I swim, therefore I am

LCM@FGCU Aquatic Center
Air temp of 73, pool at 80, 100% water clarity.
Sunny with humidity at 69%

Warm Up
200 FR DPS
200 FR DPS w/paddles
2(2x50 on 1:00, 100 on 2:00) FR Steady

• Did 37-37-1:15-35-35-1:11

*Set 1*
2(8x50 Free on 1:00) desc 1-4,4-8 paddles/fins

1. 32, 31, 31, 30, 32, 31, 30, 30
2. 32, 31, 30, 29, 32, 30, 30, 29

400 BK


SCY @FGCU Diving Pool, temp 78/100% clear

*Set 2*
1x1000 FR as 100 Steady/100 Strong, desc 1-5

• Splits: 1:07, 1:06, 1:06, 1:05, 1:05

400 FR/D Kick

*Set 3*
10x50 FR on 1:00, Desc 1-5,6-10

• 30, 29, 29, 28, 27, 30, 29, 28, 28, 27

EZ 100 FR DPS

*Set 4*
2x500 FR on 2:00 rest, #1 steady, #2 strong, w/paddles/snorkel

• 5:48, 5:36

EZ 200 BR Kick

*Set 5*
8x100 Free Strong on 2:00 as
1-4 paddles/fins, 5-8 no toys (EZ 50 btwn 4/5)

• 1-4) 56, 56, 55, 54
• 5-8) 1:00, 59, 58, 58

Warm Down
300 FR DPS

Comments:
It is a good thing I got there early, discovered the LCM pool empty with no holiday training teams, etc., so started the workout ASAP. After Set 1 as I finished a 400 BK recovery swim, I noticed the backstroke flags moving from what appears to be the wind, so when I almost hit my head on the next lap, I realized the staff was converting the pool to SCY for a meet this weekend.

Set 1 - This was a double round of 8x50s within the effort range of 80-90% attempting "As Best Possible Stroke Technique", swimming as strong and smooth as possible. It is harder than expected, certainly does not feel as fluid as I would like, and is not where I want to be yet, but I am making progress.

Set 2 - After getting kicked out of the LCM pool, the SCY diving pool felt small, and the water was cooler. The coach took my splits for the strong pace even 100s in the 1000 FR. These are good splits for me, but I swam the odd 100s pretty slow about 1:15-17/100.

Set 3 - A good example of power and skill transference from fins/paddles swimming, at least in my case. About mid December, when I was doing only SCY, I was not under 30 for swimming FR 50s without fins. Today I was able to descend to 27. The dryland strength work where I have added 15 lbs to almost each stack setting and/or doubled some of the rounds has contributed greater power in the water. Also my kicking is getting stronger with more daily kicking.

Set 4 - I have been working on swimming better with the snorkel along with paddles. Now that I can do the flip turn on a reliable basis with the snorkel, I tried doing the 500s that way. All went fairly well, and 5:36 is a good straight 500 for me even with paddles. The last 100 the snorkel began to tilt because my turns were sloppy, so there is still lots to improve on.

Set 5 - By now I was seriously tired, the warp drive nearly depleted. But I really had to do this set, as both coach and I wanted to see how I would handle doing 100s with fins/paddles followed by swimming 100s without. The only way I could swim these 100s without falling apart was to swim a 50 smooth & steady and then try to negative swim the next 50 as strong as possible, where by the end I was just gasping for air, barely ready in time for the next one. I have to say the 56 - 54 range with fins/paddles was about 90% effort, and doing 1:00 to 58 without the toys was really more a 95-100% effort, but that's ok, still a breakthrough, because I am finally swimming freestyle 100s from a push off under a minute again for the first time in a very long time, at least 12 years or so.