The plan was to do 8K (8800 SCY) today... my swim last Sunday (my step-back week) was 6K and the week before I had done 8000. I got to thinking about it, though, and decided I should shoot for 9000--a nice round number. I remembered that 8K was not quite 5 miles (it's like 4.95) and I wanted to shoot for a milestone I hadn't hit yet: 5 miles, that's a long swim! I broke the swim into 1K segments again (1000 free, 100 breast) and swam continuously except for brief bathroom breaks at 3300 and 6600 (these were about 1.5 minutes a piece). Stopped briefly to say goodbye to another swimmer at around 8000 (don't want folks to think I'm too rude just because I never stop long enough to chat). I mixed the gatorade pretty strong today, knowing that hydration wouldn't be as much of an issue as the lack of carbs to burn in the later stages. I finished off the last of my 20-ounce bottle at 8800 exactly. I was fueling with a swig every twenty minutes (or every kilometer, which is about the distance I do in twenty minutes on these long swims). I swam another 200 free-style to round out my 5-miler! After shower I refueled with another 20 ounces of gatorade (regular strength) and made the slow walk out to the car. I'm pretty tired now... time for a nap! Total time: 2 hours, 51 minutes.
Updated March 19th, 2012 at 08:22 PM by mcnair (number dyslexia)
Made it to the pool with Jimby this afternoon for some IG before he left for Pittsburgh. I felt fine during the swim, but like this now. Hope I can sleep tonight. Swim/SCY/Solo: 600 various 5 x 50 fly drills 4 x 100 smooth @ 1:45 5 x through, mix up stroke & kick 1 x 100 smooth @ 2:00 2 x 50 smooth @ 1:00 4 x 25 DAB @ :30 Total: 2750 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ My iPhone went nuts earlier today. I have to restore it. I'm worried I will have lost all the pics and vids from yesterday as they weren't backed up. Sigh. Oh well, at least I saw the flaws in my fly race. Back to the couch for the rest of the Walking Dead marathon before the season finale. Holy crap. I just saw that Caroline Krattli and Sue Walsh have aged up into my age group. The recent crop of 50 year olds are insanely fast. Preliminary results from the meet: http://www.pvmasters.org/results/ancm0312.htm
Updated March 18th, 2012 at 09:31 PM by The Fortress
I had a good swim this morning at Riverbank with Hannah and Rondi. The pool was a good temp, and not crowded—it was just us three in the lane for most of the session. I was in an IM mood this morning, so here’s what I did: 800 lcm warmup (400s, 200k, 200p) 200 IM, build each stroke 3 x 100 (50 stroke strong / 50 easy FR), ST= IM order no free 400 IM kick 400 FR swim build by 100 300 IM, build each stroke (dramatically) 4 x 50 (25 fast / 25 easy), IM order 300 IM kick 200 FR pull w/ paddles, build by 50s 200 IM, working turns and walls, rest easy 4 x 50 (10-second sprint, rest easy), IM order 200 IM kick 100 FR swim 100 IM strong 100 FR pull 100 IM kick 100 easy swim 200 warmdown + play I was enjoying the fast stroke swims today and feeling smooth in the water on all my strokes. It makes such a difference when the water isn’t too hot—both yesterday and today I didn’t want my swims to end. I had planned on heading out to the beach again today after my swim, but decided to stick close to home instead and get some chores done so that I don’t start the week feeling behind. Looking forward to a mid-week beach outing this week though!
Got a decent night's sleep and headed over to the pool around 1:00 pm. My houseguest, Jimby, showed no signs whatsoever of his previously reported malaise. And was fortified by my diva smoothie and eggs. Did about a 30 minute warm up and then hopped out early to don my new suit since I was in the first event. 50 fly SCM, PR/NR/WR, 29.54 Did this as a split request in the 100 fly so that I could swim it at the beginning rather than end of the meet. Very psyched and surprised by the time. My previous best was a 29.6 in a B70 back in 2009. Based on my 26.7 at Warrenton, I was secretly hoping that maybe, just maybe, I'd see a 29.99 if all went well. So I was thrilled to see this time. Particularly so, since (unlike Warrenton) my race execution was not great. I got off the blocks fast. But my breakouts were subpar: I lifted my head too much and decelerated slightly. I probably should have done one less kick. My walls were not ideal either. I glided a bit into the turn and had a major glide at the finish. I think this is just the difference between yards and meters. When I saw I was short of the wall, I did kick like crazy. Jimby videoed the race, so I'll upload it at some point. I was very fortunate, being in lane 1, that no one was swimming in the adjacent diving well. Only took one breath after the breakout on the second 25. This swim chopped .8 off my 30.35 WR set last December. 100 SCM back, 1:08.85, PR/NR The starter held us a LONG time, the longest I've ever been held in a backstroke event. Everything went well in the race until the last 10 meters. I died the last bit (legs paralyzed) and had a HUGE glide into the finish. Definitely should have taken another stroke. This cost me a few tenths for sure. Splits were 32.5/36.2. So I got out after it. My underwaters were solid. I think I went 15/15/15/10 SDKs. I was right on the 15 meter mark at the start. A teammate in the stands said it was legal, but I was very close. This may mean that when I'm doing SDKs at 100 pace, I've got to stick with 14 at the start. Though I was slightly off the WR KPN set last week in France for her French team, I was still really pleased. I never thought I'd go a 1:08 and it is a new NR, beating my previous one from this meet last year. I remember the very first time I swam this event back in 2007 at this meet (next to Julie Roddin), I went a 1:15 with very few SDKs. 50 free, NS Didn't get to swim this unfortunately. After my 100 back, which I swam around 5:30, I felt really sick for about 90 minutes. Nauseous and shaky and red faced. Couldn't warm down. First time that has ever happened to me at a meet. I think it was likely due to poor nutrition. I hadn't had anything to eat since noon except a few honey stinger chews after warm up. I probably needed more carbs in my system before ingesting coffee. Was likely too busy chatting and forgot. Need to keep better tabs on this in the future. I was sorry to bonk and miss this event since I was swimming well and had plenty of rest for it. But crap happens. It really did not in any way diminish my happiness with the other two swims. 200+ year 200 SCM mixed medley relay: After another hour+ went by, I warmed down a bit and felt well enough to swim my team relay. Wolfy was watching and said I split a 29.5. I was surprised since I was tired (8:00 pm), paced the first 25 slightly, and took 3 breaths instead of one. I had better breakouts and walls though. I'll have to double check this split later when results are up. This is a good relay for our team. Last year in the 160-199 age group we were #2 in the nation. This year, with Speedo gone, our team captain anchored. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Really happy with the times!!! Last year, I swam like crazy at this meet, but had a full 3 week taper. I did the same drop taper for this meet that I did before Warrenton. But since I only lifted once during this 3 week period, my body was pretty rested. And even though Nats is just around the corner, I glad I took this approach. I feel like I've knocked my 50 back and 50 fly in yards and meters way down, and they'll be untouchable for a little while at least! Now for a recovery swim if I can ever get Jimby out of bed. He finally arose at 11:30 bragging that he out slept my teenager. I slept very little last night, so it may take me a few days to catch up on sleep. Thanks to Patrick for writing this: http://theswimmerscircle.com/2012/03...other-barrier/
Updated March 19th, 2012 at 11:03 AM by The Fortress
I swam in my first masters meet today, the Rinconada Masters Spring Short Course Meet. I swam the "novice" 50 free (first timers only), the 200 free, and the 100 breast. The weather was awful, low 50s and quite windy, but at least the rain that was threatening to fall all day stayed away. My last meet was in 1980 and I have only been swimming regularly for 4 months, so I wasn't sure what to use for my entry times. I thought about using the times I hoped to do - :29, 2:20, and 1:25, but in the end I decided to use times that I have actually done in workout - :32, 2:32, and 1:40. This was probably a mistake. My first race was the 50. I was never a sprinter and wouldn't have entered this except I figured I shouldn't waste my one and only opportunity to race as a novice. I went a :28.2. My start was really deep (I also hadn't done a start from a block since 1980), my turnover felt slow, and I felt like I could have done another 50, so while I was happy with the time I am sure I can go faster. I was happy to have the slowest seed in my heat for the 200 because the fastest seeds were about what I hoped to go. I tried to stretch out and relax on the first 100, it felt great and I saw 1:05 coming off the wall. I tried much harder on the second 100 and I think I forgot about relaxing. I went a 2:16.1, again about 5 seconds ahead of second place. I was happy with the time because it was faster than I hoped to go, but I think I can go faster with more focus on my technique. My plan to use my best workout times probably hurt me the most in the 100 breast. One other person had seed time of 1:40, he ended up the slowest seed in the second heat and I ended up the fastest seed in the first heat. I went a 1:20.5 and was about 25 seconds ahead of second place. I would have won the second head with that time, but it would have been a close race so maybe I would have gone faster. I have done very little breaststroke in workout so far, and my technique is straight out of the 70s, so I think I can go faster with some practice. All in all I am really happy with the meet. I had a lot of fun and my times were better than I hoped, and I think I can do better the next time I swim. In hindsight I should have used faster seed times and entered more events. Next time I will know ;-)
I walked two miles and swam two miles today... what glorious weather (sunny and seventies)! I only wish we had an LCM pool outside right now. The SCY box at the YMCA today--even though we have these beautiful windows that let the sunlight in--seemed confining with so much good weather outside. The two-mile swim was continuous and fairly relaxed. I'm gearing up for a long swim tomorrow and I did some faster work yesterday, so today had to get me in the mindset without wearing me out too much. I broke up the swim mentally into 20-minute/1K segments (1000 free, 100 breast... as usual for me); finished 3K in about 59 minutes and then swam an easy 200 to complete the two miles. I'm hoping to do 8K tomorrow morning, so tonight I celebrated St. Patrick's Day by carbo-loading with Mexican food!
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