Wednesday, May 30, 2012

I Sing the Body Electric

Date: Wednesday, May 30, 2012
Time: 5:45 a.m.
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Long Course Meters
26 days to Olympic Trials

1200 warmup

8x50 on 1:00 -- 25 fast kick underwater with fins/25 swim easy

Three minute break

2x50 breast on 1:40 (34, 34)

200 easy

100 breast fast from dive (1:09.2)

300 easy

50 breast fast from dive (31.3)

100 easy

50 breast fast from dive (31.2)

150 easy

Total: 2,650 meters (80 minutes)

I wasn't planning on doing much sprint breaststroke today, especially when I saw that the main set on the whiteboard was six rounds of 100 fast/100 easy. I haven't done a 100 breast from a dive in workout in a very, very long time. The last time I did a 100 breast fast in workout was November 2, and that was a 1:02.1 in short course yards from a push.

I had no choice but to do the 100 breast. My coach pretty much suggested it after he discovered I wasn't doing all six of the fast 100s. Plus, when I was standing on deck preparing to do the 100, Coley Stickels arrived. So, with both of my coaches on deck, I couldn't wimp out, even though I had just done two fast 50s breast already and was pretty wiped out. Luckily, I didn't have a previous best time for this swim in recent history, so I was unemotional about the 1:09. I didn't go out fast enough, because I wanted to avoid pain, and I didn't come home well enough, because I was in a lot of pain! Coley told me I wasn't pointing my hands downward on the insweep, which is something I try very hard to do. I think he was looking at my final few strokes, which weren't very good. But that's no excuse. I need to have perfect strokes every time!

That was the last fast 100 breast I'll do before Trials. It might be the last fast100 of any stroke I do before Trials (not counting any broken 100s).

I worked on the insweep during the fast 50s from a dive, and I think it took away from doing the sprint well. I was too focused on technique, instead of power and speed. The times weren't too bad for a morning's worth of sprinting.

Today's dryland session with JR Rosania transitioned into a speed focus more than power. Some of the exercises were to be done as fast as possible, with not much weight (if any at all). It felt a little forced to get my arms and legs moving quickly, but I'm sure when it's time to rest, my nervous system will remember these movements and respond better when it's time to race again.

Speaking of that, I'm not going to do another meet before Trials. My only racing option was to swim a meet at my home pool the weekend before Trials. That's too close to the meet, and I don't want to race right when I'm starting my taper. It can mess with me mentally if I don't swim well.

No comments:

Post a Comment