Under the Sea

Date: Friday, Feb. 10, 2012
Time: 5:50 a.m.
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Short Course Yards/Short Course Meters
136 days to Olympic Trials

Short Course Yards:
12x50 on :50
odd: kick/swim
even: drill/swim

300 flutter kick with board

Short Course Meters:
8x75 on 1:30 -- 50 fly kick underwater with short fins/25 easy

8x50 on 1:00 -- 25 breast pull fast with short fins/25 easy

200 easy

Short Course Yards:
8x50 on 1:00 breast kick no board

8x50 back on :40 (averaged :31)

200 easy

Total: 3,200 yards/meters

We have been doing a lot of breath-holding work at Phoenix Swim Club lately! I have a feeling that Coley Stickels' arrival as head coach a few months ago has something to do with that. Every time I swim with his top group, we're doing underwater swimming. Now, we're doing it more often in Masters as well. Not really complaining, just noticing that I'm spending much more time under the surface.

Today's main set was 9x200 on 3:00, mostly kicking with fins. I opted not to do it, and chose the set of 75s and 50s in the short course meters pool instead, to do some fast-twitch work. I chose to do those underwater kicking repeats, and I know my legs will not like me tomorrow, but I was happy I did it at the time.

Boy, were those 50s on :40 tough! Mark had written that set on the board during the set of 50s kick, and I saw it and immediately thought of ways to get out of it. Sorry, that's the sprinter in me! I thought it would be very tough to do 8x50s on :35 free, and Mark suggested I do them breaststroke on :40. I knew that would be quite difficult, and I didn't want to fail on breaststroke today (saving that for Sunday). We compromised and I did backstroke. My stroke started to fall apart after number five, but I held my average of 31 seconds through the set. Pushing off the wall was tough for my legs, which might have cramped if I did nine instead of eight.

I'm very happy with the way the week progressed. I was worried about how long it would take to get back into swimming shape, and I think the fact that I exercised while I was in Italy helped a lot. If I had been less active I would still be feeling the awkwardness I felt on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. I'm mentally finding the focus for sectionals again, which is about four weeks away. That's plenty of time to get race ready!

At the gym (4:45 p.m.)
Sitting bench press

Standing cable pull (simulating freestyle pull)

Leg press

Leg adductors

3x25 breaststroke strokes with 5-pound dumbbells in each arm

10 minutes abdominals and stretching

I was a little apprehensive about doing a weight workout today, but I will be traveling for work next week, and while I might be able to swim while I'm gone, it's very unlikely that I will be able to lift weights. So, this is putting a weight workout in the bank!

I really like doing that breaststroke stroke exercise. It emphasizes all the muscles used in the stroke, even those that don't aid in forward propulsion. I've tried to keep my body from being very sore tomorrow by sitting in the hot tub right after my weight workout. Hope it -- as well as a few ibuprofen -- does the trick!