After a long rest

DAM SCM Meet

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, November 14th, 2015 at 06:38 PM (2159 Views)

I got back from coaching a little later than I hoped last night but was able to eat and get to bed before 9pm. I slept really well and woke as my alarm was about to go off. Today's meet is about 45minutes from my house at the Tom Landry center which is an indoor 25m rehab pool. It's a nice pool but the water is hot(I was going to write warm but it's beyond that) so not ideal for distance swimming. My original plan was to swim the 1500 at this meet but they changed up the meet format from 2014 and added some relays at the expense of the mile. When I registered I knew we would be back up yardage and intensity in training, and my prior experience with this meet was that it's run fast so I registered for the 50 free and 800 free. I know this sounds like an odd combination of races but my logic is that over the SCM season I am going to swim these events 3 times. Of the free events these are my weakest and in the case of the 50 most competitive. For this meet they also worked well order wise with the 50 at the beginning of the meet and the 800 at the end.

Unlike the 50 last weekend I had a much better start and the turn felt good. The electronic timing in the lane I was in was not working so I asked for the timers time, who said :24.7 which I was happy with. The biggest challenge with this pool for the 50 is that it's quite choppy so the second 25 was a little wavy. At the end of the meet I found out that my official time was :24.9 which was .1 slower than last week. I think rested I will be quicker so I am looking forward to Boston.

Next up up today was the 800. My hope last week was to be between 9:05-9:10, while today I was hoping for 9:00-9:05. My time was 9:00.3(sorry Patrick)which I was very happy with. I went out faster than last week going out in 4:26.xx and was back in 4:33.xx. I held :33 and :34s throughout the middle of the race and other than my heading feeling like it was going to explode due to the heat I felt strong the whole way. I am really looking forward to swimming this event rested and think I will have a great swim in Boston. Hopefully the meet will be a fast meet.

I still can't figure out how I feel so much better this weekend than last despite going back up in yardage and intensity. All my teammates swam well today and many of those I train with felt the same way. It must be that yucky feeling between the start of the drop and a full taper last weekend.

Updated November 14th, 2015 at 09:52 PM by StewartACarroll

Categories: Masters Swim Meets / Events

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Comments

pwb - November 14th, 2015 08:47 PM
Looks like two very good swims, especially with the hot water. I'm confident you'll be well under 9:00 in Boston on that 800.
StewartACarroll - November 14th, 2015 09:54 PM
Originally Posted by pwb

Looks like two very good swims, especially with the hot water. I'm confident you'll be well under 9:00 in Boston on that 800.

Thanks. I hope so.

Back to some heavy training for a couple weeks and then a full taper. Can't wait.
The Fortress - November 15th, 2015 10:15 AM
Nice job Stewart!

A coach I respect once said that 1 week is the exactly wrong amount of time to rest bc you just feel sluggish at the point. I suppose it varies for everyone. But I know that I tend to rest either 3-5 days or 10 days when I'm not doing a full taper.

Are you swimming the 1500 at Worcester? Are you flying back on Sunday night. There are not that many late flights back for me ... and I see our last relay would be around 3:45 pm.
StewartACarroll - November 15th, 2015 02:37 PM
Originally Posted by The Fortress

Nice job Stewart!

A coach I respect once said that 1 week is the exactly wrong amount of time to rest bc you just feel sluggish at the point. I suppose it varies for everyone. But I know that I tend to rest either 3-5 days or 10 days when I'm not doing a full taper.

Are you swimming the 1500 at Worcester? Are you flying back on Sunday night. There are not that many late flights back for me ... and I see our last relay would be around 3:45 pm.

i am entered in the 1500 but I am leaning towards swimming it as an 800. My 1500 is a little far for me to be really competitive. My season plan had me doing the 1500 at the meet this weekend but they changed it to an 800. With me not having swum the 100,200 or 400 free yet the mile may kill my chances in these events.

I am am actually sticking around until Monday. A lot of my team mates are doing the same thing. Partly because of flights and partly to be able to do some Christmas shopping in Boston.
Water Rat - November 15th, 2015 03:01 PM
Is it officially a rehab pool? That sounds dangerous to me. are there regulations now for pool temps?

by the way, did I read somewhere you're not doing Spring Nats? say it ain't so!
StewartACarroll - November 15th, 2015 03:36 PM
Originally Posted by Water Rat

Is it officially a rehab pool? That sounds dangerous to me. are there regulations now for pool temps?

by the way, did I read somewhere you're not doing Spring Nats? say it ain't so!

It's officially the Tom Landry Center. The pool has chair lifts, ramp, etc, and to the best of my knowledge it's used as a rehab pool. It's part of Baylor hospital. The water is hot.

I would like to do a couple of international travel meets in 2017(world masters games in New Zealand and Fina worlds in Budapest) and I think I need to back off a little next year so my wife remains happy. I much prefer swimming LCM than SCY and as such I am thinking of skipping Greensboro in favor of Oregon. That said my team mates are already talking about it and some have said they are going so I may have my arm twisted into going but as of right now I am not going.
flystorms - November 15th, 2015 05:58 PM
Great seeing you again, as usual, Stewart. Watched your 50 and you were fast! And yes, once you've tapered over 5-10 days, you'll be wound up like a cat sprinting around a living room, ready to kill the races.
StewartACarroll - November 15th, 2015 10:07 PM
Originally Posted by flystorms

Great seeing you again, as usual, Stewart. Watched your 50 and you were fast! And yes, once you've tapered over 5-10 days, you'll be wound up like a cat sprinting around a living room, ready to kill the races.

thanks kk. I hope to have a bigger than usual yardage and intensity week this week and then we will do a slow gradual 3 week taper. I work best off a slower longer taper. Love the sentiment but the day this oldie is cat like is the day I know I am living a dream I still hope to kill the races though. Thanks.