Monday, April 9, 2012

Raise It Up

Date: Monday, April 9, 2012
Time: 5:45 a.m.
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Long Course Meters
77 days to Olympic Trials

300 warmup

3x(3x100 on 2:00)
1. 25 swim/25 kick/25 free kick drill/25 swim
2. 50 back/50 free (50 back/50 breast on rounds two and three)
3. pull with buoy

10x150
odd: free aerobic on 2:20 (avg. 2:00)
even: 50 breast pull/50 breast kick/50 breast swim on 2:50 (avg. 2:25)

100 easy

8x25 on :35
odd: 15 fast kick underwater/10 easy
even: 10 easy/15 fast swim

3x(4x50 on 1:00)
1-3 easy
4 breast swim fast (34.6, 34.4, 34.6)

200 easy (with stretching)

Total: 3,800 meters (80 minutes)

During my pre-Easter feast nap yesterday, I slept in a weird position, and it affected my left shoulder, which is my "bad" shoulder. I felt stiff later that night, and took some ibuprofen to hopefully loosen the muscles. I did not have any more Ben-Gay, so it was the next viable option. (Ice, I realized as I was lying in bed that night, would have been another option.)

So, this morning, I felt a little stiffness in my shoulder as I did my dynamic stretching and my 300 warmup. It started to feel better after about 40 minutes in the pool, but I think my range of motion was affected. I wasn't able to extend fully on each freestyle stroke, but nothing that was alarming.

The main set as written was essentially 10x200 with little rest. I have 77 days to go to Olympic Trials, so this part of the season is not about distance freestyle. I did 150s, because I knew I needed to work on long course endurance -- and breaststroke. The water wasn't 83 degrees, like it was on Saturday in Tucson, but it was still a bit warm ... maybe 81.5. The weather is getting much warmer in Phoenix (93 degrees for a high today), so I'm hoping the water heater is off and the aerators are getting primed for duty!

I was somewhat happy with my fast 50s today. I wasn't feeling power in my pull or kick, but the stroke felt clean, i.e. no unnecessary movements or body angles. After that long 1500 set, I wasn't really up for sprinting, even though I had done some short sprint bursts. Time-wise, it's not very fast, but as I said, I wasn't feeling much like a sprinter today. Tomorrow I hope to do more power stuff, though maybe shorter than 50 meters. I need to start feeling explosive in the water!

I decided to do my dryland with JR Rosania today instead of Wednesday, because I wanted to do the Wednesday lactate workout with Phoenix Swim Club ... and because my schedule allowed me to make the change. The past two weeks have been tough on the muscles. We're working on explosive power, and to do that, JR is increasing the weight on some of my exercises, particularly the dreaded leg extensions!

The other exercise that totally obliterates me is the breaststroke pull exercise. Holding on to two stretch cords, I simulate the outsweep of the breaststroke pull. Each week I have been increasing the repetitions, with the goal of doing three sets of 50 before May. Why 50? That's the approximate number of strokes I take in a 100-meter breaststroke race, rounded up from my actual target of 44 (21 first 50, 23 second 50)


By the end of the workout, I could barely lift my arms over my head, but all in all, a good day of exercise. I feel like I am back in the swing of things after three weeks of upheaval. Tonight, I put a big bag of ice on my left shoulder for about 30 minutes. It feels better, but still a little stiff.

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