Just Breathe

Date: Thursday, October 20, 2011
Time: 5:50 a.m.
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Short Course Yards
249 days to Olympic Trials

4x125 on 2:00
odd: breathe every 4
even: breathe every 5

450 kick no board, done as 100 breast/100 back

6x25 underwater pullouts on :40

Twelve rounds:
25 from dive
5 push-ups
5 sit-ups
25 done as 12-1/2 kick, 12-1/2 scull

8x150 free on 2:00
(averaged 1:40, heart rates at the end of the set were 180, 144, 126)

4x100 on 2:15
25 free with fists/25 free with one leg out of water/25 back/25 breast head-up

100 easy (with five minutes stretching)

Total: 3,500 yards (70 minutes)

I was hoping for today's workout to have an exercise set built in. These kinds of sets are much better than, say, 3x500 on 7:00. I felt fatigued near the end of the set, especially in my teres major, teres minor and deltoid muscles. Those three areas are generally where I experience the most fatigue during pool workouts, and adding the stress of getting out of the pool after every 25 only increased the soreness as the day went on. I know this can only help increase strength in those areas, and it's important to work those muscles, as they aid in propulsion in every stroke. When these muscles are fatigued, I feel them primarily during the catch and early pull phase of each stroke, particularly in freestyle and the breaststroke pullout.

Holding 1:40 on the set of 150s was tough. I didn't want to do the set in the first place, particularly after number five. I could have used "sprinter's prerogative" and stopped after the fifth repeat, but I forged ahead through the set, held 1:40 for the remaining three and was happy that my heart rate recovered at the end. Plus, I was doing well with being consistent with my new stroke. It's been six weeks since I started working on it, and though it is starting to feel comfortable, it will be a long time before I can say my body has learned it. I'm still working on the technique of keeping my head in line with my arms on starts and turns, and I learned that three months ago!

Tonight was a great session of body work with Tod Miller. He found all the stress in my legs from Orlando. The key to relieving the stress in your muscles during a massage is to breathe. It helps you to stay relaxed, especially when the only thing you want to do is tense that muscle. I feel like my legs are back to normal, and I should be able to make it through tomorrow's kicking workout.