Singin' in the Rain

Date: Sunday, December 18, 2011
Time: 11:40 a.m.
Location: Tucson, AZ
Short Course Yards
190 days to Olympic Trials

400 warmup

10x50 on 1:00
25 back/25 breast

10 minutes free swim aerobic with snorkel (800 yards)

8x25 on :40 breast pull with pull buoy between ankles

100 easy

500 back :30 rest
400 IM (50 drill/50 swim) :30 rest
6x50 breast kick drill on 1:00
200 free breathe every 5 :30 rest
100 scull

Total: 3,500 yards (70 minutes)

Rain fell throughout most of the workout today, which doesn't usually bother me. What bothered me today was the extremely warm water. I had planned to swim in the diving well, which is short course meters, but I got out after 200. The water temperature was extremely warm, about 84 degrees. I moved over to the main pool, which was set up in short course yards. The water there was about 82 degrees, which felt quite warm near the end of the workout.

Nothing was done very fast today. I'm still working on my aerobic training for another week before attempting to ramp up the speed work in preparation for the Austin Grand Prix. My breaststroke felt better today, though my timing was a little off. I am certain that I was pulling too narrow at the meet last weekend, which means I wasn't grabbing enough water and not using all my muscles to swim. I am a power swimmer, and I have to always rely on that as an asset. I think the shoulder problems I was having a couple of months ago also came into play. I was taking shortcuts to prevent my shoulder from hurting more than it did, and that may have entailed changing my stroke a bit. When the shoulder pain went away around Thanksgiving, I went back to my old stroke, before being barraged with a lot of suggestions in the two weeks before the meet.