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.
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Saturday, November 12, 2011
Faraway (So Close)
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.
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.
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Y'All Got It!
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.
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.
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Almost There
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.
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.
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Surprise, Surprise
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.
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.
Sunday, November 6, 2011
Take Five
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.
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.
Friday, November 4, 2011
I Won't Back Down
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!
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!
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Pull Me Under
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!
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!
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Wake Up Little Susie
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.
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.
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
You Can't Always Get What You Want
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!
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!
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