Dig a Little Deeper

Date: Thursday, June 7, 2012
Time: 5:45 a.m.
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Long Course Meters
18 days to Olympic Trials

400 warmup

2x400 on 7:00
150 free/50 back/150 free/50 breast
(#1 5:55, #2 5:45)

18x50 back on 1:00 (averaged :38)

400 kick easy

8x15 on 1:00 breast breakouts

8x50 breast on 1:00 (averaged :40)

200 warmdown (25 scull/25 swim)

Total: 3,300 meters (80 minutes)

The first set on the board today was "3x1500," which was presented as an option instead of the rest of the workout. One person in my lane thought Mark was serious and started doing the set during the first of our 400s. He stopped after the 400 and found out Mark was kidding about the 1500s.Apparently, this guy was the only one willing to do the set!

The workout was an attempt by me to work on my 200 IM endurance. I had trouble with my backstroke today. I kept bumping into the lane line and it threw off my stroke. I was very frustrated with it. On the upside, I don't really have to worry about that at Masters nationals, since it's indoors!

Those 50s breast were brutal, but I made it. I took 17 strokes per 50 for the first five, then 18 for the last three.I was happy with how my stroke held up, but I wish I had been able to hold that average with the same stroke count.

I'm very, very sore today, and it has everything to do with yesterday's dryland session. All those quick explosive movements really did a number on my pectorals, shoulders and upper back muscles. I think the push-ups with hand claps were the icing on the cherry on top of the sundae in terms of pushing my muscles over the edge. I didn't think I'd be this sore today.

Tod Miller is on vacation this week, but I was very pleased with my substitute masseuse. He really understood the term "deep tissue massage." Several times, I think he was digging so deep that he was massaging bone! He even managed to get deep into my left rhomboid and feel the adhesions nestled deep inside there. Those adhesions have been there for as long as I can remember, and no one has been able to completely wipe them out. Maybe the knots that the adhesions cause will never go away, but Kevin managed to tame them into submission.

I hope I'll be able to lift my arms tomorrow morning! A good night's sleep will help cure what ails me.