A Hard Day's Night

Date:Thursday, May 17, 2012
Time: 5:45 a.m.
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Short Course Meters
39 days to Olympic Trials

300 warmup

3x(3x100 on 1:45)
1. last 25 head up breast
2. first 25 head up breast
3. free or back, 12 strokes per 25

8x50 on 1:15
odd: 25 swim/25 v-scull
even: 25 v-scull/25 swim

2x500 on 8:00
1. 100 back/100 free (6:45)
2. 100 free/100 back (6:40)

8x25 on :40
odd: free 1 breath
even: breast double pullouts

6x75 on 1:40
50 bow and arrow drill/25 swim

Total: 3,250 meters (75 minutes)

I was a little worried about this workout before I arrived at the pool, but it turned out to be just the type of workout I needed. My body was still in recovery mode from last night's workout, and I needed to just "go through the motions" this morning. My heart rate didn't get very high, and Icould feel my body actively recovering with each set.

The drills we did were a good way to feel out my muscles in ways I am not often able to do when simply swimming. Head-up breaststroke allows me to keep my core in check when my hands are in the glide position. Without my core, I'm not able to keep my head above water. The vertical sculling was another good core exercise, though I would have liked the interval to be slower. It was essentially a straight 400 for me.

I didn't complain about the 500s, because I knew a little distance swimming would help stretch out the muscles. I didn't feel that good on my backstroke, but freestyle felt OK. Again, my body was still smarting from last night, so I wasn't up for pushing the pace past 1:20 per 100.

In the gym today, I did more maxing-out exercises. Sitting bench press, seated row and hamstring curls were my main exercises. I also did some calf extensions, but didn't do them too heavy, because I felt some tightness in my right calf. The exercise was primarily to get range back in that right calf muscle, and it seemed to work.

I spent longer than usual stretching at the gym. I got a foam roller and rolled it over my IT bands. It felt goooooood. I also stretched out my calves on the foam roller, and could feel that tightness still in my right calf, but it's much better now. Everything feels much better now than it did 24 hours ago!