You Saved the Best for Last

Date: Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Time: 5:50 a.m.
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Short Course Meters
54 days to Olympic Trials

1100 warmup

10x100 on 1:45
3, 6, 9 fast free from dive @ 200 pace (1:01.1, 59.5, 59.3)
others easy

10x50 on 1:15
1, 5, 9 fast free @ 100 pace (27.5, 27.4, 26.9)
others easy

10x25 on 1:00
Odd breast from dive (avg. 13.1)
Even easy

100 easy

Total: 3,500 meters (75 minutes)

I liked doing lots of fast swimming from the blocks today, but I felt like my reaction time was very slow. I have no gauge of whether it was or not, but to me, it felt like it took an eternity for me to enter the water. Each time I did a start, I tried my best to react quickly, but it wasn't happening.

Also, I wasn't feeling much of a snap in my strokes today. I was going fast (at least as fast as I wanted to on each set), but getting my arms through on the 25s breast took lots of effort. I know everything can't feel effortless and simple every day, but today was somewhere in the middle.

Luckily, I started my explosive speed phase today with JR Rosania. Almost all of the exercises were different, with much fewer repetitions and a focus on quickness of motion. Today's exercises were difficult, but my muscles were exhausted in a neurological way, not in a fatigue way. I was getting my brain and my nervous system to mesh, and it wasn't easy all the time! On one exercise, I threw a 10-pound ball down to the ground and had to catch it quickly as it bounced back up. I stumble through that a few times, as my arms often didn't move to catch the ball quickly enough.

Though many of the exercises were new -- or readjusted for this phase -- sadly, my two least favorite exercises are still around: hip extension and leg extension! And worst of all, they were the last exercises of the session. That was not the way I wanted to end the workout, but I accepted it with a sigh and did them anyway.