Date: Sunday, September 18, 2011
Time: 11:15 a.m.
Short Course Yards
281 days to Trials
Three rounds:
150 free on 2:15
100 IM on 1:30
50 breast on 1:00
8x25 on :45 (15m fast)
3x100 back descend to 90 percent on 1:40
(1:18, 1:08, 1:05)
One minute rest, then 100 back fast (:56)
8x25 on :30 recovery
4x50 breast kick drill (one pull, two kicks) on 1:00
One minute rest, then 100 breast fast (1:03)
8x25 on :30 recovery
Power Tower (bucket 3/4 full)
4x15 on 1:00 (2 back, 2 breast)
One minute break
4x25 on 1:30 (2 back, 2 breast)
6x100 on 1:40 easy, 50 back/50 breast
Total: 3200 yards
I suppose I only had one fast 100 in me today. I wish it had been breaststroke. I was very happy with the backstroke swim. I haven't been :56 in a long time, stuck at :57 for about a year. What does this mean about my backstroke? I don't know. I've been stuck at the mid-51 range in my tapered 100-yard backstroke for eight years, and haven't gone under 1:00 in long course meters since 2008. It would be great to go under those barriers again, but obviously, the focus is on breaststroke until June 25 (which is not to say I'm not keeping up on my other strokes).
Going 1:03 in the fast 100 breast wasn't horrible, given that I only had 10 minutes to recover after that tough 100 back. My legs were still tired, and pushing off the walls was difficult. The upper body felt strong, though. I'm usually 1:02-low on my fast 100 breast swims, but I dont' do them as often as I should.
To add to the difficulty of the workout, I did it alone. No one else was in the pool at the University of Arizona's Hillenbrand Aquatic Center. Doing aerobic sets alone is tough, but doing all-out sprints with no one to push you is a Herculean feat. Racing the clock is nothing new to me, but when your muscles are flooded with lactic acid, your first instinct is to back off when you have no one to keep you moving forward. I'll be doing more sprint workouts on Sunday, especially since the sprint phase of the season is just a couple of weeks away. I'll have to work on the mental aspect of swimming alone if I want to reach my goals this season and next.
I also find it tough to swim fast by myself, so great job on the fast 100s.
ReplyDeleteI find it interesting how much of your preferred stroke you do- will you be more breaststroke specific closer to trials or keep the distribution the same?
Good luck, and looking forward to following your progress!
Hi, Speedo!
ReplyDeleteI don't like training breaststroke a lot, and I like variety in my workouts. The amount of breaststroke I do in the next few months, particularly from February onward, will probably increase, but not by much.