Freestyle Veggies, Friday, Sept. 10
by
, September 10th, 2010 at 09:58 PM (1794 Views)
Swim/SCY/Solo @ Mason:
Arrived and put on the 2XU wetsuit. Wetsuits are so much easier to get on than B70s.
Warm up:
700 various
Transition Set:
8 x 50
odds = free @ :50
evens = backstroke kick @ 1:00
1 x 100 good cruise
I had contemplated doing a long freestyle set with my wetsuit on. But, that was a non starter. Even though the water was 80, I was roasting after 1200. So I stripped off the wetsuit and carried on with my "freestyle veggies" workout, which I did solely out of a sense of obligation to my Savageman relay mates.
Main Set:
30 x 100, done as:
2 rounds of:
5 x 100 free @ 1:20
5 x 100 backstroke kick w/fins @ 1:20
5 x 100 free w/paddles & fins @ 1:20
:20 seconds transition between sets of 5
50 EZ between the sets of 15
I broke it up this way to not drown of boredom and to avoid losing count. I started off easy, basically cruised the kicks (by far the easiest part), and then picked up the last 5. I was holding 1:06-07s on #11-15 each set. I was faster if I remembered to kick, something I frequently forget to do in freestyle. I didn't push it too much, as I was trying to get into a good rhythm. I am very pace impaired sort.
200 EZ
Total: 4400
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Commentary:
Short rest freestyle is absolutely dull as hell to do on your own. No idea how anyone does it. I do not enjoy this type of solo workout. It would be much more palatable with a team.
And, wow, was that wetsuit floaty. Compared to my workout suit, I was very buoyant. Much more so than a tech suit. But I felt very uncomfortable around the neck, like I was vaguely choking. I hope I can ignore this sensation. Hopefully, it's because I'm not used to wetsuits, at all.
I've also resolved to do somewhat more freestyle without fins just focusing on kicking. I've always tended to do long freestyle sets or long aerobic sets with fins b/c of stress on the shoulders, sore shoulders, shoulder paranoia, shoulder anxiety, actual shoulder issues, etc. And it's certainly produced a lot of leg strength (and can ramp up the cardio). But, as I was telling Speedo the other day, my shoulders feel surprisingly good these days. I think next week, which is a relative rest week after killing myself for 3 weeks, I will do some mellow pace freestyle really focusing on kicking. (This also makes sense according to Chowmi's post on the Myth #9 Busted thread.) I do plenty of dolphin kicking and backstroke kicking, but very little freestyle kicking integrated with freestyle swimming. Of course, I say this now ... I may be sick to death of freestyle after doing (for me) an insane amount of it lately. I'm a sprint stroker at heart.
I can't go to my team practice tomorrow because it conflicts with Fort Son's race. So I will hit the gym and hope to get to my team practice on Sunday.
Happy weekend! Good luck to everyone at Big Shoulders.