Thursday, April 19, 2012

Forever Young

Date: Thursday, April 19, 2012
Time: 4:30 p.m.
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Short Course Meters/ Short Course Yards
67 days to Olympic Trials

I don't recall much about how I was as a workout swimmer as a teenager, but I am pretty sure I wasn't as tough as the kids I swim with once a week at Phoenix Swim Club! These kids are animals, and occasionally I find myself struggling to keep up with them on the tougher sets. Naturally, they have a better ability to tap into energy stores than I do now in my late 30s, and they have better lung capacity. But there's something else about them that just keeps me in awe of them.

Here was one of the sets we did today:

Two rounds:
3x100 on 1:30 (25 underwater kick/25 back swim/25 breast swim/25 free swim no breath)
3x50 on :40 (#1 back, #2 breast, #3 free)
2x150 with pull buoy on 2:15 (#1 25 back/25 breast/25 free, #2 50 back/50 breast/50 free)
3x50 on :40 (#1 25 back/12.5 breast/12.5 free, #2 25 breast/12.5 breast/12.5 free, #3 25 free/12.5 breast/12.5 free)

After the set, Coley called out heart rates and asked us to raise our hands. One girls raised her hand at 130. A few more at 140. Most at 150. A couple at 160. I think I was the only one to raise my hand when he called out 170. I was beat after that set, and we all thought it was over ... but we had about 900 yards left of threshold pace swimming, which Coley said was a little slower than 200 pace. In order to keep up with the kids, and not have the guys behind me in my lane catch me, I think I was going much faster than threshold, but as I have mentioned before, I'm not entirely sure what my threshold pace is.

All in all, I was pretty sore today from yesterday's dryland training. My shoulders were aching every time I took a breaststroke pull. It was pain, just general soreness and muscle breakdown. I came home and put some ice on my shoulder, which will be a great preventative measure and allow me to be ready for whatever Mark Rankin throws at me tomorrow morning.

I will continually go on the record and say that I am enjoying my workouts with the kids at Phoenix Swim Club. They give me a different perspective on swimming, and challenge me in ways that my teammates in Masters often cannot. But at the same time, they are half my age (or more than half my age, in many cases), so I feel like an outsider sometimes. That's OK.

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