Drowning

Date: Friday, June 1, 2012
Time: 5:45 a.m.
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Long Course Meters
24 days to Olympic Trials

1200 warmup

400 kick - 50 free/50 dolphin on back

Five rounds:
1 minute vertical kick breast with 5 kg weight
1 minute rest

One minute break

Five rounds:
30 seconds vertical kick breast with 5 kg weight
30 seconds rest

8x50 easy :15 rest

Three rounds:
15 fast breast from dive/25 easy/15 fast breast on 1:30
25 free at 100 pace/25 easy on 1:30

50 easy

25 breast fast from dive (12.98)

100 easy

50 free fast from dive (25.8)

150 easy

Total: 2,700 meters (not including vertical kicking) (75 minutes)

It's been a while since I've done vertical kicking, but I don't recall that set being so difficult! My quads were burning at the end of each minute-long repeat, and all I wanted to do at the end of each (or at least, all I felt I had the energy to do) was sink to the bottom of the pool. Since I needed to breathe, I made myself reach for the wall and shake out the lactate in my legs, which was impossible to do in only one minute.

Yesterday, I had some bodywork done, and I was pretty sore this morning from it. Tod Miller really did a number on a lot of my muscle groups, including my quads, groin and upper back. Sometimes the work he does makes me sore the day after, but then things start to feel better. 

I was pleased that my legs were able to recover to a large degree after the vertical kicking set. I wasn't sure how they would respond on the final set, but my starts were pretty good. I was working on having good reaction time, and I admit I false started once or twice in my attempt to be quick off the blocks. But the highlight of the day was the 12.98 on my 25 breast. I haven't gone under 13 seconds in a dive 25 in any other time except for the week of taper, so this was great! I still have work to do in terms of keeping my legs together on the start, but everything else felt like it was working in harmony.

As for that 50 free ... I was just about to finish my warmdown, when I was challenged to a 50 free match race with teammates Gordon Beh and Jose Ponce. I had already "turned off" my brain in terms of fast swimming, but I rarely turn down such a challenge. I stepped up not sure how fast I could go against two freestylers, but I managed to win by a second. Through the race, I kept picturing how sprint freestylers such as Roland Schoeman and Nathan Adrian can swim so freaking fast with seemingly so little effort. I was nowhere close to looking like they do, or swimming anywhere near their speed, but it was fun to do. And since I'm racing the 100 free at the Masters nationals next month (as well as participating in a freestyle relay or two), I needed to check in on my sprint freestyle prowess. Lots of work to be done there.

At the gym:

Eight minutes elliptical machine

Five minutes shoulder warm up

Sitting bench press (10@160, 8@180, 6@195)

Sitting leg press (12@180, 10@210, 8@230)

Sitting row (12@130, 10@150, 8@170)

Ten minutes abdominals and stretching

In the gym, it was a simple case of not overdoing it, but working on keeping up my strength in these final two weeks of heavy dryland. As usual, I wanted to go home, but not to rest. This morning, while in my sleepy haze, I was mixing my usual P2Life post-workout drink, and didn't notice that the cap was loose. I sprayed vanilla milk all over the place, and I have to clean it up when I get home. It's going to take quite a while to do, and I should have done it this morning, but I would have been very late for workout.