My daughter has a two day swim meet this weekend so I was only able to do the 7-8am swim this morning and will have to find some time this week to make up the weights and dry land portion. I felt ok this morning and the extra couple hours of sleep to the rest of the week certainly helped. warm up 8x150 on 2.15 swum 50 free, 50 back, 50 free 100 easy while others finished 10x50 kick on 1min 10x50 wide arm catchup on 50 100 easy Main set 15x100 swum 5,4,3,2,1 starting at 1.30 and descending to 1.10 5 mins of video and stroke analysis Total 4000meters i really liked the catchup with the hands separated as opposed to the hands coming together. This enabled me to concentrate on a nice 6 beat kick and still keep my free ryhthm. The descending 100 set is one of my coaches favorite sets and we did this frequently when swimming short course, but this was the first long course. I did not feel too good at 1.25 pace but kept pushing and made all the 100s the last one I held 1.08. One of the guys in the next land helped by stopping every other 100 and going for it on the ones he swum, which gave me someone to chase(at least on the first 50). I enjoyed the video work and need to work on head position and higher elbows.
I was tired this morning but still had a good workout. Warmup 400 free with snorkel 6x50 catchup on 50 Main set 10x100 swum 25 streamline kick, 25 free with overkick, 25 streamline kick, 25 free with overkick on 1.40 4x200 on 2.30 100 easy 3x(2x50 free on 40, 25 under water on 40, 75 fly on 1.30) with fins 100 easy 2x100 from the blocks fast on 3 mins Total 3500meters I held 2.15s on the 200's and felt strong. Two of my team mates threw on fins and after the first one decided to do a 2x100 relay. I felt good on these but was even more tired when I was done. The 2x100s from the block were tough and I held 1.03s on both. I felt good on the first 50 but half way back on the second on both I tired pretty bad. My daughter has a meet tomorrow so tomorrow mornings workout will be just a swim so I should then have some time to recover before long course again on monday.
I had planned on a 75 minute swim but parking was awful at the pool tonight. The aquatic center is next to the Rockwall Football Stadium and they had a game going on and all the parking at the aquatic center was taken. I finally found a spot just before 7pm leaving me just under an hour to do my workout. Despite the rushed workout I felt ok tonight. Warm up 1000 swim with snorkel 10x50 kick on 50 10x50 alternating catchup and finger drag drill on 45 Main set 10x100 free on 1.20 100 easy 500 swim with over kick with snorkel Warm down 400 easy with a mix of back, free and double arm backstroke Total 4000 yds My main set of 100 felt like I built the intensity but i was holding 1min-1.01 throughout. I worked my turns as best as I could and worked on six beat kicking. My streamline on my turns is finally starting to feel natural and I am actually pulling with my right arm and breathing left after the turn. I caught myself before nationals breaking my streamline to breath off the walls. It's probably fractions of seconds difference, but over a 1000 or a 1650 it's significant. ________________ Our long course meet showed up on the USMS calendar today: http://www.usms.org/comp/event.php?MeetID=20130706RAML There are so few masters meets in Texas so I hope we get a good turn out. Those unfamiliar with Rockwall, we are just east of Dallas off I30. We have a terrific new facility and the meet should be lots of fun.
Updated May 30th, 2013 at 11:25 PM by StewartACarroll
I was really stiff this morning after last nights workout. I loosened up just fine after the warm up. We spent quite a lot of time today working on my kick. I am finding six beat kicking really hard and almost feel like my stroke needs to slow down to get the kick right. This is going to take some time to perfect. Warm up 400 free with snorkel 6x50 alternating catchup and finger drag drill on 45 Main sets 8x150, 100 free with six beat kick, 50 back on 2.10 8x75 kick on 1.20 100 easy 5x(2x50 free on 40, 1x50 back on 40) 100 easy Warm down 800 IM Total 4250yds I worked hard on kick today and held 1.55s on the 150s and 55s on the 75 kicks. The 50s set felt good and I held 29-30 on the free and 32-33 on the back.
With the holiday weekend I was having swimming withdrawal symptoms. If its not tough enough with me backing off after nationals a three day weekend is thrown in for good measure....God I am sad! Seriously though with the craziness at work at the moment I begged and pleaded with my wife to allow me to swim tonight. I was given the go ahead(I think she had a tough sleep night last night and if truth be known she was probably glad one of her three kids was out of the house to give her some peace and quiet). I swam a really tough set of 200s tonight and I am buzzing right now. For the first time today I feel good. 15 minute vasa swim bench at a high tempo Warm up 1000 swim with snorkel 10x50 kick on 50 Main set 10x200 pull with paddles on 2.30 holding under 2min pace Warm down 500 swum 25 back, 25 free easy Total 4000 yds I felt sluggish on the warmup but felt better on the kick set. The 200s were mentally tough but I held 1.59-2.01 on all the 200s. This is the best set of 200s since I got back in the pool.
Today was a long workout. I swam with the masters from 7-8, then lifted for an hour and then swam again for 30+ mins. My daughter swims from 8-10am so with masters from 7-8am I have a 3 hour window I can take advantage of. Warm up 8x100 on 1.30 12x50 with some new forearm gadget(I did not like it) on 50 Main set 4x(200 free on 2.40, 100 IM on 1.45) 100 easy 100 slow with overkick 10x50 kick with fins on 45 swum 25 fast 25 easy on odds, and 25 easy 25 fast on evens Warm down 300 easy Total 3600 meters Dryland/Weights 15 mins of vasa swim trainer 4x(10xbench press, 10x seated row hands in, 10x seated row hands out, 10xleg extension, 10xback extension, 10xreverse leg curl, 10xmilitary press, 10xlat pull down with hands in, 10xlat pull down with hands out) Each round I added one plate and started with 3-5 plates depending on the machine. There was no rest between machines or circuits. This took about 30 minutes to do. 15 mins of vasa swim trainer After weights stretch swim 500 swim free 500 swim with hand paddles 5x100 swim with snorkel 10x50 alternating catchup and finger drag drill on 1min Total 2000 yards Overall I felt good today. The taper seems like a distant memory and I am building back to higher yardage and weights. My 200s on my main set felt good today and I held 2.20s. The kick is coming along but I need to work on shallower kicking. I have a tendency to deep kick when I 2 beat kick and the 6 beat kick needs to be quick and snappy(not two words I word normally use to describe anything I do in the pool). Home for a nap.
It's been a very long week at work and pretty stressful and as a result I have been waking up throughout the night. This morning I got up before the alarm went off and felt tired. This feeling continued throughout the workout. Not super bad just tired. Warm up 400 free with snorkel 6x50 alternaTing catchup and finger drag drill on 50 10x50 free on 45 getting heart rate up 100 easy Main set 3x(100 kick with fins on 1.30, 200 free with fins on 2.30, 2x50 free fast on 1.30 with fins) 100 easy 400 free breathing every 5 200 fast on 3.30 100 fast on 2mins 100 fast on 2mins 50 fast on 1min Total 3550Meters
I arrived back from Houston last night pretty late. My original flight was scheduled to get back to Dallas at 7pm but because of the storms did not land until 10.30. By the time I dropped the guys I was traveling with back at the office it was midnight by the time I went to bed. The alarm went off pretty hard this morning at 4.30am and it was tough getting out of bed.mi made it to the pool early which was weird, and actually had a pretty good practice all things considered. I think I am still feeling some of the positive affects of my taper, because my stroke feels strong in the pool. Warm up 400 free with snorkel 6x50 catchup drill on 45 10x50 kick 12.5, swim 12.5 by 25 on 50 4x200 on 3 mins getting heart rate up alternating IM and fre Main set 4x(2x50 on 35 with fins, 50 back on 35 with fins, 100 kick on 1.30 with fins) 12x100 free on 1.20 holding under 1.05 Warm down 200 easy The 200s in the transition set were pretty good, holding 2.20s on IM and 2.07s on the free. The 50s with fins I always find harder than it should be, but felt good today holding 25-26s on the free, 30 on the back and 1min on the kick. The pace 100s felt easy and I held 1.02-1.04s. Overall a good workout and no I'll affects from my lack of sleep last night.
Updated May 22nd, 2013 at 09:44 AM by StewartACarroll
Woke up before the alarm was scheduled to go off this morning. I was pretty tired, but got up and headed to the pool 5 mins earlier than usual. The senior racer group coach was already at the pool so I got in few minutes earlier than normal. I had a great workout and felt strong throughout.Warm up400 free with snorkel8x50 drill alternating catchup and finger tip drag drill on 50Main set8x200 pull descend 1-4, 5-8 on 2.30100 easy8x100 kick with fins on 1.308x50 alternating drill, build on 1 min10x50 on 45 holding 33 paceWarm down200 easyTotal 4400 metersToday was one of those days where everything felt good and strong. I went 2.15,2.13,2.11,2.09, 2.16,2.13,2.11,2.08 on the descending 200 pulls and felt strong. In fact on the last 200 I ran into some traffic and think I could have gone quicker. The 100 kicks we were told to do them on 1.40 but I felt good so dropped the time on these, and held about 1.10 pace with fins. The build 50s I was around 33-34, and the final 50s I held consistent 33s.
Updated May 20th, 2013 at 11:02 PM by StewartACarroll
Today was a solo swim. I tried convincing my kids to join me, but my son had a birthday party he was attending(these are becoming rare for him and he still really enjoys them) and my daughter just did not want to swim today(she is already swimming 5 days a week at 9 years of age, but is really enjoying it). I decided I,was going to do a pyramid swim today and thought the pool would be setup short course but to my pleasant surprise it was setup long course. I modified the pyramid slightly only going upto 400s but held a pretty quick pace and felt pretty good throughout. I really need to get my yardage backup and this will no doubt hurt, but longer term this will be good. I am going to,sit down with my coach in the next two weeks and work on next years goals and put a plan in place. Despite short course Nationals only just finishing I am ready to get going on the next set of goals. This morning I even caught myself thinking about doing long course nationals in August. My wife will kill me and I know I promised I would back off over the summer, and long term it will be better to reenergize and focus on a longer term goal, but it's tempting. Warm up 400 free with snorkel 6x50 alternating catchup and finger drag drill on 45 Main set All done with paddles and buoy 100 on 1.20 200 on 2.40 300 on 4mins 400 on 5.20 400 on 5.20 300 on 4mins 200 on 2.40 100 on 1.20 10x50 kick on 1min 10x50 catchup with 6 beat kick on 50 Warm down 300 easy swum 50 back, 50 free Total 4000meters I felt pretty good on the pull set and held 1.08 pace the whole way. I felt quite sore after the second 400 but kept my stroke long and concentrated on quick turns. I noticed in all my swims in Indy my turns were ok, but very slow. I know at 6.5 feet it's hard to tuck into a tight ball but I need to get over quicker. As i write this entry I am tired but I guess that's what happens when you taper all the way to no yardage and then build it back up again. I want to build a good base this summer and fall as a platform for next year.
I had a good practice today. We worked as a group on drills which was fun. We were given a drill that really helped with my catch. I dont know what its called, but you basically swim with your hands in the catch position out front, and then use each arm from the catch position. The weird part is that your hands are almost acting like a break since you start with the hand bent. 400 free with snorkel 6x50 finger drag drill on 45 8x50 shark fin drill 8x50 kick with hands in the catch position 8x50 catch drill(as described above) 6x100 25 catch drill, 75 perfect stroke with 10 seconds rest 3x200 kick with fins on 3 mins 2x(4x25 swum 12.5 fast 12.5 easy, 12.5 easy 12.5 fast, 25 easy, 25 fast, 2x50 on 40) 200 easy Total 3700
I had a good nights sleep last night and woke up for the first time since Friday not congested. I had the goo d after affects of my taper at the beginning of practice but by the end I was poooped. This was a long 75 minute workout. Warmup 400 free with snorkel 6x50 alternating catchup and finger drag drill on 45 6x100 IM descend 1-3, 4-6 on 1.20 Main set 4x500 free on 6mins, #1 breath every 5, #2 over kick, #3 4 SDKs off walls, #4 DPS 6x200 on 2.50 2x(IM, free, back/free by 50) Total 4500 I felt tired by the end of this one. Found out after practice my team is hosting a long course meet on 6th July in Rockwall, Tx. The meet details will be posted in the next couple of days. I can't wait. we have an awesome facility and we need to host some more meets. Now all I have to do is motivate my own team to sign up.
Updated May 15th, 2013 at 09:38 AM by StewartACarroll
I arrived home around 10.30pm last night and grabbed a quick sandwhich and went to bed. My plan today was to do an easy hour stretch type swim. The alarm went off hard at 4.30am and I dragged myself to the pool. I am glad I made the effort because I felt much better after the swim. The pool was setup long course, which was hard since I have been concentrating on short course yards for the last few months(with the odd LCM thrown in for good measure). It was great seeing everyone this morning and most of my team had watched the live streaming video of both Nikki and my races. I think my team mates were as excited about the meet as I was. I just wish We had more attending. Oh well there is always next year. 1000 swim with snorkel 6x150 kick with fins with 15 seconds rest between 150s 12x50 reducing stroke count per 50 on 1min 6x50 swum 25 fast, 25 easy 200 easy Total 3000 meters. I plan on taking this week pretty easy before getting back into the groove next week. As I have blogged before I spanning on doing 4 or 5 workouts a week through the summer and then working on my next goals and a program for the next year. I am looking forward to spending time with my kids in the evenings.
Forgot the coach said to show up 30 minutes later than usual so woke up to my normal alarm. Last night was not the best night of sleep I have had, I was thinking too much about Indy and Nationals. Today's swim was very straight forward with very little pace stuff and mainly floating along yardage. 400 swim with snorkel 6x50 drill 6x50 kick on 1 min 4x150 alternating free and IM 6x50 pace holding no fast than 30 on 45 3x100 easy drill/swim 100 easy Total 2300
I had a long day at work today and got to the pool late. I felt ok during the warmup but got better as the workout went on. 1x800 swim with snorkel 5x200 alternate swim and pull no paddles, on 3 mins 4x50 fast on 2mins 3x100 back easy on 1.40 500 swim over kick with snorkel Total 2800 I went around 2.12 on the 200s and felt strong but relaxed. On the 50s I felt good and built each 50, my times were good, 26,25,25,24. I may surprise myself in the 100 and the 50 this week.
Updated May 7th, 2013 at 11:49 PM by StewartACarroll
Today I woke up early and felt pretty good. This feeling continued into the pool and I am finally starting to feel good. Warmup 400 free with snorkel 6x50 catchup on 45 8x50 kick on 1 minute Main set 6x100 descend 1-3, 4-6 on 1.40 2x500 with 30 seconds rest, breating every 5 on first and overkicking on the second 6x25 on 45 with fast breakouts Warmdown 100 easy Total 3050 I went 1.05, 1.01, 58, 1.03, 59, 56 on the descending 100s and felt like I had a lot left in the tank.
I showed up again at the pool ahead of the second day of the B/C meet and ended up doing my meet warmup. This week will be fun since yardage falls away at the beginning of the week and then it's race time starting on Thursday. 400 free 8x50 alternating catchup and finger drag drill on 45 4x100 fast 3 strokes off each wall 50 easy 4x50 fast 12.5 on each 50 150 easy Total 1600 I felt sluggish on the first 400 but by the end of the warmup felt pretty good. Hopefully a sign of things to come this week.
Today there was an age group B/C meet at the pool so I got in as the pool was being setup. I was joined by Scott, Nicky and Sid. Nicky and I are going to Nationals and Scott and Sid are starting training for next year(both age up). Today was an easy swim, but once again I felt out of sorts. I hope I will start to feel more energetic soon. I plan on having a very easy and lazy weekend and plan on sleeping a lot between naps. Workout 400 free with snorkel 6x50 drill alternating catchup and finger drag drill on 45 6x100 kick on 2 mins 3x200 pull on 2.45 6x100 drill with snorkel on 1.30 12x50 swum as 25 underwater, 25 DPS with fins on 50 4x50 swum 25 fast 25 easy with strong turns with fins 500 easy Total 3800 I received a good luck card from my swim team in England yesterday, which was so nice and it's nice to know I have such great support. Thanks Woking Swimming Club.
I felt pretty crappy this morning. Just no umphh. Warmup 400 free with snorkel 6x50 alternating catchup and finger drag drill on 45 6x100 kick with fins on 1.40 easy Main set 3x500 #1 pull, #2 swim breathing every 5, #3 6beat kick on 6mins 2x(2x50 with fins AFAP on 35, 2x25 underwater with fins, 2x50 back AFAP) 100 easy Warm down 6x100 on 1.25 DPS Total 4000 500's I held between 5.30 and 5.40. It did not hurt but again no feel for the water and just no go. The fast 50s were ok and I went 23,24 on the free on both sets and 27,28 on the backstroke 50s. My back felt pretty good.
I got to the pool late tonight and had to rush to get a decent swim in. The weather in Dallas dropped from a very pleasant 80+F to 40+F overnight. This time of the year can be so unpredictable! To make matters worse it rained and despite needing the rain it makes the commute crazy. Anyhow I did not stress out and grabbed a quick dinner and headed to the pool. At the pool a lot of people(many I did not even know) seemed to know I had nationals next week and there were a lot of well wishers. On one had it was a little concerning that I did not know these people, but they new me(I guess the old man who swims quite quickly in the pool makes me stand out in the public lanes) and on the other hand it was quite flattering. Warm up 6x200 alternating free and IM on 2.45 Main set 3x(2x100 on 1.20 80% effort, 200 kick on 3.30) 4x(4x25 underwater, 2x50 on 35 holding 30, 2x75 back on 1.10) Warm down 200 easy Total 4000 My second tighter competition suit arrived today. The Speedo Fastskin3 size SR4 was tight, but will be great next week. I am quite shaggy hair wise and need a hair cut. I am really looking forward to next week to get my hair clipped and shave down for some fast racing.
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