300 descend 1-5, 6-10, swum 5 pull with paddles and 5 swim with snorkel on 4 mins 100 easy 15x50 with open turns at 50 on 45 holding sub 30s Warm down 100 easy Total 4650 yds I had a great set of 300s going 3.30, 3.21,3.15,3.03,2.54 on the pulls and 3.30,3.25,3.21,3.15,3.05 on the swims. I was tired on the last 2 and could have gone quicker but syched myself out of going for it knowing i still had time time for another set before i got out. The pull set was the quickest i have gone since i got back in and felt great. The 15x50s were fine but i was tired. I held 30s pretty co Fortably.
Updated April 22nd, 2013 at 09:48 PM by StewartACarroll
LCM@FGCU Aquatic Center Air temp 68, Water temp 77 Cloudy, humidity at 94% Warm Up Dryland bands 400 FR as 4(25RA-25LA-50CU) 400 FR as DPS 4(50 Smooth, 50 Strong) w/snorkel 200 FR as 4(25 CU 25 Fast) *Set 1* 3(4x50 on 1:30, 1:00 rest) *33-32-32-32, 31-31-31-31, 30-30-30-30 (round 3 on 2:00) ---200 BK ---Warm shower 5 min ---300 FR w/agility paddles-buoy-tube *Set 2* 2(3x400 FR on 7:00) desc 1-3 each round, w/agility paddles-tube-buoy *5:22, 5:19, 5:16 - 5:23, 5:17, 5:15 ---200BK ---100 FR as 2(25 kick/scull, 25 CU) w/snorkel *Set 3* 3(4x50 on 1:30, 1:00 rest) *33-33-33-33, 33-33-32-32, 32-32-31-30 ---200 BK *Set 4* 2x800 on 13:00, #2 faster than #1 *10:56, 10:49 Warm Down 400 FR as 4(50CU/50DPS) w/fins-snorkel Dryland bands Comments I swam some harder sets than planned, but the remainder of the training week will be taper and rest. Set 1 nearly finished me at the beginning. I can swim 4x50s on 1:30 holding :32s with a good strong effort and not be wiped out afterwards, but after 4x50s of 31s, and then four more doing 30s, as timed by Coach Chuck, I had to add a five minute hot shower to my recovery afterwards. While I can swim 5K with a steady six-kick, the quality effort kicking I had to do towards swimming 50 meter times of 31s and 30s made my legs just drained and powerless, and I chose to swim the 400s in Set 2 as pull w/paddles-tube-buoy. Coach Chuck counted SPL of 32 to 34 for some of the 50s doing 31 and 30. Whatever the case the rest of this week is about the 5K OW.
Did some more distance type sets today with Keith and put in some yards. Didn't have the same speed as lst week; but, considering the lack of sleep and all of the junk food at the camp ut this weekend, I felt I did pretty good. Plus there was no Ray to keep up with. 3x500 Free on 7:30 (6:55; 6:53; 6:50) 100 Breast/Back 5x300 Free on 4:30 (4:03; 4:07; 4:10; 4:11; 4:15 - just couldn't keep the same pace) 100 Breast/Back 100 Kick 3x200 Free on 3:00 200 Kick 5x100 Back w/paddles on 1:30 200 Kick 10X50 Free/Back w/paddles on :45 100 Kick 100 Free 100 Back 50 Breast 50 Back 5700 yards 106 minutes
The internet to my house is out so i am entering this on my phone so excuse the typos(more than usual). Today was long course and moderate intensity and distance. I felt ok today, not sore or stiff but not superb either. Just an ok day. Warm up 400 free with snorkel 6x50 catchup on 1min 5x200 free with snorkel on 3min Main set 6x150 on 3mins swum as 50 kick, 100 swim 4x400 pull descend 1-4 on 6mins Warm down 200 easy Total 4400 meters The 400s i went 4.50,4.45,4.40,4.35 and felt good.
The weather this year is going to drive me crazy. Super cold (for me) on Saturday, and really on the cool side again this morning - add in the wind chill factor & it made for a very brisk run to the locker room! This weekend I was determined to do myself in as far as my fingers go. Cut my fingers in three places chopping veggies, sliced two fingers up when I found a razor I didn't expect to find in an older gym bag, cut another finger this morning on lap 3 thanks to the lane line, then got majorly whacked by someone's hand paddle (seriously, I had to double check that the end of my finger was still there), and finally, in the locker room, I managed to burn the side of my hand with my flat iron. Well. Could not really get going this morning. Warm water & bumping up the weights last week is my excuse. Did manage to hold up for the entire workout, just wasn't motivated to go for another 2000 like I usually do after the kids get out at 6:30. 600 back/free 600 P 300 K 100 easy 3 x 200 stroke/free on 3:30 6 x 100 on 1:30, descending by pairs 4 x 4 cycle speedplay 200 easy 600 various stroke/free Total: 3700 LCM Got to get to the pool M-F this week, as they will be frying my face again on Friday afternoon, which puts me out of the pool on Sat & Sun both. Ah well, what we do to avoid cancer. . .
Swim/SCY/Solo: 600 various 5 x 50 front scull w/agility paddles @ 1:10 5 x 50 caterpillar fly drill @ 1:10 5 x 50 smooth free w/agility paddles @ 1:00 50 EZ 5 x 50 smooth back @ 1:00 50 EZ 10 x 25 shooters w/fins @ :45 (easy interval to keep heart rate down) 100 EZ Total: 2050 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Have that hit by a mack truck feeling that I get after multi-day meets. But it was so worth it! Just did an easy recovery workout today, and have a massage later to work the kinks out. Here are the results from Zones, including split requests: http://www.sportsmd.com/Articles/id/30.aspx One thing that was very cool was watching a 100 year old man swim the 50 free. He didn't even need help getting into the pool. Very inspiring and he got a huge SO.
Mon Apr 22nd, 2013, SCY Soreness is gone Swam: Thu, Fri, & Sat but not Sun Did not lift but plan to begin today Whitney Coached Noon - 1:15 SCY UT Swim Center main pool Swam with: Jim & Sharon Beside David, Kellie, Bob, & Dale Warm up 800 did around 600 Main Set 4 x 150 desc on 2:00 done 125 FR 25 FL 3 x 50 k fast interval did FL no board 150 straight went 1:52 4 x 150 desc on 2:00 done 125 FR 25 BK 3 x 50 k fast interval BK kick 4 x 150 desc on 2:00 done 125 FR 25 BR (didn't kick hard on BR) 3 x 50 k fast interval assigned 4 x 400 1) 100 strong 300 easy 2) 200 strong 200 wasy 3) 300 strong 100 easy 4) 400 strong went 4:16 100 easy Next Meets: Jun 5 - 12, 2013 LCM 2013 Pan-American Masters Championships Sarasota, FL DAYS TILL Jul 19 - 21, 2013 LCM 2013 USMS South Central Zone LCM Championships Jenks, OK 74037
I had a really great time at the Commissioner’s Cup meet on Sunday. It was a well attended event, with around 175 swimmers, but with 10 lanes things went pretty quickly and the meet took maybe 3.5 hours total. The 500 at the end and the 200s grouped all at the beginning accounted for a big chunk of that, so after the opening relay my 4 individual events (all 50s) came and went quickly. The 25y competition course was set up starting in the shallower end of the pool, which, with the adjustable floor lowered all the way, was about 2m deep. One odd thing—the adjustable part of the pool bottom ended about 15y out, and at the end of it there was a white plastic scalloped border—I assume this serves to cushion the adjustable floor when it meets up with the permanent tiling. But besides being functional the scallops were cute too—it looked like the pool was wearing a frilly lace garter across its middle, and swimming across it made me smile every time. The meet was deck seeded, but psych sheets were distributed so that we could check that our entries were correct. I dutifully flipped through it to make sure I was in the events I’d entered—yep, there was my name in the 50 fly list—but wait! There was a 28.39 by my name. That wasn’t right at all—I’ve broken 30 once or twice, but not recently, and I had padded my seed times pretty well for this meet. I flipped to the 50 free--25.37? That was faster than I’d ever gone too--I knew I hadn’t put that down. My other seed times were equally off. As I went up to the computer table to straighten things out I was trying to puzzle out what had happened—things weren’t off just by a digit, or even two. As it turned out, everyone’s seed times had been treated as though they were meters times, then converted to yards by mistake. So swimmers would end up seeded where they should be, just the times would be off. There’s always something quirky with the heat sheets or seeding at this meet; this year’s glitch turned out to be pretty innocuous. That mystery solved, I warmed up, went off the block s a few times, and gathered with my team to get relay assignments for the meet’s big event—the Commisionner’s Trophy Relay. The parks department goes all out for this, bringing in huge trophies for the top 6 teams (1 for each swimmer), plus t-shirts and a big photo session for each relay team. It’s not an official masters events, so any 4 swimmers who meet the criteria (2 men, 2 women, total ages equaling 160 or more) can enter, regardless of official team affiliation. And since it’s deck entries, there’s always last-minute finagling during warm-ups to try to pull together teams, with women over 40 being in high demand. This year I was very glad to be affiliated with TNYA, and have a coach on-deck taking care of all the relay decisions and entries so that I wasn’t part of that zooiness. I had heard that one of my open-water buddies was putting a team together to go after the event record, a 1:40-mid. I knew we didn’t have a shot at them, so I was rooting for them to get the record. They didn’t disappoint, swimming a 1:40-low, the class of the field by far. My team came in third (1:49) with a strong finish from our anchor swimmer, who passed one team in the final 5 yards and came very close to catching another. They didn’t post individual splits, so I have no idea what I went, but I enjoyed swimming with my teammates and cheering them on in a close race—gotta love relays! The rest of the meet was individual events, and I spent most of my time behind the blocks waiting to swim, or in the warmup pool. I had about 10 minutes between my first two 50s, then a 40-minute gap, then about 5 minutes between my last 2. My times were relatively slow (in IM order: 33.03, 33.48, 38.00, and 29.01), and if I had been really focusing on doing everything I could to swim fast at this meet I would have been disappointed by these results. But since I’ve kind of been taking an extended break from working very hard in the water, these seemed about right. And I was reminded how very much I enjoy just getting up on the blocks and racing, no matter the result—the experience was just plain fun. So while I swam times in yards that would once have been good metric times for me (and no, they didn’t give the results the same treatment they gave the seeds times), I actually ended up feeling better about swimming after this meet than I have in a while. It confirmed to me that pool racing is something that I find worth doing, and that I would like to be better at. It also made me feel more connected to the pool swimming community again—it was gratifying to see so many familiar faces and chat with so many meet buddies from over the years. The one thing I regretted about the meet going so fast is that I didn’t get to watch more of other people’s races. As for my events, what kept me from going faster on Sunday? A little bit of everything. I expected to tie up at the end of my 50s, as the little sprinting I’d done in practices had been just 25s or less. But that only happened in fly, where my arms had a hard time getting out of the water those last 15 yards. On the other strokes I felt almost good at the finish. I think that means I need to work on those lactate-production type sprinty sets more so that I can generate enough energy in the first place to put myself into some distress by the end. I could feel that my turnover in breast and back wasn’t as fast as it should be for 50s. And my execution on starts/turns/breakouts will be sharper the more race-pace stuff I do. So basically—there’s a lot of room for improvement here. One of the things I had forgotten that I like so much about meet swimming—or maybe I never realized it before I became so immersed in open water stuff—is the sense of order and predictability. I just feel a certain competence when I’m at meets, because I know exactly what I’m supposed to be doing at any given moment. From the basics of being behind the blocks when I’m supposed to be and following starting commands to more complicated things like swimming races the way I’ve planned or getting in a good warmup in a crowded pool, the script has pretty much already been written. The challenge comes from executing mostly-predictable and replicable things well, rather than trying to figure out what I should be doing at any given moment. That I’m drawn to (rather than bored by) that sort of challenge is the kind of personality quirk that has made being a newbie diver a much more comfortable experience than being a newbie polo-player ever was. And it’s one of my perennial challenges in open-water. As many of those events as I did over the past couple of years, I never got to the point where I was confident that I was doing things "right,” or always knew what that might mean—which says both something about the nature of ow swimming and about my own insecurities and need for predictability. At Sunday’s meet I felt I had found my way home again, and was reassured to find it familiar and comforting after what seemed like a long absence. (That said, I’m not giving up on open-water, just trying to understand some of my reactions to it a little better. In fact, I just signed up for my first open-water event of the season, the 2 Bridges 5K swim on June 1. I’m willing to give up some predictability, sometimes, for the joys of swimming without walls in beautiful locales.) I thought I would take a rest day after the meet, but I woke up this morning early, and felt excited about going to the pool, so I headed up to Riverbank. I was lucky to find one of my swim buddies there to share a set with. Here’s what I did: 1000 lcm warmup (400s, 200k, 200p, 200 IM d/s by 25) 6 x 150: 3 @ 3:00, 3 @ 2:50, 3 @ 2:40, 3 @ 2:30, descending each set of 3 [I did fr/bk/fr sandwiches for the first 3, then FR for the rest. My fastest 150 was 2:10 (on the 3rd set), the last set of 3 were 2:20-2:20-2:18.] 400 IM, kick/swim by 50, easy and stretched out 400 warmdown + play Afterwards I had a nice stretching session on the playground overlooking the GWB. I’m looking forward to doing that more often now that the weather is warming up.
Swam w/ Dave, Dave and Roger. Swam w/ my kids yesterday. Ended up doing more workout than I had planned because I had extra time waiting for my wife to drop one of them off. Did some drill and fin work with a couple 200 IMs and pulls thrown in. About 1200 yards total. I don't do a lot of sculling drills so I was kind of sore from that this morning. Started off ok but I was pretty worn out by the time we were done. SCY 600 Warm up 3 rounds of: * 25 Fly - :40 (no breath) * 25 Fly - :40 (1 breath) * 50 Free - :40 * 100 Pull - 1:20 * 200 IM - 3:40 (add 25 kick each round) 1:00 Break 200 IM Kick timed - 3:19 50 Easy 3 Rounds of: * 25 Free - :40 (no breath) <- after round 1, I had to go 1 breath * 25 Free - :40 (1 breath) * 50 Breast - :50 * 100 Fly - 1:30 * 200 IM up/down kick - 3:20 (:20) start w/ 150 kick 1:00 Break 200 IM Kick timed - 3:20 50 Easy 4 Rounds of: * 2 x 25 Hard - :30 (did these IM Order by round) * 100 Pull - 1:30 6 x 100 - 1:20 10 x 50 kick w/ fins - 1:00 (Odds underwater sdk down, easy back; evens IM Order) 200 Cool down (5400 Total)
Today the chlorine levels were on the real high side so the guards did what they could, warned us and then let us do our thing. 500 free 500 free kick w/zoomers 10x100@1:40 free w/strapless padles, bouy and snorkle went 1:30, 1:29 then held 1:26's toward the end my throat was starting to hurt 5x100@1:45 back w/zoomers odds swim/evens kick 500 free kick w/zoomers 500 free EZ Total 3500 yards
I drove over and back to/from Spokane, Washington today for the final day of a 3-day pentathlon meet. Friday night they did the short version, 50s plus 100 IM. Saturday was the 100s plus 200 IM. Today was the day I went for: 200s plus 400 IM. Gotta get my money's worth of course! I was tired this morning for sure. Yesterday I ended up working 8 hours of OT in the morning, then did plenty more unpaid work at home to finish my night. We had all the cousins over here with my kids last night, so we decided to rent a movie from the RedBox - "Wreck It Ralph". A good kids movie, very funny, and did actually teach life lessons. That set me back to about 10:30pm for bedtime though. Alarm went off at 4:30am and I was out the door for my almost 3 hour drive to Spokane. USAS meets have such darn early warmups, and then the meets last most of the day as well. That's the bummer part of the whole thing...otherwise I love every bit of them, especially the great competition! Team Warmup: 500 Free 3 x 200 "IM" stroke down/free back @ ~1:00 rest 8 x 50 Build Choice (did 1 Fly, 7 Free) @ 1:15 2 x Dive 25s (1 Fly, 1 Free) (1550 yards) I did plenty of cooling down after each of the following races, but ZERO warmup prior to any of them. That's how I roll... 400 IM - 4:38.60 27.6 / 31.8 (59.4) 36.7 / 37.1 (1:13.8) 41.4 / 40.6 (1:22.0) 32.0 / 31.6 (1:03.6) This was a season best time for me by 2 seconds, but I wasn't very happy with it. My legs just killed me after a 50 of the backstroke. Probably the lack of rest, plus sitting in a car for 3 hours prior to this didn't help. I'll go faster in a couple weeks. Got in a Power Nap in my chair here for about 30 minutes 200 Back - 2:17.89 31.9 / 35.3 / 35.6 / 35.2 Right on the time I did a couple weeks ago at the LMSC Masters Champs meet. I was huffing and puffing afterward, and my legs still weren't happy with me. Another Power Nap in the chair...who knows how long, but each event was spaced out almost 1 1/2 hours or more. 200 Breast - 2:32.65 34.3 / 38.5 / 39.5 / 39.6 Good season best time, I can live with it. I had explosive wall pushoffs, and my pullouts carried me a long way, so I didn't have to swim much. That's the goal of breaststroke - not to have to do very much, right? Power Nap right up till 2 heats before I swam the next one - the parent next to me woke me up to see if I wanted to swim or not. 200 Fly - 2:10.09 28.2 / 32.6 / (1:09.2 2nd 100) This one felt pretty okay. I was back and forth with the boy next to me, each of us taking turns leading the other. Good race. I ended up 4th place in this race, my only ribbon-worthy swim of the day. I need to remember to keep my head down on the 1st stroke off each wall in this race. If I breathe first thing, it slows my momentum for the entire 25, and then I start sucking... 200 Free - 1:55.33 (Masters Best Time - at least untapered/unshaved) 27.0 / 29.9 / 29.9 / 28.7 I didn't feel excellent as I stepped up onto the blocks for this one, so I decided to start out easy and see what happened. The kids next to me got out ahead in the first 100, but I kept them close. Started giving more power in the 3rd 50, and kept going on the 4th 50. The final 25 though is where I really made up ground, over a bodylength on the boy next to me to finish strong. This makes me happy leading into Nationals to be able to have a best time like that.
Updated April 22nd, 2013 at 12:42 AM by jaadams1
Just now posting Friday's because I left work early so the girls and I cold get down to Camp Cha-la-kee for our Indian Princess Campout. Had a great weekend - Daddy and Daughters!!!Keith was there Friday and was starting a 1000 when I got in the pool, so I joined him. Hadn't done anything more than a 200 in a while and wanted to show I could still do some distance. It was a good warm up and starting swim. Keith stayed thru the 10 x 100 Frees and then I was on my own.Swam pretty hard and was pretty pleased with the set times (particularly with no one to push me like Ray). My back times are getting better and holding better.1000 Free (13:57)50 Back5x200 Free on 3:00 (2:37; 2:38; 2:39; 2:40; 2:37)100 Breast10x100 Free on 1:45 (1:15; 1:15; 1:16; 1:19; 1:17; 1:16; 1:15; 1:16; 1:17; 1:13)2x100 Kick5x200 BAck w/paddles on 3:00 (2:50; 2:48; 2:48; 2:47; 2:52)100 Kick100 Breast5x100 Back w/paddles on 1:40 (1:20; 1:20; 1:22; 1:23; 1:23)5x100 Free w/paddles on 1:3050 easy5600105 minutes
I came in a bit late this am (getting the house ready for an open house). That meant I had to warm up in the rec pool with no backstroke flags. Not ideal and perhaps contributed to some misadventures in my 100 back. 400 Mixed Medley Relay, 3:57, 100 back split, 1:02.11 We grabbed first place overall and will definitely end up high in the TT rankings. We also had two swimmers who had just swum the 100 IM, and were pretty tired. My 100 back was fraught with turn problems. They seem to be due to my stroke count from the flags changing from prior years. I'm wondering if doing a fair amount of backstroke with agility paddles has helped my pull? I've customarily taken 3 strokes and flipped. I did this on the first 25 and my feet went entirely over the gutter, no push off. A huge collective groan from my team on the side. I just started SDK-ing like mad. The second turn I took two strokes and was too far from the wall. The third turn I took 2 1/2 strokes and that worked best. But who can plan on that? I may have to work on taking 2 long hard strokes before flipping. Any other advice? That must have cost me .5+ seconds. If I had had only a decent turn, I would have had a PR; my prior best was 1:01.99 with the floaty suits. So, I was pleased with the time considering the execution problems. It's actually .3 faster than I went at Nationals last year, though I had a terrible day on day one last year for various reasons. I am hopeful I can take a second off that swim with a full taper. My splits were 29.7/32.4. I swam it 50 easy speed, 25 build, 25 sprint. I will stick to that pacing strategy at nationals. I did put in a split request for this event as well. 100 fly, 1:00.8, PR I had a lot of rest after 100 back, which I was grateful for as that is an exhausting leg dominant event. I planned to swim the race 75 easy speed + 25 whatever I have left. The last 5 strokes were horribly painful and piano-ish. But I was thrilled thrilled with the time. I haven't swum a decent 100 fly in SCY since 2010 (1:01.3). Splits were 28.0/32.7. I can't really get these any closer without training more for this event. This is only .5 off the NR. That .5 was lost in the last 5 strokes for sure. Still, this was the end of a two day meet. I was very happy with it. It helped to have friends cheering at the end of my lane. I'm hopeful it will hold up well against nationals times. And I'm glad I got it off my plate for the season! Women's 200 medley relay, backstroke lead off, 27.3 We finished first overall! I only had about 20 minutes after the 100 fly for this race. I did have time for maybe a 250 warm down. I thought my legs would be beyond fried for the 50 back. But they didn't feel too bad. I did feel a bit ragged the last 10 yards. But this is a great time for my 7th event over two days. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Overall, I couldn't be more pleased with my Zones meet. This is the best one I've had in years. I usually do a more gradual rest going into a non-taper meet than I did last week. But 4 days of drastic rest really helped zap the fatigue and produce some great times. I may start using my nose clip for all my 50s. Feeling quite bushed at the moment. Will just do a recovery workout tomorrow.
Updated April 21st, 2013 at 06:46 PM by The Fortress
Swam @ Huntsville Nat w/ Dave and Brandon. Long day. My wife and her friend ran a yard sale to raise some money to bring a Chinese orphan to the US to study for a year. It was more successful that I had imagined, After swimming, I was quickly put to work loading heavy items. I was relieved of duty to go coach my daughter's soccer game. That went great. The team passes really well and plays smart soccer. Score was 3-2 but we had three times the shots on goal. I stuck around to referee a game after that and headed home to be put on yard sale clean up duty. Finished that just in time to coach my son's U19 team. Somehow we blew a 4-0 lead but this was a team that clobbered us 2 weeks ago. We are better so I'll take it. Matt coached the workout. First set was pretty tough. We were supposed to get :15s rest but Brandon was pushing off on a fixed interval so it ended up being more like :05-:10. The set felt more like a broken 1500... except we actually swam 2100m. LCM 300 Easy 100 Fly/100 Free/100 Back 300 Easy 100 Free/100 Br/100 Free 200 IM Kick 200 IM 4 x 50 - Descend to 200 pace (whatever that is... I've never raced a 200m free) 3 Rounds of: * 3 x 200 descend - 3:00 (Supposed to be :15s rest - I was coming in at 2:45-2:55) * 100 fast - 2:00 (Supposed to be :45s rest - I was making 1:20-1:25 which seems slow) 2 Rounds of: * 400 Pull/Kick w/ fins by 50s. Use pull buoy as kick board. * 2 x 50 Fast w/ fins * 200 IM Smooth On the second round, my calf cramped horribly on the fast swim w/ fins. Too much kick-not enough hydration. It finally worked out enough that I could finish the set. Still hurts now. 6 x 50 Fly w/ fins - 1:00 200 Cool down (5200m Total)
I was exceedingly glad I rested hard the last 4 days. I had a lackluster start, but from then on it was fast. 100 free, 58.4, Zones Record This was a mediocre swim. I wasn't jazzed up to really really crank it with a relay soon after. I had a great start (9 SDKs) and took it out very conservatively given my concern with my 100 conditioning (28.0). Unfortunately, I only got a toe on my second wall, which stopped me dead in the water. Mollie said she say me stop dead/look splayed and wondered what happened as she zoomed by. This mistake demotivated me for my second 50, though I finished in 30.3. That botched turn cost me a good second, I'm sure. Definitely slower than my SCM 100 free from Dec. I've been frequently flipping too far from the wall in practice and I think this carried over to the meet. I've also never had fantastic flip turns since I race free infrequently. This is an item I really need to focus on. Mollie did point out to me that this time was a Zones Record, which did make me feel better. Mixed 200 medley relay, 50 back lead off, 27.29 Our medley relay won overall with a 1:42. Our flyer went 22.0. Teen Fort split a 30 in evil and was happy. I was super pleased with my 27.29 leadoff, which is only .03 off my NR. I had a very good start. My only flaws were a bobble in my streamline on the second 25 and I was a bit too shallow (Yes, I hyper-analyze all technique aspects of my races.) I took fewer kicks on the second 25 since I was perilously close to a DQ on the second length at the Albatross meet. I did put in a split request on this swim in case anything goes awry at Nats. 50 fly, 25.90, NR I had almost a 2.5 hour break until this event and two cups of java. I didn't even bother to get back in the pool to re-warm up. I knew it would be a tight race with Fall, Susan and Margaret (who all went sub 27). Fall and Susan didn't have a ton of rest after their 100 back. I was excited to swim, felt energized and just had a great feeling about the race before I swam. I wanted to win; I was dialed in. When I set the NR last spring of 26.3, I wondered if I would ever go faster. But I only took 7-8 SDKs off the wall at Greensboro. At the Albatross meet in March (where I re-set my SCM WR), I opted for 10-11 SDKs off the second wall and I did the same here. That is definitely faster for me, and I'll stick with that. I also hit my walls absolutely perfectly -- so very rare. But I was still shocked when I looked at the timing board. Just over the moon about this swim. It is actually faster than the 45-49 record done in a tech suit. This swim will be hard to ever replicate. I was a little surprised to go so fast in my third swim of the day. But I was rested and I always swim faster in the afternoon, which is when I work out. Womens 200 free relay, 24.86 leadoff, PR/NR Our free relay won too! I was very surprised by my time (put in a split request) because I was feeling tired. 4 events is pretty rare for me. I've been working on taking more SDKs on free too. I took 9-10 off the start; in the past I've done 4-5. My old PR in this event is from 2009 with a tech suit. I've beaten every other 50 tech suit time, but not this one. Adding SDKs was the ticket! I was almost startled when the wall came up so quickly. I will say that I took a good long look at the wall this time. Still felt like my flip turn was subpar. This is under the NR on the books of 24.91, but I saw a spanking new 50 year old swam a 24.80 in a Colorado meet. So I will need to go faster at Nationals. I really wish it wasn't the last event of a 3 day meet. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Thrilled with my day! And pretty pleased that my speed held up so well over 4 events. Feeling very tired now and am clad in compression gear. The couch beckons.
Updated April 20th, 2013 at 11:46 PM by The Fortress
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