Tuesday, November 1, 2011

You Can't Always Get What You Want

Date: Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Time: 5:50 a.m.
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Short Course Yards
237 days to Olympic Trials

600 warmup

12x25 fly on :25

50 fly fast from push (26.5)

300 back with four dolphin kicks off each wall

50 back fast from push (26.7)

4x100 breast on 1:45 with double pullouts on each 25

50 breast fast from push (30.1)

300 free breathing every 5

50 free fast from push (25.4)

3x200 on 3:30
1-2 aerobic backstroke
3 fast IM from push (2:07.0)

300 easy (with stretching)

Every time there is a butterfly set, I am ruined for the remainder of workout. That was very evident today. My shoulders were killing me after the 25s fly, though I took great pride in doing all 12 without breaking stroke. It's amazing how strong the mind can be sometimes.

I didn't know we were doing any fast swims today. If I had known, I wouldn't have had the opportunity to do anything different, though I did wish there was some sort of small set to get our bodies ready for fast swimming. If I always got what I wanted in this world, it would be very dull.

All my 50s were OK, though my breaststroke should have been under 30 seconds. I won't beat myself up about it, though. I was focusing too hard on the kick portion of my breaststroke and not on swimming fast.

I am very pleased with the fast 200 IM. I did alone, as Alan Carter chose to do a 200 back, and went a 2:01, I think. My butterfly felt atrocious, but I made up for it on the other strokes.

I enjoy the workouts when we focus on all four strokes, and Mark Rankin gives us those often. It allows me to not get bored, and keeps me focused on the 100 and 200 IMs, which I am looking forward to racing in about five weeks.

One more thing. I do not do any dolphin kicks on my backstroke turns, so that 300 backstroke was tough. Why don't I dolphin kick? If you saw my ankles, you would know why. I experimented with dolphin kicking in 2009 and 2010, but my backstroke did not improve. I think it got worse, because I was in such oxygen debt on the final 25 of a 100 backstroke (short course yards or meters) that I couldn't finish the race properly. Below is a link to watch my 100 backstroke at the recent short course Masters national championships. You'll see that I'm really the only one who doesn't utilize dolphin kicks, and it didn't seem to be a problem!


Jeff Commings 100 backstroke

I don't want to say that doing a few quick flutter kicks is better than dolphin kicking for everyone. It's just better for me!

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