Cool

Date: Sunday, April 22, 2012
Time: 11:30 a.m.
Location: Tucson, AZ
Long Course Meters/Short Course Yards
64 days to Olympic Trials

Long Course Meters:
300 warmup

6x100 free on 1:45
25 free breathe every 5/25 overkick/25 swim

6x50 breast on 1:10
25 pull/25 kick drill

4x150 on 2:40 aerobic
50 back/50 breast/50 free (descended to 2:01)

100 easy

Short Course Yards:
4x25 breakouts on :45

Four rounds (one round each stroke)
25 fast from push/25 easy on 1:00
50 fast from push (27, 27, 30, 25)
2x50 easy on 1:00
:30 rest

200 easy

Two rounds:
25 breast from dive with parachute
25 breast fast, no parachute (2 strokes underwater, 1 regular stroke)
:20 rest
25 breast double pullouts
25 breast fast from push with parachute
6x50 free aerobic with snorkel
Two minute break between rounds

200 easy

Total: 3,000 meters/yards (90 minutes)

I had written the workout for long course, but the staff at Hillenbrand informed me that they were switching the pool to short course sometime during my workout. I was glad that the warmup part was long course, though it would have been interesting to at least see how I would have done today on the two fast sets in long course.

Breaststroke didn't feel very good today, and I thought about switching the last set to backstroke, but I did not. When you are doing resistance work, you aren't going to feel that great anyway, so it doesn't really matter if your legs feel tired and tight, or if you just have little motivation because it's another solo Sunday workout. But what made the workout more tolerable was that the water was a cool 80 degrees! Thanks Hillenbrand staff!

During my easy swimming in the lactate sets, I thought about the Masters nationals that will be held immediately after Olympic Trials, in the same pool. I know I will be swimming the 50 and 100 breast, as well as the 100 back and 200 IM, but I have two other events I can enter, and I don't know what they will be. If it were short course, I would enter the 100 IM, but it's long course, so that's not an option. I was thinking the 100 free is a good option, especially since I almost won the 100 free at the 2011 short course nationals. But I still don't know what else to swim. I suppose I can do the 50 back. I don't like doing the 50 back short course because I can't compete with all the underwater kickers. In a long course race, the deck is stacked more in my favor, so I might do it.

I'm also entering the upcoming Southwest Classic in Tucson. I swim in this meet every year, though I often shave and taper for it. I won't be tapered and shaved this year, but I might scale back in workout for a couple of days, so I'm a little fresher. I like the meet because I live in Tucson, and there are so many great breaststrokers here at the University of Arizona that I do not have any problems with having someone to race. This year, the meet is timed finals, so I am not sure if my seed time will put my in the last heat. Either way, it might be my last real racing opportunity before Trials, and I want to make sure the things I've been working on (keeping legs together on start, strong outsweep) are coming together.