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Alex's swim journal

Sprint ladder

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by
mcnair
, March 10th, 2013 at 12:16 AM (286 Views)
So, as I feared... a sprint ladder; lots of rest, no excuse to not push hard on every rep. At the end of the workout Scotty added the 25s off the block in IM order. I was already sore before I left the pool... but at least the soreness was symmetrical (i.e., both shoulders and lats on both sides).

Here's how it went down:

450 warm-up
400 fly (25-50-75-100-75-50-25)*
400 back (25-50-75-100-75-50-25)*
400 breast (25-50-75-100-75-50-25)*
400 free (25-50-75-100-75-50-25)*
4 x 50 off the blocks (25 AFAP followed by 25 EZ recovery; IMO)
Cool-Down:
4 x 25 underwater
150 EZ

*We did these ladders on :45 interval per 25 yards (so we went on 1:30 after the 50; 2:15 after the 75, etc.). And took about 3:00 rest between strokes. We kept them pretty fast... my first 25 fly was in :18 and I was at :48 at the 50-yard mark of my 75, for example... this is about meet speed for me. Also, I was happy on the back to see that i hadn't lost any speed, despite not doing any hard backstroke in a week... if anything I was fast with the fresher muscles; my first 25 was in 17-18, even as I slowed down to cruise into the wall and check the clock.

Scotty was about a body-length in front of me on the fly and back on these; I was about half to a body-length in front of him on back; we were neck and neck on the free. Tough, but a fun workout. 2800 SCY/85 minutes.

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Comments

  1. StewartACarroll's Avatar
    Alex, nice workout. I am always amazed at how bad you can hurt going less distance when you get to do the sprint stuff. How is your breast coming along?
  2. mcnair's Avatar
    Thanks, Stewart. The front part of the breaststroke is getting better, but my breast kick is still way out of whack... I'm doing a lot of kick w/ board, slowing it way down to try to get my left leg to obey... but it seems to have its own ideas (pretty sure this is from an old hamstring injury).
  3. StewartACarroll's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by mcnair
    Thanks, Stewart. The front part of the breaststroke is getting better, but my breast kick is still way out of whack... I'm doing a lot of kick w/ board, slowing it way down to try to get my left leg to obey... but it seems to have its own ideas (pretty sure this is from an old hamstring injury).
    I am by no means a breaststroke swimmer, but flexibility is key. Keep working on stretching in dry land. When I was a kid I would lay face down in front of the tv and work on my breast kick. You may look,and feel funny but getting that flexibility and symmetry in your motion is key. Keep working on it and it will come. Your coach should be able to help with some drills too.
  4. mcnair's Avatar
    Thanks; that's an awesome suggestion. I know flexibility is an issue in my legs from years of running. I'm actually self-coached, but I do have other masters swimmers and lifeguards at the Y take a look at my strokes when they can and give me feedback. There are only 3 of us from Kenosha Y who go to meets regularly now, and we take turns torturing each other with the workouts we dream up. Our group is still pretty informal, but as soon as we can convince 1-2 other swimmers from the Y to join us at the meets, we'll have enough for relays!
  5. StewartACarroll's Avatar
    My bad, I assumed Scotty was your coach. Sorry. No coach makes it tough and I give you even more credit for what you have been able to achieve so far. Keep up the hard work my friend.
  6. mcnair's Avatar
    Yeah, well, Scotty and I like to think of each other as mutual tormentors... the term "coach" just seems way too benign for what we do! Thanks for the encouragement... love the fact that we actually do get a lot of great coaching here in the blogs and on the forums!