Journey to Olympic Trials, by Jeff Commings

2012-03-02T21:41:00.000-07:00

Date: Friday, March 2, 2012
Time: 5:45 a.m.
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Short Course Yards
115 days to Olympic Trials

300 warmup

6x150 on 2:40
1. 5 lengths swim/1 length kick
2. 4 lengths swim/2 lengths kick
3. 3 lengths swim/3 lengths kick
4. 2 lengths swim/4 lengths kick
5. 1 length swim/5 lengths kick
6. 6 lengths kick

20x25 on :30 flutter kick with snorkel and short fins
5 fast, 1 easy
4 fast, 1 easy
3 fast, 1 easy
2 fast, 1 easy
1 fast, 1 easy

Easy 150

Vertical breaststroke kicking, with 10-pound weight:
Five rounds:
1 minute kick, 1 minute rest
Five rounds:
30 seconds kick, 30 seconds rest

2x150 easy, :15 rest
1 free, 1 choice

4x50 on 1:15
odd: breast @ 200 IM pace (32.3, 31.7)
even: 25 fast/25 easy

Easy 100

Total: 2,450 yards plus vertical kicking (80 minutes)

At the gym (4:45 p.m.)
15 minutes treadmill

10 minutes abdominals

Sitting bench press (12@160, 8@180, 6@190)

Bicep dumbbell curls (12@25, 8@32.5, 6@40)

Leg adductors (12@170, 10@190, 8@205)

3x25 breaststroke strokes with 6-pound dumbbells

Five minutes abdominals and stretching

The vertical kicking set wasn't as bad as I had feared. I was most worried that I wouldn't be able to stay with the set through the 30-second part of the set. But the hardest part of the set was the one-minute kicking intervals. But the most important thing to do in these instances is to flush the lactate out of your legs during the rest period. I hung on the lane rope during that minute and did very slow flutter kick.

The key to doing this set is to not look at the clock during the entire kicking interval. The good thing about doing breaststroke kick is I could count how many kicks it took to get to the minute. I didn't have to really look at the clock, because I did 58 kicks in a minute for each round.

There's always a fast swim at the end of workout, and I had every reason to do another stroke on the 50s, but I chose breaststroke. I wasn't sure my legs would be able to handle that, but they did OK.

I stayed away from doing too much work with my legs in the weight room. I had done plenty of strength work in the pool earlier in the morning, so no need to do more. It was the last strength weight workout I would do before sectionals, and I wanted it to count. I had hoped to do 200 pounds on the sitting bench press, but I wasn't feeling it, and there was no reason to push beyond my body's boundaries today.

Writing this about four hours after leaving the gym and 15 hours after this morning's pool workout, my legs are screaming at me. Luckily, I have tomorrow off!

Bad Medicine

2012-03-01T21:08:00.000-07:00

Date: Thursday, March 1, 2012
Time: 4:40 p.m.
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Short Course Yards
116 days to Olympic Trials

I walked into the pool at Phoenix Swim Club today unsure what the workout with the gold group would be like. Just about everyone in the group is going to western sectionals next week, and I believe almost all of them are tapering. With that in mind, I figured today's workout would be pretty easy, and it was! Only 3,000 yards of drills and a little bit of swimming above aerobic pace. Coley Stickels called it "threshold swimming," which I must get his take on one day. I still don't know how fast that's supposed to be. I think it's supposed to be near 500 pace, which is 1:00 for me, but some of the girls were holding paces faster than that, though they are probably able to do a 500 free under 5:00 in season.

In any case, I needed tonight's workout. I was feeling quite sore from yesterday's speed workout compounded by the tough dryland session with JR Rosania. I don't know if I could have made it through 4,000 yards of tough breaststroke work! And to make it better, the workout allowed me to mix up the strokes, which helped me mentally. I wasn't really feeling my breaststroke today, though my freestyle and backstroke weren't so hot, either! Just to remind you, I'm not tapering, but today was a good recovery workout as I prepare for tomorrow's tough legs workout. Mark Rankin was at the pool tonight and, like an idiot, I suggested we do the vertical kicking set he mentioned to me last week. As soon as I made the suggestion, I wanted to take it back, but I might as well do it now. I won't be back for another Friday workout until the end of March, and who knows what state I'll be in then. I'll let you know how my body reacts to 15 minutes of vertical kicking.

After tonight's workout, I went to the store to pick up my refill for my blood pressure medicine, and also to get my new prescription for lowering cholesterol. I'm quite nervous about taking this, just as I was when I started taking the blood pressure medicine. I don't know how I will feel in and out of the water, knowing my body will need a few weeks to adjust to it. I hope it doesn't not adversely affect me, especially during the meet next week. The only problems I had when I started taking my blood pressure medicine nine years ago was slight headaches and lots of peeing. I have to take the prevastatin in the evening, so tonight is the first night! Down the hatch!

Go the Distance

2012-02-29T21:50:00.000-07:00

Date: Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Time: 5:50 a.m.
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Short Course Yards
117 days to Olympic Trials

300 warmup

8x50 on 1:00 drill choice

3x(4x100 on 1:45)
1. fast turns
2. 15 breakout/35 easy
3. 25 fast with turn
4. aerobic choice
Rounds 1 and 3 back, round 2 free

150 -- 25 drill/25 free with one breath

4x25 no breath on :30

4x25 back fast on :30 (avg. 13.5)
100 easy on 2:30
2x50 back fast on 1:00 (26.8, 27.1)
100 easy on 2:30
4x25 free on :30 (avg. 12.5)
100 easy on 2:30
2x50 free fast on 1:00 (25.0, 25.0)
100 easy on 2:30

3x50 :15 rest -- 25 scull/25 swim

50 back fast (26.0)

150 easy (with stretching)

Total: 3,300 yards (75 minutes)

I was happy with the times on my fast swims today, but my strokes did not feel very strong. It felt like I was not exerting as much force on the water as I should on all-out swims, even though the times are as fast or faster than usual. I know I've been pushing my body to the limit and it's not always going to respond the way I want, but I had expected to be able to have a quicker tempo on backstroke and more propulsion on freestyle.

I had an entire lane to myself today! I arrived to the pool a little late, and when I walked toward my usual lane, there were already four people in it. I won't swim in the lane next to the wall (a lane I dub "the whirlpool") unless I have to, and my other alternate lane looked crowded as well. I went to the other half of the pool and did the entire workout as written, with the exception of the first 700 yards. The sets seemed to be constructed well, and I had no issue with the rest intervals in terms of adequate recovery.

Why didn't I do any breaststroke today? If you look at yesterday's workout, you'll see that I did more than enough breaststroke today, and will do an insane amount tomorrow when I swim with the kids on breaststroke day. I needed a break from breaststroke, and I didn't miss it at all. I've been neglecting my other strokes in the past two weeks, and I should not forget that I am racing in the 100 back and 200 IM (as well as a few relays) at the sectional meet. I want to do very well in those events, too!

Tonight's dryland session with JR Rosania was the toughest yet, but apparently will be the hardest workout I do with him as we begin the final phase of dryland training. Today I did more repetitions on some exercises, and more sets than ever before. I wasn't sure I'd be able to walk out of the building at the end of the workout, but the sheer thrill of finishing was able to override any pain I was feeling. My lower back was in knots, since I had to do more repetitions of the dreaded leg extensions exercise. After that, I felt like this would have been less painful!

JR did give me some words of encouragement as I was preparing to leave today. He reminded me that I have come a long way since I started working with him about five months ago. Many of the exercises I do with relative ease now were quite strenuous back then. I do feel happy about that, and I'm glad JR gave me that note of confidence as I was leaving. Otherwise, I might have wondered if I wanted to come back for more next week!

Even though I am resting in the pool in the days leading up to sectionals next week, I might not cut back on dryland. I don't want that part to be difficult when I return. Maybe we'll cut back a teeny bit, though, if I can convince JR to do so.

I See the Light

2012-02-28T16:12:00.000-07:00

Date: Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Time: 5:45 a.m.
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Short Course Yards
118 days to Olympic Trials

300 warmup

24x50 on :50
1-4 kick/swim
5-8 drill/swim
9-12 swim

300 breast pull

8x75 on 1:20 descend to 200 IM effort on 7 and 8
odd: 50 breast/25 free
even: 25 breast/50 free

12x25 on :30
odd: fly with flutter kick
even: breast with flutter kick

6x50 breast on 1:10, 2 easy 1 fast
(29.3, 28.8)

50 easy

200 breast kick no board

4x25 on :40 breast fast
12.0 (from dive), 14.0, 13.8, 14.1 = 53.90

150 easy (with stretching)

Total: 3,500 yards (80 minutes)

I was not expecting so much breaststroke today! Since the Masters group at Phoenix Swim Club is not comprised of a large number of breaststroke specialists, the workout surprised me.One of my teammates said to me on the way to the locker room: "I bet you really enjoyed that workout!" I did to a degree, but not completely. I don't like training breaststroke. It's a very tiring stroke, and I tend to fatigue quicker in workout with breaststroke than any other stroke, though that may depend on the effort and distance.

Tuesday is always stroke day, but when there is not an IM focus, we tend to work on all the strokes, not just one. Mark gave us the choice of strokes to do on the 6x50, and I figured since I was already doing so much breaststroke, I should just do the set breaststroke! The effort wasn't 100 percent -- maybe 96. I hadn't really prepped for fast swimming, but after that set, I was definitely ready for the broken 100.

Obviously, doing a set on a 40-second interval does not make it a lactate swim, so you should take that 53.90 with that in mind. If the interval had been :25 or :30, I might have been more fatigued at the end, and the swim would have been more indicative of what I experience in a race. No matter. It was a chance to work on the stroke and attempt to evenly split each of the last three 25s. I think I did that well.

Though it was cloudy and windy this morning, I did notice that the sun is starting to rise earlier, and in a few weeks, we'll have sunlight during our morning workouts! It definitely helps the mood, especially since we've been swimming in darkness for the past three months.

I still can't believe that we're four months from Olympic Trials. Where has the time gone?

Almost There

2012-02-27T19:04:00.000-07:00

Date: Sunday, February 26, 2012
Time: 11:20 a.m.
Location: Tucson, AZ
Short Course Yards
120 days to Olympic Trials

300 warmup

Three rounds:
300 free with snorkel on 4:15
200 breast kick on 4:00
100 IM drill on 1:30

8x15 breakouts on :45

100 easy

Four rounds on 6:00:
25 breast swim against Power Tower
25 back swim with Power Tower
25 underwater dolphin kick with short fins
25 breast swim fast
100 easy

100 easy

100 IM fast from push (56-mid)

300 easy (with stretching)

Total: 3,600 yards (80 minutes)

Sorry I forgot to post this workout yesterday, but the Academy Awards pretty much ruled over my day, making me forget few things I needed to do once the show started.

In any case, Sunday's workout was pretty tough, though my body handled it better than I expected. The only real tough part of the main set was the underwater kick. The only rest I got within each round was the time it took to unhook the belt that connected me to the Power Tower and put on the fins, and then the time it took to take off those fins for the last 25. All told, maybe 30 seconds rest in each round.

The big technique aspect I worked on during the main set was finishing my kick correctly, even as the lactate started to build in my legs. If I can swim technically correct when tired now, it makes it easier to swim correctly when tired at taper time.

We've reached a crucial point in the countdown to Olympic Trials. We're exactly four months from the 100 breaststroke, and I'm starting to see how close we are to the meet. I'm also about a week and a half away from the sectional meet, and I'm feeling quite confident about how fast I'll swim. Mind you, I'm only going to rest at most three days, which is not even half the time I would rest for a full taper. It'll make me fresh enough to race well, but not rested enough to make it difficult to get right back to work after the meet. Sectionals is going to be the last test for me before Trials. I might swim one or two more local meets before Trials, but sectionals will provide an optimal racing experience (i.e. more people at a rested state) than the local meets and also will be held at the King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way, Washington. I've had a lot of success at that pool. I qualified for the 1991 Pan-American Games team in that pool. I swam fast at the 2007 Masters nationals, breaking a fast record. I'm hooping the streak continues, but I won't step on the blocks and allow the "streak" to take control.

Today was a day off from exercise. I love these days. It gives me a little itch to get back in the pool tomorrow and allows me to have a recovery from Sunday's tough workout.

Strong Enough

2012-02-24T21:41:00.000-07:00

Date: Saturday, February 24, 2012
Time: 5:45 a.m.
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Short Course Yards
122 days to Olympic Trials

300 warmup

9x100 on 1:45, 25 kick/25 swim

12x75 on 1:30
odd: breaststroke -- 25 kick drill/25 double pullouts/25 kick on back
even: freestyle -- 25 kick drill/25 kick to 15 meters/25 kick on back

50 easy

6x25 dolphin kick underwater on :30

100 easy

4x(3x50 on 1:00) with short fins
Rounds 1 and 3: 25 underwater flutter kick/25 free swim, with number three in each round fast
Rounds 2 and 4: 25 back swim/25 dolphin kick on back, with number three in each round fast

100 easy

3x50 on 2:00 breast fast from push
(28.4, 28.6, 29.0)

200 easy

Total: 3,450 yards (80 minutes)

At the gym (4:45 p.m.)

20 minutes elliptical machine

Five minutes shoulder warmup

Ten minutes abdominals

Sitting bench press (12 @ 145, 8 @ 175, 6 @ 190)

Seated row (12 @ 130, 8 @ 160, 6 @ 180)

Ten minutes in hot tub

My legs felt like rubber after getting a very good massage from Tod Miller yesterday. I was very worried that my legs weren't going to handle a kicking workout today, which is one reason why I decided to not do the 6x200 on 3:00 kick that was written for the group. But, Mark Rankin had suggested that I was going to do a 15-minute vertical kicking set while holding a 10-pound weight at some point during the workout. I was afraid I would drown halfway through that, feeling that my legs would not be able to keep me afloat. Luckily, we did not do the vertical kicking, but I might be doing it next Friday.

I was very happy with my breaststroke today. My 50s at the end were promising. On the third 50, I was trying too hard to go faster, when I should have trusted my stroke more and not rushed through the pullouts. But I haven't gone under 29 since mid-January, so I feel better about the way things are going. I think this is the product of lifting heavier weights this week, and getting my muscles smoothed out last night. I'm starting to feel like a sprinter again, and not a moment too soon!

I really need the day off from exercise tomorrow. I need to recharge my batteries with plenty of napping and no thoughts of swimming!

Fly Like an Eagle

2012-02-23T17:05:00.000-07:00

Date: Thursday, February 23, 2012
Time: 5:50 a.m.
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Shot Course Yards
123 days to Olympic Trials

3x(3x100 on 1:40)
1. 75 swim/25 kick
2. back swim
3. reverse IM

9x100 free on 1:20
(averaged 1:07)

9x50 on 1:00
odd: four wall pushups at 25
even: Dive from both ends

8x25 breast on :45
odd: 15-meter breakout
even: double pullouts

200 breast kick, no board

8x25 no breath on :30
odd: fly
even: free

16x25 fly on :30

200 easy (with stretching)

Total: 3,400 yards (75 minutes)

Whew! That was a lot of butterfly today! But the key to making all those 25s was to find a comfortable rhythm and not overdo it on the first few 25s. As much as I wanted to, I did not race Alan Carter in the lane next to me. I wanted to make all 16 without breaking stroke. If I had held a faster pace, I would have broken down by number 10. I was happy to make them all, especially since my shoulders and lower back were sore from yesterday's workout with JR.

The water was about a degree cooler, so I was able to do those 100s free on 1:20. If it was the same temperature as yesterday, I might not have done all nine of them.

Today my strokes felt very good, especially my breaststroke. I felt like I was grabbing more water, and getting a faster recovery, which is one of the key elements I'm working on before sectionals.

And now, it's off to my monthly bodyworking session! I will need lots of total body work today. Between dryland and swimming, my body has been put through the ringer since I got back from Italy three weeks ago.

Hit Me Baby (One More Time)

2012-02-22T21:13:00.000-07:00

Date: February 22, 2012
Time: 5:45 a.m.
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Short Course Yards
124 days to Olympic Trials

300 warmup

6x100 on 1:40 various drills and kicks

7x(3x50) on :50
Odd rounds with small fins:
1. 25 underwater kick/37.5 easy
2. 25 aerobic/25 build from underwater dolphin kick
3. 25 breast pull fast/25 easy
Even rounds: descend 1-3 backstroke (descended to :30)

2x100 easy

Five rounds:
25 underwater kick with small fins/25 easy/25 underwater kick with small fins/75 easy on 3:00
100 easy on 2:00
50 breast on 1:00 (Pull with small fins on rounds 1, 2, 4, averaged :29; swim on rounds 3 and 5, averaged :29)

200 easy

Total: 3,850 yards (80 minutes)

Another hot day in the pool, punctuated by close to the same workout we did yesterday (and apparently, the same workout given on Monday). Coach Mark Rankin said the thermometer read 82 degrees. I think it was 82.99 degrees. Not much cooler than yesterday. It was quite difficult to sprint today, but I gave myself a few mental slaps and did it. It took a lot to do those underwater kicks. Every time I emerged for air, my lungs couldn't send the oxygen to the needed muscles fast enough, a product of swimming in warm water. Everyone else was doing fast 100s, and I knew I would be worthless doing that. In warm water, my sprinting limit is 50 yards/meters at a time, and it helped get my heart rate down.

At the end of each set, I sat on the edge of the pool, letting the cool air bring down my core body temperature. It really did help.

Tonight's workout with JR was one of the toughest I've done. The volume of exercises increased dramatically, from 32 sets to 42! JR told me at the beginning of the workout that I looked "fresher" than usual, meaning I was doing the exercises with more ease, and he was right about that ... until we got to the back raises and back extensions, two of my least-favorite exercises. JR increased the repetitions on those exercises from 15 to 20 and increased the number of sets from two to three. I thought my back would give out on me when I tried to walk after that, but I managed to make it look like I could handle it with no problem. I'm sure JR heard my grunts of agony during the exercises, though.

Hot Blooded

2012-02-21T16:06:00.000-07:00

Date: Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Time: 5:45 a.m.
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Long Course Meters
125 days to Olympic Trials

200 warmup

6x100 on 2:00
25 kick/25 drill no free

7x (3x50) on :55
1. fly/back
2. back/breast
3. breast/free

5x200 on 3:30
odd: 100 back/100 free
even: 200 back

Total: 2,850 meters (60 minutes)

The water was 83 degrees, the warmest it's been in many weeks. I couldn't take it. I got out halfway through the final set, which was supposed to be 10x200. After five, my mind was feeling like mush and my muscles were like taffy. I couldn't go any faster than 1:25 per 100, and when I tried, I felt dizzy.

I've been getting a lot of flak in the past few weeks for my comments about swimming in warm water. I know there are people out there who have no choice but to swim in these types of conditions, and you have my sympathy. I trained in a pool that was, on average, 84 degrees when I was in high school, so I know how horrible it is to swim in water that feels just a step below boiling.

I am not holding out hope that the water will be cooler tomorrow, despite the fact that it is pushing 75 degrees during the day here in Phoenix.

When I got back from Virginia on Sunday morning, I went to the gym for a workout. Since I did not post the workout, I am putting it here:

Five minutes shoulder warmup

Sitting bench press (12 @ 150, 8 @ 180, 6 @ 190)

Sitting lat pull (12 @ 140, 8 @ 180, 6 @ 190)

Sitting leg press (12 @ 180, 10 @ 230, 8 @ 250)

Leg adductors (12 @ 170, 10 @ 190, 8 @ 205)

3x20 box jumps

10 minutes abdominals and stretching

I am going to do two weeks of strength-building exercises in the gym, coupled with my once-weekly sessions with JR Rosania that will be working on muscle endurance. I want to get my muscles primed for racing at sectionals, and a two-week cycle of heavy lifting will get me there. I hope to hit the gym again on Friday and concentrate more on upper body than I did on Sunday.

2012-02-18T14:00:00.000-07:00

Date: Saturday, February 18, 2012
Time: 12:30 p.m.
Location: Manassas, VA
Short Course Yards
128 days to Olympic Trials

400 warmup

4x(2x100 IM, :15 rest)
Round 1: 1 breath free/breast scull/back drill/fly kick
Round 2: free kick/1 breath breast/back scull/fly drill
Round 3: free drill/breast kick/underwater dolphin kick on back/fly scull
Round 4: free scull/breast drill/back kick/fly 1 breath

Four rounds, one each stroke:
2x(15 yds fast on :30/25 fast on :40/10 fast on :30)
2x50 aerobic choice strokeon 1:00

100 easy

Four rounds:
25 underwater kick or swim from a dive, straight into 12.5 fast swim
10-15 seconds rest
12.5 fast
20 seconds rest
25 underwater kick or swim
10 seconds rest
25 fast swim
100 easy
Rounds 1 and 3 breast, round 2 back, round 4 free

200 easy

Total: 3,100 yards (90 minutes)

Today's lactate set was a variation of what I did last Sunday, without using any equipment, which might have made it a little bit easier, but not easy! It's very difficult to kick or swim underwater on the third 25, when you're already struggling to catch your breath, and definitely not easy to swim a fast 25 after that! This will be very good for race endurance. I hope to be able to do a set like this long course before sectionals, though it's not very necessary.

The important thing about this workout was to do a good warmup -- at least 1,500 yards, and about a tenth of that needs to be short and fast. You can't go into the main set without limbering up your muscles.

I was happy with the set today. I don't think the goal is to do any of the underwater kicks/swims on a certain time, or do the fast 25 on a certain time. I didn't have a reliable pace clock at the pool today, so I couldn't have timed myself anyway. But the goal was to just swim hard under such intensity. And I think I did that well.

OK, time for a nap!

Make Up Your Mind

2012-02-17T15:21:00.000-07:00

Date: Friday, Feb. 17, 2012
Time: 11:50 a.m.
Location: Manassas, VA
Short Course Yards
129 days to Olympic Trials

300 warmup

200 IM -- 25 scull/25 kick

8x100 back, :15 rest
75 swim/25 kick with at least hands out of water

8x50 breast on 1:00 -- 25 pull (2 under, 1 above)/25 double pullouts
8x25 fly swim on :35

100 easy

4x100 free descend 1-4 on 1:30 (descended to :56)
:30 seconds rest
4x100 back descend 1-4 on 1:30 (descended to 1:00)

200 easy

Total: 3,000 yards (65 minutes)

I'm covering the Virginia Independent Schools Athletic Association's high school championships this weekend, and glad to get in a workout between prelims and finals. (By the way, I'm very impressed with what I've seen from these kids so far.)

I spent a lot of pre-workout time trying to figure out what to do. Should I do a kicking workout, which is what I would have done if I were in Phoenix? Should I do a sprint/lactate workout, as I do on Sundays? Should I just do a basic aerobic workout to get the kinks out?

I didn't make up my mind until I finished the first 500 yards. I was going to do some prep for an IM set at the end, but again, I couldn't decide if I wanted to descend some 100 IMs or break it up. So, what you see is what I decided to do. I was pretty happy with the descending 100s. I didn't expect to be much faster than that, since the interval didn't allow for much rest.

I'll do a lactate workout tomorrow. And the best thing is the water temperature: a wonderfully cool 80 degrees, though I could feel warm water coming out of the jets.

Freeze Frame

2012-02-16T18:54:00.000-07:00

Date: Thursday, February 16, 2012

Time: 5:50 a.m.

Location: Phoenix, AZ

Short Course Yards

130 days to Olympic Trials

4x200 on 3:00 every fourth 25 no free

6x50 on 1:00 – 25 kick/25 swim

200 scull

Four rounds:

2x125 free on 1:40

4x50 breast pull on 1:00 – 25 head up/25 regular (no pull buoy)

:40 rest between rounds

6x25 on :40 from middle of pool, underwater kick off wall

200 easy

Total: 3,450 yards

My legs didn’t feel very good this morning. I was happy we were doing breaststroke pull, because I don’t think my kick would have been very productive after yesterday’s workout. To be honest, I don’t think I properly took care of myself after the workout. I drank a lot of water during the workout, but I didn’t drink very much the rest of the evening. I think I drank a cup at most, when I should have had at least twice that much to help my body flush out the lactate and help with recovery. When I woke up this morning, my legs felt heavy, and the first 1,300 yards of the workout were used mostly to recover from yesterday.

I didn’t push the main set too much. I averaged 1:23 on the 125s and :37 on the 50s. For the most part I was working on my technique. During the warmup, Mark Rankin told me he noticed that my left arm was crossing over my body on freestyle, and had some underwater footage to back it up on a nifty underwater camera. He wasn’t the first to tell me that recently, but I thought I had fixed it. Apparently not! So I used the 125s as an opportunity to concentrate on my left arm. I lost my snorkel many months ago and had not made any effort to get a new one, but I think I should so I can see exactly what’s going on with the left arm.

Also, Mark filmed my breaststroke head-on, and I noticed at the end of the recovery, I was pointing my fingers down instead of straight ahead. I was even able to freeze the image and see the exact angle I was pointing my fingers. What this does is cause you to have to angle your hands back up closer to the surface for the next pull, and that’s wasted energy. This is something you don’t necessarily see in race footage filmed from the side, and I was grateful that Mark was able to show this to me. I worked on bringing my hands forward and keeping my fingers pointed toward the wall, and though it’s more work on my shoulders to keep the arms closer to the surface, I think it sets up the next pull better.

Today stressed the importance of getting your stroke filmed. You always think you are doing something right, but the camera does not lie! I took for granted all the opportunities I had to get underwater filming when I was part of the USA Swimming Resident Team in Colorado Springs in the late 1990s. The last time I was filmed was about this time last year, when I saw many mistakes with my start and turn, particularly that my head was not in the right position on the entry and on the push-off. I fixed it in time to do well at the Masters nationals, and later when I made my Olympic Trials qualification time. If you have the opportunity for someone to film your stroke, please do it. And if you have access to an underwater camera (like this one), which is what Mark used for filming me this morning, even better!

Everybody Hurts

2012-02-15T19:33:00.001-07:00

Date: Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Time: 4:45 p.m.
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Short Course Yards
131 days to Olympic Trials

I knew what I was getting myself into when I walked onto the deck this afternoon. Pain. Lots of it. Wednesday is lactate day at Phoenix Swim Club, and boy did I create some lactate today! I hurt so much at the end of workout that 300 yards of warmdown was barely enough to get blood flowing back to my calves.

The goal of these lactate sets is not to hold back at the beginning, and have something left at the end. You want to be fast at the beginning and get through the rest of the fast swim with all the energy your muscles can give you. I can tell you that my lungs and my legs were not happy at the end of each fast swim. Add to the fact that the water was still too warm (at or near 82 degrees), and sprinting was not an easy task today.

The main portion of the workout only had 475 yards fast, according to Coley. It felt like more, but that's just my brain thinking that the set was much longer than it was. We did four rounds of fast swimming, with no more than 100 yards fast each round. The thing that made it so difficult for me was swimming with fins. I don't do much fast swimming with fins, and by the end of each round, I could barely get my legs to move ... which is the whole point. The good thing was that we had about five minutes rest between each round, and that we were going in heats, which meant we didn't have to deal with swimming in circles. I love doing fast swimming with no one else in the lane!

As I mentioned, we did four rounds of fast swimming. Each of the first three rounds were different, and on the fourth round, we got to choose which of the first three rounds we wanted to do again. Neither of them seemed particularly enticing for a reprise, but I chose the first round. Here's how that went:

25 underwater kick fast from dive with small fins/12.5 fast swim
12.5 underwater kick/25 fast free
25 fast choice

It's much tougher than it looks! The thing is, you only get about 10 seconds rest after each section of that set. Not enough time to catch your breath, but just enough to get your mind pumped up for the next section. Oh, and you start the second section from the middle of the pool from a neutral sculling position, do a flip turn and kick underwater. Again, it much tougher than it looks. I know many of you do the workouts that I post here, and I'm anxious to find out what you think of this set.

Lactate sets like this are very good for sprinters, because I feel it gets the fast-twitch muscles going and teaches the muscles to "swim through the pain," which is what we all have to do in the last 25 percent or so of a race. I hope to do another lactate workout with Coley before sectionals, which is in three weeks.

Where Is the Love

2012-02-14T22:01:00.000-07:00

Date: Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Time: 5:50 a.m.
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Short Course Yards
132 days to Olympic Trials

4x(3x100) on 1:40
1. 12.5 fly/12.5 free
2. 25 back/25 breast
3. 50 IM/50 free

14x25 on :35 turns from middle of pool

8x150 on 2:30, descending to fast on 7 and 8
odd: 50 fly/50back/50 breast
even: 50 back/50 breast/50 free
#7: 1:37
#8: 1:38

50 easy

14x25 recovery on :30
Odd: dolphin kick on back
Even: back swim

4x75 on 1:30
#1: 25 fly/25 back/25 breast fast from dive (41.8)
2 and 3 easy
#4: 25 back/25 breast/25 free fast from push (43.8)

250 easy

Total: 3,700 yards (75 minutes)

I wasn't feeling the love today from the coach or the water. I thought Mark would show us how much he loves us on Valentine's Day by taking it easy, but it did not turn out that way. Adding to my sluggish and non-sprinting feeling was the warm water (about 82 degrees).

I did like doing IM work today, because I have been focusing too much on breaststroke this past week. I don't want to forget that I'm not just training for a 100 breast at the Olympic Trials, but I'm also training for the summer Masters national championships the following week, where I will be swimming more than just breaststroke

My strokes felt OK technically, but I was trying too hard to go fast and swim correctly. I shouldn't have forced things too much, because my body will begin to learn to swim that way. I wasn't feeling much in my legs on my breaststroke kick, and my arms just felt like jelly. I was hoping to go under 1:35 on the fast 150s today, but in perspective, going under 1:40 is pretty good. I need to remember that I do not perform well all the time, nor do I need to perform well all the time. Having a few bad workouts here and there only keeps me motivated to be better. If I were swimming well every day, I might get too complacent.

I did notice the use of the number "14" today on a couple of the sets. Cute.

At the gym (4:45 p.m.)
20 minutes on elliptical machine

10 minutes abdominals and stretching

I was waffling back and forth on going to the gym after work. I thought it would be good to have an evening of no exercise, but I also knew that I would not be doing any dryland until at least Sunday. I figured that some cardio work would help strengthen my legs, and I felt my upper body could use the break, which is why I didn't lift any weights. This will hopefully make me sharper tomorrow afternoon for the lactate workout with the gold group at Phoenix Swim Club. I've done one of these workouts with them before, and I felt like I had to crawl to my car I was so tired. But this will be good race training, as we'll go full speed with a good amount of rest, while at the same time, teaching our muscles to swim fast through the pain that we feel in the last 15 percent of the race.

I also didn't spend too much time at the gym because I wanted to go shopping for some new shoes. My tennis shoes have been worn down by a couple of years of standing on pool decks, not to mention sightseeing in Asia last year and Italy this year. I could definitely feel the cushioning support wearing away with each step. The shoes I got today felt very good the second I put them on. They are actual "tennis shoes," made for playing tennis. I haven't played tennis since ... gosh, I don't know! But they offered better back support than the traditional training shoes and were cheaper than running shoes, which I don't need because I don't run! Here's a photo of my new shoes, made by New Balance:

I like them because they are not flashy. Just a simple shoe. And affordable. I got them at Sports Authority for $54. I'm sure many of you will want to suggest a very high-end shoe for me, but I don't need them. Since my sport is in the water, I have no need for those shoes. I am fortunate to be able to wear tennis shoes at work, so I just wanted something comfortable that would go with my business casual attire, but can also look good with gym shorts. I think these work nicely.

Pump Up the Volume

2012-02-13T19:17:00.000-07:00

Date: Monday, February 13, 2012
Time: 5 p.m.
Location: Phoenix, AZ
133 days to Olympic Trials

Since I did not swim today, I will go into detail of my workout tonight with JR Rosania.

Eight minutes warmup on elliptical machine

Dynamic leg stretching

Two rounds:
20 reps on ab dolly with arms on ab dolly
15 reps leg raises over five-foot tall punching bag

Two rounds:
20 reps on ab dolly with legs on ab dolly
15 situps with legs out straight, raising eight-pound ball up to ceiling

Two rounds:
15 reps back raises, extending arms out with 15-pound ball (simulating breaststroke arm recovery)
15 reps reverse leg extensions with 20 pounds

Three rounds:
20 reps leg press on leg shuttle with wide stance ( six resistance bands set to near equivalent of 200 lbs.)
Seated push stool backwards up an incline about 25 yards long

Two rounds:
10 reps horizontal jumps on leg shuttle with five resistance bands
Seated pull stool up incline

Three rounds of 20, simulating breaststroke outsweep with resistance bands

Three rounds:
12 reps throwing 10-pound ball up wall
12 reps standing double arm row

Three rounds:
15 reps ball throwdown (15-pound ball)
15 push-ups

Five minutes cooldown on stationary bike

These workouts with JR are not easy, and I really felt the burn today. Over the course of the next five or six weeks, JR will be increasing the number of sets I do, which is going to be a way to build muscular endurance and hopefully make my body learn to perform well at high levels of fatigue that is not similar to lactate sets in the pool, but maybe VO2 max sets. The high volume is good for dryland work; not so much for the pool workouts. I like that many of the exercises feel swimming-specific. The exercises I do at 24 Hour Fitness on my own are the typical exercises that people do in the weight room, with a few exceptions, like my breaststroke sets or the cable pulls.

While I know I will feel sore tomorrow, the soreness is not as bad as when I workout at 24 Hour Fitness. There, I'm focused on strengthening my muscles, which involves breaking them down and, as a result, they feel more sore as they try to repair themselves. My lats are still feeling the sting of Friday's weight workout, as well as yesterday's workout in the pool. Luckily, not much of today's session focused on my lats.

The best part of workout was deciding what to eat for dinner. It gave me incentive to finish the workout well. After initially trying to decide between Chipotle and Wendy's, I figured a home-cooked meal was best. In a few minutes, I'll be eating a bowl of rice with turkey smoked sausage, drizzled in olive oil. That sounds so good, I'm going to sign off now and get to cooking!

Happy Birthday to You

2012-02-12T18:09:00.000-07:00

Date: Sunday, February 12, 2012
Time: 11:20 a.m.
Location: Tucson, AZ
Short Course Yards
133 days to Olympic Trials

300 warmup

5x100 free on 1:30, no breathing inside flags
4x75 IM (fly/back/breast) on 1:30 -- 12.5 kick12.5 drill
3x50 breast on 1:00 distance per stroke
2x25 free on :30 one breath per 25

One minute break

4x100 free on 1:30, descend 1-4 (descended to :59)
3x75 on 1:30 -- kick/drill/swim back, breast and free
2x50 breast drill on 1:00
1x25 underwater

4x15 breakouts on :45

50 easy

Four rounds:
25 fast from a dive with parachute on :30
37.5 fast from push/12.5 easy on 1:00
25 fast
100 easy
(Round 1 back, rounds 2 and 4 breast, round 3 free)

200 easy

Total: 3,200 yards (75 minutes)

On Saturday, I celebrated my 38th birthday. I never thought that at this point in my life, I would be training to compete in my third Olympic Trials. What a thrill to know that my path has taken me to this point! As I promised to do when I started this journey, I am enjoying (almost) every step of the way. Today's workout was another great one, and a great way to kick off another year of life.

The main set was not entirely new to me. I will admit that I borrowed it from Coley Stickels on the one day I came to swim with the top group at Phoenix Swim Club on their lactate day. I wanted to work on my 100 breaststroke pacing and tempo, though it would have been better to do it in long course meters. The first 25 was obviously very difficult, and being strapped to this parachute makes you feel like you are not moving forward. I never swam with parachutes in my life until a couple of months ago, and I thought when I swam wearing this parachute I was going to drown, that one doesn't compare to the Kytec chute. It holds more water, which means more difficulty in moving forward. You obviously have to try harder wearing the parachute, but the key is to use great technique. The first 25 was tough (took about 16 seconds from a dive), and the hardest part of the set was the last 12.5 yards of that 37.5-yard sprint. Pushing off the wall was agony for my legs! The final 25 wasn't that bad, so maybe I should think about shortening that interval from 1:00 to 50 seconds.

Sets like the main set I did today are going to be key in working on racing in workout. It builds up so much lactate in your system, and you work on fighting through the muscle pain.

I am thinking about going to Wednesday's lactate workout with Phoenix Swim Club, which means I will have to switch my session with JR Rosania to tomorrow. This also means I won't have tomorrow off, as usual, but I am traveling for work later this week, with no promises on pool availability for a one-hour workout. I'm trying to fit everything in before Thursday afternoon, with the expectation that I might not swim Friday, Saturday or Sunday.

Under the Sea

2012-02-10T20:10:00.000-07:00

Date: Friday, Feb. 10, 2012
Time: 5:50 a.m.
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Short Course Yards/Short Course Meters
136 days to Olympic Trials

Short Course Yards:
12x50 on :50
odd: kick/swim
even: drill/swim

300 flutter kick with board

Short Course Meters:
8x75 on 1:30 -- 50 fly kick underwater with short fins/25 easy

8x50 on 1:00 -- 25 breast pull fast with short fins/25 easy

200 easy

Short Course Yards:
8x50 on 1:00 breast kick no board

8x50 back on :40 (averaged :31)

200 easy

Total: 3,200 yards/meters

We have been doing a lot of breath-holding work at Phoenix Swim Club lately! I have a feeling that Coley Stickels' arrival as head coach a few months ago has something to do with that. Every time I swim with his top group, we're doing underwater swimming. Now, we're doing it more often in Masters as well. Not really complaining, just noticing that I'm spending much more time under the surface.

Today's main set was 9x200 on 3:00, mostly kicking with fins. I opted not to do it, and chose the set of 75s and 50s in the short course meters pool instead, to do some fast-twitch work. I chose to do those underwater kicking repeats, and I know my legs will not like me tomorrow, but I was happy I did it at the time.

Boy, were those 50s on :40 tough! Mark had written that set on the board during the set of 50s kick, and I saw it and immediately thought of ways to get out of it. Sorry, that's the sprinter in me! I thought it would be very tough to do 8x50s on :35 free, and Mark suggested I do them breaststroke on :40. I knew that would be quite difficult, and I didn't want to fail on breaststroke today (saving that for Sunday). We compromised and I did backstroke. My stroke started to fall apart after number five, but I held my average of 31 seconds through the set. Pushing off the wall was tough for my legs, which might have cramped if I did nine instead of eight.

I'm very happy with the way the week progressed. I was worried about how long it would take to get back into swimming shape, and I think the fact that I exercised while I was in Italy helped a lot. If I had been less active I would still be feeling the awkwardness I felt on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. I'm mentally finding the focus for sectionals again, which is about four weeks away. That's plenty of time to get race ready!

At the gym (4:45 p.m.)
Sitting bench press

Standing cable pull (simulating freestyle pull)

Leg press

Leg adductors

3x25 breaststroke strokes with 5-pound dumbbells in each arm

10 minutes abdominals and stretching

I was a little apprehensive about doing a weight workout today, but I will be traveling for work next week, and while I might be able to swim while I'm gone, it's very unlikely that I will be able to lift weights. So, this is putting a weight workout in the bank!

I really like doing that breaststroke stroke exercise. It emphasizes all the muscles used in the stroke, even those that don't aid in forward propulsion. I've tried to keep my body from being very sore tomorrow by sitting in the hot tub right after my weight workout. Hope it -- as well as a few ibuprofen -- does the trick!

Approaching Normal

2012-02-09T21:16:00.000-07:00

Date: Thursday, Feb. 9, 2012
Time: 4:30 p.m.
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Short Course Meters
137 days to Olympic Trials

Today's workout with the gold group at Phoenix Swim Club started with about five minutes of race visualization on the pool deck, not a bad way to start, especially in the 77-degree sunshine! I do a lot of race visualization, especially in the four or five weeks leading up to the "big meet." But I've been doing a lot of visualization lately of the environment I'll be facing at the Olympic Trials, and that is what I focused on today. I didn't play the 100 breast race in my head from start to finish, but replayed various parts over and over. The final seconds before stepping up to the blocks are very important, as I tend to hyperventilate at that time and often get those little thoughts that things are not going to go well. Sometimes it helps; sometimes it does not.

The five minutes of visualization led to what was yet another challenging workout for me, but one that, as always, can pay off well in about four months. One of the toughest parts of the 4,000-meter workout was doing 2x100 on about 2:00. Yes, the interval was tough, but this is why: You do two underwater breaststroke pullouts, followed by one stroke on the surface, and repeat that for the entire 100! My legs were burning at the end of each 100 (don't know why), and it was tough to finish the second pullout correctly. I found myself shortening the length of the second pullout to get to the surface for air, which didn't make me happy, but I was willing today to sacrifice technique for life.

The final set today really taxed me. It was only 1,650 meters, but it was almost nonstop for me. You will understand why when you see the intervals:

2x200 on 3:15 -- 100 back/100 breast
#1 pull, #2 swim

3x150 on 2:30 -- 100 pull/25 scull kick/25 swim
#1 back, #2 breast, #3 free

4x100 on 1:30
1&2: 50 back/25 breast/25 free
3&4: 25 back/50 breast/25 free
Pull buoy on 1 and 3

5x50 swim on :45
2 back, 2 breast, 1 free

6x25 on :30 -- half underwater/half swim distance per stroke
2 back, 2 breast, 2 free

What a set! I knew I was going to be in trouble when I realized the whole set was on a 45-second base. That is a tough interval for short course meters! And since I rarely (actually, more like NEVER) use a pull buoy, it wasn't easy keeping up on the pull parts of the set. I was going much slower on the parts with the pull buoy, especially on breaststroke but just as much on backstroke and freestyle.

I never liked using a pull buoy in workout, because it affects my body position badly, and I'm not sure that it really teaches you to swim correctly, i.e. using your arms and legs together. I do understand the mindset of separating arms and legs in workout to isolate parts of the stroke, but I grew up on swim teams that did not use pull buoys often, so I never got attached to them, as the majority of my Masters teammates do. It can be a crutch, and for some reason, a lot of people go faster with a pull buoy. For someone like Roland Schoeman, I don't know why that is true, because he definitely knows how to keep himself balanced and on the surface of the water without a pull buoy. Maybe it does make holding the body position easier for him.

I worked a lot on my pullout, and I'm happy that I'm getting better at moving the dolphin kick to the beginning. It does feel like a smoother pullout now, but I'm trying to keep my body alignment intact when I do the dolphin kick. I think I undulate too much, and it's something I'll work on next!

I think I'm feeling like I'm getting back to normal in terms of feeling my strokes in the pool. Today was the first day since my return from vacation that my breaststroke felt normal. I wasn't trying to go fast, but the timing and the rhythm all felt easier to achieve. Tomorrow there is usually a fast swim at the end of workout, and if so, I might do a fast breaststroke swim for time. I have some fast breaststroke planned for Sunday, so it might be best to wait until then to do some extensive breaststroke sprinting. We'll see how things feel in the morning.

Speaking of which, it is now 9:15 p.m., and workout starts in less than nine hours! Got to get a good night's sleep! Good night!

No One Said It Would Be Easy

2012-02-08T18:45:00.000-07:00

Date: Wednesday, February 8, 2012
Time: 5:45 a.m.
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Short Course Yards
138 days to Olympic Trials

1500 warmup

75 free @ 95% effort/75 easy on 3:30 (41.3)

25 breast fast/125 easy on 3:30 (14.3)

75 free @ 95% effort/75 easy on 3:30 (40.5)

50 breast fast/100 easy on 3:30 (29.3)

75 free @ 95% effort/75 easy on 3:30 (40.9)

75 breast fast/75 easy (44.9)

12x25 kick on :35 -- 3 fast/1 easy

12x25 on :35, breaststroke double pullouts

100 back fast (55.4)

300 easy (with stretching)

Total: 3,400 yards (75 minutes)

I didn't have any expectations on the main set today. I knew my sprinting wouldn't feel "natural," since I haven't done a sprint workout in two weeks. Breaststroke hasn't felt good this week, and it's probably going to take a while to feel better -- though I hope it clicks during tomorrow's all-breaststroke workout with the kids at Phoenix Swim Club!

I was very surprised by my times this morning. My 75 freestyles at 95 percent shouldn't not have been in the 40-second range. I was expecting to go about 42 or 43. What does that say about my freestyle? Is it getting faster? I have been doing more freestyle in the past 12 months than ever, and mixed in with my stroke change last September as advised by Tennessee coach Matt Kredich, I am pleased with the changes. I'm also pleased that I'm adjusting better to moving the dolphin kick at the beginning of my breaststroke pullout. Only once today did I do a double kick, and happily it was during the double pullouts at the end and not the fast swims. I was pleased with the time for my fast 75 breast. My stroke felt clumsy and a little forced to move fast through the water, and seeing that I was able to go under 45 seconds made me feel good. I think the new pullout helped with that somewhat.

Getting back in the groove of exercise has made me feel quite sore since Tuesday morning. After tonight's workout with JR, I am sure I'm going to feel like every muscle is in knots. I stretch extensively, drink water and eat well after workout, but all of that isn't going to help this 37-year-old body feel like it's 20 years old. Hopefully next week things will feel more like normal!

Near the end of my session with JR, I thought of a great main set to do on Sunday. In my mind, it sounds like a lot of fun, but I am slightly apprehensive about doing it, because it will be quite painful by the end. I can't wait to share it with you!

Be Italian

2012-02-06T17:58:00.001-07:00

Date: Feb. 6, 2012
Location: Phoenix, AZ
140 days to Olympic Trials

10:45 a.m., at the gym
Five minutes shoulders warm up
Incline bench press (15 @ 95, 12 @ 120, 10 @ 135)
Standing lat pull (15 @ 50, 12 @ 60, 10 @ 75)
Hamstring curls (15 @ 80, 12 @ 90, 10 @ 110)
Bicep curls (15 @ 15 each arm, 12 @ 20, 10 @ 25)
Leg extensions (15 @ 100, 12 @ 120, 10 @ 140)
Ten minutes stretching

11:50 a.m., at the pool
Long Course Meters
12x50 free on :50

1x100 back on 1:45
1x200 on 3:30 (100 free/100 back)
1x300 on 5:15 (alternating 100 free/100 back)
1x400 on 7:00 (alternate 100 back/100 free)
1x500 on 8:45 (alternate 100 back/100 free)
One minute break

4x100 IM on 1:45

300 breast kick no board :30 rest

2x100 :15 rest
25 breast scull/25 breast drill/25 free scull/25 free fingertip drag

4x50 on 1:15 breast kick drill

2x50 :15 various drills

Total: 3300 meters (70 minutes)

I was surprised how good I felt in the water today, since I hadn't swum once during my 10-day vacation in Rome, Italy. It took about 30 minutes for my body to adjust to moving through water again, but I was happy that I was able to stay close to my aerobic pace without feeling too exerted. All I wanted to do today was get my feel for the water again.

If you plan to visit Rome, don't pack your swimsuit. The city has no public pools, and it is quite expensive for visitors to use health club or private pools. And forget about swimming at the site of the 1960 Olympics (and the infamous 1994 and 2009 world championships). I got a stern "no" after acting out my request in charades to the non-English speaking receptionist. Too bad, because the pool is nice. The outdoor pool looked nice as well, though I could only see it through high fences because it was closed to the public -- and not open, since temperatures in Rome were at or near freezing.

I suppose I could have loosened up on my euro-pinching, but I didn't think doing a 75-minute workout was worth 20 euros, or about $24. Masters teams in the United States don't charge more than $10 for visitors, and public pools are cheaper than that in the U.S. I was very surprised that my search for available pools on swimmersguide.com came up empty for public pools in a city of nearly 3 million people. The city didn't have a place for kids to splash around in the summer, or for adults to stay fit all year. It's even more confounding, given that Italy has a rich history of elite swimmers that includes reigning 200 free Olympic champ Federica Pellegrini. I did see a youth swim team at the indoor pool at the Olympic site, but it's still a head-scratcher.

Though I did not swim in Italy, I got plenty of exercise. During the first three days, I walked an average of five miles through Rome each day, seeing all the major sights. The city subway and bus system helped greatly, but we vastly underestimated the distance between some places, since our "trusty" map was not built to scale. By day three, my legs and lower back were in knots, and I wasn't sure if I could handle more days of sightseeing. Fortunately, we had taken in all the major sights in those three days (including the magnificent Sistine Chapel), and the temperature in Rome had started to drop dramatically, which made our time outside limited.

By Friday, Feb. 4, snow had covered Rome for the first time in about five years. The slush then turned into ice that made walking around even worse, since we hadn't packed for such weather. Running shoes aren't great for keeping traction on ice.

Because I stayed active throughout the trip, I doubt I had any setback for my training for Olympic Trials. I think I will be back to my "old self" by Thursday, looking forward to the sectional meet in Seattle next month. One thing I worked on in the pool today was the breaststroke pullout, especially trying to move my dolphin kick to the beginning of the pull. I feel like I hold my speed better with this change, but I find that I'm still putting in the dolphin kick at the end of the pullout, which is where I've been doing it for the past six years. It's going to take a lot of patience to get it to work to the point that I don't have to put all my concentration on that part of the swim, but I have patience.

Leaving on a Jet Plane

2012-01-27T18:17:00.001-07:00

Date: Friday, January 27, 2012
Time: 6 a.m.
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Short Course Yards
150 days to Olympic Trials

300 warmup

2x100 breast kick no board on 1:30
(1:19, 1:21)

50 easy

8x25 free drill on :30

4x50 back kick with short fins on :45
(averaged :35)

50 easy

8x25 free :10 rest

8x25 breast pull with short fins on :30
(averaged :14)

50 easy

6x25 free kick drill :10 rest

6x100 free on 2:00, descend 1-3, 4-6
(54.2 on #3, 52.8 on #6)

100 easy (with stretching)

Total: 2,300 yards (60 minutes)

At the gym (4:30 p.m.)
Five minutes shoulder warmup

Sitting bench press (15 @ 110, 12 @ 130, 10 @ 150)

Leg press (15 @ 150, 12 @ 170, 10 @ 200)

Lat pull (15 @ 100, 12 @ 130, 10 @ 150)

Box jumps (three sets of 20)

10 minutes abdominals and stretching

I overslept this morning. I saw "5:30" on the clock, and for a brief moment, considered staying in bed. But I didn't know when my next pool workout would be (more on that later), so I rushed through my morning routine and drove like a maniac to the pool. Though I drove about five miles per hour faster on the highway than I usually do, it only saved me about one minute. Lesson: no need to speed!

To add to my lateness, I didn't sleep very well last night. I woke up around 2:00 and don't think I truly fell asleep again until about 3:30. Obviously, it wasn't easy to get into the workout, but I think I did very well.

The set of 100s at the end were surprising. I felt like I was swimming comfortably on number three, and did not expect to be that fast. Putting all my energy into number six got me about a second faster, which was good. I don't think I've been under 53 for a fast 100 free in a long time, but I don't think I've done a fast 100 free in a few months.

I haven't done a gym workout in two weeks. Things felt a little sore going in, so I didn't try to push it too much. I will likely be doing a brief three-week strength building phase in mid-February, to get my fast-twitch muscles stronger and pumped for racing in March, in addition to my work with JR.

So, why am I not sure when my next pool workout will be? It's because I'm going to Rome for nine days. I'm getting on a plane later tonight, and though I know there are plenty of pools in Rome, I'm not sure if they are open for lap swim, or how expensive it is to "drop in." I do plan on doing a lot of walking, so that will provide lots of exercise, and I think my hotel has an exercise room to keep my upper body in shape. I plan on visiting the site of the 1960 Olympics, which was also where a couple of infamous world championships took place.

This should be a fun trip! I won't be blogging during my travels. If I do get to swim in Italy, I will let you know all about it when I get back!

Just Breathe

2012-01-26T20:06:00.000-07:00

Date: January 26, 2012
Time: 4:30 p.m.
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Short Course Yards
151 days to Olympic Trials

The hardest part of swimming with the top age-group swimmers at Phoenix Swim Club is not the intervals or the amount of yards swum. It's all the breath-holding 25s we do! Every Thursday, I would estimate about 40 percent of the breaststroke workout deals with swimming or kicking underwater for 12-1/2 yards, or the entire 25.

We don't do that kind of stuff regularly in the Masters group, though I suppose it would be a good way to keep our old lungs strong. Even though we are not swimming extremely fast, the breath holding makes the sets more difficult, and I find myself gasping for air much more than everyone else. Of course, they do this on a regular basis, which makes it easier for them.

The focus of the 4,200-yard workout was the arm recovery on breaststroke. Coley kept encouraging me to be faster on the recovery, and while I know it is an area of great potential, it is not easy to do. It's all about muscle memory, and I figure it will take about a month for my body to fully be comfortable with it. We did lots of head-up breaststroke today, and that is a great drill for arm recovery. If you are recovering your arms quickly, it's easier to keep your head above water.

After the workout, I asked Coley to look at my start to get his thoughts on the things I've been working on. Before I even did the dive, he made a suggestion my back position. Instead of having a rounded back, it's best to have a straight back when you're in the set position. This was not easy to do and feel comfortable on the block. But on the bright side, once I got the position correct, I felt like I got a better push off the blocks. I went too deep on the entry, but I did feel like I had more speed in the water. This is something that will take some work, but I'm anxious to see where it will go.

She Works Hard for the Money

2012-01-25T15:23:00.000-07:00

Date: Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Time: 5:45 a.m.
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Long Course Meters
152 days to Olympic Trials

1200 warmup

Three rounds:
15 meters fast from push/35 meters easy x3 on 3:00
25 fast from push/50 easy x2 on 3:00
50 fast/100 easy on 3:00
Round 1 50 back (30.3)
Round 2 50 breast (34.2)
Round 3 50 free (27.6)

150 easy

6x50 on 1:20
25 breast from dive/25 easy
(average 13.8)

200 easy

Total: 3,200 meters (75 minutes)

I'm glad the pool was long course. It enabled me to work on things like stroke rate and consistency on my fast 50s without thinking about turns. I was also glad to work on starts, because I need to be more powerful and explosive on my start, and continue to focus on the changes I need to make to it. That includes gliding longer after the entry, having a stronger snap on the pulldown and starting the first stroke sooner. I feel like I'm getting the hang of it. I didn't ask Mark to time me to 15 meters, but it is something I need to do before the sectional meet in March.

All in all, a good day at the pool. I was happy with my backstroke and freestyle times on the fast 50s, but know I needed to be faster on the breaststroke. My stroke rate didn't feel fast, but I didn't want to force it and feel like I'm going faster, only to be going slower because I am not taking advantage of each part of the stroke. I think by mid-February, I will feel more like a sprinter, at least in terms of putting some snap into my stroke.

I suppose I should clarify that last sentence. I always feel like a sprinter, but only mentally. In the middle of training (and especially at 6 a.m.) it's difficult to get your body to accept the fact that you want to swim fast. But if you can do it before sunrise, you can do it anytime!

Manic Monday

2012-01-23T19:19:00.000-07:00

Date: January 23, 2012
Time: 5:50 a.m.
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Short Course Meters
154 days to Olympic Trials

300 warmup

6x50 breast pull on 1:00 with pull buoy

Four rounds:
200 IM drill on 4:00
8x25 on :30 (:35 for breaststroke)*
*On 25s:
Round 1 free with one breath per 25
Round 2 breast double pullouts
Round 3 back swim
Round 4 fly with one breath

8x25 on :35
Odd: free
Even: back

6x50 breast pull on 1:00 with pull buoy

100 easy

Total: 2,800 meters (70 minutes)

Yes, it is unusual that I am swimming on Monday. I had to take my partner, Geoff Glaser, to the airport very early this morning, and figured that I would switch my days off and swim today instead of tomorrow. I knew whatever the main set would be today would be too much of a distance set for me, so I decided to swim in the short course meters part of the pool instead of the yards side.

The main set was a 250 on 4:00, followed by 6x50s on :40. Not really my cup of tea, especially since I am now officially focusing on sprinting.

The water was too warm to do any major anaerobic work, as I had planned. I estimate the water was 82 degrees, so I kept everything aerobic. I'll do anaerobic sprint work on Wednesday and Friday. I plan on swimming with the age group team at Phoenix Swim Club Thursday, and their workout is not anaerobic on that day.

This evening, I worked out with JR Rosania, and we found a great exercise for breaststrokers. I found out that the teres minor muscle is largely responsible for the outsweep on the breaststroke pull, and we rigged two pieces of tubing and simulated the outsweep of the pull. It definitely worked the teres minor muscles, and a few others in the shoulder area. By the end of March, we hope to work up to doing 50 repetitions of that exercise, a little more than the number of strokes I will take in a 100-meter breast race. Today, I did two sets of 15, and I felt the exercise do its thing.

Lazy Sunday

2012-01-22T19:06:00.000-07:00

Date: Sunday, January 22, 2012
Time: 11:25 a.m.
Location: Tucson, AZ
Short Course Yards
155 days to Olympic Trials

400 choice

300 reverse IM: 25 kick/50 swim

200 breast kick no board

100 free breathe every 5

4x100 free on 1:30, descend 1-4
(Descended to 1:03)

4x75 on 1:30
25 breast double pullouts/50 back

8x15 breakouts on :45

100 easy: 25 scull/25 swim

Three rounds:
Power Tower (filled to 3/4 full) -- 25 fast/25 easy on 1:00
Remove belt, then 50 fast from push
100 easy on 3:00
Round 1: backstroke
Round 2: breaststroke
Round 3: freestyle

4x50 easy on :55

Three starts

50 easy

Total: 3,000 yards (75 minutes)

I planned this workout last Wednesday, which made it easier to get through, but my body wasn't too excited about sprinting. The idea of lying on the couch watching movies almost won out.

Today's Power Tower/sprinting set showed me I need to do a lot more lactate/anaerobic swimming. My stroke rate wasn't very high, and I didn't feel like my fast-twitch fibers were doing very well. I didn't have someone timing me on my fast 50s, but based on what I saw on the digital clock, I went 27-low on the back, 30-low on the breast and 24-high on the free. That was a very difficult set to do, especially since there was not much rest after doing the 25 fast on the Power Tower.

Working on starts today was productive. I thought about gliding longer after entering the water, which took a lot of trust on my part that I was maintaining velocity. I held the glide for about two extra seconds before starting the pullout, and I definitely got more distance on the pullout, but was it faster? I didn't have anyone at the pool to time me, but I'm getting confident on the idea of holding the glide longer.

Earlier this week, I got a drill progression on doing the dolphin kick at the beginning of the breaststroke pullout from Trip Hedrick, who was the former head coach at Iowa State. It involved evolving from three kicks at the start to one kick at the start. I did the drill progression well enough, but when I tried to do it on a push-off, my brain was still trained to kick at the end of the pullout, so I did a kick at the beginning and the end! It will take a lot of work to move that dolphin kick to the beginning.

Working for the Weekend

2012-01-20T17:23:00.000-07:00

Date: Friday, January 20, 2012
Time: 5:50 a.m.
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Short Course Yards
157 days to Olympic Trials

900 warmup

12x50 on :50
Odd: 25 kick/25 swim
Even: 25 drill/25 swim

12x25 on :30
Odd: half kick, half swim
Even: breast swim

Five rounds:
100 easy on 2:00
25 breast fast/30 seconds vertical kick holding 12-pound ball/25 breast fast on 2:00
(Fast part of set took about 1:45, with time used to grab med ball from deck and put back after kicking)

Five rounds:
20 seconds easy treading water/20 seconds vertical kick/four fast backstroke strokes

200 easy (with lots of stretching)

Total: 2,950 yards (not counting vertical kicking)

I am exhausted. This week was a killer, and it ended with two very difficult workouts. I had not planned on doing any breaststroke this morning after yesterday's brutal workout, but the main set (as I worked it out in my head) seemed to work fine for doing some fast breaststroke swimming, which I haven't really done since getting back from Austin. My right hamstring felt tender, and I was hesitant to do so much vertical kicking, but it never got to the point of excruciating pain. I made sure to do extensive leg stretches before and after workout, and it feels a little better, but not great.

I am proud of myself for taking the initiative to do the main set as I did it. As it was written on the board, it was basically a 100 easy kick, then a 100 fast kick. It didn't seem boring, but I felt like I needed to shake it up a little more. The vertical kicking on the main set was completely my idea, and Mark was very surprised that I chose to do it. I was surprised I made 30 seconds holding that heavy ball!

As I mentioned, I'm quite exhausted. I've chosen to not lift weights today, and I'm fine with that. I will resume my weight program next week.

Today, I officially decided to attend the senior sectional meet in Seattle the weekend of March 9. The event schedule works perfectly for me. The 100 breast (the main event!) is on Saturday. I plan to fly to Seattle Thursday night, swim a couple of relays on Saturday to get adjusted to the meet and swim the 100 back and 100 breast on Saturday, as well as the 200 IM on Sunday. I will rest for three days for the meet, but not shave. It will be my last barometer on how training is going before Trials, though not my last long course meet. I plan to swim in the Southwest Classic, as I do every year, though for the second time in six years, I won't shave. The meet is usually the second week of June, but with the timing of Olympic Trials, the Southwest Classic might be moved up much earlier, as they did in 2008.

I'm excited to swim at sectionals. I looked at last year's results, and it appears that the top finishers aren't extremely fast, which gives me optimism about placing high in the 100 breast and maybe my other two events. Coley is very set on winning the team title, and he's taking lots of the kids, including Roland Schoeman, so it could happen. I want the opportunity to do more work on racing skills, and I vow to be better prepared for racing. I won't spend the day before my race walking around a huge mall, and if I have trouble sleeping, I'll take a sleep aid. This meet will be practice for Trials ... at least in the case of race preparation. I doubt I'm getting a second swim at Trials, but you never know!

I'm so excited to have tomorrow off. No swimming, no exercise! It'll be just what my body needs. I might spend the entire afternoon at the movies. I have a lot to catch up on before the Oscar nominations are announced Tuesday morning!

A Change Would Do You Good

2012-01-19T19:14:00.000-07:00

Date: Thursday, January 19, 2012
Time: 4:40 p.m.
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Short Course Yards
158 days to Olympic Trials

Today's workout with the top group at Phoenix Swim Club was tough! We churned out about 4,500 yards of mostly breaststroke in one hour and 45 minutes. The group had been increasing yardage since coming back from the Austin Grand Prix. I was not aware of this until Coley Stickels mentione dit to me as I walked into the pool complex. I wasn't sure we were going to do lots of yardage on breaststroke day, but when he started spewing out a 2,400-yard final set, I knew he meant business. The set was basically an IM set without the butterfly (thankfully), but after about 3,000 yards of mostly breaststroke before that, all my other strokes weren't feeling up to the challenge.

What was even more challenging about the final set was that it was supposed to be at 75 percent effort, which made me happy, but I think I was the only one swimming at that pace. Everyone around me seemed to be going close to 95 percent effort. For example, I swam 50 yards of breaststroke in 35 seconds in the middle of the set, and I knew it was close to 85 percent effort -- and there were three others ahead of me! I swam a 50 free in 29 seconds, knowing there was a freestyler right on my heels behind me. I think when you're a kid, you don't really know what the various swimming pace efforts are. If someone tells me to go 75 percent effort, I feel like I can approximate that very well. Seventy-five percent effort for 50 yards of freestyle for me is in the 35-second range.

In any case, today's workout was about putting more concentration on breaststroke pullouts. In the past 24 hours, many people have sent in suggestions for fixing my pullouts, and most have suggested a longer glide on the dive/push-off. After today's workout, I think they might be on to something. I was so afraid of losing speed quickly because of my bad ankles, but I think I hold speed pretty well. The new pullout seemed to work well, but I'll have to do more work with it to feel comfortable. And not gliding too long after the kick on the pullout feels good, too. Again, more work needs to be done on it before I fully embrace it.

So, thanks to everyone who has offered their suggestions. In the next few days, I will tinker with my pullout a little more and see if the changes are good or bad for me.

In the Deep

2012-01-18T22:01:00.000-07:00

Date: Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Time: 5:45 a.m.
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Short Course Yards
159 days to Olympic Trials

1100 warmup

16x25 on :30, descend 1-4 to 90 percent effort

Four rounds:
75 fast on :1:30
25 fast on 1:00
Rounds 1 and 2: kick with short fins (:50 on 75, :14 on 25)
Rounds 3 and 4: breast pull with short fins (:43 on 75, :13 on 25)

200 easy

10x25 on 1:00 fast
Odd: breast from dive*
Even: free from push
*After touching the wall on the odd 25s, I did 20 seconds of moderately aggressive vertical kicking.

Three starts

200 easy

Total: 2,600 yards (80 minutes)

Not a bad workout today. The water was a little too warm, though I could feel cool water coming out of the jets, which potentially means good things for tomorrow.

Since I was still thinking about Sunday's swimming, I had a goal of working on some problem points in my breaststroke, specifically my start and arm recovery during the stroke. That was the reason I did the main set with short fins, to focus only on the pull. I felt like my hands were faster on the recovery, and helped to set up the next stroke better. Doing this more often will help train my muscles to swim like this, especially when I get tired. Since I'm more tired than not in workout, I tend to slow down my recovery, for no other reason than the muscles responsible for proper recovery are usually very sore and don't want to do things correctly. I'm going to make sure these muscles are ready to swim correctly long before I step up on the blocks in Omaha. It starts today!!!!!

On the final set, I asked Mark to time me to 15 meters on my start. He timed me at 6.3 seconds on average, which is almost a second faster than I was in Austin. Why is that? I know my legs were tired in Austin, but were they so tired I couldn't push myself off the block stronger at 9:30 a.m. than I could today at 6:50 a.m.? I plan to get timed to 15 meters regularly. Hopefully, I will get under six seconds soon!

Felt great working with JR today. Lots of exercises geared specifically for breaststroke. Some of the better ones are not easy to explain, but they involve exercising the muscles while simulating parts of breaststroke swimming, like the arm recovery (!) and the pulldown. While it's also great to go the gym and do the standard bench press and so on, I like knowing exactly how these exercises will help me in the pool.

Tomorrow is breaststroke day with the elite group at Phoenix Swim Club. That's 90 minutes of pure mental focus on breaststroke. When I was in high school, I dreaded doing breaststroke in workout, but that was because I would usually do stuff like 10x100 on 1:20 (yards), and barely make the interval after number five. Now, every set with Coley on Thursdays pretty much has a purpose. Most of the time, that purpose is to fatigue me, and it usually works! Strangely enough, Thursday has become my new favorite swimming day.

Rewind

2012-01-17T20:47:00.000-07:00

Date: January 17,2 012
Time: 5:45 a.m.
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Short Course Meters
160 days to Olympic Trials

200 warmup

2x500 on 8:00 -- 25 kick or drill/25 swim
#1 free, #2 non-free

24x25 on :25
odd: back
even: breast

4x100 on 2:00
odd: breast pull
even: back with breast kick (or close to normal backstroke for me!)
(The purpose of this set was to do a stroke with a different kick.)

6x250 on 4:00, descend 1-3, 4-6
200 back/50 breast
3:30, 3:21, 3:16, 3:42, 3:22, 3:11

300 easy

Total: 4,000 meters (80 minutes)

Instead of talking about today's workout, the warm pool and my heavy, tired legs, I would rather continue discussing last Sunday's racing. I thought about it a lot in workout today, particularly when doing breaststroke.

Before I continue, take a look at my 100 breast, provided to you thanks to Chris Lundie and his team at TakeItLive, which was streaming the meet live online:

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/geSHdftGNww" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

As you can clearly see, I lose a lot on my start. The guy to my left gains a half-body length on me, and the guy two lanes over is a body length ahead before the first stroke! I've watched this video at least 20 times, pondering the mystery of my deficient start. It would appear that my trouble starts after the pulldown, that I lose forward velocity quickly. I want to believe it is my extremely inflexible ankles slowing me down after doing the dolphin kick. There seems to be no other explanation. What else could be slowing me down so severely? When I dive in, I'm pretty much even with these guys.

One thing Coley Stickels suggested to me immediately after the race was that my arms were recovering too slowly after the pullout. I think he was onto something, though as you can see on the video, the damage had already been done by the time I was recovering my arms to start swimming . This morning in workout, I consciously recovered my arms faster, to find that I was able to keep my velocity so much easier! It's such a small thing, but it means so much.

The good news is that on the first 50, I kind of make up some ground on the guy to my left. That makes me feel good, that I'm outswimming him. Or, maybe I'm overswimming the first 50? That's not true, since I only went out in 30.8 or 30.9, depending on your stopwatch. That's not too bad for the first 50 of an in-season swim.When I swam my 1:04.42 last July, I was out in 30.26, and was probably doing the same pullout then that I did on Sunday. (I don't have a time goal for Omaha, but I do know that I want my first 50 to be under 30 seconds.)

The more I watch the video, the more encouraged I am by what I see. (Of course, I stop before the camera pans to the scoreboard. I don't need to be reminded of the time!) I like seeing that there is a major point in the race that needs fixing, and by simply fixing it, I can probably drop five tenths of a second or more on the first 50! My pullout on my turn was just as bad. As you can see, I turned almost even with the guy in lane four, but he took off after that. He must have been quite rested, because he swam a time very close to his seed time. I, on the other hand, was swimming on about six hours of sleep and tired legs.

Today I got some body work done with Tod Miller, and I asked for his opinion about my ankle inflexibility. He stated with full authority that anything can be made better with a little work. And with that, he put his body weight on my Achilles heel and did his best to stretch them out. I don't feel any difference three hours later, but maybe with his monthly techniques, things could improve. In my life, I have tried everything to make my ankles more flexible, from using the FINIS rack to sitting on my heels while watching television. My collee coach, Eddie Reese, once suggested breaking my ankles to reset the tendons. I think he was kidding.

I know you have the urge to tell me how to fix my start, pullout and overall stroke. I would love to hear from you. Post your comments here on the blog, or if you're too shy, send me an email to jeffswim@aol.com.

Deep in the Heart of Texas

2012-01-16T16:25:00.000-07:00

Date: Monday, January 16, 2012
161 days to Olympic Trials

Times at the Austin Grand Prix (long course meters):
100 breast: 1:07.11
200 IM: 2:14.80

I had a lot of fun in Austin, Texas, despite what the official results from the meet show. I had hopes for swimming very fast at the meet, but I was not upset by the times on the scoreboard. Well, maybe for about five minutes. I was only upset because I knew I could have done better, that external circumstances hindered me from doing my best, that I had come all that way (from Phoenix to Austin) only to swim slower than expected and that I wasn't going to be able to swim in finals. But in the end, it was a very valuable learning experience that I could not have gotten if I had, say, swum those races in a Masters meet or local meet in Arizona.

What I learned is that my racing skills are very rough around the edges. I got the opportunity to watch my 100 breast on video a few hours later, and I saw lots of things that were not only rookie mistakes, but were easily fixable with some concentration during workout.

Sitting down with Coley Stickels after my 100 breast, he told me I had surfaced from the pullout after the start about a body length behind. That's a lot of ground to make up in a 100-meter race, and it's a lot to lose in the first15 meters. What we both believed (and was confirmed by me when I watched the video) was that when I recover my arms after the pulldown, I am very slow, which in turn slows me down quicker. By recovering my arms faster, I can keep my velocity on the pullout high and not work so hard to get up to racing speed. In fact, I would likely be at racing speed if I did it correctly. Also, my first stroke after the pullout is taken too long after the first kick. These were things that I was doing in a race, because I was probably doing them in workout. When you're tired, the first thing to go is speed, and when you're doing long repeats, the little things get dropped, and sometimes you or your coach don't notice that it's happening. No offense to my coach, Mark Rankin, but he probably didn't notice these issues either, and he sees me doing breaststroke a lot during the week. There are many things coaches miss when standing on deck. Making a video of my technique helps everyone see the mistakes, but they are highlighted the most in races.

Another reason I was glad to swim int he Grand Prix was because I was racing people of the caliber I will be racing in Omaha. No offense to my wonderful Masters friends, teammates and most competitors, but the mistakes I made yesterday in the 100 breast would not have been as easy to see in a Masters meet, because I would already be ahead after the start.

As I had mentioned earlier, a few external things conspired to cause me to swim a little slower than expected, though I will place no blame on them. First, I had a bad cold the weekend before, and I don't think I was fully over it. Second, I didn't sleep well the night before. I woke up at 4:30, and could not get back to sleep until about 5:45, which was 30 minutes before my alarm was set to go off. I did feel a little groggy in warmup yesterday, and did have a hard time getting my brain amped to race. Finally, I spent Saturday afternoon with one of my best friends in the world, who I met in college, and after a great lunch, he sowed me around one of the big malls in Austin. I did not know he was going to do that until we were halfway through the mall, and by then, I think we had walked half a mile! My legs didn't feel awesome in warmup Sunday morning, though they had felt pretty good in my brief "workout" on Saturday.

Going forward, I have to make sure everything I do in and out of the pool has a focus on making my 100 breast the best it can be for Trials. I think I'm going to move up my training schedule a bit to start my race pace training a few weeks early, like the middle of February. I need to get my fast-twitch muscles primed to race, even in in-season meets, and I need to race plenty of times to hone those flaws I was making yesterday. Before this weekend, I was on the fence about going to sectionals in March, but I am going to try to make that happen. Like Austin, I probably won't have any time goals, but to be able to race people who are as fast as me will be invaluable come June 25.

As for tomorrow, I might be doing a lot of breaststroke pullouts!

Morning Has Broken

2012-01-13T15:24:00.000-07:00

Date: Friday, January 12, 2012
Time: 5:45 a.m.
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Short Course Meters
164 days to Olympic Trials

1300 warmup, swim and kick

6x100 on 2:00
15 breakout/85 free breathe every 5

100 easy

Two rounds:
16x25 on :30
Start with 15 strokes on #1, then 14 strokes on #2, all the way to zero strokes on #16 (similar to a 25 kick)
Round 1: free
Round 2: 8 back, 8 breast

8x50 on :50
4 back, 4 free

100 easy

Total: 3,300 meters

Another workout perfect for the type of swimming I wanted to do today. On the set of 100s on 2:00, everyone was doing fast kick, but I was able to make perfect changes.

I probably should have done a fast swim today beyond the 15-meter breakouts. Before the final set of 50s, the team did a fast 200 kick for time. I hung out on the wall, watching Alan Carter go 2:57 backstroke kick with fins. I could have done a 200 breast kick for time, and my prep for this weekend would not have been hampered. I think I was just being lazy and using the excuse of resting for the meet too much. I would have like to see how fast I could go. Maybe under 3:20? We'll never know.

It was extremely cold this morning. My car's thermostat read "36 degrees," and it sure felt that way. The pool was comfortable (about 81 degrees), but most times I could feel the sting of cold air when I took huge gulps of air. I think it'll warm up very soon!

As I've mentioned before, I'm very excited to be racing in the Austin Grand Prix this weekend. The uncertainty of how I will place in the 100 breast makes me very nervous, but I'm excited to be back in the pool I lived in for five years. The last time I raced there was at Masters nationals in 2008. I did very well there. In fact, I think I have swum well every time I've raced in Austin ... with the exception of a few dual meets here and there.

I won't have computer access in Austin, so I'll be back here Monday with a recap of how things went!

Take It Easy

2012-01-12T21:14:00.000-07:00

Date: Thursday, January 12, 2012
Time: 5:50 a.m.
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Short Course Meters
165 days to Olympic Trials

6x200 free working on breathing patterns

9x75 on 2:00
25 pull choice with pull buoy between ankles
25 scull
25 kick

10x100 on 1:45
5 free, 5 back

Three starts

200 easy

Total: About 3,100 meters (75 minutes)

Today's workout was just what I needed. I wanted to keep my heart rate at aerobic level, and was successfully able to do that. The distance was less than I expected, but I'm not complaining!

I wanted to back off on the intensity today to give my body some rest for this weekend. I don't want to go all the way to Austin and not do well. My only goal is to get a second swim in the 100 breast, and that will be difficult enough.Pulling back on the throttle for a couple of days won't hurt my training.

I haven't worked on starts since my taper meet about a month ago, and was surprised that everything felt good. I even felt like I pointed my toes on the entry, or at least as much as my bad ankles will allow.

Gotta finish packing for the trip! Austin is going to be about as chilly as it is here in Phoenix, so I'm making sure I'm ready for all weather conditions.

Shock the Monkey

2012-01-11T21:11:00.000-07:00

Date: Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Time: 5:45 a.m.
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Short Course Meters
166 days to Olympic Trials

1700 warmup

8x25 non-free on :30
Done as 4x25 breakouts
2x25 easy
2x25 breakouts
4x25 free low breath count on :25
2x25 easy on :20
1:00 break
4x25 breast fast on :30 (averaged 15-high)
4x25 easy on :30
4x25 free low breath count on :25
4x25 free easy on :20

Easy 150

Four rounds:
50 fast/50 easy on 2:30
25 fast/75 easy on 2:30
Round 1: 27.1 50 free, 12.3 25 free
Round 2: All easy
Round 3: 32.2 50 breast, 12.3 25 free
Round 4: 32.0 50 breast, 13.1 25 back

100 easy

Total: 3,500 meters (80 minutes)

Some days it's easy for me to be a sprinter. Some days, it feels like my body just wants to swim slow. This was one of those days. I didn't get much sleep last night, and as such I was pretty groggy when I dove in. It took me nearly 40 minutes to feel like I was ready to do something worthwhile in the pool.

Breaststroke times continue to surprise me. To be in low 32-second range is pretty good, considering that it felt like my stroke wasn't fully clicking. I don't know if it's making the transition back to short course or if it's from being sick for a few days, but nothing has truly felt right since Thursday. I'm chalking it up -- for now -- to the long course to short course transition. When I swim short course, I feel like I have to have a faster stroke rate, and while that may not be true, it's what I'm feeling this week. We're supposedly doing long course tomorrow, so I'll be able to get a feel for long course again, which is the format I'll be racing in this weekend.

With the meet this weekend, JR Rosania decided it would be good to work on some explosive exercises, to get my nervous system ready to race. Specifically, these exercises could help me with my starts and turns, as well as get my muscles ready for real sprinting. Doing resistance jumps on a horizontal sled and push-ups with claps were just a few of the things I did tonight. I wasn't as tired as last week, when the goal was to do a lot of work in an hour, but I was pretty tired at the end. I don't mind if I'm sore tomorrow from it.

This afternoon, I got a very good package in the mail. It was an electronic muscle stimulator that is like an angel sent from heaven. This device is working to get my left rhomboid muscle back in working order. I believe that muscle has been in some state of disrepair for many years, though I do not know why. It is the major reason why I believe I got tendonitis two years ago. Because I had limited use of that muscle, I relied on other muscles to do the job of the rhomboid, which was a pathway to injury.

The physical therapy got it into some shape, but I think I needed constant work on my rhomboid to keep it working. That is the goal here. Tonight, I had the device do its thing for 30 minutes, and I can't say for sure if the muscle is better, but I could feel the electrodes shocking the muscle into action, which is a very, very, very good thing. I plan to do this once a week for 30 minutes, and with regular physical therapy work (using resistance bands), I could gain more use of the muscle, which has a major function in swimming, especially in arm recovery on breaststroke and the catch phase of backstroke.

A Spoonful of Sugar

2012-01-10T21:02:00.000-07:00

Date: Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Time: 5:50 a.m.
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Short Course Meters
167 days to Olympic Trials

4x(3x50 on 1:00)
1. fly/back
2. back/breast
3. breast/free

300 non-flutter kick no board

6x100 on 1:50, descend 1-3, 4-6
50 breast/50 free (1:10, 1:08)

8x25 breast on :40 double pullouts

8x75 on 1:20, descend 1-4, 5-8
25 fly/50back (:51, :52)

100 easy

3x100 back kick on 2:00
4x15 backstroke breakouts on :45
3x100 breast kick no board on 2:00
2x15 breast breakouts on :45
1x50 breast fast from push (32.2)

200 easy

Total: 3,500 meters (80 minutes)

At the gym:
Five minutes shoulder warmup
Sitting bench press (15 @ 110, 12 @ 135, 10 @ 155)
Leg extensions (15 @ 100, 12 @ 130, 10 @ 160)
Hamstring curls (15 @ 70, 12 @ 85, 10 @ 100)
3x25 breaststroke strokes with five-pound dumbbells
Ten minutes abdominals and stretching

I felt like I was pretty much over my cold this morning, and hopefully I won't have to take anymore of that horrible cold medicine. It was the generic brand from Walgreens, and though it said "cherry flavored," I didn't notice a soothing aftertaste.

My backstroke felt miserable. The set of 75s were quite tough because I couldn't get my arms moving fast. It felt like I was swimming in molasses, which is partly true because the water was a little too warm.

Breaststroke felt OK, and I was surprised by the time on the fast swim at the end. The stroke felt good but not all that powerful, which could be my body trying to return to normal. It's a good sign for this weekend, but I'm trying not to get too overexcited. I don't want to make this meet to be any bigger than it is: an in-season meet. I would very much like to get a second swim in the 100 breast, and will do my best to make that happen, but I know I will tend to let my mind get too far ahead of itself and psych myself out.

I Got a Cold in My Nose

2012-01-08T21:35:00.000-07:00

Date: Sunday, January 8, 2012
Time: 11:15 a.m.
Location: Tucson, AZ
Short Course Yards
169 days to Olympic Trials

400 free swim

300 IM
25 scull/25 drill/25 swim

200 kick
100 breast/100 free

100 breast drill

400 free swim with snorkel

300 IM
25 scull/25 drill/25 swim

200 kick
100 breast/100 free

100 breast
25 underwater breast pull/25 breast pull head out of water/25 breast swim head out of water/25 breast swim underwater

400 free swim

300 IM
25 scull/25 drill/25 swim

200 kick
100 breast/100 free

100 breast swim with double pullouts

200 easy
25 scull/25 kick

4x15 breast breakouts on :45

100 easy

Total: 3,400 yards (70 minutes)

Friday after workout I felt horrible. As I wrote on that day, I wanted to sleep for hours, but day wore on, I started to feel congested in my head and sneezing uncontrollably. By Friday evening, I was so stuffed up that the only way I was going to sleep was to take some cold medicine. It did the trick.

It's a good thing Saturday was my day off. I slept a lot that day, going out briefly to teach swimming lessons. By Sunday morning my stuffy nose was pretty much gone, but I still felt icky. Today's workout was supposed to keep my heart rate down and keep me in shape for the meet next weekend. The last 400 free was a little too hard. I went a 4:43, and my heart rate was about 170, a little too high for that speed.

Having a cold is a minor inconvenience this weekend. I could feel much sicker, and I'm glad that this cold is likely to go away by the time I get on the plane to Austin. Tomorrow is my usual day off, and I'll use it to continue to get better. More cold medicine tonight!

Thank God It's Friday

2012-01-06T15:46:00.000-07:00

Date: Friday, January 6, 2012
Time: 5:45 a.m.
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Long Course Meters
171 days to Olympic Trials

400 warmup

12x50 on 1:00
25 kick/25 swim

8x50 on 1:00
25 drill/25 swim

4x(6x50 on 1:00)
Two easy, four hard
Rounds 1 & 2: breast kick (:53 on fast ones)
Rounds 3 & 4: back swim (:36 on fast ones)

200 easy

4x(3x50 on 1:00)
2 easy/1 fast from push
Fly: 30.8
Back: 31.1
Breast: 34.1
Free: 29.7

100 easy

Total: 3,500 meters

I felt like rubber when I woke up today. Nothing wanted to work. When I dove into the pool, I felt a little better, but I had to change up the main set, doing backstroke on the last two rounds instead of breast kick. My legs were not responding well. Even on a good day, though, I don't think I would have been too much faster.

I was very happy with my times on the last set, though my freestyle could probably be faster. My strokes didn't feel smooth, but they did feel strong. I was also happy that the entire workout was 50s, because I wasn't sure I could handle anything longer!

A few hours after workout, I was hit with the strong urge to take an extended nap. If I could have done so, I would have closed my eyes for at least an hour. No nap possible for me today, though when I get home, I will sneak in about 20 minutes of rest before getting into my car and driving the 120 miles to Tucson for the weekend. It took me a while to figure out why I've been so beaten down physically this week, and after I looked at my past workouts did it all make sense.

I haven't had a day off from exercise since December 26. That's 11 days of some really tough stuff in and out of the pool. I am counting New Year's Day as an exercise day, since I lifted weights and walked a lot at Six Flags. Those who read my blog often know that I do not normally swim on Saturday and Monday, but it was good to do so while in Los Angeles for New Year's. I didn't think, though, that it would have this effect on me today. I even think I'm coming down with a cold and a sore throat. I'm going to work to get rid of this nastiness before I get on the plane to Austin.

Because I have been putting my 37-year-old body through so much in the past two weeks, I've decided to skip the gym tonight. My body needs the recovery, and even a light weight workout could be counterproductive. Sleeping in tomorrow morning will feel soooooo good!

The Eyes of a Child

2012-01-05T19:24:00.000-07:00

Date: Thursday, January 5, 2012
Time: 4:45 p.m.
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Long Course Meters
172 days to Olympic Trials

Today's workout with the gold group at Phoenix Swim Club reminded me that I am seriously lacking in aerobic conditioning. I suppose I am well-conditioned for a person of my age, but when I'm swimming next to and in a lane with people half my age, it's humbling. I usually gauge my aerobic level based on my Masters teammates. I've been improving on my aerobic base lately because they have as well, but teenagers have seemingly endless resources of energy that they can use for 90 minutes with little problem. Of course, when I was their age, I didn't think much about this wonderful aerobic capacity that I had. I just put my head in the water and swam.

I find that Coley's workouts are the most difficult when it comes to the breath-holding parts. I can handle the short rest and the weird drills. In fact, those are the reasons why I try to make the workouts every Thursday. But when it comes to swimming breaststroke underwater or kicking underwater, I find that my lung capacity is put to the test. That typically elevates my heart rate, which today was high for pretty much all of the last set, which involved lots of breath holding, with some 100s free on 1:35 holding about 1:10 mixed in. That's well above aerobic pace for me, but I think I held up pretty well.

Breaststroke felt good today, though my left shoulder was giving me some trouble. It is probably because I arrived to workout 15 minutes late and did not stretch much before diving in. Lesson learned! Because I was late, I don't think I got more than 3,000 meters in today. But it was a very high-quality workout, and it was not easy in the least.

Gotta shovel some food into my mouth before heading off to bed. Tomorrow's workout is at 5:45 a.m. Maybe I should have just unfolded a cot at the pool and stayed there!

Steady As the Beating Drum

2012-01-04T14:34:00.014-07:00

Date: Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Time: 5:45 a.m.
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Long Course Meters
173 days to Olympic Trials

1200 warmup

Four rounds:
6x50 on 1:00 hold best average
200 easy
Round 1: free, :35 avg.
Round 2: back, :36 avg.
Round 3: free, :34 avg.
Round 4: breast, :38 avg.

2x50 breast fast from push on 2:00
(33.6, 34.6)

200 easy

Total: 3,500 meters (80 minutes)

I have mixed feelings about best average sets, and it depends on the time of season. They are good in the first half of the season, when you are working on building endurance. These sets test your aerobic threshold, and as such, you are not going at race pace for 100 meters. It's a good set for anyone training for a 200. When I'm in the part of my season when I'm focused on race pace training, they can be a good warmup set, in that I get my heart rate up and usually don't push the pace too fast.

On my breaststroke round, I tried to hold the time I want to have on my breast leg of the 200 IM, and I was pretty consistent, except for a couple in the low-39 range. These sets, if done correctly, can be very taxing, and I tried to hold back a little bit on the freestyle rounds to have energy for the back and breast rounds. I didn't go as fast as I wanted on backstroke (goal was 35 seconds), but the breaststroke felt controlled and smooth.

I was happy to be able to do the fast 50s at the end. I didn't think I would go under 34 today, after that tough set. I think I didn't go under 34 on the second one because I knew I would be very fatigued and therefore tried harder to go the same speed. I should have trusted that the 87 seconds of rest that I got would have given me ample recovery time. I got real tight in the last 15 meters, but that was because I rushed my stroke in the first 25 meters. In the end, those two times are very good, and I'm still trying to figure out why I'm going under 34 consistently lately. Holding steady in the 33-second range is going to be important after the Austin Grand Prix, when the training will be ramped up in and out of the pool. I might not be doing a lot of long course training after this week, but when I do, I have to make it count!

Today's work with JR Rosania was not as tough as last week, but still very intense. The goal this week was to do more volume in an hour than ever before, and I think my body held up well. My legs don't have the same aerobic capacity as my upper body, which is largely due to the fact that I'm primarily an upper body swimmer. I have been trying to focus on building leg strength, and when I'm working with JR, there's no escaping the work we do in that area. When I'm at the gym on my own, I tend to say that I want to put a bigger focus on my core, or simply wimp out when it comes to doing heavy leg weights. I'm happy that I'm adapting to JR's workouts, and he noticed I'm getting stronger, especially on the sled jumps. I'm lying on my back on a sled with pretty heavy resistance (no weights, but rather a few resistance cords), and I emulate pushing off the wall on backstroke. I do feel like I am getting more "air" on the jumps, and can do 10 in a row without taking a very brief break between jumps. Though I feel sore the day after, I know it is paying off.

Billy Don't Be a Hero

2012-01-03T19:26:00.000-07:00

Date: Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Time: 5:45 a.m.
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Long Course Meters
174 days to Olympic Trials

300 warmup

16x50 on 1:00
odd: 25 free swim/25 free kick or drill
even: 25 stroke kick or drill/25 stroke swim

4x(4x100 on 1:40)
1. 25 breast/25 free (1:24 avg)
2. 50 back/50 free (1:22 avg)
3. 100 back (1:19 avg)
4. 100 free (1:14 avg)

100 easy

@ mid-pool:
8x50 on 1:10 (25 free easy/25 stroke fast)

400 breast distance per stroke (12 strokes per length)

100 easy (with stretching)

Total: 3,500 meters (80 minutes)

At the gym (5 p.m.)
Incline chest press (15 @ 90, 12 @ 110, 10 @ 130)
Leg extensions (15 @ 90, 12 @ 115, 10 @ 130)
Standing lat pull (15 @ 50, 12 @ 60, 10 @ 75)
10 minutes abdominals
Bicep curls (15 @ 15 each arm, 12 @ 22.5, 10 @ 30)

I wasn't trying to be a hero in the pool or at the gym today. My glutes and groin were still sore from Sunday's weight workout and trip to Six Flags, so I figured I needed a day to hold back when I could probably pick up into another gear. The pool workout was pretty tough, and holding those averages on the 100 back and 100 free were not easy. But, on the other hand, I was glad that I didn't have to do a 400 IM!

California Dreamin'

2012-01-02T20:13:00.000-07:00

Date: Monday, January 2, 2012
Time: 11 a.m.
Location: Los Angeles, CA
175 days to Olympic Trials

I spent New Year's weekend in Los Angeles with my partner, Geoff Glaser, and it was great to get a change of scenery for a few days. I did a search of the various Masters programs in the area, and I came upon UCLA Masters. They were doing their Saturday workout at the new Spieker Aquatics Center, and since I had always wanted to check it out, I decided that was the place to be.

Unfortunately, the GPS in our car could not recognize the pool's address, and as such, it took us through Beverly Hills, which I was confident was not the way to go as we were driving. When the guidance system ended the trip in an alley, I was livid. It was 10:45, and workout started at 11. It took us another 40 minutes to make our way to campus, find a parking spot and get into the pool. Here's the workout we managed to get on New Year's Eve:

(Short Course Yards)
Four rounds:
4x125 free on 1:35
4x50 stroke descend on :50
Rounds 1-2: backstroke descended to :31
Rounds 3-4: breaststroke descended to :33

200 easy

Total: 3,000 yards (45 minutes)

That was a tough workout! If we had gotten to the pool in time, that set wouldn't have been as difficult as it was. To dive in and do 125s on 1:35 was tough, but after two rounds, I was ready to go.

On New Year's Day, we had no plans to swim. We had fallen asleep at 11:15 p.m. on New Year's Eve and woke up at 7:30 the next morning. We used the gym at the Westin hotel, which isn't fully stocked with all the amenities, but was adequate enough for some free weight chest presses, free weight lunges and a few sets of breaststroke strokes with five-pound dumbbells while laying on the therapy ball.

I probably shouldn't have done the lunges that morning. We spent about seven hours at Six Flags Magic Mountain on New Year's Day, which was a great thing to do that day. The weather was 80 degrees during the day, and all the rollercoasters were thrilling. I'm like a kid in a candy store at amusement parks, especially Magic Mountain, which has the most rollercoasters in the world. The best one in the park was Green Lantern: First Flight. We did a lot of walking around that amusement park, including up a fairly steep hill.

When I woke up this morning, my glutes and hamstrings were very tight. This is the price I pay for having loads of fun at Six Flags. I did some dynamic stretching as soon as I got out of bed to get the blood flowing, since we had to be at the UCLA rec pool for a final California workout at 10 a.m. Just to be on the safe side, we got there 30 minutes early!

Here's a photo of the pool:

Does this pool look familiar? It should be if you've seen the movie "Minority Report." This pool was part of a crucial scene in the movie that I probably shouldn't reveal, but if you see the movie, you will recognize it. I swam in this pool back when I was in college. We had a dual meet against the now-defunct UCLA men's team in early January, I believe. I remember it being in the early afternoon and being somewhat warm.

UCLA Masters is coached by two-time Olympian Erika Hansen, and she's very committed to the team. She spent the entire time encouraging every swimmer, and didn't exclude me just because I had "experience." I enjoyed swimming with the team, and might come back on a future trip to LA!

Here's today's workout:

(Short Course Meters)
500 warmup

5x100 with :10 rest
75 free/25 kick fast

Six rounds:
1x150 free on 2:40
2x25 free no breath on :30

3x100 free on 1:25
3x50 fly descend on :55 (descended to :34)
2x100 free on 1:25
3x50 fly descend on 1:00 (descended to :34)
1x100 free on 1:25
3x50 fly descend 1:05 (descended to :33)

200 warmdown

Total: 3,350 meters (65 minutes)

Lots of butterfly today! This was a typical Monday workout for UCLA Masters, which was not what I was expecting. Most Masters team make Mondays their distance day, and on the drive to the pool, I was mentally preparing for a long set of 500s. My legs weren't as sore as I thought they would be when I pushed off the walls, but the kicking was tough on my glutes. On the whole, the workout wasn't too bad, or at least as bad as I was expecting. It was a good way to say goodbye to southern California.

Now, it's time to get back into the rhythm of real life. I've got to get ready for the Austin Grand Prix, which is a little less than two weeks away!

Kick It

2012-01-02T19:40:00.000-07:00

Date: Friday, December 30, 2011
Time: 5:45 a.m.
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Long Course Meters
178 days to Olympic Trials

300 warmup

8x200 on 3:45
odd: 100 swim/100 kick
even: 100 kick/100 swim

12x50 on 1:15
odd: 25 kick underwater/25 swim
even: 25 swim/25 kick underwater

8x150 on 2:30
1-3: easy with breakouts
4: 50 back/50 breast/50 free fast from push (1:53)
5-8: recovery

50 easy

50 breast fast from push (30.0)

100 easy

Total: 3,900 meters (80 minutes)

I needed a little bit of recovery today, which is why I did not work the set of 150s as they were originally written. Everyone else descended 1-4 and 5-8, but I just swam number four fast and thought it would be good to finish up with a fast 50.

I did not expect to go under 34 again in my fast 50 breast. Everything felt good, but when you add up all the hard work I've put in this week, both in and out of the pool, I didn't think I had another great 50 in me. I know there are a few tweaks I could experiment with to see if they work. First and foremost is getting rid of the slight hesitation in my stroke after the insweep. I tend to do that when swimming fast, but oddly, not so much when swimming slower. Tako was our guest coach this morning, and he noticed that, as well as a little tip on holding water in the kick during the finish. As I noted before, I'll listen to every recommendation people give me about stroke changes, but I'm going to be very cautious about adopting them just because someone thinks they are best for me.

As you may have noticed, I did not lift weights this week. This was not by design. I planned to lift on Tuesday and Thursday, but life caught up with me, and other responsibilities took priority. Thankfully, I was able to my work with JR, and I should be back on schedule next week.

I hope to swim this weekend. I'm off to Los Angeles through Monday!

One Is the Loneliest Number

2011-12-29T16:18:00.000-07:00

Date: Thursday, December 29, 2011
Time: 5.50 a.m.
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Long Course Meters
179 days to Olympic Trials

400 warmup

1000 free on 15:00 (13:30)

450 back on 7:30 (6:30)

250 breast kick on 7:30

8x100 on 1:50, 25 back/25 breast
(averaged 1:24)

500 meters:
25 scull/25 swim/25 kick

Total: 3,400 meters (70 minutes)

The pool has been pretty empty this week, as most of my teammates are elsewhere for the holidays. I was totally fine with it ... until today. When I saw the 1000 free on the board, I naturally groaned, but I agreed to do it. I had initially planned to do a 450 breast where the 250 breast kick took place, but my body needed a little recovery. The 1000 free wasn't fast, but it was about aerobic pace (1:20 per 100). The backstroke was in the 1:25 pace range, which isn't fast, either, but by then my muscles didn't want to do a distance breaststroke swim.

The last set of 100s were more difficult than they should have been. I was physically drained from the distance swimming, and with no one around to push me or give me confidence that someone was there suffering through the set as well, it was mentally challenging, too. The folks in adjacent lanes were doing 100s on different intervals. If someone had been doing 100s on 1:50, I might have found some solace in that. On the upside, those who were doing freestyle on 1:30 interval were getting about five seconds rest, so at least I was resting more (though one of those freestylers is a triathlete, and she probably doesn't mind the lack of rest).

The workout would have been just fine if I had company. I would have trudged through it with little grumbling. But it took so much mental willpower to keep me from stopping in the middle of those 100s, taking a break and finishing the set. I wanted to do that very badly, but I forced myself to continue. Obviously, that's a major accomplishment, and I'm happy I did it. After the sixth 100, I felt myself pushing through the wall a little bit, but it still took a lot of effort to finish. On the upside again, my heart rate got down to normal very fast after that, so my ability to recover is good.

That's three tough workouts in a row. Usually there is the ability to work in recovery on Thursday, but the intervals didn't really allow it. I wanted to get plenty of rest on the 1000, and wanted to push the 100s more than aerobic pace. Again, I'm glad I did.

The Morning After

2011-12-28T19:12:00.000-07:00

Date: Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Time: 5:45 a.m.
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Long Course Meters
180 days to Olympic Trials

500 warmup

6x100 free on 1:40 descend 1-6 (1:08 on #6)

4x(4x50 on 1:00)
Round 1: descend free to 90% (:34)
Round 2: build 50
Round 3: 15m breakouts
Round 4: 25 free or breast underwater no breath/25 swim

Three rounds:
25 fast/175 easy on 4:00
50 breast fast from push/150 easy on 4:00 (34.3, 34.1, 33.5)
100 fast free from push/100 easy on 4:00 (descended effort: 1:10, 1:07, 1:02)

100 warmdown (with stretching)

Total: 3,800 meters (75 minutes)

I'm over the moon about going 33.5 on the last 50 breast! I hadn't been feeling like a sprinter as far as my breaststroke is concerned, and on the first two rounds, I felt strong, but there was no real snap to the stroke. I'm sure yesterday's 400 IM had a little bit to do with that, but the goal of each workout is to swim strong through the pain.

On the third round, I told myself to not hold back on the effort. My arm strokes felt controlled but powerful. I had a little trouble keeping my kick technically sound. A few times, I felt my knees drop too far out of the body line, and in my rush to get to the next stroke, I didn't finish the kick. That gives me a lot of optimism about my stroke, that things are turning a corner. Today was the first day of real breaststroke sprinting since the short course meters meet three weeks ago. I won't go as far to say that I'm ready for Olympic Trials, or even the Austin Grand Prix in two weeks, but I'm getting there.

Today's workout with JR Rosania was pretty tough. We did more volume than before, and my upper body could feel the additional work, as did my abs. Today, we worked on a lot of breaststroke-specific exercises, such as putting a strap around one ankle, and emulating the finish of my kick with about 60 pounds of weight. It's a very good exercise.

I didn't get much sleep last night, but physically I didn't have a lot of trouble getting through the day. One of the smoke detectors started beeping at 1:30 to let me know the battery was low. By the time I got up to replace the battery, I was wide awake, with the sound of that high-pitched beep ringing in my ears. I got up to watch TV for an hour, and finally tried to sleep again at 3:30. All told, I was asleep for less than six hours. I didn't feel it in the pool or in my dryland, but I was dragging most of the afternoon at work. Add in the drama of the heater in my house breaking on Monday, and sleep has not been easy this week. At least I don't live in a very cold environment, and I have an electric blanket to keep me warm!

House of Pain

2011-12-27T16:30:00.000-07:00

Date: Tuesday, December 27, 2011
Time: 5:50 a.m.
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Long Course Meters
181 days to Olympic Trials

600 warmup

Five rounds:
100 back on 2:00 (1:19)
200 IM on 3:00 descend (2:58, 2:52, 2:46, 2:38)
Round five: 200 IM is 400 IM (6:03)

100 easy

10x50 on 1:00
Odd: stroke/free
Even: free/stroke

200 warm down (with stretching)

Total: 3,100 meters (70 minutes)

Wow! What a difficult workout!

I have not done a 400 IM long course in a very long time, and to have it come after four 200 IMs was not fun. I probably should have backed off on the fourth 200 IM more than I did. My best 200 IM long course from a push in Masters is 2:28, but today, going a 2:38 was extremely hard. Maybe it's because the 100 back was not supposed to be a warm down. Holding 1:19 is above aerobic pace for me, so I was not resting on those.

The 400 IM was brutal. It took all of my energy to finish the 100 fly legally. I knew Mark was watching, so I willed myself to get my arms out of the water those final 15 meters. On backstroke, I probably swam a 1:40 just because my body was in such agony. I felt a little better on the second 100 of breaststroke, but there was no way I was going to reach my goal time of 5:45. I didn't try to push the freestyle. I just wanted to finish.

I wasn't upset that I couldn't break six minutes on a 400 IM. I'm not training for a 400 IM, though to see that I could at least average 1:30 per 100 is encouraging. As I type this nine hours later, I still feel the wrenching pain from that 100 fly. I might not be able to lift my arms tomorrow.
If the fifth round had been a 200 IM instead of a 400 IM, I might have been OK. I probably could have really pushed it to maybe 2:35.

The Christmas Song

2011-12-25T22:21:00.000-07:00

Date: December 25, 2011
Time: 12:15 p.m.
Location: Tucson, AZ
Short Course Yards
183 days to Olympic Trials

300 warmup

Four rounds, all swum with short fins and descended by rounds:
200 free on 3:00
150 back on 2:15
100 breast on 1:45
50 fly on 1:30
(Last round: 2:08, 1:42, 1:08. :29)

200 easy

4x15 breast breakouts on :45

8x50 free on 1:00, breathe every 6

100 easy

2x50 breast fast from push (29.5 on both)

8x50 back on 1:00 recovery

Total: 3,600 yards (70 minutes)

The following is sung in the tune of "The Christmas Song":

Chestnuts roasting on an open fire
Sunblock slathered on my nose
Backstroke flags blowing hard on a wire
I stretch my arms and say "Well, here it goes."
Everybody knows
A pace clock and a sun that glows
Help to make a workout bright
Judging by my workout I know,
I won't find it hard to sleep tonight
I know that Olympic Trials is on its way
That's why I needed to swim hard on Christmas Day
And every swimming coach is gonna spy
To see if this breaststroker really does butterfly
And so I'm offering this simple phrase
To kids from 1 to 92
Don't know if it's been said many times, but anyways
Swim on Christmas
Koo-koo-kachoo

Ice Ice Baby

2011-12-24T11:05:00.000-07:00

Date: Saturday, December 24, 2011
Time: 7:45 a.m.
Location: Tucson, AZ
Short Course Meters
184 days to Olympic Trials

1400 warmup

4x50 free on :45
100 kick on 2:20
4x50 back on :50
100 back on 2:20
4x50 breast on :55
100 kick on 2:20

3x100 kick breast no board on 2:00, 1:50, 1:40

4x50 free on :45
100 easy on 2:20
4x50 back/breast on :55
100 easy on 2:20

3x100 on 2:00
50 breast pull fast/ 50 easy
(averaged :38 0n fast 50s)

4x50 back on :50
100 easy (with stretching)

Total: 3,800 meters (80 minutes)

I swam with the Ford Aquatics Masters group today, and the workout was held in the University of Arizona's diving well. The water was 84 degrees, which was very, very hot. My arms felt rubbery for the first 40 minutes, and it was difficult to swim fast. The air temperature when I dove in was 35 degrees, and that was evident by the small patches of ice on the deck. By the end of workout, around 8:45, I got a little acclimated to the pool temperature, but not enough to do anything super fast.

After swimming in the stew for 80 minutes, the air temperature felt quite comfortable when I got out. I did wrap myself in my parks for a little bit, but it felt good to bring my core body temperature back down. I probably should have wrapped up as soon as I got out of the pool, in order to keep from getting sick. I had the sniffles for an hour after workout.

I had to force myself to do the 50s breast on :55. I didn't want to swim breaststroke in these conditions, but I wanted to do some work on my stroke. Things felt good, though I could only manage to go as fast as :38 on those 50s.

Time for a nap!

To the Left, To the Left

2011-12-23T20:00:00.000-07:00

Date: Friday, December 23, 2011
Time: 5:45 a.m.
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Long Course Meters
185 days to Olympic Trials

300 warmup

6x150 on 2:30
Flip turn at 25 meters

Twelve minutes:
30 seconds breast kick (no board)
30 seconds back kick
30 seconds breast vertical kick
(about 400 meters, not including vertical kick)

8x50 breast pull with short fins on 1:10
(averaged :39)

300 easy

Three rounds:
4x50 back on 1:00 descend 1-4 (descended to :37)
150 free on 2:30 descend by rounds (2:00, 1:46, 1:40)

250 easy (with stretching)

Total: 3,600 meters (not including vertical kicking) (80 minutes)

I had planned to swim with Coley Stickel's group at Phoenix Swim Club yesterday, but discovered that because the kids are out of school, the workout was moved to mid-morning, which I couldn't make. It gave me a day of rest, which my left shoulder needs. I really did some tough dryland on Tuesday and Wednesday, and my left arm, shoulder and back are still quite sore. My goal is to make that side stronger in the next month or two, doing plenty of dryland exercises to help that. In addition, I'll do more Power Tower work.

When I work up this morning, I had a desire to do one of the sets today breaststroke pull with short fins. I never know if there will be a set in the workout that will work with that, and I was lucky that it happened today. Instead of kicking the set of 50s (as nearly everyone else did), I did breast pull, working on the catch and insweep. Because of my sore muscles, I didn't feel particularly strong, but I felt like I was holding more water, and that is important. The interval prevented me from going any faster. I have done a 50-meter breast pull with short fins in the 34-second range. Maybe soon I'll go for that. I learned today that we have two more weeks of long course training ahead of us, and that will help me get ready for the Austin Grand Prix.

This afternoon, I went to get some bodywork done with Tod Miller, specifically to increase mobility in my upper left side. Training will be getting tougher in the next few months, and I want to make sure my range of motion in my shoulder and back muscles is close to its best. When Tod stands on my back and puts all of his weight on my muscles, I can feel the nerve endings waking up, which in turn bring more blood flow to those muscles. That helps stretch out the muscles, especially the ones in my shoulder in back that I have not properly been treating since my tendonitis diagnosis in 2009. Following that up with some deep tissue massage really did the trick today, and I'm sure it will only help.

After the massage, Tod suggested some acupuncture, and I agreed to it. Tod had given me some acupuncture therapy once before, just before I made my Olympic Trials cut. I don't have a fear of needles, but don't like the thought of something piercing my skin. About 20 needles went into my shoulders, arms, legs and the space between my toes. Tod puts a cloth over my eyes during the procedure, to keep me from being blinded by the bright lights on the ceiling. I'm glad he does this, because the last thing I want to do is be tempted to look at these needles sticking out of my skin. Once they are in my skin, I don't feel them, but the weird thing is during the 20 minutes or so while I am lying motionless on the table, a few of my muscles start twitching. Tod told me the many reasons why the acupuncture is good for me, but I don't remember them all. I think it's to allow my nervous system to work better with my muscles. The best thing about the acupuncture session was the ability to take a 15-minute nap!

Tomorrow, my muscles might feel a bit achy, but that's what happens when they re-adjust to their elasticity.

Hit Me With Your Best (Flu) Shot

2011-12-21T22:56:00.000-07:00

Date: Wednesday, December 22, 2011
Time: 5:45 a.m.
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Long Course Meters
187 days to Olympic Trials

300 warmup

4x125 free breathing every 3 on 2:15

12x25 breakouts on :35

1x100 free fast from push (1:03.1)

8x50 free on 1:30, averaging half of fast 100 time (averaged 30.1)

300 easy

1x100 back fast from push (1:06.4)

4x50 back on 1:30, averaging half of fast 100 time (averaged 32.3)

300 easy

4x50 on 1:30: 25 breast fast from dive/25 easy

200 easy (with stretching after each 50)

Total: 2,900 meters (80 minutes)

Very tough sets today. I was a little hesitant to swim all out on the first 100 free, because Mark had hinted that our performance in the next set would be determined by our time in the 100. I went about 95 percent effort, somewhere around the pace I would hold in the middle 100 of a 200 free (I think, since I don't do 200 free very much.) The eight 50s free were tough physically, but I got through them. The rest was long enough to get enough rest hold the pace I went, but if I wanted to go at all out speed (i.e. in the high 28) I would have needed more rest, or only done four.

When it came time for the 100 back, I was still physically aching from the freestyle sprinting, but I wanted to work on my backstroke pull, especially after yesterday's work in the gym with the new exercise. My left arm was giving me trouble -- not because of the exercise at the gym, but because of the flu shot I got on Monday. My left tricep and bicep were on fire near the end of the 100 back, and for all four of the 50s.

I didn't feel like testing the waters, so to speak, on breaststroke today. I didn't think I could handle a 100 long course today, since I was still making the adjustment to long course. The fast 25s from the blocks felt OK, but not where I'd like my off-the-blocks-speed to be. I'm swimming with Coley's group tomorrow -- breaststroke day -- so we'll see how that goes.

After workout, as I was walking to the locker room wrapped in my USA parka, I noticed the visiting swim team about to swim in the smaller pool. I recognized one of the coaches as Olympic gold medalist Sheila Taormina, and went over to say hello. After a few minutes, she asked if I could do an in-water breaststroke demonstration for the kids on the team, and I obliged. It was great teaching them some of the finer points of breaststroke, and fun to think about those aspects as I was demonstrating. Thanks to Clovis Swim Team for the opportunity!

Here's a photo of me with Clovis coach Vincent de Maio and Sheila:

This evening I returned to work with JR Rosania for more torture. Today was supposed to be about easing back into the rhythm of his exercises, but by the time the hour was over, I was completely shredded. A lot of it had to do with the push-ups. I have never really embraced push-ups, and I don't recall ever doing them seriously as part of my dryland routine ever in my life. Maybe doing more push-ups will help my shoulder and back muscles. They were screaming at me after three rounds of 20. But on the whole, I'm sure the dryland will be a great asset for me in a few months.

In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning

2011-12-20T20:53:00.000-07:00

Date: Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Time: 5:45 a.m.
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Long Course Meters
188 days to Olympic Trials

1600 warmup

Four rounds:
100 back on 1:45
100 IM on 1:45
100 free on 1:45
(all aerobic)

10 minutes:
25 double arm backstroke
25 breaststroke -- 2 strokes, 1 pullout
25 fly kick on stomach with arms at sides
25 free swim
(Did 600 meters)

200 back easy (with stretching)

Total: 3,600 meters (75 minutes)

I didn't sleep very well last night. I woke up once each hour, and remember looking at the clock on the nightstand each time. When I saw "4:45," I groaned. I felt horrible, because I hadn't really gotten much restful sleep. My partner, Geoff Glaser, tosses and turns a lot in his sleep when his lower back hurts, and I think that was the case last night. I think we need to get one of these beds.

When I got to the pool, I was feeling awake and alert mentally, but I wasn't sure how my body would react to the workout. I should have held back on the set of 100s on 1:45. I was averaging 1:21 for the backstroke, 1:20 for the IM and 1:17 for the freestyle. My heart rate at the end was 180, which is a little high for that set. Part of that could be attributed to doing the first long course workout in a month, I suppose. My body needs a few days to adjust to that.

Just a little update on stroke technique: Everything feels better in the water, especially my breaststroke. I feel like I have a better handle on the stroke, particularly at the "turn the corner" part of the stroke, when the hands do the insweep. Pulling wide is something that might be unusual, but it works for me, and I'm sticking to it! As for my backstroke, my left arm felt weak. I need to do lots of strength exercises for those shoulder and back muscles on my left side, and this Friday, I'm getting some body work done in that area to help spread out the muscles and increase range of motion. I can feel like my left arm doesn't want to dig as deep as it should on the backstroke pull, and plenty of stretching and strengthening will help that.

At the gym (5 p.m.)

20 minutes elliptical machine

Sitting bench press (15 @ 110, 12 @ 135, 10 @ 145)

Hamstring curls (15 @ 70, 12 @ 80, 10 @ 100)

Backstroke cable pull (10 @ 15 each arm, 10 @ 20, 10 @ 25)

The backstroke cable pull is a new exercise for me. I saw it in Swimming World Magazine some time ago (can't remember the issue), and had always wanted to include it in my repertoire. The exercise is quite tough. Not only do you have to replicate the backstroke pull with each arm, but since you are laying on your back on a therapy ball, you are using your abs to keep you stable. This exercise will be very good for strengthening my shoulder and back muscles. I just need to get used to the exercise. I would definitely recommend starting light, just to get used to the exercise motion. And plant your feet firmly on the ground, with your knees bent at 90 degrees for better balance.

I didn't do my abdominal exercises today, since I was running late to see the movie "Shame." I had read a lot about the movie, especially that it was rated NC-17. The movie was just OK. The character development was lacking. If I had known nothing about the movie, I would have had a hard time wondering where the conflict lied in the main character. Just so you know, the movie isn't extremely pornographic, though the sex scenes were slightly graphic.

Singin' in the Rain

2011-12-18T14:14:00.000-07:00

Date: Sunday, December 18, 2011
Time: 11:40 a.m.
Location: Tucson, AZ
Short Course Yards
190 days to Olympic Trials

400 warmup

10x50 on 1:00
25 back/25 breast

10 minutes free swim aerobic with snorkel (800 yards)

8x25 on :40 breast pull with pull buoy between ankles

100 easy

500 back :30 rest
400 IM (50 drill/50 swim) :30 rest
6x50 breast kick drill on 1:00
200 free breathe every 5 :30 rest
100 scull

Total: 3,500 yards (70 minutes)

Rain fell throughout most of the workout today, which doesn't usually bother me. What bothered me today was the extremely warm water. I had planned to swim in the diving well, which is short course meters, but I got out after 200. The water temperature was extremely warm, about 84 degrees. I moved over to the main pool, which was set up in short course yards. The water there was about 82 degrees, which felt quite warm near the end of the workout.

Nothing was done very fast today. I'm still working on my aerobic training for another week before attempting to ramp up the speed work in preparation for the Austin Grand Prix. My breaststroke felt better today, though my timing was a little off. I am certain that I was pulling too narrow at the meet last weekend, which means I wasn't grabbing enough water and not using all my muscles to swim. I am a power swimmer, and I have to always rely on that as an asset. I think the shoulder problems I was having a couple of months ago also came into play. I was taking shortcuts to prevent my shoulder from hurting more than it did, and that may have entailed changing my stroke a bit. When the shoulder pain went away around Thanksgiving, I went back to my old stroke, before being barraged with a lot of suggestions in the two weeks before the meet.

Colors of the Wind

2011-12-16T16:05:00.000-07:00

Date: Friday, December 16, 2011
Time: 5:50 a.m.
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Short Course Meters

4x(3x75 on 1:20)
1. 75 swim
2. 50 swim/25 kick
3. 25 kick/50 swim

Four rounds:
4x50 kick on 1:00 (25 stroke/25 free)
250 swim on 4:00 (100 back/150 free)

6x125 on 2:15 (100 free/25 stroke)

100 warm down (with stretching)

Total: 3,550 meters (75 minutes)

This morning featured blustery winds for the entire workout. Luckily, the wind didn't become too fierce until the end of workout, when a couple of the tarps blew into the pool. The wind blew the backstroke flags out of alignment, and fortunately they were blown away from the wall instead of toward it. It would have been horrible too see people miscounting their strokes and hitting some body part on the wall!

I didn't swim particularly fast this morning. The goal was to get my feel for the water back after four days away, and I did feel pretty good. My legs however, were sore after logging time on the treadmill this week. I will probably continue to do that for the next few weeks as I build up to my regular gym routine.

I worked on regaining my breaststroke a little bit. The thing I think I lacked last weekend was a good grasp on the water during the beginning of the pull, when the hands turn inward after the outsweep. This morning, I felt the difference physiologically, as if my muscles hadn't been swimming that way for a few weeks. It was a great feeling to find that again. It will take a few more workouts before I'm comfortable in my "old" stroke again.

Count With Me

2011-12-14T20:57:00.000-07:00

Date: Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Time: 4:45 p.m.
Location: Phoenix, AZ
194 days to Olympic Trials

At the gym:

20 minutes on elliptical machine

Five minutes shoulder warmup exercises

Sitting chest press (2x15 @ 110)

Seated row (2x15 @ 95)

Fifteen minutes abdominal exercises and stretching

My original plan was to get back into exercise on Thursday. Starting a day early is not typical of me, but with my next swim meet a month away, I couldn't afford any more time away from physical improvement. I'm in no rush to get back into shape, since doing so is usually a path to injury, but I do hope to be doing my normal stuff before Christmas. That's 11 days from now!

In the 72 hours since the end of the Arizona state meet, I've thought endlessly of my performances there. I continue to be thrilled about my times in the 100 back and both IMs. I'm especially excited about my IM times, knowing that my breaststroke was not at its best last weekend. I might even ditch my plan to take an extended break after Masters nationals next summer and go for some short course meters times next fall. That's a very tentative plan; we'll have to see how the next seven months pan out.

Something else I thought about was how I'm going to work on deconstructing then reconstructing my breaststroke. One thing I am going to do is not get too attached to my stroke count. It can be very deceptive. During my 100 breast on Sunday, I took seven strokes on the first 25, eight on the next two 25s and nine on the last 25. That's a very good stroke count, but the time was not good. Tying performance to stroke count can be dangerous. I could do eight strokes for 25 meters at any speed. If someone asked me to go 25 meters breast taking eight strokes, provided I do it in 20 seconds (instead of 15, which was my goal split per 25), I could do it. If someone asked me to go 25 meters breast taking eight strokes, provided I do it in 15 seconds, I could do it. See what I mean? Hitting your seemingly preferred stroke count means nothing when the speed isn't there.

I'm not sure what I'll use to gauge speed now. Maybe I'll let my conscience be my guide, and just know based on feel how fast I'm going. It's served me well before.

I was planning on swimming tomorrow morning, but I have a doctor's appointment at 7:30 a.m., and I need to fast for a blood draw. I can't go into a swimming workout with absolutely nothing in my stomach. So, my next pool workout will be on Friday. I might go to the gym tomorrow. We'll see how my day goes.

What a Difference a Day Makes

2011-12-12T15:14:00.000-07:00

Date: Monday, December 12, 2011
Location: Phoenix, AZ
196 days to Olympic Trials

I've been doing a lot of examination, both inward and outward, since yesterday's despicable swims in the 50 and 100 breaststrokes. It wasn’t until late last night that the pieces of the puzzle started coming together.

During one of many emotional discussions with my partner, we figured that the issue wasn’t my training, my diet, the weather or funky planetary alignments. To paraphrase Occam’s Razor: All things being equal, something must be wrong with my breaststroke. Since I qualified for Trials, more than a few people have offered up tweaks to my stroke in order to be faster. Those who have followed my blog since the beginning will know those names well. I took all the advice to heart, and plowed ahead in my training. Some of these people have reached the pinnacle of this sport, either in the pool or on deck. I was not going to question them, even when my in-season times weren’t as fast as they should have been.

Does this sound familiar? It should, if you’ve read my autobiography. I am following the same path I took in college, when I took the advice of my highly-accomplished coach, only to find that the stroke change was not effective. The only difference between then and now is I am aware that the changes aren’t working, and that I should return to the stroke that has worked for me. Back then, I trusted that the change would eventually make me faster. It didn’t.

I’m confident that all the other new things I’ve embraced in the past few months are working, especially my dryland training with J.R. Rosania.

The slow swims still sting today, but not as much as they did yesterday. Twenty-four hours ago, I couldn’t find my way out of that haystack of emotions. Today, I have a little better sense of optimism. I’m getting back in the pool on Thursday, and almost immediately I’m going to deconstruct my breaststroke and re-assemble it. I know the strengths and weaknesses of my stroke, and I think it’s best to make my strengths stronger (through dryland and time in the pool) in order to hide most of my weaknesses. I’m going to be extra vigilant about any changes to my stroke in the next 196 days, but not so much that I lose the enjoyment of this journey.

I hope to have things back in working order before mid-January, when I compete at the Austin Grand Prix. If you see me on deck and want to give me stroke pointers, feel free to do so.

Just don’t be hurt if I decide not to take your advice.

Bad Day

2011-12-11T17:23:00.000-07:00

Date: Sunday, December 11, 2011
Time: 11:15 a.m.
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Short Course Yards/Meters
197 days to Olympic Trials

1400 yards warmup

Short Course Meters:

50 breast: 28.78

100 IM: 57.34

100 breast: 1:03.02

No, the times for the breaststrokes are not typos. I actually swam that slow.

It's amazing how things can shift in less than 24 hours. Yesterday, I was on cloud nine (or pretty close to it) after swimming so well in the meet. Today, things took a nasty turn somewhere, and I've been sitting here for a long time trying to figure out when it happened. Every question and answer I provide leads to the same question each time: But how did I swim so well yesterday?

Did I overtaper? Probably, but how did I swim so fast yesterday? (Tapers don't radically end after one day)

Did I not sleep well last night? Yes, but I didn't sleep that great the night before, either, so how did I swim so fast yesterday?

Was the weather too cold? Maybe, but it was a little chilly near the end of yesterday's session, so how did I swim so fast yesterday?

Did changing my dryland routine adversely affect my strength in the water? It felt like that on breaststroke, but why not the other strokes?

The bottom line is that I have never swum this slow in my breaststrokes in Masters. I have never, ever swum 1:03 in short course meters when shaved and tapered. And the 50 is also my slowest ever. It was extremely difficult to put a smile on my face after both races when people congratulated me on a good swim, saying my stroke looked awesome and other words of adulation. I knew the truth, and I didn't sugar coat it with most people. I didn't have the energy to do so.

After the meet, I spent a long time retracing the steps of the past four months. I have raced the 100 breast three times since qualifying for Trials last July, and all three swims (which includes today) were terrible. Remember the 1:05 I swam at the meet in Mesa last month? That should have been the writing on the wall. Even worse, my broken 100 that I did on Tuesday should have been a big sign. Usually I am within a few tenths of the actual time I swim when I do broken swims during taper. I went a 1:03 in the broken 100, and Coach Mark said it was just because it was near freezing, and I was doing it at 6:45 a.m. Obviously, those were not good reasons.

If I didn't have this major meet looming on the horizon in 197 days, I wouldn't put too much thought into today's swim. I would just move on to the next season. But I have to seriously think about why my breaststroke hasn't been on par when I race. I was doing some very good race pace breaststroke throughout the season, but it did not translate when it mattered. Mentally, my body was ready, as is evident in the 100 IM time. But even during the IM swims (both the 100 and 200) I sensed that my breaststroke wasn't feeling extremely natural. A teammate filmed today's races, and I will reluctantly look at them. I'm too ashamed of the times to post them online, so I hope you'll forgive me.

If this weekend was a bust all around, I could devise a concrete reason why things didn't work out. But it appears that every stroke but breaststroke was good this weekend. That has never happened, which is why the answers aren't coming to me.

My breaststroke stroke didn't feel strong. During the 50 and 100, the strokes felt a little forced. When I am swimming well, I can swim on autopilot. I kind of was able to do that last July when I made the Trials cut, and today, I had to put all of my concentration on each stroke. Coach Mark said my 50 split was 29.9, which is despicable for me. I know, I know. There are many, many people who would love to have a 50 split like that for freestyle, but knowing what I am capable of doing, it makes me upset, frustrated and a little depressed. This taper was supposed to be a gauge on my training progress toward Trials. I have to believe, at least right now in this emotional state, that no progress was made. I think if there were some steps forward made, I took twice as many steps backward. But what were those backward steps, and why did it only affect my breaststroke??!!!!????!!?!?!

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgh!

I am going to take a few days off. Maybe the answers will come in that time. I'll be back in the pool Thursday.

Happy Happy Joy Joy

2011-12-10T19:18:00.000-07:00

Date: December 10, 2011
Time: 1:45 p.m.
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Short Course Meters
198 days to Olympic Trials

Today was the first day of the Arizona state short course meters championships. As I have mentioned before, this was to be a barometer of how training is going as I head toward the Olympic Trials. Here's how I did:

100 backstroke: 57.20

200 IM: 2:07.29

Two awesome times! The 100 back is the third-fastest time I've swum in Masters. My fastest is 56.85, done in 2003, and my second-fastest is 57.19, done in 2009 (in a rubber suit). I had a great race with teammate Alan Carter, who was ahead through 75 meters. He said afterward that he had a bad final turn, which is unfortunate. I grazed the lane rope on the second 25, but didn't let it deter me. That final 25 was painful, but it was good to get my hand on the wall first (six tenths ahead of Alan). It would have been great to go under 57 seconds, but I won't complain!

As for the 200 IM, I was happy to have about two hours rest after the 100 back, not only to recover, but to visualize the IM. I knew the first half would be tough. I would need to be at least a body length behind Alan in order to continue to be competitive in the final 50, but when I touched first after the backstroke, I felt a wave of confidence rush over me. Alan is not a breaststroker, and that made me feel good when he was more than a body length behind after that. But I didn't back down. Knowing that he is an awesome freestyler kept me motivated through that 50, even though the pain was excruciating. I was so happy to see that time on the scoreboard. I haven't gone 2:07 since 2009 in a rubber suit. My best Masters time is 2:06.44, done in 2008 (in a rubber suit). I didn't think I could go 2:06 today, but it was great to have competition in the event. I have been racing the clock in the 200 IM for the past two years, and it's not easy. I can race the clock in a 50 and a 100, but in a 200, my mind wonders why I'm swimming so hard, and my mind usually wins. When I'm in a race, my mind is only thinking about getting to the finish first, and usually I'm racing very accomplished freestylers in the 200 IM (Olympians Josh Davis and Erik Hochstein among them). That makes strategy very important, so I have enough energy to hold them off on freestyle.

I don't have the splits from the races, but things felt like they were swum smart. I did see my 150 split on the 200 IM (1:36.5), and that pushed me harder to go 2:07. It felt like my 100 back was split almost evenly, and that is always the goal.

I'm beyond ecstatic about today's swims. Tomorrow will be a big day: 50 breast, 100 IM, 100 breast. I'll only have about an hour between races, so recovery will be important. First up: a good night's sleep!

High Noon

2011-12-09T18:43:00.000-07:00

Date: Friday, December 9, 2011
Time: 11:50 a.m.
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Short CourseYards/Meters
199 days to Olympic Trials

The day before a swim meet I have a ritual of sorts. I always do my usual meet warmup, take a little break and get a timed 25 from a dive. Here's how that went:

Short Course Yards:
400: 200 free/100 back/50 breast/50 free

Reverse 400 IM: 25 scull/25 kick/25 drill/25 swim

4x50 breast kick drill on 1:00

100 easy

6x15 breakouts on :45

150 easy

Ten minute break

Short Course Meters:
25 breast from a dive (13.5)

125 easy

Total: 1550 yards/meters (50 minutes)

I started doing this type of day-before-meet workout in 2009, and it's worked out well for me since then. It's good to do something from the blocks the day before a meet, just to get your mind and body into racing gear. Sometimes, my first race has been not too good, so I decided to avert that by doing some kind of race the day before. I was thinking of doing a 50 today, but I thought it would be best to do only a 25, if it turned out I wasn't feeling good today. Going 13-mid is good, and when I shave and put on a racing suit (I wore a brief today), I should be able to get a 12-second opening 25, which will give me a great start to my 100 breast.

I decided to swim at the noon workout to test out the weather that time of day. The sun felt good on my skin, and it was a comfortable 60 degrees! I'll still need to wear my parka this weekend, but it felt much better than 38 degrees at 6 a.m. If I had the opportunity to do so, I would swim at noon every day in the winter.

Shaving tonight was very good. Only one razor cut! Usually, I'm nursing three or more, because I tend to rush through parts of the shave. This time, I cut myself on my clavicle, a ridge of bone that my razor had difficulty getting around.

While shaving today, I thought a little about the first time I ever shaved. It was at the 1991 Pan American Games. I sat in the shower in Havana, Cuba, trying not to swallow the water coming from the shower head. Before that, I had used Nair, because I thought the important part was just removing hair, not the dead skin. No one told me the Nair way of shaving was wrong until I got to Cuba, and my roommates saw me applying the cream the day before my race. While I'm glad they showed me the light, I wish someone had done that for me earlier! How fast would I have swum before August 1991 if I had known to use a razor?

Oh well. Going to kick back and relax tonight. First race is around 2:45 p.m. tomorrow!

Funny How Time Flies (When You're Having Fun)

2011-12-08T17:58:00.000-07:00

Date: Thursday, December 8, 2011
Time: 5:45 a.m.
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Short Course Meters
200 days to Olympic Trials

300 warmup

4x200 free on 3:30
Odd: 25 swim/25 drill
Even: focus on turns

1x50 free at 90% effort (28.3)

4x(4x50 on 1:00)
1. 25 breast/25 free
2. free breathe every 3
3. 12.5 scull, rest swim
4. 12.5 kick, rest swim

1x50 breast at 90% effort (34.7)

200 easy

10x50 free on 1:00, four breaths per 50

2x15 breakouts

150 easy

Total: 2,900 meters (75 minutes)

The terrifying thing about taper -- at least for me -- is wondering if I am doing enough to stay in shape, but not swimming so hard that my body isn't recovering well. Today, my body felt great in the water, and when Mark said those tapering for this weekend's meet were done after 2,200 meters, I knew I needed to do more. But what to do? I definitely wasn't going to do the next set on the whiteboard: 4x400 on 6:00! So, I decided to do some breath control work, which got my heart rate up slightly yet didn't require a lot of exertion.

Two days before the start of a meet is when I start to feel good. If I didn't feel good today, I would have been concerned. I'm feeling more confident mentally about this weekend (though concerns about weather are still sticking around), and usually that translates to my body making the proper adjustments. The psych sheet was released yesterday, and I'll have some tough races on Saturday. I'm seeded first in the 100 back, ahead of four fellow Phoenix Swim Club teammates, all of whom were backstrokers in college. One of them, Lauren Rogers, was a finalist in the 100 back at the 2008 Olympic Trials! It would be great if I -- a breaststroker who has been surprisingly successful at backstroke in Masters -- could beat all four of them. And my training partner Alan Carter is going to put up a good fight in the 200 IM, and I am very much looking forward to that. I haven't been able to race anyone in a short course meters 200 IM in years, and that event is difficult to do when I am racing just the clock. When someone is pushing me, the race is actually very fun, as you try to capitalize on your strong strokes and push your weaker ones. Alan is very weak on breaststroke, but I have a feeling he won't just "roll over" on that stroke. And he's vastly superior in freestyle, which will make the final 50 meters interesting!

The most important thing to do during taper is relax. Unfortunately, that means housework goes by the wayside. My house looks like pigsty more and more each day as my dirty clothes pile up and little things get pushed aside for next week. On Sunday afternoon, I'll have no excuse for putting off cleaning, and I'm sure my husband will have a long honey-do list waiting!

Only 200 days until Olympic Trials! It feels like June 25, 2012, is so far away, but it feels like July 10, 2011, the day I qualified for Trials, was nearly a week ago. Time flies when you're having fun!

Cold As Ice

2011-12-07T15:32:00.000-07:00

Date: Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Time: 5:50 a.m.
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Short Course Yards/Meters
201 days to Olympic Trials

1600 warmup (in short course yards)

Broken 100 breast from dive (short course meters)
(30.0 for first 50, 20 seconds rest, 33.9 for final 50 = 1:03.9

500 warmdown

This morning, the temperature gauge in my car read 38 degrees when I drove into the parking lot at the pool. Yikes! Obviously, walking from the locker room to the pool when I was dry was tough on my legs (I had a nice parka on), but it was even worse when I finished my warmup and climbed out of the pool. There were little pellets of ice on my deck shoes! That did not make it easy to put those on and walk back to the locker room about 100 yards away to put on a different suit for my broken swim.

We're experiencing a major cold spell in Phoenix. It's not unusual, but it hardly lasts this long. It started getting real cold last Wednesday, and hasn't let up yet. As I mentioned in yesterday's blog post, I fear the weather for this weekend's meet will make conditions tough. I do plan to dress warmly and be as prepared as possible, but there will be a minute or so when it's just my skin versus Mother Nature in that moment when I am about to step on the blocks.

In preparing for this morning's broken swim, I wore my parka to the lane I was to swim in, and wrapped a beach towel around my legs. I only had my deck shoes to protect me from the cold deck, but not the cold air. My toes were quite cold within seconds.

I had expected to swim much faster today in my broken swim. I suppose when you consider that the swim took place at 6:45 a.m., the air was near freezing and the water near boiling (82 degrees), it wasn't bad. It doesn't concern me too much regarding this weekend, because the breakouts I did during warmup felt awesome.

To make things better, I'm on my way to get a pre-meet massage today from Tod Miller. I don't have any major muscle aches, but it'll be good to get all the tiny knots out, so my body can sail through the water with ease!

Here Comes the Sun

2011-12-06T17:23:00.000-07:00

Date: Tuesday, December 6. 2011
Time: 5:45 a.m.
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Short Course Meters
202 days to Olympic Trials

900 warmup

4x(3x75 on 1:30)
1. 25 left/25 right/25 swim fly
2. 25 breast head up/50 free swim
3. 25 fly kick/50 back swim

8x15 breakouts

Four rounds:
3x50 on 1:00
100 easy on 2:30

200 easy

Total: 3,200 meters (80 minutes)

Today was one of those days when all I wanted to do was swim easy for about 3,000 meters. I suppose I did that just fine. The main set (which was the last set) was supposed to be descending 50s on the odd rounds, and strong 50s on the even rounds. I didn't descend to a very fast time for those rounds, around 33 for 50 backstroke, which is what I hope to split on my backstroke leg of the 200 IM. It didn't feel too difficult, though with the warmer water, it wasn't as easy as I hoped it would be.

My legs are still feeling tired, but I expect them to feel better tomorrow. Things should generally be better tomorrow physically. I am concerned about the weather on Saturday and Sunday in Phoenix. It's going to be quite chilly, with a high of about 60 degrees. That's a little too cold, but I will take every measure to keep warm through the meet. Most people, I am certain, will be walking around the deck in bare feet and clothing more suitable for a late spring day than a late fall morning. The key to swimming fast does not only lie in how you prepare in the warmup, but how you stay comfortable between warmup and the race. It's always a gamble swimming in meets in Arizona between October and March, but I keep reminding myself that I set my current world record for the 100 SCM breast in the 35-39 age group one week before Christmas in Phoenix! It was a little chilly that day, too. Please help me in praying for warm sunshine this weekend!

Today I found out that my chief "rival" in my age group in Masters, Steve West, swam a 1:01.94 in the 100 breast (short course meters), which is quite fast! Additionally, he broke his own world record in the 200 breast, the event which he'll be swimming next year at the Olympic Trials. I won't be swimming the 200 breast this weekend -- or any other weekend -- but I'll be pushed by Steve's fast 100. He also went 28.63 in the 50 breast, another fast time. Looks like Steve and I will have a virtual race this weekend!

Baby, It's Cold Outside

2011-12-05T18:07:00.000-07:00

Date: December 5, 2011
Time: 5:50 a.m.
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Short Course Yards

4x(3x75 on 1:30)
1. 25 left arm/25 right arm/25 swim
2. 25 head up/50 swim
3. 25 kick/50 swim

8x100 on 1:40
odd: 50 back/50 free
even: 50 free/50 back

6 race turns

Three rounds:
3x100 free on 1:40 descend rounds
50 back easy on 2:00

6x25 breast double pullouts on :30

Total: 2,950 yards

A little less yardage than I expected today. With it being Monday, I expected the workout to consist of something similar to 400s on a short interval. But I did the workout as written, though I decided to swim in the yards part of the pool, in case the set became more difficult than a taper workout needed to be.

Not much effort was expended today. My legs are still sore from all the standing I did in Atlanta, plus the water was pushing 83 degrees. The air was about 48 degrees, and it was the coldest it's been since last February. I'm worried that the weather this weekend will not be amicable for us, and that we'll be feeling the chill as we step up on the blocks to race.

The next few days will most likely be rough for me. There's a point in the middle of the taper when my body is so busy recovering that nothing feels good. Today it was my legs. What will feel horrible tomorrow?

You and Me

2011-12-03T14:02:00.002-07:00

Date: Saturday, December 3, 2011
Time: 1:45 p.m.
Location: Atlanta, GA
Short Course Yards
205 days to Olympic Trials

300 warmup

Four rounds (with 20 seconds rest at end of round):
200 IM (25 kick/25 drill) / 100 free (25 left arm/25 right arm/50 breathe every 3) / 50 breast kick drill

8x100 free on 1:30
Odd lengths, breathe left; even lengths, breathe right

4x15 breast breakouts on :45

10x50 :20 rest
25 back/25 free easy

4x15 back breakouts on :45

100 warmdown

Total: 3,300 yards (75 minutes)

I wanted to work on backstroke starts today, but the slower heats of the distance events were starting soon after my workout began, and I did not get the opportunity. I never get the chance to work on backstroke starts, because the gutters at the pool I swim at normally have stainless steel edges, which make backstroke starts impossible. We have to haul out a touchpad if we want to work on backstroke starts, and that is often too much of a pain to deal with. I feel confident my backstroke start will be decent next weekend, but it will need to be excellent. I learned that Noriko Inada, a three-time Japanese Olympian who placed fourth last night at the USA Swimming nationals in the 100 back, is also swimming in the Masters meet in Phoenix next weekend. It will be the first time I will get to race Noriko, and it will be fun. I'm not sure I can stay with her in short course, since she is so phenomenal underwater, and I -- well, let's say I'm not.

Today the goal was to swim easy, with a few short bursts to remind my body what it's preparing to do next weekend. The breakouts felt good, but not strong. My legs are feeling quite heavy, and I'm sure being on my feet, working 12-hour days and not getting much sleep in my crummy hotel room is causing that, and I am not worried about my taper. When I get back, I will have plenty of time to get my legs rested. My upper body is starting to come around, and that is an amazing feeling.

I got to do the set of 8x100 free with Mike Unger, the assistant executive director of USA Swimming and Masters world record holder. We both needed the company. We agreed that we would not have finished the set if we had done it separately. While not an extremely boring set, it was one where you have time to try to talk yourself out of it, if you choose. I'm glad I didn't. Thanks, Mike!

Teacher, Teacher

2011-12-02T15:13:00.001-07:00

Date: December 2, 2011
Time: 4:15 p.m.
Location: Atlanta, GA
Long Course Meters
206 days to Olympic Trials

300 warmup

6x100 :20 rest
25 scull/25 dolphin kick on back/25 breast with double pullouts/25 free breathe every 3

8x50 on 1:05
odd: 25 fly/25 back
even: 25 breast/25 free

4x150 :30 rest
50 breast kick drill/50 free/50 breast distance per stroke

4x15 breakouts on 1:00

Three rounds:
50 breast underwater swim on 1:15
50 breast fast on :45
3x50 easy on 1:30
(Times on fast 50s: 34.3, 34.7, 34.8)

200 warmdown

Total: 3,100 meters

Today's workout was approved by Coley Stickels, who is here with several members of the Phoenix Swim Club, including Michael Nelson, who is newly qualified for Olympic Trials in the 100 breast! He went 1:04.22 in prelims today, which means he is now seeded faster than me for Trials. I have no plans to shave and taper for a long course meet before Trials, so he'll be in a later heat in Omaha than I will. I know Coley will like that. He wants to be able to watch both of us equally in the race.

The point of the main set was to work on my endurance in the final 50 of the race. I was still a little out of breath from the underwater swimming when I pushed off for the fast 50, so I did feel the fatigue in the final 15 meters. Not only was I under 35 seconds on all three of them (which doesn't usually happen) but I took 21 strokes on all the fast swims! I'm usually 24 strokes! I have no idea what that was all about. Could it be I am stronger? Maybe.

After the main set, I noticed the great breaststroke coach Joszef Nagy strolling the deck. Joszef coached Mike Barrowman to numerous world records and Olympic gold in the 200 breast in 1992. He also helped Roque Santos make the Olympic team in 1992 and currently is world record holder Annamay Pierse's coach. I asked him to look at my stroke for 25 meters, and he obliged. Watching with him was Coach Tako, who was timing me on the main set. After the swim, Joszef said my upper body was very good, but my kick needed fixing. He said I shouldn't kick at a downward angle on the finish, but kick straight back and up a little bit. I tried to maintain my composure as he talked, because it was Tako who suggested that I kick downward! Joszef said kicking straight back will put my body at a better angle, which I agree with completely. I worked on it a little in warmdown and will refine it more tomorrow.

All in all, today's main set was surprisingly good. I wasn't feeling strong in my legs, mostly because I've been standing a lot for work. And it was even better that I got to swim in the pool that hosted the 1996 Olympics!

Now it's time to go to work! But first, some food...

Breaking Away

2011-12-01T21:59:00.000-07:00

Date: Thursday, December 1, 2011
Time: 5:45 a.m.
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Short Course Meters/Short Course Yards
207 days to Olympic Trials

(Short Course Meters)
300 warmup

6x150 on 2:40, last 50 kick

12x50 free on :45, breathe every 5

(Short Course Yards)
6x100 back on 1:30 aerobic

400 kick breast

6x50 on 1:15
25 scull, five seconds rest, then 15m breakout

200 with underwater turns

Total: 1,800 short course meters/1,500 short course yards (80 minutes)

This morning was the first official taper workout of the season! After the set of 50s free breathing every five, I decided to move to the other part of the pool and do some aerobic swimming. Everyone else did 6x300, odds on 4:30, evens on 5:00. I didn't think I needed to do that, so I broke away from the pack and worked on backstroke technique while maintaining a steady heart rate.

Every day in my taper, I will do something fast. Most days, it will be nothing more than a few breakouts. Other days it will be a longer test sprint set. Keep following the blog and you'll see how I plan out the days when I swim fast for a longer period of time.

I am keeping this blog short because I'm quite tired. I'm writing this from my hotel room in Atlanta, where I'm covering the USA Swimming nationals for Swimming World. It's been nonstop for me since I landed in Atlanta, and it is almost midnight here. I arrived at the pool 10 minutes before the finals started tonight, and spent the next 15 minutes trying to find the mixed zone for media. Apparently, it's just a space on deck that the media took control of this morning. Works for me! After the meet I still had work to do, and finally feel like I'm settled in.

Can't wait to dive into the pool at the Georgia Tech Aquatic Center tomorrow! It will be my first swim in the pool that hosted the 1996 Olympics. Tomorrow's workout will likely be a longer sprint set, but I haven't officially decided yet.

Putting It Together

2011-11-30T18:51:00.000-07:00

Date: November 30, 2011
Time: 5:50 a.m.
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Short Course Meters
208 days to Olympic Trials

12x50 on 1:00
odd: 25 kick/25 swim
even: 25 drill/25 swim

1x50 free with no breath (took one breath)

8x25 on :35 breakouts

3x3x100 on 2:30
Round 1:
75 free aerobic/25 easy
50 breast fast (32.5)/50 easy
25 breast fast from dive (14.1)/75 easy

Round 2:
75 back fast (46.7)/25 easy
50 free aerobic/50 easy
25 breast fast (14.5)/75 easy

Round 3:
75 free aerobic/25 easy
50 breast fast (32.3)/50 easy
25 breast fast from dive (14.1)/75 easy

6x25 easy :15 rest

3x(4x25 on :40)
1-3: free no breath or breast underwater no breath
4: easy

100 easy

Broken 100 IM (done as 4x25 on :45, fly from dive) (12.1, 14.2, 15.3, 13.4 = 55.00)

200 easy

Total: 2,400 meters (75 minutes)

I hadn't expected to so little in the pool today, as it was to be my last official hard-working day in the pool before taper starts. But it was good to be able to do the main set of 100s with a lot of rest.

I didn't feel extremely strong in the pool, but as happened yesterday and Monday, the times didn't reflect that. I was happy with the times, especially the broken 100 IM. I'm all for getting as much rest as possible, but I think the interval on the broken 100 IM was too slow. We should have done them on :30 for a more accurate indication of a broken swim. Usually, you get 20-30 seconds rest on a broken 200.

My breaststroke is starting to come together, and my backstroke pull feels more natural. I've been struggling with backstroke for about a year now, and I think part of it comes from recovering from tendonitis.

I'm really starting to get the nervous knots in my stomach every time I think about the upcoming meet. Once in a while, I visualize the races I will be swimming and when it is over, I visualize a time as fast or faster than my goal time. That makes me excited and a little nervous hoping everything pans out in terms of preparation.

Tonight was my last workout with JR Rosania for a few weeks. We didn't do too much work, just some fast-twitch preparation with low repetitions. I felt good at the end. My muscles were a little fatigued, which is just fine, but more importantly, I felt my fast-twitch fibers reacting positively.

And now taper begins!

Take It Easy

2011-11-29T15:18:00.000-07:00

Date: Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Time: 5:45 a.m.
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Short Course Meters
209 days to Olympic Trials

800 warmup

6x125 back on 2:15 descend 1-3, 4-6
(1:43, 1:41, 1:33, 1:42, 1:38, 1:30)

500 fly: 25 kick/25 left, right, full stroke/25 three strokes fly, 3 cycles free/25 swim

4x(3x50) on 1:00
1-2: easy
3: 25 breast/25 free fast (31.3, 30.9, 31.3, 31.3)

Easy 50

300 breast: 25 kick with board/25 pull with board between legs

easy 50

50 breast from dive: 30.3

Four fly-back IM turns

Easy 100

Total: 3,300 meters (80 minutes)

Today was the second-to-last day before taper begins, and I wasn't feeling much like sprinting. I wanted to take it a little easier today and work on stroke technique more than speed, and as such, I wasn't as fast as I should have been on the 125s backstroke or the 50s back/breast. I hadn't prepared my body or my mind for all-out swimming, though I was pleasantly surprised with my times on the 50s. My second 50 in the 100 IM is about 30.8, so to be close to it without swimming my hardest was a good sign.

Since last Wednesday, I have been working on a different approach to starting my breaststroke pullout. After watching me in workout that Wednesday, Coley Stickels suggested that I not pull so wide on the beginning of the pullout. It should be similar to a butterfly pull: start shoulder width apart and pull down. It feels like I am losing less of my speed at that part. On today's fast 50 breast from a dive, I was concentrating so hard on that pullout that I spaced out on my breakout and pulled a lot of air. That prevented me from breaking 30 on that swim, which to me would have been a big shock, since I was feeling much like a sprinter today. And don't go spreading rumors. I have very few days where I don't feel like a sprinter!

It Goes Like It Goes

2011-11-28T15:32:00.000-07:00

Date: November 28, 2011
Time: 5:50 a.m.
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Long Course Meters
210 days to Olympic Trials

8x(3x50)
#1 on 1:00
#2 on :50
#3 on :40

4x200 free on 3:00
1, 3 aerobic; 2,4 strong
(2:43 on aerobic swims, 2:33 on strong swims)

300 easy

6x100 on 2:00
odd: back/breast easy
even: breast strong (1:23, 1:20, 1:19)

200 easy

Total: 3,100 meters (75 minutes)

Today was the first true long course meters workout I've done since July (the recent workout with the Washington State doesn't really count). Every swimmer knows that the first long course workout after months of short course training can be painful, and that was definitely true today. Also, I think being at altitude in Show Low for three days might have had some effect as well. It wasn't easy getting a breath on the 200s, but that could have just been general fatigue setting in.

After that set, I had planned to swim easy for the rest of the workout, but Mark threw in that set of 100s, and while I was thinking of wimping out, I figured I needed to do it. I was surprised that I was going as fast as I was. It was very tough to hold my stroke on the final 25 of each of the strong 100s. When it was over, I was glad I did it, and hope it pays off down the line.

I had hoped the pool would be in short course so I could work on my IM transitions. I figured I'm pushing off on backstroke too early in the IM, causing me to be in bad body position and making it difficult to do an effective breakout. I'm not sure if the rest of this week will be short course or long course, but no matter what, I'll just take it as it goes. I was going to break away from the pack after today's distance set (similar to what I did today) and do 20x50 on 1:00. The first 10 would have been fly/back and the last 10 would have been breast/free. Oh well. The set I did at the end was just as effective.

Show Me

2011-11-26T15:15:00.000-07:00

Date: November 25, 2011
Time: 9 a.m.
Location: Show Low, AZ
Short Course Yards
213 days to Olympic Trials

400 warmup

5x200 kick with small fins, :30 rest
1-3 free, 4-5 breast

12x25 with small fins on :30
odd: breast pull with flutter kick
even: freestyle, with 12-1/2 kick underwater

100 easy

400 IM -- 50 kick/25 drill/25 swim

4x25 on :45, butterfly with no breath

100 easy

Total: 2,400 yards (45 minutes)

It took everything I had to get through today's workout. Not only was I swimming at altitude (Show Low is at 6,400 feet), but the pool temperature was 84 degrees. I was OK through the 5x200 kick, but I started feeling the effects of the warm water more than the altitude on the set of 25s after that. I made it a goal to do more than 2,000 yards, and to decide the plan after that. I suppose I could have done an aerobic set of 100s freestyle, but I'm not sure I would have wanted to finish.

Since I knew I wasn't going to do a lot of yardage, I decided to do something of worth, hence the 12x25. I thought I could do another set of 12x25 at the end, but I overestimated the altitude effects. My lungs weren't going to be able to handle eight more.

Does swimming at altitude require not just an adjustment to the times you swim, but to the distance? If so, what is it? Did I technically do about 3,000 yards today?

I haven't done much in terms of yardage since Tuesday, and I think that could affect my training in the final 14 days leading up to my taper meet. I will swim on Monday (my usual day off), and try to get some good workouts in on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday as well. I plan to do some good workouts as well while working at the U.S. nationals, but taper officially starts on Dec. 1, so the quantity won't be the priority.

Short and Sweet

2011-11-24T21:42:00.000-07:00

Date: Thursday, November 24, 2011
Time: 9 a.m.
Location: Tucson, AZ
Short Course Meters

5x200 free on 3:30
50 kick/25 left/25 right/100 swim

10x150 kick on 2:45 with small fins and snorkel
1-3 free, 4-5 butterfly

Power Tower:
3x25 breast fast on 1:15

25 breast fast from a push

6x50 back on :55 (averaged :36)

100 easy

Total: 3,100 meters (60 minutes)

Thanksgiving Day isn't one of those days where it is sacrilegious to swim. I was happy to have the opportunity to put in some laps today, not just because I was planning to eat a lot today and wanted to justify the extra calories. I didn't want to interrupt my training too much, and I had written a workout that was part recovery after yesterday's lactate workout. Unfortunately, the pool at the University of Arizona's Hillenbrand Aquatic Center was only open until 10, so I had to cut my workout short by about 800 meters.

I didn't want to do much breaststroke today. I needed a break from the stroke for a day, and it was good to focus on freestyle. When I did breaststroke on the Power Tower, I felt strong for the first time in a bout a week. I could feel the catch in my stroke again, and it was great to move smoothly down the pool. If I had been able to finish my workout, I would have done a few 25s breast with dolphin kick, in order to work more on arm speed.

I had a great Thanksgiving meal with Geoff's parents. Instead of turkey, we always have a different meat, such as roast beef. Today, it was a delicious ham with sweet potatoes and spinach, followed by mincemeat pie. No swimming tomorrow, because Geoff and I are going to the White Mountains in eastern Arizona. Hopefully, I'll be able to swim Saturday and Sunday, but it's not set in stone. We might do some (very) light hiking this weekend, so that will likely be my exercise.

The First Time

2011-11-23T21:25:00.000-07:00

Date: Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Time: 4:30 p.m.
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Short Course Meters/Yards
215 days to Olympic Trials

Today's workout with the senior-level age group team at Phoenix Swim Club was definitely one of the most difficult I have ever done in my 33 years in the sport. The goal was to emulate race pace training while building up extreme lactate, and on a scale of 1 to 10, the lactate level was at 9 for the entire workout.

At Coley's request, I can't post the workout here, but the main set was about 700 yards of some very tough swimming using rubber tubing, swim parachutes and fins, in the span of about 45 minutes. Today was the first time I've ever used a swim parachute, and it is extremely tough to swim with one. You can't imagine that small device having the ability to keep you from moving forward, but when it first took hold of water, I instantly felt how effective it was!

The most difficult parts of the main set were the underwater kicks and the variations on what we call in Masters "wall-ups," in which you pull yourself out of the water multiple times. This time, instead of pulling ourselves halfway out of the water, we had to pull ourselves completely out of the water. My legs and lungs were screaming!

The part of the main set I found the most relevant to race pace training were the fast 50s, which were broken into separate components. Using smaller fins required you to work the kick more while emphasizing a faster stroke tempo.

At the end of the workout, I was ready to do a long warmdown. After 100 yards, I asked Coley if he could time me for a dive 25 breast. I went 12.3, which was pretty good given the tough hour I had just endured. I didn't have much leg power to push from the blocks, but my stroke felt strong.

I wasn't sure I could survive the workout, but when it was over, I found myself smiling. I could have done a similar workout with the Masters group, but it would have been essentially a set of push 50s or 25s that might have made me happy with the times, but ambivalent about the workout itself.

Can't wait to attend another lactate day at Phoenix Swim Club!

Fly Like An Eagle

2011-11-22T21:15:00.000-07:00

Date: November 22, 2011
Time: 5:45 a.m.
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Short Course Meters
216 days to Olympic Trials

700 warmup

16x25 on :30 (four each stroke)
8x50 on 1:00 (two each stroke)
4x100 on 2:00 (IM order)

8x25 on :40
Odd: fly kick halfway underwater
Even: Double breaststroke pullouts

4x(3x75 on 1:15)
1: fly/back/breast
2: back/breast/free
3: back

12x25 on :45
Odd fast, even easy

200 warmdown (with stretching)

Total: 3,500 meters (80 minutes)

Not a bad workout today, though I had trouble getting my heart rate down during the main set. On the upside, I did not break stroke on the butterfly. I continue to marvel at my newfound ability to do butterfly without breaking stroke. I could never go 200 yards/meters in one set without a desire to do some one-arm butterfly. It's usually because I had no support for the lower half of my body during butterfly, and thanks to working with JR I am able to do the second kick in the stroke much better, which in turn helps set up for the next stroke. I am not saying I enjoy butterfly more, but it makes it less painful. I am anxious to see how this pans out in my IMs in a couple of weeks.

At the gym (6 p.m.)

Five minutes shoulder exercises

Sitting bench press (15 @ 110, 12 @ 140, 10 @ 160)

Sitting row (15 @ 80, 12 @ 110, 10 @ 140)

Three rounds:
12x Medicine ball throwdown (12-pound ball)
10x throwing ball up
10 back lifts (while holding 8-pound ball and extending it out front at top of exercise)

Three rounds:
10 Jumping lunges (while holding 12-pound ball)
15x Cable pull (motion similar to butterfly pull/breaststroke pulldown)

2x25 breaststroke pull (with 6-pound dumbbells)

Five minutes stretching

I mixed in a weight workout with some exercises JR gave me, since he was taking an early start to his Thanksgiving holiday weekend. Doing his exercises are fun to do at the gym. I got lots of stares when I was doing the jumping lunges, and a few people freaked out when I started doing the ball throwdowns.

My left shoulder is still giving me some problems, and though I don't think this is cause to believe the tendonitis is back, it is cause to believe that the exercises I am doing are putting some stress on the shoulder muscles. Part of my rhomboid muscle on my left side has a lot of scar tissue on it. I felt it when I did some self-massage today, and when I leaned against a corner, I recalled the feeling of the muscle not responding to the pressure. Usually when you massage a tired muscle, you feel a the knots release when you are done. With this rhomboid muscle, I only felt tough sinews, as if they had atrophied. It had a "crunchy" feel to it as I passed the corner of the wall over the muscle. What I need is one of those portable electric stimulating machines. I could put a couple of pads on my back and let the electric pulses shock the rhomboid muscle back to life. That's what my physical therapists did when I first experienced the tendonitis. They shocked the weakened muscles back to life.

This pain doesn't present itself very much when I am swimming. Only when lactic acid starts to build in my shoulder muscles do I feel some pain referral, mostly in my Deltoid muscle. I'm doing more shoulder stabilization exercises now, and those should help.

Playing With the Boys (Girls, Actually)

2011-11-20T18:52:00.001-07:00

Date: November 20, 2011
Time: 11:40 a.m.
Location: Tucson, AZ
218 days to Olympic Trials

Today, the plan was to do about 3,500 meters in the short course meters pool at the University of Arizona. Before I got into the pool, I went over to the head coach of the Washington State women's team, which was starting a workout in the main pool, to say hello. The head coach is Tom Jager, one of the legends in swimming. Don't know who he is? Shame on you. Here's a link to information on his stellar swimming career.

Tom grew up on the other side of the Mississippi River from St. Louis, in Collinsville, Illinois. He swam for Parkway Swim Club in St. Louis for many years before going to UCLA. Having grown up in St. Louis a generation after Tom left for UCLA, I knew him well. After we caught up on each other's lives, I was planning to go to do my workout. Tom introduced me to the women on his team, and they greeted me joyfully. I was going to wave to them and leave them to their workout, when one of them invited me to swim with them. I agreed to do so, not knowing what was in store.

I only had an hour before I had to teach a swimming lesson, so I had hoped to get at least 3,000 meters in before that. I only swam 2,000 meters (long course) in that hour:

5x100 choice on 2:00

400 kick, with the last 12.5 meters of each 100 fast

6x50 drill on about 1:20

4x50 free on 1:00 (averaged :38)

3x50 free on :50 (averaged :36)

3x50 free on :40 (averaged :34)

200 easy

4x25 breakouts

The team was getting ready to swim against Northern Arizona University on Monday, hence the extremely relaxed workout. Even they were surprised at all the rest they got. I'm sure they'll swim well tomorrow. Today's workout was like a taper! As I was about to head to my lesson, Tom got into the water and showed the team his stroke. It was just as I remembered it from his days of winning Olympic medals. I could tell the team was impressed. Tom said later it was the first time he had gotten in the water with his team in seven years, but it looked like he had probably been splashing around on his own a few times.

Here is a photo of Tom and I, taken today.

So, I didn't get in the workout I had planned today, but after yesterday's performance at the swim meet, it was clear my body needed a little recovery. I didn't mind spending more time hanging on the wall than swimming today. The girls were a delight to talk to, and if I had done my planned workout I might have stopped after about 2,000 meters anyway. The diving well was about 83 degrees, and at that extremely uncomfortable temperature, my brain would have instantly found ways out of the workout. So, the 2,000 meters I managed to get done today was much more pleasant than the 2,000 meters I would have forced myself to do otherwise.

Add in the fact that tomorrow is a normal off day, I should feel better on Tuesday. This week will present a few challenges in terms of swimming. I don't think I will be swimming Thursday, and on Friday morning, Geoff and I are going to the White Mountains in Arizona for the weekend. The closest pool to us will be 20 miles away in Show Low. Hope we have time for it, and that the pool is conducive to a halfway decent swim.

Oh, What a Beautiful Morning

2011-11-19T15:39:00.000-07:00

Date: Saturday, November 19, 2011
Time: 8:30 a.m.
Location: Mesa, AZ
Short Course Meters/Yards
219 days to Olympic Trials

This morning, I made the trek out to the westernmost part of Mesa for a quick Masters swim meet. All I wanted to do was get some fresh racing under my belt before I prepare to taper in a couple of weeks. Things didn't go as expected.

2,300 yards warmup

100 breast: 1:05.79

400 warmdown

100 IM: 1:01.17

300 warmdown

100 back: 1:00.80

500 warmdown

Since I had done a very tough pool workout and an equally tough gym workout yesterday, I don't know why I put such high expectations on myself this morning. The muscles in my upper body were in knots. The tendons and muscles in my left shoulder (the one afflicted with minor tendonitis) were very sore. Nothing I did could stretch them out.

The 100 breast felt technically good, though I knew the speed wasn't fully there, based on how I felt the first 50. Still, I felt like a 1:03-low was happening, and I would have been pleased with that. I felt dejected to see 1:05 on the scoreboard, and when I got out, I wondered if the bulkhead in the pool was set at 26 meters, instead of 25. For about a minute, it was a joke rattling around in my head, but I briefly wondered if that were true. (I subtly verified that the pool was 25 meters at the end of the meet.)

About 20 minutes after my 100 breast was the 100 IM, and my transitions were not clean. My fly-to-back turn felt weird, and I didn't have much speed coming off the wall. But again, the technique was good.

The 100 back was a victory in that I stayed in the middle of the lane for the last three 25s. That is my major issue on swimming backstroke outdoors, and though I had hoped for a sub-1:00 swim, I was happy with the way it was swum.

Again, I know I worked very hard yesterday, but I am taking a while to process what today's swims mean as I move forward to taper. Does this mean I am working harder than ever? Yes. Does this mean I am overtraining? Not sure.

I don't have much of a benchmark for in-season times in short course meters, but no matter the pool format, I am never four seconds off my taper time in an in-season meet. I've swum three 100 breast races in the past month, and the times were agonizingly slow. At the Rowdy Gaines meet in Orlando, I chalked it up to devoting more time to working than swimming. At the pentathlon two weeks ago, the rationale was that I had raced 750 yards in 30 minutes. I had no real reason for today. I should have been able to step up and swim as fast as I normally do, even with tough workout still lingering in my muscles.

I am not discouraged, but I am being very introspective about this. I just hope that with a good taper, everything will fall into place. I will admit I am a little afraid about how to approach the next 11 days, and the nine-day taper I have planned after that. Should I back off weights and JR's boot camp early? The dryland seems to be the only thing I can figure to be weighing me down right now.

I have a lot of reflecting to do. But on the upside, tomorrow's workout will be largely aerobic, since I did my race pace training today.

I Did It My Way

2011-11-18T20:07:00.000-07:00

Date: Friday, November 18, 2011
Time: 11:50 a.m.
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Short Course Meters

This morning, I pressed "off" instead of "snooze" on my alarm, and when I woke up again, it was 6:05. Too late to rush to the pool and do anything of worth. I decided to try and make the noon workout, which is always a crapshoot for me. Usually, I'm rushing to the pool in order to get there in time for the first set, and today was no exception. I had one minute to spare, which was enough to do a little dynamic stretching before diving in.

8x100 on 1:45
Odd: Kick last 25
Even: Kick first 25

150 underwater kick

Four rounds:
4x25 kick on :30
100 easy on 2:30

12x25 kick on :40

150 recovery (25 drill/25 swim)

4x50 breast on :55
4x50 fly on :50
4x50 back on :45
4x50 free on :40

200 easy

Total: 3,200 meters (75 minutes)

At the gym:

Five minutes shoulder warm up

Sitting bench press (12 @ 160, 8 @ 180, 6 @ 200)

Lat pull (12 @ 150, 8 @ 175, 6 @ 190)

Leg extension (12 @ 140, 8 @ 160, 6 @ 180)

Bicep curls (12 @ 25 pounds per arm, 8 @ 30, 6 @ 37.5)

Leg adductors (12 @ 160, 10 @ 180, 8 @ 200)

Ten minutes abdominals and stretching

Those who swim at the noon workout have the advantage of seeing the entire workout before they start. Those of us who normally swim in the mornings do not have that luxury. I saw the set of 50s at the end and spent the workout mentally preparing myself for making the intervals, especially the 4 on :40. The wrinkle was that I thought all 16 of them would be freestyle. Only when Mark began describing the set did he mention that the challenge was to do each stroke, but we got the choice of which strokes to do for each interval. I knew I could make breaststroke on 55 or 50 seconds. Doing them on a 45-second interval would have been a big challenge in short course meters, and it would have affected my ability to do the final four on :40. I figured I would do the set the way I did it because I wanted to get maximum rest as the set went on. I realized I would get more rest on the 50-second interval if I did it butterfly, and so that's what I did.

I was very happy that I made all four of the butterfly intervals without any desire to break stroke. I have to give a lot of credit to JR Rosania for making me do that dreaded hip extension exercise. It's strengthened my lower back in a way that's helped me stay with the undulating rhythm of butterfly. My arms and shoulders were hurting on number four, but I was able to keep my body position and technique fairly consistent. I was so proud of myself that before starting the 50s of backstroke, I yelled to Mark, "I didn't break stroke! Take that!" Saying that gave me a little adrenaline for the rest of the set. I felt like I was going to vomit when we finished, but everything stayed down. I just needed to get my heart rate down and catch my breath.

I've been answering a lot of challenges lately, both in and out of the pool. Last week, it was 10x50 breast short course yards on :45. This week, I improved in my dryland work with JR and today, I didn't back down on a very tough set. Mark thought in the future I should try the whole thing breaststroke. I'm not sure I would make it past the round on :50. The last eight might be a straight 400.

In any case, I'm pretty sore tonight, and yet looking forward to racing tomorrow at the Masters meet in Mesa, Arizona. I will start the meet with a 100 breast. I don't really have a goal time, since I don't swim short course meters much in season. I just want to work on race strategy. After that is a 100 IM and 100 back. It's a one-day meet, and I didn't want to overload myself like I did with the pentathlon a couple of weeks ago.

But life doesn't stop for a swim meet. I've got to do some housework before going to bed. I wish I had one of those robot vacuums that could clean my entire house while I put my feet up and watch television. COnsider my bathroom and vacuuming duties as extra dryland!

Just What I Needed

2011-11-17T18:58:00.000-07:00

Date: Thursday, November 17, 2011
Time: 4:40 p.m.
Location: Phoenix, AZ
221 days to Olympic Trials

Today's workout with Coley Stickels' senior-level group at Phoenix Swim Club was easier than I expected. All of his swimmers are racing this weekend, and he didn't want to overload them with a lot of work. We "only" did about 3,500 meters, and that was fine with me. I suppose I should have stayed in a little longer to do some extra work, but I'm not concerned. I needed a good recovery workout today, and that's what this was. None of the sets were physically challenging, but did have me, as usual, concentrating on various aspects of my strokes. Today did not have a breaststroke focus, which was fine.

Below is what we did for the main set:

300 on 5:15
100 pull/50 drill/50 swim/50 kick/50 swim

2x25 on :30
#1 free with seven strokes, #2 breast pull underwater with flutter kick

150 on 2:30
25 pull/25 kick/25 swim x2

200 on 3:00
50 pull/50 swim/50 kick/50 swim

2x25 on :30, same as above

2x75 on 1:20
25 pull/25 kick/25 swim

100 on 1:40
50 pull/25 kick/25 swim

2x 25 on :30, same as above

3x50 on :50
#1 fly/free, #2 back/free, #3 breast/free

I'm glad I swam this in the short course meters pool. The group was split into the short course yards part of the pool and the short course meters part of the pool, with no discernible reason why some were in SCM and some were in SCY. The first set we did was largely freestyle-based, and it involved a drill that has become very popular, but I have honestly never done before. I"ve heard it called the "bow drill," where you stop your freestyle arm recovery at halfway and hold it there for about eight kicks. I don't have the leg strength to balance my body at that part of the stroke! It was quite difficult for me to do that drill correctly. I'm sure my arm wasn't perfectly positioned on the drill, but no one corrected me.

The aches from working with JR yesterday lingered with me throughout the day. My office is in a retrofitted house, and there is a fireplace with a mantel. The corner of that mantel has become my favorite place for a quick back massage. I put my knotted muscle on the corner of the mantel, plant my feet and dig in. After a minute or so, I feel the knot going away. I had a few of those this afternoon, and though they are still there after swimming, the knots aren't as tight. I'm expecting to get some bodywork with Tod Miller after Thanksgiving, and he'll be able to work out the knots better than the corner of any fireplace mantel.

After today's workout, Coley suggested that I attend the USA Swimming Grand Prix in Austin, Texas, in mid-January, as well as the sectional meet in March. I do need to swim some long course meets before Trials, and I won't get that opportunity swimming in Masters until June. The only issue is that I won't shave for the meets, though I might rest a few days for sectionals. If I can get the time off from work, it might be fun to swim in those meets, especially Austin. I went to college there, and I miss that city dearly. I told Coley that if I were to go to the meet there, I might not want to come home!

You're the Best

2011-11-16T19:26:00.000-07:00

Date: Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Time: 5:40 a.m.
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Short Course Meters
222 days to Olympic Trials

1900 warmup and main set prep

100 IM fast from push (1:03.2)

300 easy

100 back fast from push (1:02.5)

300 easy

100 free fast from push (59.8)

250 easy

50 breast fast from push (32.1)

200 easy

Total: 3,300 meters

Today's main set as written was 10 rounds of 100 fast/100 easy on 4:30. Before the start of the set, I had only done 1,100 meters of swimming, which is not enough for my body to wake up and start swimming fast. So, I used the first four rounds of the set to do some aerobic swimming and breakouts. I felt like my blood sugar was getting low after the first round, so I hopped out and took a few big chunks out of an apple I brought to the pool. After about five minutes, I felt better. I rarely eat before workout; the apple was to be post-workout fuel restoration. I believe swimming in the warm water had quickly burned up the fuel stores I had in my body, and I was in need of more quickly.

I was happy with my times today, as the 100s were within six seconds of my taper goal time (though I'm not swimming the 100 free in three weeks, I have long hoped to go 53 in short course meters). As for the 50 breast, I felt a little choppy in the first 25, but eased into the stroke off the turn.

Today, my left shoulder gave me some problems. It's the same shoulder that had tendonitis in 2009 -- and will always have issues for the rest of my life, since tendonitis never fully goes away without surgery. I've been negligent in maintaining strength in my shoulder muscles and tendons, and I realized that when doing exercises last week with JR Rosania. Tonight, I put a lot of focus on my shoulder work without overstressing my left shoulder. When I am not doing dryland, my goal is to do some shoulder stabilization exercises to keep my shoulder strong. I feel it mostly on backstroke and freestyle, mostly in posterior muscles (deltoid and rhomboid).

JR toldme that today was the best I've worked since starting with him. I kind of agree, but I still feel as sore as the first session. The difference, he said, is that my muscles have adapted to the stress of the exercises ot the point that I'm able to finish the exercises strongly. The hip extensions, where I lift my legs from perpendicular to parallel to the floor, is still the toughest exercise. My lower back is in knots for hours afterwards. A little Ben-Gay helps soothe the soreness. But that exercise has helped my butterfly, which is my worst stroke. I feel like I'm using my second kick more, which does originate in the lower back and travels down the leg. It helps with the finish of my breaststroke kick, too, but the biggest improvement has been in butterfly. I am anxious to see if it will provide any assistance in getting through the first quarter of the individual medley.

Wednesdays are awesome when I know I am swimming with Coley Stickels' group the next day. I get to sleep in until 6:30! You would think I would stay up later, but usually my body is ready for sleep at 9:00.

Just That Kinda Day

2011-11-15T19:16:00.000-07:00

Date: Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Time: 5:50 a.m.
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Short Course Meters
223 days to Olympic Trials

24x25 on :30
2 free, 2 non-free

16x25 kick on :30
2 free, 2 non-free

Three rounds:
4x100 on 1:40
(Round 1: 50 fly/50 back, round 2: 50 back/50 breast, round 3: 50 breast/50 free)
4x25 on :30
(Round 1: 2 fly, 2 back; round 2: 2 back, 2 breast; round 3: 2 breast, 2 free)
1 minute break

3x50 easy :15 rest

6x100 IM on 1:40
Odd: Regular order (averaged 1:13)
Even: Reverse order (averaged 1:17)

250 easy (with stretching)

Today's workout fulfilled my butterfly quota for the week ... and then some! The only time I did not do butterfly as instructed was on one of the reverse 100 IMs at the end. I am physically getting through more difficult butterfly sets, and I'm not sure why, but I know it will help my 100 and 200 IMs.

The main set was tough, and the 25s were supposed to be all out, but the 100s on the set were so hard that I didn't have the energy for four all-out sprints in each round. I was concentrating on technique while swimming a little bit faster than aerobic pace. For the first round of 100s, I was averaging 1:13, and about 1:14 on the second and third rounds. That's about 1:06 to 1:07 for those who need those times converted to yards for comparison. I had to do that a little bit today, as this was only the third short course meters workout I've done in a month. With the taper meet being short course meters, I'm glad the bulkhead at the pool was removed, and we'll likely do short course meters all the way through the next three weeks.

When I don't feel like swimming fast, my breaststroke is usually the stroke that falls apart first. I tend to find an easy way to swim comfortably, and that easy way usually involves bad technique. It took a lot of mental effort to continue to think about the kick Tako taught me a couple of weeks ago, and to concentrate on the hand pitch after the catch. Those are my two main focus areas on breaststroke right now, and the more I can swim correctly when I'm tired (and a little bit lazy), the easier it will be to swim fast when it matters.

If I Didn't Have You

2011-11-13T20:20:00.000-07:00

Date: Sunday, November 13, 2011
Time: 1:30 p.m.
Location: Tucson, AZ
Short Course Meters
225 days to Olympic Trials

12x150 on 2:30
1-4: choice
5-8: 25 breast double pullouts/25 free/25 breast kick/50 free/25 breast pull
9-12: 50 back/50 breast/50 free

8x25 breakouts on :45

100 easy

Two rounds:
25 breast fast from push on :45 (15, 15)
50 free fast from push on 1:30 (28, 28)
75 IM fast from push (fly/back/breast) (47, 48)
200 easy

Four starts

4x100 easy on 1:50

Total: About 3.450 meters (80 minutes)

For today's main set, I was joined by Scott Shake, who normally does a long nonstop swim during the same time I'm swimming, but during my first set, he asked what I was going to do today. When I told him what the main set was, he didn't hesitate to say he'll join me for it. I was a little surprised, since Scott is a middle distance swimmer, and this set was specifically for sprinters. (Yes, I know, middle distance swimmers need sprint work, too.) I have a feeling Scott didn't want to swim alone today. I know the feeling.

If Scott hadn't been there for the main set with me, I might have convinced myself to stop after the first round. With the water at 82 degrees, sprinting was extra difficult today, and though the times were pretty good, I didn't want to deal with a second round of sprinting in warm water. But Scott's presence convinced me to continue with the main set, and I'm glad I did.

I had planned to do some work on the Power Towers after the main set, but I didn't have the energy to do more sprinting in the present conditions. I worked on starts instead. I probably should have done some backstroke starts, but I didn't have a touchpad to put in the water, and I didn't trust that the tiles on the wall were not slippery.

This was a good start to the week. Before the workout I signed up for the Mesa meet which takes place next Saturday. I'll swim the 100 breast, 100 IM and 100 back, and it will be the last meet before tapering, so the goal is to fine-tune all my racing aspects. It will also be the last week of training without any types of interruptions before the state meet. Thanksgiving weekend will be spent in the White Mountains of Arizona, and I may or may not be able to swim every day. The following weekend, I'll be in Atlanta covering the USA Swimming nationals, though I believe I'll still be able to swim every day, since I will be hanging out at the pool all day.

Faraway (So Close)

2011-11-12T15:03:00.000-07:00

Date: Friday, November 11, 2011
Time: 5:50 a.m.
Location: Phoenix, AZ
227 days to Olympic Trials

4x(4x50 on 1:00)
1: 3 strokes/10 kicks
2: 25 head up/25 swim
3: 25 free underwater recovery/25 normal
4: breathe every 5

6x100 breast kick with board on 2:00, descend 1-6
(1:40, 1:38, 1:34, 1:32, 1:32, 1:30)

Four rounds:
Three minutes kick (did about 175 yards each round)
40 seconds breast vertical kick

3x(4x50 on 1:15)
1: underwater no breath
2: fast kick
3: underwater no breath
4: fast swim
(Fast swims -- back: 26.5, breast: 29.9, free: 25.5)

Easy 100

50 breast from dive (27.0)

200 warm down (with stretching)

Total: 3,050 yards, not including vertical kicking (75 minutes)

Aaarrrrrgh! I almost broke 27 seconds on my dive 50! I was upset by that for a few minutes, but happy that I got so close. I'm usually a few tenths slower, and in a 50, just a few tenths mean a lot. I'm not sure how I was able to go that fast, since my legs were quite tired by the end of workout. But this harkens back to the kind of things we used to do when I was in high school. My coach used to regularly do a fast swim off the blocks after a tough workout, and though we rarely did anything noteworthy, it always set us up for race readiness when it mattered. I do wish we had non-slip walls, so I could practice my backstroke starts. It's a big hassle to get a touchpad from the storeroom and put it in the lane, especially since we only get about two minutes' notice. I will do some work on my backstroke start on Sunday.

This morning we were visited by two members of the Phoenix Swim Club senior group, Michael Nelson and Walter Ross. Michael had just won the state title in the 100 breast with a 57.1 (56.7 in prelims) and Walter almost got a second swim in the 100 free. Both of these guys kicked our butts this morning, and they were even more awesome when they put the fins on, but then again, who isn't awesome with fins? (Me.)

I did feel good about beating Michael on the 50 at the end. He "only" went a 28.0. Still pretty good a week after his taper meet.

Y'All Got It!

2011-11-10T12:02:00.001-07:00

Date: Thursday, November 10, 2011
Time: 5:45 a.m.
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Short Course Yards

8x150
Odd: Free breathing every 3 on 2:20
Even: 100 back/50 breast on 2:40

4x300 on 4:30 -- 100 free swim/100 back swim/100 breast kick
(averaged 4:00)

8x75 on 1:30 -- 25 fly/25 scull/25 free with one breath
(averaged 1:00)

10x50 free on :40
(averaged :31)

10x50 breast on :45
(averaged :37)

200 easy

Total: 4,200 yards

I was planning to swim with Coley Stickels and his group this evening, but I had two major projects to finish at work today, and I wasn't sure I would be able to leave work in time for workout. This morning's workout wasn't that taxing physically ... until the 10x50 breast.

The original set called for 24x50 free on :40. Not to usurp Mark Rankin's authority, but I didn't feel like I needed to do that at this point in the season. I compromised with myself and did 10 free. Those 50s weren't extremely difficult physically, though I had trouble keeping count! After that, I was planning on doing some breakouts on :45. But during the rest after the 50s free, Mark suggested doing some 50s breast. I knew it would be painful, but I had no valid excuse to throw at him. I did the set, and felt OK for the first three. Then, fatigue started to build in, and instead of trying harder to go faster, I tried to keep my technique in line. That wasn't easy to do, especially when I was in agonizing pain on eight through 10! I'm glad I did the set, but my heart rate at the end (186) showed me how difficult it was.

Breaststroke is always more taxing for me than freestyle, at least as far as heart rate is concerned. My aerobic heart rate in freestyle is much lower than that for breaststroke. I wonder if that's true for many people. I believe it's because breaststroke uses more muscles.

What will I take away from that breaststroke set? Mainly that my legs were sore from yesterday's workout with JR, and each kick was excruciating. Again, I'm glad I did it, but my legs will be punished for it throughout the day.

I want to share a dream I had last night. I was competing in a somewhat major international meet, but I'm not sure what venue was hosting the meet. It wasn't clean and shiny like most major venues, but had a dank and moldy feel to it. But the venue was packed for the final event, the 400 free relay, and for some reason I was the anchor leg for the United States. We were so far ahead that the third swimmer decided to grandstand for the crowd by stopping at 50 meters and letting the competition catch him. As he pushed off, the crowd went ballistic. I turned around and saw Cesar Cielo enter the building, ready to swim the anchor leg for Brazil. To make matters worse, it was so cold in the pool that I was wearing a heavy coat (not a parka) and when I dove in for my swim, I forgot to take it off!

Obviously, I had a difficult time swimming fast with a heavy coat, but I was able to hold off Cielo until the final 15 meters, when he caught and passed me. Brazil won by half a second.

Why would I be swimming freestyle on a relay at a major international meet? And what was with me swimming with a heavy jacket? Dreams are weird.

Almost There

2011-11-09T20:51:00.000-07:00

Date: Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Time: 5:45 a.m.
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Short Course Yards

300 warmup

6x100 on 1:45
75 free/25 no free

9x50 free on 1:00, overkicking at various points

Two rounds:
1x100 on 2:00 easy
4x25 free on :30 breath control
4x50 on 1:00 best average
Round 1 50s were free, averaging 27.1
Round 2 50s were back, averaging 29.2

6x50 easy :15 rest

Three rounds:
50 fast (breast from dive: 27.0, back from push: 25.5, breast from dive: 27.2)
50 easy, then 1:00 rest
25 fast (breast from dive: 12.0, back from push: 12.3, breast from dive: 12.1)
25 easy, then 1:00 rest

100 easy

75 IM from dive (41.3)

225 easy

Total: 3,300 yards (75 minutes)

Today marks 31 days until the Arizona State Masters Short Course Championships. It's almost here! Nothing special happens at this point in the season, but the realization did give me a little jolt.

I liked today's workout very much. It had an element of endurance sprinting with the best-average set, but also had a race-pace set at the end. And the remarkable thing is that the rest was already built into the race-pace set! Those rest intervals were not decided by me.

I was very happy with my sprinting today. Despite the warm water making my muscles feel rubbery (felt like 82 degrees), my times were right on target. I was hoping to go under 12 seconds on one of my dive 25 breaststroke, but I'm happy with two times in the 12-low range. I don't think my starts were all that good, though. I felt like I was losing speed too much after my body entered the water, but I wasn't sure if it was my naturally inflexible ankles or something that could actually be fixed. Or were my legs just too tired to spring hard from the block?

I was feeling a big knot in my left rhomboid muscle through the entire workout, and no amount of stretching could remove the knot. When I got home tonight, I tried to work it out on a special wooden kneader that I have, but it's still there. I'm going to put some Ben-Gay on it before I go to bed, and hopefully that will help. The only problem with putting Ben-Gay on at night is my cat is attracted to the smell, and she tries to lick the cream off me, even if I have a shirt on. She won't take no for an answer, so I might have to shut her out of the bedroom tonight so I don't have to wake up at midnight to her trying to get to that strange aroma emanating from me.

I had a very good session with JR Rosania today. Someone asked if my sessions with him are working on building muscle mass. Absolutely not. Some of the exercises use very little weight, and work instead on the explosive speed in my muscles. For example, I do back extensions while holding an eight-pound ball. When I lift up, I throw my arms forward while holding the ball, similar to the breaststroke recovery. The weight of the ball isn't heavy, but the hard part is getting my arms forward in an quick motion.

Another great exercise I do there is standing on a platform about knee height. Holding a 15-pound ball, I throw it down to the ground, imitating the motion of a breaststroke pullout and butterfly pull. The key, JR said, is to lift the shoulders to engage more back and shoulder muscles, and to throw the ball hard to the ground. When I'm in the pool, I try to replicate that motion on my breaststroke pullouts. These exercises and all the others he gives me have a swimming specific purpose, and usually I discover that purpose in the pool the next day.

Jason Lezak does a similar type of training, and it seems to be working well for him in his mid-30s!

Tonight I was so tired when I got home that I couldn't find the energy to practice piano. I need to do so, because my final recital is the same week as the state meet, so I have essentially two championship performances in one week. I am trying to play the song "Scarborough Fair" (which repeats 17 measures five times) and while I have the melody down, it's hard to play the chords. I didn't have much desire to work through that tonight, but I'll make up for it tomorrow.

Surprise, Surprise

2011-11-08T21:12:00.000-07:00

Date: Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Time: 5:45 a.m.
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Short Course Yards
230 days to Olympic Trials

300 warmup

4x(4x25 on :30), one stroke each round IM order
1 drill, 2-4 swim

4x(3x75 on 1:15)
1: 25 fly/50 back, 2: 25 back/50 breast, 3: 25 breast/50 free

6x(3x100 on 1:30)
1: back, 2: IM, 3: free
averaged 1:11 on back, 1:06 on IM, 1:08 on free

12x25 on :35
Odd: breast with 2 pullouts
Even: backstroke as three left/three right/three full strokes

8x25 on :45
Odd: Breast from dive (12.7, 12.1, 12.3, 11.6)
2, 4, 6, easy
8 breast fast from push: 13.6

100 easy

Total: 4,000 yards (75 minutes)

This is the time of the year when I bite my tongue quite often in workout. As the weather gets colder in Arizona, every pool in Arizona cranks up the heat to insanely high temperatures. The only pool I have been to from now through April that is not overheated is the Arizona State pool. I won't defect to their team, but I did swim there a couple of times in 2009, and it was wonderful to do a sprint workout in an 80-degree pool.

This morning, the pool was about 82 degrees, which made the main set of 18x100 difficult to do as written. Mark wanted all of them to be strong, so we would get decent rest. I would have been happy to hold 1:06 on backstroke and 1:03 on freestyle, but I needed a couple of repeats to get my heart rate down after a somewhat fast 100 IM. During the set, Mark suggested that a dive set was coming up "so you guys can cool off." With the air temperature at 50 degrees, we were definitely bound to do that!

I was very surprised at the 11.6 on my 25 breast from a dive. I don't go under 12 seconds regularly in-season, so that made me feel good. My stroke technique was OK, though I think I exposed my legs too much on my kick in an attempt to push more water with my legs. The dive was smooth and clean, and the breakout pretty good as well. I wasn't looking for something this morning to make me feel better about the :59 I swam on Sunday in the 100 breast, but those 25s did the trick for me!

I still haven't decided if I am going to swim in the meet in Mesa on Nov. 19. I won't rest for that meet, but I would like to swim a fresh 100 breast before taper starts. I'll make the decision before Friday.

Take Five

2011-11-06T15:26:00.001-07:00

Date: Sunday, November 6, 2011
Time: 8 a.m.
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Short Course Yards
232 days to Olympic Trials

Today was the Phoenix Swim Club Pentathlon. The meet order was: 500 free, 50 free, 200 free, 100 free, 200 IM. I have swum in events like this before, and have fun with them ... though the short amount of rest makes for some painful swims. Here's a look at my performances. All five events were done in a 90-minute time span:

2,000 warmup

500 free: 5:03.88
Splits: 57.87, 1:59.16 (1:01.29), 3:01.18 (1:02.02), 4:02.89 (1:01.71), 5:03.88 (1:01.01)

10 minute break (400 warmdown in this time)

50 fly: 24.69

Five minute break (300 warmup in this time)

200 back: 1:58.81
Splits: 28.20, 57.60 (29.20), 1:27.89 (30.69), 1:58.81 (30.92)

Five minute break (200 warmdown in this time)

100 breast: 59.48
No splits available

Five minute break (300 warmdown in this time)

200 IM: 2:02.66
No splits available

500 warmdown (with LOTS of stretching)

Out of five events, I felt good about three of them. Sadly, they were the first three. I wasn't happy that the two events which weren't good were two of my best events (100 breast and 200 IM). But, three out of five ain't bad!

I was quite surprised by my performance in the 500 free. I haven't done a 500 free in competition since high school, and I think I swam a 5:03 then. I got a great race from Patrick Brundage, who is very much a middle distance/distance swimmer and has a lot of experience doing the 500. That definitely showed at the 300-yard mark, when we turned almost even and he took off.

The 200 back was also a very nice surprise. The final 25 was very painful. Pushing off the last wall almost had me gritting my teeth underwater. Knowing that my 100 breast was next, and that I hadn't raced a 100 breast since July, I could have swum a lot easier on the backstroke. But, I am not the type of person that backs out of a race if I'm feeling good, and the 200 back was the last race today in which I felt good.

Diving in for the 100 breast, I could immediately tell that the result would not be satisfactory. I could feel the lactate in my muscles during the first pullout and my breaststroke muscles did not want to respond for the entire 100. To make it worse, my technique was sloppy. My legs were not together at the end of many kicks, and I could feel my hands slipping on the insweep. I took seven strokes for each of the last three 25s, but a low stroke count isn't good when the speed isn't there. I felt embarrassed to see "59.48" on the scoreboard, but I couldn't think of that for much longer. I wanted to break two minutes in the 200 IM, and I had to get into the mindset for that race.

I was mentally ready to swim a fast 200 IM, but my body was already checking out. I dove in and the butterfly felt OK, but backstroke was worthless. At this point, I was swimming against the clock (Patrick Brundage was a couple of body lengths behind, also feeling the weight of the morning's swims). When I swim against the clock in a 200 IM, it's difficult for me to push the breaststroke. I did my best to at least keep the technique correct, but I was so tired I could barely get through the pullouts!

My freestyle felt incredible today. I was tired at the end of the 500, but I believe the technique of keeping a strong vertical forearm and not letting go of the water halfway through the pull helped me keep my splits even and strong.When you're racing tired in-season, the best thing is to keep the technique proficient, so when you're swimming at your best at the end of the season, technically correct swimming will be easy. This starts in workout, continues to the in-season meets and follows through at the end of the season.

I don't want to go into the taper meet with a 59.48 being my last 100 breast. I might swim in a short course meters meet in a couple of weeks in Mesa. I would definitely do only two events. One would be the 100 breast, and the other might be the 100 back, 100 IM or 200 IM.

I Won't Back Down

2011-11-04T19:54:00.000-07:00

Date: Friday, November 4, 2011
Time: 5:45 a.m.
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Short Course Yards
234 days to Olympic Trials

300 warmup

4x300 on 5:15
odd: 50 kick/50 swim
even: 50 drill/50 swim

24x25 on :35, done as:
2x25 free with six strokes per length
2x25 breast with three strokes per length

Three rounds:
4x50 back swim on :45
4x50 on 1:00 (1 and 3 with 15m breakout, 2 and 4 easy)

125 easy

75 breast fast from a push (45.4)

Easy 175

75 breast fast from a push (45.3)

200 easy (with stretching)

Total: 3,950 yards (80 minutes)

After Wednesday's dryland workout with JR and last night's swim workout with Coley, my legs were fried this morning. My hamstrings and groin muscles were very tight, despite my dynamic stretching before getting into the pool and light stretching after the set of 300s. I didn't want to do the 24x50 as a kick set, though that is the way the set was written. I didn't bring my fins, and even if I did, I couldn't have done that set kicking on a 45-second interval.

By the time the set of 24x50 was done, I was having trouble pushing off the walls, and my fast-twitch muscles in my arms didn't feel very responsive. But I decided to not give in on the physical signals I was getting from my lower body and swam those two fast 75s at the end. I could have done freestyle on them, I could have backed down on the effort or I could have just gotten out. All were viable options. But I would not have been happy with myself later. I am quite happy with going 45-mid on the swims, especially the first one. I was sharing a lane with one other person, and we agreed to swim straight for the 75. But while swimming the first 25, I noticed someone was about to jump into the lane, and I instinctively decided to swim circle. Luckily, I was swimming breaststroke, so I was pretty deep underwater and didn't hit the guy sharing the lane. We managed to do OK for the rest of the 75, but I wondered if I could have gone faster if I didn't have that brief distraction. The answer was no, but my legs were not happy that I wanted to do that 75 again. I had trouble getting my quads to respond to sprinting, and it showed on the final 25, where I jumped up to 7.5 strokes, as opposed to the seven that I'm still getting used to taking.

Another reason I thought about backing down was because I have a tough meet on Sunday, and I wanted a little bit of rest for it. It will be a quick meet, with only about 30 entrants. Everyone -- or almost everyone -- swims five events (500 free, 50 free, 200 free, 100 free, 200 IM in that order) and it's likely I'll do all that in about 90 minutes, depending on how long a break we take between each event. I'm not looking for fast times necessarily, but just want to see how well I step up and swim fast. I doubt I will have anyone to race, but I will be doing a 500 free, 50 fly, 200 back, 100 breast and 200 IM, so I might be racing someone on the 100 and maybe the 200 back. Looking forward to it. This might be my last meet before the taper meet in December, though there's another one scheduled for the Saturday before Thanksgiving in Mesa. I'm not sure if I'll be able to get to that one.

At the gym:

Five minutes shoulder warm-up exercises

Sitting bench press (12 @ 140, 8 @ 175, 6 @ 190)

Leg extensions (12 @ 130, 10 @ 160, 8 @ 180)

Lat pull (12 @ 140, 8 @ 170, 6 @ 180)

Shoulder shrugs (20 @ 30 each arm, 15 @ 40 each arm)

3x20 box jumps

2x25 breaststroke pull on physioball with five-pound dumbbells

Ten minutes abdominals and stretching

With my legs still sore, doing leg exercises today was dicey. I thought about skipping legs, but it was good to work on strength. I might not be at my best at the meet Sunday because of this, but I think that might call for about 30 minutes in my tub on Saturday night.

Next blog will be on Sunday, with results from the meet. See you then!

Pull Me Under

2011-11-03T21:10:00.000-07:00

Date: Thursday, November 3, 2011
Time: 4:35 p.m.
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Short Course Yards/Short Course Meters
235 days to Olympic Trials

Tonight I swam with Coley Stickels' group at the Phoenix Swim Club, though the turnout was sparse, because most of the swimmers were preparing for the state high school championship. Prelims begins tomorrow, and a few of the kids were at the pool doing some final prep. It brought me back to my days as a high school swimmer, getting pumped up for the state meet in Missouri.

Tonight's workout wasn't exhausting or extremely difficult, but I did wish the intervals were slower, just so I didn't feel like I was rushing through some of the sets that I wanted to take my time and work on technique. Some sets felt like a straight 1,200 or 1,000 yards, with only enough time to take a couple of deep breaths for what was usually an underwater swimming or kicking drill. Most of the sets that gave me trouble involved breaststroke pull with a pull buoy. This has always given me trouble. I find that most people do a large dolphin kick when they do breaststroke pull with a pull buoy, and I used to always get yelled at by my coach for doing that in high school. I can't say for sure that most of the kids (and the postgrad swimmers) were doing dolphin kicks, but I was well behind them on breaststroke pull sets, but I had no problem staying with or ahead of them on breaststroke swim sets.

In any case, the reason I love going to Coley's Thursday breaststroke workouts is because it allows me a lot of time to concentrate on the finer points of my breaststroke. Today, I thought about my hand pitch when I began the insweep, making sure my fingers were pointed downward. I also tried to think about my kick, and I could feel a difference kicking "the old way," compared to the way Tako tried to teach me last week. If my legs weren't so fried from yesterday's workout with JR Rosania, I might have been able to put more effort into kicking today.

I won't try to re-create the workout for you, as it involved lots of drills that defy easy written explanation. But we did 4,900 yards/meters in about 110 minutes. For the final set, we moved from the main short course yards pool to the six-lane short course meters pool for 1,200 meters. The water was warmer, the pool is shallower and the intervals didn't slow down to accommodate for meters, so the final set exasperated me. But, on the bright side, my heart rate was at a steady 150 the entire time.

I'm not sure how my legs and lower back will feel tomorrow morning. I saw Mark Rankin at the pool tonight after workout and warned him that I might opt to swim during the main kick set tomorrow, if my legs haven't fully recovered. I hope they do, because I plan to do some race pace swimming tomorrow!

Wake Up Little Susie

2011-11-02T20:04:00.000-07:00

Date: Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Time: 5:45 a.m.
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Short Course Yards
236 days to Olympic Trials

300 warmup

4x(3x75 on 1:15)
1: 25 kick/25 drill/25 swim
2: choice swim
3: free no breaths between flags

6x50 kick on 1:10
Odd: 25 fast/25 easy
Even: 25 easy/25 fast

4x(4x50 on 1:00)
1: 25 fast IM order/25 easy
2: easy
3: free @ 200 pace (27.0)
4: easy

100 breast fast from push (1:02.1)

300 easy

100 back fast from push (56.4)

300 easy

50 breast fast from dive (27.5)

200 easy

Total: 3,350 yards (75 minutes)

I was very sluggish in the water today. I woke up at 3:00 last night and couldn't go back to sleep right away. The last time I looked at the clock before I fell into a deep sleep again, it read "3:50." My brain wanted to swim fast, but my body wanted to be under the covers.

A little disclaimer here: As my lane mates (and those in adjacent lanes at Phoenix Swim Club) know, I take what I call "sprinter's prerogative" on many of the sets during my sprinting phase. Instead of doing two 100s fast from a push, everyone else did four. I simply swam easy in my lane during two of those fast swims. I wanted to have more than three minutes rest between my 100s in order to focus on race pace training. If I had done the set as written, my 100 breast would have been in the 1:05 range, and my 100 back would have been probably :58 or :59. I noticed that others in my training group were able to hold pretty fast times on all four of their swims, which is great for them. I do wonder, however, how much faster they would have gone if they only did two with about eight minutes rest between.

In any case, my sprinting times weren't too far off my average, given my physical state. I had hoped my dive 50 would be under 26, but I had a bad turn and stupidly tried to recover from it by increasing my turnover on the last 25. Live and learn.

5:00 p.m. with JR Rosania

Today was a "very good" workout with JR. It was "very good" in the sense that I can feel the ache in my muscles two hours later. Most of the hard stuff was concentrated in my hamstrings and back. After an eight-minute warmup on the elliptical machine and dynamic stretches for my legs, I did some lunges with an eight-pound ball, rotating to each side on the lunge. Wow! That really puts some stress on the hamstrings! I know my hamstrings are weak, hence the inability for them to deal with simple lunges.

As for my back, I did a set of back extensions where I had to thrust my arms forward on the upswing, similar to the breaststroke recovery. Oh, and I was holding that eight-pound ball. I followed that up immediately with a variation on hamstring curls. Instead of lying on your stomach, you bend at the waist and put your torso on a platform while holding a bar in front of you. Then, you lift a bar with both of your legs, keeping your legs straight. That burns in the hamstrings and back! That was a sign that my lower back muscles were not very strong, either.

Though his workouts are tougher than what I do at 24 Hour Fitness by myself, I always find myself smiling when I'm working with JR. I think it's because there are other Masters swimmers there doing the same thing I am, and we all are dripping sweat and talking about the pains that come with being old. But we love it, because, as I told you last week, a lot of us are seeing results.

As for me, I think I'm going to end my day with a big glass of water. That will help the ibuprofen go down easier.

You Can't Always Get What You Want

2011-11-01T18:56:00.000-07:00

Date: Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Time: 5:50 a.m.
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Short Course Yards
237 days to Olympic Trials

600 warmup

12x25 fly on :25

50 fly fast from push (26.5)

300 back with four dolphin kicks off each wall

50 back fast from push (26.7)

4x100 breast on 1:45 with double pullouts on each 25

50 breast fast from push (30.1)

300 free breathing every 5

50 free fast from push (25.4)

3x200 on 3:30
1-2 aerobic backstroke
3 fast IM from push (2:07.0)

300 easy (with stretching)

Every time there is a butterfly set, I am ruined for the remainder of workout. That was very evident today. My shoulders were killing me after the 25s fly, though I took great pride in doing all 12 without breaking stroke. It's amazing how strong the mind can be sometimes.

I didn't know we were doing any fast swims today. If I had known, I wouldn't have had the opportunity to do anything different, though I did wish there was some sort of small set to get our bodies ready for fast swimming. If I always got what I wanted in this world, it would be very dull.

All my 50s were OK, though my breaststroke should have been under 30 seconds. I won't beat myself up about it, though. I was focusing too hard on the kick portion of my breaststroke and not on swimming fast.

I am very pleased with the fast 200 IM. I did alone, as Alan Carter chose to do a 200 back, and went a 2:01, I think. My butterfly felt atrocious, but I made up for it on the other strokes.

I enjoy the workouts when we focus on all four strokes, and Mark Rankin gives us those often. It allows me to not get bored, and keeps me focused on the 100 and 200 IMs, which I am looking forward to racing in about five weeks.

One more thing. I do not do any dolphin kicks on my backstroke turns, so that 300 backstroke was tough. Why don't I dolphin kick? If you saw my ankles, you would know why. I experimented with dolphin kicking in 2009 and 2010, but my backstroke did not improve. I think it got worse, because I was in such oxygen debt on the final 25 of a 100 backstroke (short course yards or meters) that I couldn't finish the race properly. Below is a link to watch my 100 backstroke at the recent short course Masters national championships. You'll see that I'm really the only one who doesn't utilize dolphin kicks, and it didn't seem to be a problem!

Jeff Commings 100 backstroke

I don't want to say that doing a few quick flutter kicks is better than dolphin kicking for everyone. It's just better for me!

Life in the Fast Lane

2011-10-30T18:52:00.000-07:00

Date: Sunday, October 30, 2011
Time: Noon
Location: Tucson, AZ
Short Course Yards
239 days to Olympic Trials

10x100 on 1:40
1-5: 75 choice/25 free with 2 breaths
6-10: IM drill

3x150 on 2:30
50 back/50 breast/50 free aerobic (averaged 1:55)

3x150 on 2:20 free descend to 90 percent (descended to 1:30)

8x25 breakouts on :45

100 breast fast from push (1:01.79)

4x50 choice easy on 1:00

6x50 free on 1:00 breathe every 5

100 back fast from push (55.89)

10x50 choice easy on 1:00

100 IM fast from a push (56.48)

10x50 choice easy on 1:00

4x25 free fast with short fins on :40 (held 11 seconds each 25)

200 easy (with stretching)

Total: 4,200 yards (90 minutes)

Lots of fast swimming today! With five weeks to go until my taper meet, I needed this workout. I wanted to make sure I was fully recovered from my illness and that the stroke techniques I have been working on each day were falling into place.

On my 100 breast, I took seven strokes per 25. I freaked out on each length, because I normally take eight strokes per 25. I thought maybe I was going too slow or gliding too long. The majority of the time -- when I wasn't freaking out -- I was working on the new kick Tako taught me on Friday. I believe that is what helped me reduce my stroke count. I was able to ride the kick a little better, because I was getting more out of it. Five months ago, Tako made me realize that I wasn't keeping my legs together at the end of my breaststroke kick, and now he's shown me how to get more power from my legs. At this rate, watch out Brendan Hansen! (Just kidding.)

I feel like I've neglected my backstroke so much this fall. Putting an emphasis on breaststroke has made me feel like my backstroke is suffering, though today's swim was a reminder that it's doing OK. I still have problems veering to my left, and I think it has to do with the weaker back muscles on my left side. I'm optimistic that things will straighten out in a few weeks.

I was very excited to do the 100 IM, but my timer (my partner, Geoff Glaser), decided to have a lengthy conversation, and I didn't want to be rude and interrupt them. At the time, I thought the extra rest would be fine, but as two minutes turned into five, I started to worry that my muscles would get tight. And they did. My stroke was a little forced on butterfly and part of backstroke, and everything came together on breatstroke (seven strokes again!). The time is pretty good.

The barometer I use for short course yards fast swims from a push is that they should be about five tenths faster than my short course meters tapered goal time in that event. I'm a little slower on the 100 breast, but on target on the 100 back and 100 IM.

Today was one of the few solo workouts that I was sad to see end. I actually thought about doing another 100 IM to see what it would feel like with more awake muscles, but I figured it was best to end on a high note. I might have swum slower!

Today was a good setup for the rest of this week. I'm getting ready for what should be a very tiring week in and out of the pool, but all in all, it should make me a better swimmer.

It's All Coming Back to Me Now

2011-10-28T13:45:00.000-07:00

Date: Friday, October 28, 2011
Time: 5:50 a.m.
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Short Course Yards
241 days to Olympic Trials

8x50 on 1:00 choice

6x200 kick with short fins on 3:30
Descend 1-3 flutter kick, 4-6 backstroke kick
(2:45, 2:40, 2:37, 3:00, 2:50, 2:47)

600 easy, done as:
200 choice
200 (15 breakout/35 easy)
200 easy

50 breast fast from push - 28.7

4x50 easy on 1:00

50 breast fast from push - 29.2

50 easy

10x50 breast kick drill (two kicks, one pull) on 1:05

50 breast fast from push - 28.5

200 easy

Total: 3,300 yards

Today was the first good workout of the week! I was worried I'd go through the entire week without a workout I could be proud of and look back on with a smile. My plan before knowing the workout was to try and get a couple of timed 50s breaststroke in, and I was able to find an empty lane for that. After the 600 recovery, the top group did 6x200 descend 1-3. I had no plans on doing that, especially since I'm six weeks away from my taper meet. Now is not the time to do two sets of descending 200s. I was fine with doing them for the kicking set, because I still need to develop endurance in my lower body. But I needed to have a sprint set in the workout today, and had I done the 6x200 swim with everyone else, I might not have been in the condition to do any fast 50s.

As you can see, I used part of the recovery 600 to get ready for sprint 50s. I can never over-emphasize how important it is to get your nervous system ready for fast swimming before you do it. Don't do a long, easy warmup and expect to have good results on a sprint set. This is why you need to do short bursts during warmup in a meet as well.

I was very happy with my sprint 50s today. I hadn't had good times with sprint sets since returning from Orlando. Part of it may have to do with my body being so tired from travel and work and training, but I'm usually able to push through all of that. The fever I had on Monday proved that I am not as invincible as I once thought.

With Mark Rankin out of town on vacation (shooting innocent animals in Idaho), Tako was there to give me pointers on my breaststroke. He believes my kick needs a lot of work (duh!) and offered some suggestions. It might be difficult to explain in writing. Instead of kicking my feet back, he suggested I kick down a little bit, but not in a butterfly way. He used Kosuke Kitajima's kick as a comparison. I've seen Kitajima's kick underwater, and it is fantastic.. I tried it a couple of times on the first 50, and understood the concept. I let my mind go on the second 50, and I think that contributed to the slower time.

I was going to do the 50s kick drill and get out, but I felt like I got the concept of what Tako was referring to and decided to try another fast 50. Tako wasn't nearby, so I asked a swimmer in a nearby lane to time with the watch on his arm. I have no reason to believe he started the watch late or stopped it too early. My stroke felt faster, and I did it with fewer strokes! On the first two 50s, I took eight strokes each time on the second 25. On the third 50, I took seven strokes!

I rarely focus on my legs during breaststroke. I categorize myself as an upper-body swimmer for all strokes, and while I don't just let my legs dangle behind me when I swim, I tend to focus on what my upper body is doing, because it's where a large part of my propulsion comes from. (This is very different from Rebecca Soni, as you can see in this video.) But lately I have tried to think about my legs, and it has paid off (i.e. Trials cut).

Tako has helped me reform a lot of my swimming this year, and I can't thank him enough for what he's done.

Cool It Now

2011-10-27T11:34:00.000-07:00

Date: Thursday, October 28, 2011
Time: 5:45 a.m.
Location: Phoenix, AZ
242 days to Olympic Trials

400 warmup

18x50 done as:
1 on 1:00
1 on :50
1 on :40
1 on 1:00
1 on :50
1 on :40, etc.
(did breast on the 1:00, back on :50 and free on :40)

600 with running dive at every 50

10x75 free on 1:15 aerobic
(averaged :51)

3x300 free on 4:15
200 aerobic, 100 strong

150 easy

100 free fast from dive (52.4)

200 easy

6x25 backstroke fast with start

100 easy (with stretching)

Total: 4,500 yards (90 minutes)

I took the day off form work today, so I stayed after the normal workout (which ended after the fast 100 free) and worked on backstroke starts. This was the second time I've worked on backstroke starts since May, with the first time being last Sunday. I need to work on these very week. It's always a very weak part of my backstroke race. While I don't believe I'll ever be an underwater kicking dynamo, I don't want to start every backstroke race half a body length behind everyone. I asked Coach Tako to analyze my start, and he said I was using too much of an arc to get into the water. He suggested using my hips to push me backwards more, enter a little flatter without losing speed and have a shallower entry. I tried it a few times and I improved, but not to the point that I felt completely satisfied. I'll do more work on it Sunday.

Today was great for recovery, but it was ruined by the fast 100. After about 3,500 yards of fairly easy swimming, my body wasn't prepared to swim fast. Everyone around me except for Alan Carter, who can seemingly go super fast at the drop of a hat, didn't swim very fast on that 100 either. I felt like I was forcing my arms to turn over faster than they wanted, and I wasn't focusing enough on my technique.

I didn't lose sleep over that fast 100, or how much work is needed on my backstroke start. When I got home after workout, I slept for two-and-a-half hours! I didn't think I needed a nap that much.

I would have swum with Coley Stickels' group tonight, but I have to teach a swimming lesson at 5:00. Despite the fact that I have to run errands and practice my piano playing this afternoon, it's good to give my mind and body a break in the middle of the week.