Ande's Swimming Blog

**ande** · March 23rd, 2005, 11:47 AM

I'm Ande Rasmussen
I write about my swimming training and meets in this thread.

http://andesswimmingblog.blogspot.com
http://www.usms.org/forums/blog.php?b=3156

This thread really started here:
http://forums.usms.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=4155

Here's a few comments:

1) If you're new you'll find my latest posts will be at the very end of this thread.

2) As far training goes, there are many ways to train, what I post here is what I do on a particular day.

3) Injuries are serious business and people need to be very careful to avoid them. Swimmers can seriously injure themselves; especially when doing new things. Once a swimmer has an injury they need to work with their doctors, physical trainers, and coaches to adjust their training methods accordingly to avoid reinjuring themselves. There's a difference between training fatigue and ripping or tearing muscles and ligaments.

4) If you try swimming some of the sets I post, please consider where you are and work up to it. It's not a good idea to go from 2,000 a day 3 times a week to 4,000 or 5,000 a day 5 times a week. Also modify the intervals and number of repeats to what makes sense for you.

Good luck,

Ande

You might also enjoy my
Swim Faster Faster Swimming Tips at:
http://forums.usms.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=4229

IF YOU HAVE QUESTIONS
FEEL FREE TO TO ASK THEM at:
ASK ANDE
http://forums.usms.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=4418

Directory
shows which pages contain which date ranges:
you can arrive on the page you want by clicking on
http://forums.usms.org/showthread.php?t=4298&page=1
then type in the page number at the end of the URL

01 March 23rd, 2005
02 March 25th, 2005 taper
03 April 8th, 2005 south central zones, SCY San Antonio TX
04 April 18th, 2005
05 May 3rd, 2005
06 May 17th, 2005
07 May 19th, 2005
08 May 23rd, 2005
09 May 27th, 2005
10 June 2nd, 2005
11 June 17th, 2005
12 July 1st, 2005
13 July 20th, 2005
14 July 21st, 2005
15 July 27th, 2005
16 August 5th, 2005
17 August 15th, 2005
18 August 19th, 2005
19 August 29th, 2005
20 September 5th, 2005
21 September 14th, 2005
22 September 23rd, 2005
23 October 12th, 2005
24 October 25th, 2005
25 November 9th, 2005 SCM Meet
26 November 23rd, 2005
27 December 9th, 2005
28 December 23rd, 2005
29 January 5th, 2006
30 January 17th, 2006
31 January 18th, 2006
32 January 28th, 2006
33 February 15th, 2006
34 March 1st, 2006 American SCY Championships
35 March 16th, 2006 SCY Zones
36 April 1st, 2006 SCY Zones
37 April 12th, 2006
38 May 4th, 2006
39 May 25th, 2006
40 June 15th, 2006
41 July 5th, 2006
42 July 16th, 2006
43 August 1st, 2006 2006 LCM Worlds
44 August 7th, 2006
45 August 14th, 2006
46 August 28th, 2006
47 September 13th, 2006
48 September 26th, 2006
49 October 10th, 2006
50 October 25th, 2006
51 November 3rd, 2006 SCM Meet
52 November 19th, 2006
53 December 01st, 2006 Dixie SCM Champs, Jingle Bell Splash SCY
54 December 18th, 2006
55 January 2nd, 2007
56 January 10th, 2007
57 January 18th, 2007
58 January 26th, 2007
59 February 4th, 2007
60 February 10th, 2007
61 February 16th, 2007
62 February 20th, 2007 Am SC Championships

Ande's Swimming Background & History

I started swimming in the early 70's, my dad was in the airforce. my parents put me on a swim team when we lived in San Antonio, TX (Randolph AFB), I wasn't very good, we practiced in Blossom swim pool.

We moved to Sumter SC, in 1971 (Shaw AFB) and I swam at the YMCA, summer league and year round

We moved to Hampton, VA in 1974, (Langley AFB) i joined the Langley Blue Dolphins which became the Coast Guard Blue Dolphins. I joined when I was 11 and started training year round. I went 28 low in the 50 SCY free and 1:03 in the 100 y free

We moved to Austin, TX in Feb 1977 (Bergstrom AFB) swam summer league that summer, joined longhorn aquatics in Sep 77.
I didn't break a minute in the 100 scy free till I was 14. When I started 9th grade I was 5' 4" and weighed 120 lbs
My first turning point was moving to austin
My second turning point was turning 16, being able to drive myself to practice and being coached by Paul Bergen and trained with many wonderful swimmers.

my scy times were
77 - 78 09th grade can't remember my times (slow)
78 - 79 10th grade 1:04 100 bk 1:04 100 fl
79 - 80 11th grade :57 100 bk 56 100 fly
80 - 81 12th grade :53.9 100 bk, 52.0 100 fly, 1:56.9 200 IM

I was a late bloomer
I was 5' 4" in 9th grade, 6' 1" in 12th then wound up 6' 3"

Eddie Reese allowed me to walk on the UT swim team in 1981
81 - 82 Freshman year 49.9 100 fl, 1:53 200 IM
82 - 83 Sophmore year redshirt 50.6 100 fl
83 - 84 Junior year 50.6 100 fly, 21.0 50 fr, 46.low 100 fr
84 - 85 1st senior year 48.8 100 fly, 20.4 50 free, 44.7 100 fr 44.00 100 free split on a relay, 22.4 50 fly, 1:51.4 200 IM
85 - 86 2nd senior year 20.6 50 fr, 45.0 100 free, 49? 100 fl
never weighed more than 194, usually between 185 - 190

LC I went 23.7 50 fr, 52.7 100 fr and 56.5 100 fl

Highlights
1981 made jr cuts and swam in Junior Nationals
1981 won the 100 LCM back at TAGS
1982 swam in Jr Nats at UT
1984 broke through that summer, went to summer Nationals,
Made UT's traveling squad in the fall
1985 Made NCAA cuts
1985 lettered in swimming at UT in
1985 swam on UT's 4 x 100 free relay that won conference,
got to train with many incredible swimmers
1986 went to SCY Nationals, Graduated from UT

Disappointments:
Never swam in Olympic Trials,
Never swam in NCAA's, even though I made cuts
hurt my back in 1982, and stayed hurt for 2 years
didn't work on streamlined dolphin kicking till 1986

Post College / Masters
86 did stroke drills, lifted weights and dabbled
87 did not swim much, went to work
88 swam in masters nationals in Austin
89 trained a little and lifted
90 started training in Aug 1990 went 21.0 50 fr, 46.0 100 fr
91 went 23.65 50 LCM free, 20.5 50 y free
92 went 24 low 50 LCM free, 25.6 50 LCM fly

93 kept swimming masters
most of my times are posted on USMS top 10
http://www.usms.org/comp/tt/toptenin...wimmerID=02P06

95 / 96 got strong and fast went 20.9 in 50 fr and 46.4 in 100 fr

99 went 53.8 in the 100 bk at zones but the results were not posted to USMS top 10 because of some glitch

98 got into songwriting and started slacking in swimming

2001 really let myself go and got up to 238 lbs and decided I had to get it under control.

2002 trained for the 1650, went 17:50 which is holding 1:05's

2003 started training more consistently

2004 went to zones and been at it ever since, bouncing from one focus event to the next, focused on the 200 IM summer and fall

2005 focused on 200 IM till zones,
started my swimming blog

2006
Spring: focused on 500 fr and 400 IM,
had a really good 100 bk
Summer: went to Worlds, swam butterfly well
Fall: focusing on losing weight, lifting weights, and SPRINTING the 50 & 100 Fl, Bk, & Fr

2007
Winter: still working on the 50 & 100 free

~ ~ ~ ~ ~
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

First Entry

My focus for this season is the
south central zone championship meet in
San Antonio TX on
Fri Apr 8, Sat Apr 9, and Sun Apr 10
I've entered the following events:
(they are in the order they appear on the schedule)

Fri Apr 8 400 IM

Sat Apr 9 100 IM, 100 FR, 50 BK, 100 FL

Sun Apr 10 100 BK, 200 IM, 50 FL, 200 FR

I'm not sure I'll swim the 400 IM but I wanted to have the choice.
This season I put in my best most consistent masters swimming training in years as I focused on the 200 IM. Though I haven't done much weight lifting, stretching, or sprinting. I'm not sure if I'm going to go to nationals, I have till mid April to decide, right now I'm leaning towards skipping it.

So here I am with 16 days to go till zones.
My plan is to rest and sharpen.

Though last night I went to see Todd Snider perform at Cheatham Street in San Marcos (Todd is an incredible singer songwriter who's received high praise from legendary singer songwriters). I drank one ginger ale, no beer. I left around 12:15 am even though he was still performing, I came home smelling all smokey, jumped in the hot tub and went to bed around 12:45 am. I slept late this morning and didn't wake till 6:25 am. Arrived real late for practice, but did enough to fit my taper plans.

I dove in not really knowing what the set was but wound up doing
2 x 100 on 1:30
4 x 100 on 1:25
4 x 100 on 1:20
4 x 100 on 1:15 I went around 1:00 on the last one. keeping it smooth.

then I swam easy

I ended my practice with
2 half length dolphin kick sprints
each followed with 3 1/2 lengths easy

I took 8 kicks on the first and 12 on the second

weighed 212 after practice

I need to get a hold of a high neck fast skin ii body suit for zones.

Men's div 1 NCAA swimming championships begins tommorrow.
Can't wait to start reading the results.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

friends sites

tyler
http://b23.net/tbwp

brandon
http://www.brandonmarsh.blogspot.com

amy marsh
http://www.amymarsh.blogspot.com/

lynne smith
http://itisnicetohaveaninterest.com/2.html

desiree
http://www.desireeficker.com/

Rip Esselstyn / Engine 2
http://www.engine2.org

Arizona Masters
http://azlmsc.blogspot.com/

Ian Crocker
http://www.swimroom.com/?page_id=3&cat_id=9&post_type=2

Longhorn Aquatics
http://www.utexas.edu/longhornaquatics/index.php
schedule
http://www.utexas.edu/longhornaquati...e.html#masters

**ande** · March 23rd, 2005, 04:59 PM

I'm feel a little tired now from staying up so late last night. Reminder to self, late nights tend to hit me in the afternoon. Think I'll go home and take a nap and hopefully hit the hay early tonight. I only have 12 more practices till Zones is here. I have a slight paranoia of getting sick cause my wife had a sore throat and ran a 102 temp the last few days. Not sure what she had. Hope she didn't share her bug with me.

**aquageek** · March 23rd, 2005, 05:26 PM

I thought most bloggers had their own URLs.

**scyfreestyler** · March 23rd, 2005, 05:34 PM

Originally posted by aquageek
I thought most bloggers had their own URLs.

They typically do. Not that I don't enjoy Ande's writing but I suspect the moderators will terminate this thread in short order.

**ande** · March 23rd, 2005, 06:37 PM

i don't know if the the forum moderators will allow or delete this thread .

i thought folks might be interested in reading about the kind of masters workouts we do in Austin with our masters coach / former olympian Whitney Hedgepeth.

Plus since I train in the Texas swim center and out at Circle C I occasionally talk with Eddie Reese, Randy Reese, Jill Sterkel, and great athletes / Olympians who train and visit there like Brendan Hansen, Ian Crocker, Aaron Peirsol, Nate Dusing,Neil Walker, and Josh Davis. The forum moderators might be like judges in a Law and Order trial who allow a particular line of questioning to go on. Or this thread to exist.

Plus there's some really amazing up and coming college swimmers at UT and high school swimmers training with Randy Reese.

If people aren't interested they could choose not to read this thread or post in it. Though I suspect, some might enjoy vicariously observing my journey, experiences, and visiting Austin through this thread and for now I'm willing to write it.

Any one have any comments?

Should I:
a. stop posting to this thread?
b. move it to it's own URL? or
c. continue right here?

I want to be a good USMS discussion forums community member.
Don't really care to stir up a controversy.

ande

plus I've been writing a songwriting ezine / blog for nearly 5 years and it's built up a following of over 2,450 who receive it each time I release a new issue, so I thought I'd do the same on swimming, since

1) I happen to know a thing or two about swimming because I've had the good fortune to train under some terrific coaches, like Paul Bergen, Eddie Reese, Richard Quick, and Shaun Jordan,

2) I am a student of the sport and feel a passion, and

3) I enjoy sharing information and encouraging people.

Originally posted by 330man
They typically do. Not that I don't enjoy Ande's writing but I suspect the moderators will terminate this thread in short order.

**Frank Thompson** · March 23rd, 2005, 07:27 PM

Hi Ande:

I did not see a poll set up like "Have you taken steroids" or "Rate USMS Swimmer magazine". I will either vote for b or c. I have not decided yet.

**ande** · March 24th, 2005, 06:05 AM

men's div 1 2005 NCAA championships begin today

here's the link to the psyche sheet
http://www.ncaasports.com/swimming/mens/story/8275782

here's the link to results
http://www.ncaasports.com/swimming/m...esults/2005/d1

can't wait,

ande

**ande** · March 24th, 2005, 10:12 AM

Practice begins at 6:30 am but since I'm tapering I arrived around 7:00 am, Whitney Hedgepeth was on deck. I missed warm up and the first part of the main set. Whitney writes out the whole work out and puts it on an eraser board. She offers a range of intervals for people of different abilities.

This mornings work out was scy in the main pool, we usually work out in the diving well. A few UT women were training in the North half of the pool, UT men are at NCAA's and everyone else is resting for World Championship Trials

400 free 75% 1:00 min rest
4x75 IM fl bk br 5 - 10 sec rest, solid effort
400 free 4:40 ish
4x50 IM 12.5 each stroke on :40 sec
400 free 4:40 ish
4x100 IM on 1:15, I held each under 1:10, stayed smooth
400 free went 4:27 2:16 2:12

100 easy

800 2 x (100 k 100 im 100 k 100 choice) easy

then I did a few easy 25's
1 8 dolphin kick sprint on my back
swam an easy 100
1 25 back sprint, flip touch, took 12 fast dolphin kicks

weighed 211
I'll spend Easter Fri - Sun at the beach, doing my best not to eat too much and gain many pounds.

Zones begins in 14 days, so fewer yards, more rest, and a few sprints are in my near future.

Ande

**craiglll@yahoo.com** · March 24th, 2005, 10:35 AM

I was wondering what others think of Ande's workouts. typically, I swim a lot more yards thatn he does. I use Mel's workouts sometimes and Swiminfo intermediate.

It woudl be nice if Ande had his own URL. Does anyone know of any good swimming Blogs?

**ande** · March 24th, 2005, 10:50 AM

hi craig,

right now I'm tapering for Zones, the meet begins in 14 days
so I'm cutting back my yardage and will cut it much further over the next 2 weeks.

Ande

Originally posted by craiglll@yahoo.com
I was wondering what others think of Ande's workouts. typically, I swim a lot more yards than he does. I use Mel's workouts sometimes and Swiminfo intermediate.

It woudl be nice if Ande had his own URL. Does anyone know of any good swimming Blogs?

**Blue Horn** · March 24th, 2005, 11:28 AM

Keep it going. I enjoy your threads and reading about your takes on elite swimmers that you have contact with.

Hook'em
Blue

**LindsayNB** · March 24th, 2005, 11:36 AM

I find Ande's posts are more interesting than the average on the board. I can't see any harm in having the "blog" here as people who aren't interested can just ignore the thread. I guess if we ended up with dozens of people starting blogs, and they were generally of low quality it might get annoying, but even then all that would be necessary would be to create a separate catagory (ala workouts, coaching etc.). I certainly hope the moderators won't pull the plug and I doubt they will.

**fatboy** · March 24th, 2005, 01:32 PM

My vote is to keep the thread going. Great stuff.

**Fishgrrl** · March 24th, 2005, 01:36 PM

My vote - who freakin' cares?

Is he being profane or calling people names or using his blog for some kind of political platform or not talking about swimming?

Then let him have his blog and let's get on with it. Heck - I'll start a blog too.

I'm always interested in what all of you are going through with your personal swimming experiences anyway.

For instance, am I the only one who feels like they suck about half the time and wonder if I'll ever get the hang of this stuff?

**newmastersswimmer** · March 24th, 2005, 03:32 PM

I am confused about something.....I went to the psych sheets link that Ande put here for the Mens NCAA Div 1 championships (which start today).......Why are there "alternates" listed below that are not automatically entered in thier respective events even though they have faster times than many of the swimmers who are automatically entered in those same events???.....Also Matt Beasely from SMSU posted a faster time than many of the automatically entered swimmers for the 200 IM ...yet he is "only" listed as an "alternate" in the 200 freestyle (where he went 1:36.50 at his conference meet...which is faster than many of the invited swimmeres in that event....He went 1:48.34 in the 200 IM which is faster than many of the invited swimmers in that event...and he is not even listed as an "alternate" for that one??.....I can't understand why he is not automatically invited to be in both of these events in the first place.....I mention Matt only b/c he swims for my al mamater ...SMSU....There is also a guy from Texas listed as an "alternate" only for the 200 IM when he has a faster time than one of his teammates (also from Texas) who is automatically competing in the 200 IM???....These guys are both from the same team....yet the faster of the two in that event is only an alternate while the slower of the two is automatically entered??.....Anyone no why this is the case??

Newmastersswimmer

**Heidi** · March 24th, 2005, 04:03 PM

Originally posted by Fishgrrl

For instance, am I the only one who feels like they suck about half the time and wonder if I'll ever get the hang of this stuff?

Absolutely not, I think this daily.

**knelson** · March 24th, 2005, 04:57 PM

Originally posted by newmastersswimmer
I am confused about something.....I went to the psych sheets link that Ande put here for the Mens NCAA Div 1 championships (which start today).......Why are there "alternates" listed below that are not automatically entered in thier respective events even though they have faster times than many of the swimmers who are automatically entered in those same events

It's pretty complicated and I won't pretend to know exactly how it works. I assume you already know there are 'A' cuts and 'B' cuts. If you make the A cut you're in. If you make the B cut you are considered. So I believe if you make an A cut you get to also swim in any event you've made a B cut in--so that would explain why there are people slower than the swimmer you mentioned. The other factor is relays, so these swimmers might also be in individual events they didn't meet the A cut in. Once they fill the automatic seeds they start backfilling with the B qualifiers. Then it gets even more complicated because they have to fill each event. I think there is eventually some magic number of total swimmers at the meet.

I'm sure I've got a couple facts wrong in here, so someone correct me if I'm wrong!

**Seagurl51** · March 24th, 2005, 05:01 PM

Originally posted by Fishgrrl

For instance, am I the only one who feels like they suck about half the time and wonder if I'll ever get the hang of this stuff?

Nope!!

**Frank Thompson** · March 24th, 2005, 05:54 PM

Newmasterswimmer:

If you go to the home page of the NCAA Swimming & Diving page and go to Rules and Regulations, it will pop up the Rule Book and from pages 36 - 43 it goes in to detail the stuff Kirk is talking about. They have event limits for both individual and relays. They have the time cuts for both A and B. Then depending on what people swim and the limits they go from there. Kirk did a great job explaining it and they go thru all of the specfics. Hope this helps.

**ande** · March 25th, 2005, 01:43 PM

I'm at my parents bay house for the next 3 days in Aransas Pass. There's a nice public pool and I went for a dip.

Just swam easy and did a few stroke drills. I didn't count but it was probably around 1,000. I'll probababy go back later today with my kids and do some more.

My basic plan is to keep it easy the next 3 days and try to not gain much weight. I may do a few 12.5 and 25 sprints.
I may do some fast turns.

I usually don't eat breakfest and this morning I did, I felt a little light headed in the pool. I'm lucky to be fairly injury free but my right knee hurts some sometimes when I push off the wall or dolphin kick.

I'm really enjoying reading NCAA results

Ande