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Had waaaaay too much fun last night at a neighborhood Halloween party. Needed a lot of this morning to get moving in a vertical position. But I made it to the pool this afternoon and did the following:

400 swim
300 kick
200 fly drills

Hard kick set:

5 x 200 kick with MF on 4:00
#1, 3, 5 on back (went 2:10, 2:09, 2:06)
#2, 4 on stomach with board (2:12, 2:10)
50 EZ between each one
200 EZ after

Fat burning (I ate a lot of twizzlers):

20 x 50 backstroke on 50 with finz:
#1-10 focused on staying under
#11-20 focused on Ande's backstroke tip from Eddie Reese on breakouts
50 EZ after first 10
100EZ after #20

Just for fun:

5 x 50 BR drill with MF on 1:00, focusing on Allen Stark's tip of starting your stroke with you biceps by your ears. I definitely have not been doing this.

5 x 50 breaststroke kick on 1:05 (my kick is very stinky)

150 C/D

Total: 4100

SCY, solo

Warmup
1 x 400 choice, alternated free/back by 100's
6 x 50 fast kick on 1:30, went :48-:50
6 x 50 drill, RI :10
(1000)

Repeat 2x
did 1st time free on 1:45, 2nd time back on 2:00
{1 x 100 Easy pace (free 1:25, back 1:32)
{1 x 100 Moderate Pace (free 1:20, back, 1:25)
{1 x 100 Good Effort (free 1:15, back 1:20)
{1 x 100 Easy pace (free 1:30+, back 1:35+)
{1 x 100 Moderate Pace (free 1:20, back 1:27)
{1 x 100 Fast (free 1:09, back 1:14)

1 x 100 easy back/free

[was supoposed to do
12 x 50 on 2:00 - 25 All out / 25 easy (4 each fly/back/free) from blocks, explosive first 25, good turn & breakout then go easy for the rest.]

Started with backstroke, did 4 got a calf cramp on the 4th so stopped.
(1500/2500)

Cool down
1 x 200 easy to moderate free\back
1 x 50 fly
4 x 50 easy free

Total 2950 yards

I decided to shirk all responsibilities today (or at least those prior to 2:00 pm) and just exercise like a fiend before Halloween. I was aiming for a "triple" -- spin, weights and swim. Got the first two workouts in, but after only a 1000 yards, a kid pooped in the pool and closed it down. Again. I'm starting to think that Geek is right and that the parent with pooping toddler should be banned from the pool for 2 weeks when this happens ... Now, I'm going to have to swim tomorrow on my planned day off. Anyway, I did:

60 minute spin class

60 minutes of light weights and core (finally got back to the gym after indulging in a few runs)

Swim, SCY:

650 swim/kick
200 fly drills
10 x 25 spin fly drill with MF

then came the accident.

I had planned on also doing:

5 x 50 BR drill with MF
5 x 200 fast kick
20 x 50 backstroke on :45

Will try to get this in tomorrow!

Friday, October 31, 2008
SCY, Solo

Warmup
1 x 300 swim free and back
6 x 50 on 1:30 Kick fast, did these on my back, no board, (ave. around :50)
6 x 50 drill

Main

12 x 50 back on 1:05 I started these at about :44-:45 and gradually descended to about :39-:40 Last one at :37.

8 x 25 on :45 KICK 15 AFAP then cruise, Choice, Did 4 free w/board, 2 back kick, no board, 2 dolphin on back, no board

3 x (4 x 25 on :45), #1 fly, #2 back, #3 free, do 15y AFAP/10 cruise

1 x 300 free/back at a moderate pace.

1 x 50 back for time from block start. Went :32.1
My right calf acted like it wanted to cramp about 15y into this swim so I eased up a bit on the kick. This is my 2nd fastest 50 EVER!!

1 x 300 free/back at a moderate pace.

2,650 Yards

October 28th SCY New Territory

500 Swim
4 x 50 kick/drill by 25
4 x 200 150 free 50 stroke (50 advances, 2nd 100 free, 50 stroke, 50 free).
1 x 200 IM all out
4 x 100 75 free 25 stroke as above
1 x 100 IM all out
8 x 50s free or stroke build
100 easy

2800 yds

October 30th SCY New Territory

500 swim
200 drill

300 75 free 25 stroke with stroke all out
200 free DPS

300 50 free 25 stroke w stroke all out
200 free build by 50s

300 25 free 25 stroke all out
200 free all out

500 pull
100 easy

2800 yds

AM -- 5 mile run. Felt good!

PM -- swim. I stunk! Felt like I was swimming through jello. But muddled through it, using one of Paul Smith's speed sets:

650 warm up of swim and kick

Paul's set:

200 fast (IM, did it medium)
100 easy
200 fast, broken 10 seconds rest at the 50 (IM)
100 easy
100 fast (backstroke)
100 easy
100 fast, broken, 15 seconds rest at the 50 (backstroke)
100 easy
50 fast (fly)
100 easy
50 fast, broken, 10 seconds rest at the 25 (fly)
100 easy
4 x 25 fast, 25 easy between each (free)
100 easy

Total: 2250

Solo SCY

Warm up
1 x 500 swim as 100 free/100 back/75 free/75 back/50 free/50 back /25 free/25 back

4 x
{1 x 50 25kick/25drill
{1 x 50 25drill/25swim
Did 1 for each stroke

Main Set
1 x 200 free on 3:30 (2:38)
3x
1 x 100 on 3:00 KICK did on back, no board
1 x 50 on 1:30 SWIM FAST
1 x 50 on 1:30 KICK again on back no board
on 50’s: #1 – fly (:36), #2 - Back (:36), #3 - free (:31)

300 free at moderate pace

1 x 50 choice off blocks for time (went free @ :28.4)

Cool down
300 easy swim

2350 yards

I've been in a bit of a snit lately about my future meets (as anyone can tell if they've read my rant on the Indy 2009 thread). So, I spent awhile this afternoon trying to decide where I will swim the next year. I really need meets to keep me motivated in the pool. I considered going down for the VMST meet on Nov. 8, but it's just too soon after the Sprint Classic for me. I also considered going up to Nassau County NY for their SCM meet on Nov. 23, but it's a bit of a haul too. Here's what I've tentatively come up with:

Sunday, Dec. 7, 2008 CZ SCM Champs:

Every SCM meet in the country is this weekend, which doesn't work out for me as my kid is swimming in the Tom Dolan meet on Dec 5-7 here at GMU. (I can't make the Open QTs.) But, I am going to try to go up to Zones for the Sunday events and swim the 50 free, 50 breast and 100 IM. I'll watch Mini-Fort on Friday-Saturday and miss her 200 IM and 200 fly on Sunday. She has given me "permission" to go for one day even though I'm her "good luck charm" at meets. She'll do great, and she gets all my old technical suits anyway.

Jan. 17-18, PV Jan. Open: There is a kiddie USA meet here in PV on Jan 17-18. I might breeze in one day and swim the 100 fly and 100 free. Won't swim both days, as one day is really plenty for me. This has the added benefit of being an afternoon meet.

February 14-15, 2009:

Thinking of going to Auburn and swimming in the SCY meet there with Puff. I've never swum at Auburn and always wanted to. If I swam there, I would probably "taper" for 10 days or so for this meet to post some decent SCY times. Attending this meet would have the added benefit of allowing me to swim a lot of relays and not worry so much about my SCY individual events and times at the CZ in April at my pool (GMU).

March 2009, Albatross Open:

Plan to swim in the Albatross SCM meet, although it's not on the PV calendar yet. This is always a fun meet. Last year, my team swam an All American Relay at this meet (mixed 200 free relay). This is the only SCM meet in PV, so I would probably also rest a little or hold speed a la ande after Auburn. The order of events hasn't changed in years. So I would either swim the backstroke sprints or swim what I did last year: 100 fly, 50 fly, 50 free.

April 2009, SCY Colonies Zones at GMU

My team is hosting this meet, which is always a fun meet. I briefly looked over the schedule of events. I would probably swim the 100 free, 50 breast and 50 back on Sat. and the 100 IM, 50 fly, 100 back and 50 free on Sunday. I won't swim the 100 fly though, as it's way too close to the 50 back. I may swim fewer events if I go to Auburn and instead swim a lot of relays with my team and a couple events for fun.

May 2009, LCM USA "Derby"

I may swim in the LCM USA meet at GMU. Hard to pass this meet up, it's so close.

June 15-16, 2009:

I may swim an event or two at this local USA LCM meet. I like having the ability to just cruise in an do a few events without any pressure at these USA meets -- except the possibility of embarrassing myself in front of my kid. OR, I'll train hard in May and June and swim in:

July 16-19, Jr and Sr Champs at U of Md:

Will probably swim a few events at one of these meets to get LCM times, as Indy does not have a good order of events for me and I don't plan to go right now. This might change if a lot of my teammates go to Indy. I swam in Jr. Champs last year where I got my 100 back and 50 free times (unrested).

August: VACATION!! Probably won't be around for LCM Colonies Zones this summer. But it depends when it is.

October 2009:

I am thinking of heading to Indy to swim in the TYR SCM series instead of swimming in the Sprint Classic the same weekend. There are very few SCM on the right side of the country and I would love to swim in Indy.

Wednesday evening 10/29/08
SCY Some solo, some with the guy in adjacent lane.
I went with the intent of just doing some kicking and practicing backstroke starts but got talked into swimming a set with a friend swimming in the next lane.

Warmup
200 easy free, 200 easy back
4 x 100 kick on 2:00, dolphin on back with monofin (ave 1:15)
100 easy free
4 x 100 kick on 2:00, dolphin on back with zoomers (ave 1:35)

5 x 100 free on 2:00 (with Dale, he was doing 10) I descended these 1:14->1:09

300 easy swim and kick

Total 2100 yards

day 1 lake buchanan
4.4 miles, out and back.
with only one buoy at the turn and two at the finish, it was necessary for each swimmer to have a kayak escort. a very irregular shore line makes it extremely hard for a swimmer to navigate otherwise. the lake was a lot lower than last year and a few of us ran aground close to the turn on a small sand bar. a steady cross wind added a bit of chop throughout the course. i finished 2 minutes behind collis.

day 2 inks lake
2.6 miles out and back
this course takes a turn and we needed to swim a few hundred yards before the dam came into view, still the turn buoys were not visible yet. i foolishly followed a kayak to the second buoy first and during my correction back to the first buoy collis and keith passed. i rounded the first buoy and returned to the second buoy (my second time around it) and by this time couldn't even see keith or collis ahead of me......damn! my will was broken. did this stupid mistake blow the whole week?! i was really pissed off at the finish, losing a ton of time to collis and barely holding any lead on keith.

day 3 lake lbj
2 miles out and back parallel to lake lbj dam
due to fog, last year this was set up as a two loop triangular course. this year a straight out and back swim. it was very easy to sight a power line tower so i kept my head buried and decided to give it everything i had. i couldn't drop collis. we hit the turn even, but he had the inside and i had to swim hard for the next minute to catch up to him. i held on for a few more minutes but then he started to gain some distance on me. i couldn't jump in his wake for a rest, as drafting is not permitted under ASA open water rules. i swam a 43:44....1:05 behind collis. any thoughts i had about beating him are gone now (even without my error at inks). i couldn't lift my arms up, and when i got back to the hotel, spent a half hour under the shower massage.

day 4 marble falls
3 miles out and back
i managed to get loose and felt good for the start, but today we were joined by 14 year old andrea who took off at the start. the race goes under a bridge (rt 281) and turns to the right through a beautiful canyon. i managed to catch andrea before the turn buoy at the dam, but she over took me at the bridge and had a good finish.....way to go! collis passed me shortly after the turn and held a tighter line through the bend. robert and keith were close behind me.

day 5 lake travis
3 miles out and back
the lake is low. the bend in the course and the rocky, sloping banks make it hard to pick a straight line. i hit the turn even with collis (getting used to this scenario) but he builds a minute lead on me during the second half. keith and robert have a dramatic finish a few seconds behind me.

keith's blog
http://64.177.90.244/asa/highlandlakes/index.html

results at 10k
http://www.10kswimmer.com/2008/10/hi...-day-five.html

5 mile run. It's freezing here!

Wednesday, October 29, 2008
SCY, Solo

Warmup
1 x 300 swim, half free, half back
4 x 100 kick on back on 2:15 odds flutter, evens dolphin
(700)

Main Set
6 x 150 : Swim 2 sets of 3
#1 Go 50 Hard, 50 Easy, 50 Hard
#2 50 Easy, 50 Hard, 50 Easy
#3 All Hard.
(1-3 free, went 1:58-2:05-1:53)
(4-6 back, went 2:15-2:15-2:08)

1 x 50 on 1:00 Easy Swim


The following set was all backstroke
{5 x 50 on :55 Maintain Pace (ave. :45)
{4 x 50 on 1:00 Faster than Previous (ave. :43)
{3 x 50 on 1:05 Faster than previous (ave. :41)
{2 x 50 on 1:10 Faster than previous (ave. :39)
1:00 Rest
1 x 50 Fastest of All (went :36)
(1700/2400)

Cool down
1 x 400 Drill 50/ Swim 50
(400/2800)



Total: 2800 yards

Will do 45 min. spin class later today.

Tuesday 10/28/08 P.M.
Solo SCY
I blew off yoga and went to the pool after work for a bit more speed work.

1 x 500 swam as 100 free/100 back/75f/75b/50f/50b/25f/25b
4 x 100 kick on 2:15 (flutter kick on back 1:45)
8 x 25 UW SDK w/fins (zoomers)

16 x 50 on 3:00 for every 2; swam as 1 fast stroke/1 easy free
1-3-5-7 fly (ave. :36)
9-11-13-15 back (ave. :34)

300 easy back/free

2200 yards

Took yesterday off, except for ART. Today, I went to a 60 minute spin class in the am. Rather lackluster effort, as I'm still tired from the meet.

Afternoon at the pool:

Warm up:

200 free, 100 kick, 100 breast, 100 kick, 100 back, 100 fly drills, 50 scull

Main set: (Tempo kicking a la Tall Paul with 30-40 second RI)

100 kick with MF on back
200 kick with MF w/board
300 kick with MF on back
400 kick with MF w/board
100 EZ
400 kick, backstroke kick
300 kick, flutter w/board
200 kick, backstroke kick
100 kick, flutter w/ board

150 C/D

Total: 3000

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Solo, SCY

Warmup
1 x 300 swim
6 x 50 alt dolphin and flutter, no board
8 x 25 Butterfly drills RI :10
(800)

Main set
8 x 50 on 2-3:00 sprint off the blocks
1-4: swim 25 all out FLY, then 25 easy free
5-8: swim 25 all out free, then 25 easy free

Repeat 2x (free)
{1 x 200 on 3:15 Count Strokes (ave 17 spl)
{2 x 100 on 1:45 Minus One Stroke (16 spl)
{4 x 50 on 1:00 Minus One Stroke (15 spl)

(1600/2400)

Cool down
1 x 200 easy back (counted strokes and average is 16 spl, if I take at least 5 sdk's off the wall)

Total: 2600 yards

the HLC is a five day open water stage race held in the texas hill country. the distances range from 2 to 4 miles each day (lake buchanan actual distance 4.4 miles this year)

now, i know that most swimmers don't think of the middle of texas when they hear "open water" but dr. keith bell and sandy neilson-bell maintain a busy schedule of OW events and the lakes are beautiful and challenging.

results and info here:
http://64.177.90.244/asa/highlandlakes/index.html

coming next:
stage descriptions

SCY with Carrie

Warmup
1 x 300
6 x 50 on 1:10 Kick, alternate dolphin and flutter
6 x 50 on 1:10 Odd:25 Fly build/ 25 ez free, Evens: 25 Back build /25 ez free,
(900)

Main Set
Do 3 times through
1 x 100 Focus on long Pullouts.
4 x 25 on :45 - Really Fast
4 x 50 on 1:10 Kick Fast.
Round 1 & 2 All backstroke
Round 3 - 100 free, 25's fly

2 x 150 on 2:30 Negative Split Break @ 75 :10R
(1500/2400)

Cooldown
1 x 300 easy kick/swim/DAB

Total 2,700 Yards

Went to spinning class during my lunch break today. It was a kick a** session and my legs are really feeling it now even after 4 hours.

Very fun meet with a great turnout! Results are at: http://www.patriotmasters.org/Sprint...ialResults.htm

Swam the 50 fly, 100 fly, 50 free and all the 25s. Felt pretty sluggish in warmup. Needed an event to get the cobwebs out.

First event: 100 fly

This was a show down with my coach, who was right next to me. We swam neck and neck most of the way. She was out in 30.0; I was out in 30.1. I was behind at the third turn, pulled even with about 10-15 yards to go and we swam stroke for stroke to the wall. She glided in and I took another short stroke. According to meet watchers, I "Phelpsed" her at the finish, outtouching her by .1. I finished in 1:04.4. Faster than I thought I'd go based on warm up. I am apparently still overkicking. Chris S. noted I was kicking air and making a big "booming" noise with my kick. Gotta work on that. My turnover was also pretty slow. This arises from being paranoid about the piano, I think. One day I'll just take it out fast like Hulk and see what happens.

50 fly:

Another close race. Last year at the Sprint Classic, I swam a 28.80 (in a Pro). I was hoping to go around a 28.0 this year. I swam a 27.5 at the NC meet a month ago, but had great walls there. Surprised myself and went a 27.39, just out touching 2 fast chicks at the finish after trailing slightly at the turn. I only breathed twice (I think). I took 4 breaths in NC. I was thrilled with the time, a new PB! Definitely my best race of the meet.

I won my 50 fly gridge with Stevenson, who, refusing to believe that my fly has just improved in the last year, is still accusing me of sandbagging. If I hadn't gone a PB, Paul Wolf-Girl would still be a manly man, not a girlie man.

50 free:

I haven't been having the best luck with the 50 free in SCY lately. Swam a 26.4 at Zones last April and a 25.99 in Austin. I haven't hit my turns on the bulk head. Yesterday was no exception: god awful turtling, side-winding turn and bad breakout. Nonetheless, had a good rhythm and hit the wall at 25.51, which is my best time. I swam a 25.57 at SCY Zones in 2007 (in a pool with a wall, not a bulkhead).

Battle of the Drop Dead Sprinters:

Last year my 25 times were:

12.25 free
16.49 breast
13.01 fly
14.41 back

(I really had no idea, had to look them up.)

This year, I went:

12.01 free
15.95 breast
12.71 fly
13.96 back

Cumulative total: 54.63 -- if only I was even remotely near that in the 100 IM. lol I was definitely start challenged. Literally belly flopped in fly, and was too shallow in backstroke. But I had a good start in breaststroke! lol

There was a 3 way tie for Fastest Woman between Yana Park (my speedy teammate), Sara Fisher (from NC) and me. My rousing 3rd place overall in the 25 breast kept me in the game!

Really happy with the meet results. No idea when my next meet is going to be though ... Back and shoulder muscles were pretty sore after the meet. Went to ART this am. Should be brand new in a couple days, although I plan to kick a lot the next few weeks.

NMSU is ranked number 2 in the nation for team grade point average! (3.566)!!! They are the top women's team for GPA in the Western Athletic Conference!

Tessa Bain was awarded Academic All American status for her 4.0 GPA going into her junior year (majoring in accounting).

Last spring, the NMSU team had 11 women athletes with a 4.0 GPA - and these athletes are not majoring in underwater basket weaving - it's accounting, business, engineering, biochemistry, etc.

I spoke with Head Coach Rick Pratt and he told me that he prefers to recruit talented athletes who are not top tier, but are motivated to work hard in both the pool and in the classroom. He said that the team helps each other and that the interaction between the team members is just outstanding.

As we know, all most all college swimmers go on to a professional career outside of sports. These ladies are on the right track to be good citizens and hopefully, future masters swimmers!


Mea Culpa ---------------------------------------

When I swam in college, I did not focus on academics until my senior year. I was caught up in the peer pressure to party, party and party. Great for the social life - very bad for the GPA. I barely graduated!

I went on the earn two masters degrees (statistics and operations research) and a Ph.D. in engineering (major: operations research and minor: computer science). I did the second masters and Ph.D. while working full time (no time for swimming).

The point of this blog post is simple: the discipline and competitive desire that I learned from swimming stuck with me and I applied those lessons later in life when I was given the opportunity. Competitive Swimming teaches you key life values - the ability to withstand mental and physical hardship, the desire to compete and accept disappointment, the value of rising to a challenge, belief in yourself and your team and probably most important - to never give up!

See you in the water!
Philipp

I've been waaaay too busy this week with kids and work. RL is seriously interfering with swimming. Good thing it's an easy week with our meet on Sunday. Today, I just dashed into the pool for 40 minutes before swim car pool and did a minimal pre-meet Ande type workout:

600 swim-kick
200 fly drills
4 x 25 build

3 x 25 AFAP, with 50 EZ after each

Backstroke starts. Oddly, I seem faster when I don't go too deep.

100 EZ

Total: 1325

__________________________________________

Probably won't swim tomorrow and just take it easy before the meet. I don't have specific time goals for this meet. I'm actually more focused on fun/gridgin'/racin' than times. I'd like to:

1. Hopefully, beat my coach, who is sandbagging like the rest of the world except Hulk, in the 100 fly. Not sure what it's going to take to do this, but I'd like to go a 1:05. Not sure what my standing gridge with Hulk is here -- either closest splits or who can go out the fastest and die the worst. lol

2. Win my gridge against Chris in the 50 fly. Don't think I'll improve on my 50 fly from NC where I hit the walls perfectly, but hope to be around 28.0 or so if all goes well.

3. Beat my old workout partner Cindy Dobyns in the 50 free since Lisa Rapuano won't be there. She's very speedy, and this is her fav event. No idea about my time; don't care much. It always depends how my turn is on the bulk head. Don't like bulk heads much for free sprints (even the Austin bulkhead). My fastest 50 free time ever (25.5) was done in the slippery metal wall pool at GMU.

4. Get off the blocks decently well in the 25s. It appears that my main competition for the Fastest Woman Award will be my coach, Cheryl Ward. Jen O'Reilly isn't swimming the 25s. Stacey Peterson, who would destroy me, isn't at this meet. Although I haven't really looked at the psych sheet much, so there are probably many other threats!

Psych sheet is up at www.patriotmasters.org.

My shoulder is still bothering me. I wonder if knocking off the weights pre-meet made it worse? Couldn't get in to see my ART doc on short notice, so I'm going with tons of ice and ibuprofen. (Did get one appt, but gave it to Mini-Fort who's been complaining constantly about her knees. At least I don't have that affliction.)