the17thman

Friday Morning

I wanted to sleep in.  I even hit the snooze button as my iPhone tried to wake me up.  Even as I was walking the bike out the front door at 5:42 I was thinking how nice it would be to sleep in.  Hell even during most of the warm up once I started to swim I was thinking I can head home and skip swimming.  I've left workouts before I can do it again. 

I stuck it out.  It wasn't pretty but I finished the workout.  Actually once I got past the warm up everything was okay.  As for the warm up I did about a 150 before we started the warm up set.  Some of which I had to take a pee break.  The warm up set was three times 75 Drill 1:10 / 4x50's Kick on 55 / 100 Swim / 25 Build.  First round freestyle, second round stroke choice and third round IM.  Before I head to swim I take my FRS energy drink with a big tumbler of water so I usually need to pee during the warm up set.  Plus I figure I'll get it out of the way so I can do the main set without stopping. 

Freestyle Main Set:
4x100's on 1:15
200 on 2:40
4x75's on 55 I think
2x200's on 2:40

The 200's were to be descended.  So the last 200 was to be 85-90%.  I really felt strong during most of the set.  Actually was doing pretty good timing.  The last 200 took all my energy. 

50 easy

Stroke or IM Set:
4x75s on 1:05 (i did them backstroke)
1x100 on 1:30 (i did it butterfly)
4x50's on 45.  (i did one fly, 2x back and one freestyle)
2x100's on 130 (i did them butterfly)

Like the 200s the 100's were to be descended.  I haven't been swimming that much butterfly recently so I was a bit rusty.  Between running last night and just my general feeling of being tired doing 3x100's butterfly was a bit much.  I don't even know if my stroke is looking good or not for the fly it was just a matter of finishing today. 

Don't know when I'll swim next my best guess is Tuesday.  I could try a lap swim first thing Saturday morning but who knows.  I may just take a few days off from swimming.  I won't swim Sunday afternoon as I'll have the Nike Human Race that evening.  So this might have been the last swim for August.  So three months to Short Course Meters Regionals.  Let the countdown begin. 

Middle Distance Freestyle

After yesterdays long course meters freestyle workout concentrating on my kick it was back to short course yards this morning.  I got to admit it is a lot easier to work on one's stroke in a long course pool.  I did try to make sure I was kicking with my swim but to be honest when the intervals got tougher I went into my old style of swimming.  Which is all about the pulling.

Warmed up around a 350 on my own in between my chatting.  Then we did a warm up set of 50 Drill / 75 Swim four times with fist drill, catch up drill, finger tip drag drill and fist drill to finish it up.

Then we did a 400 Pull.  The first 200 breathe control by 50 every 3/5/any/7 and the last 200 just distance per stroke.

6x150's Freestyle on 2:00

Another 400 Pull.  This time the first 200 counting your strokes. So first 25 count and then second 25 minus one stroke.  Third 25 count stroke and then fourth minus two strokes.  Fifth 25 count strokes and then sixth minus three strokes.  Seventh 25 count strokes and then eighth minus two strokes.  The second 200 was just distance per stroke.

3x300's on 3:55 descend

4x25's on 30

warmdwon  

The 150's I tried to put in as much kicking in my stroke.  But I was getting tired.  It takes so much energy to add in that kick.  I just feel so much slower.  For the 300's it was all about keeping a pace.  The third one was pretty fast.  For all three I was doing sub 1:10's on the splits.  My legs were killing me and I thought I was going to cramp up.  Pushing off the wall during the last 300 I was beginning to feel the cramps coming.  By the time we did the 4x25's I was so tired.  I just used them as part of my warm down.  

Kicking, Why Must I Kick When Swimming?

Over the weekend I came up with a workout for today which you can read LINK but when I got up and biked to the Culver City Pool my mind had changed a bit.  First of all only one other team mate was joining me this morning.  Second that person was my coach from yesterday and she was talking about my kicking when I swim.  Usually when I swim my feet are two little anchors that just drift back and forth behind me.  I don't kick.  My little size nine feet do more of a scissor like movement at best and not the fast small kick that is needed.  So I decided to work on my kick when swimming freestyle today.  Without having our typical intervals I was able to think about my kick.  I warmed up a 200 before starting a series of 100's.  4x100's broken 50 drill / 50 swim.  I then did a few more 100's I think 4 this time pulling thinking distance per stroke.  Then it was kick time.

4x50's Freestyle Swim on a minute.
take an extra 15 seconds
4x100's Freestyle Swim on 1:45. 

These intervals were easy as I was really working at adding the kick.

4x50's Freestyle Swim on 50
i rested a bit
4x100's Freestyle Swim on 1:45

then i chatted a bit with the coach about my kick.  she was counting my stroke cycle which was less than normal with my kick added in.

400.  I kept each 100 on a 1:29 pace.  Once again all I though about was kicking and kicking.  I don't think my legs moved so much in one workout.

4x50's Kick no board on 1:30.

100 warmdown

I just gotta keep on thinking about the kick.  I know I've mentioned it before but when the a coach mentions doing freestyle with a 6 beat kick I had to ask what that meant.  That was only a few months ago.  I don't know if I was doing a 4 or a 6 beat kick I just worked on just putting that kick in.   Counting would have over taxed my mind.

I didn't do a whole lot of meters/yardage but it was a quality swim. 

Back In The Water. Monday Morning Swim.

What can I say about the weekend besides me just being lazy.  I planned on just taking Saturday as a recovery day but ended up taking the whole weekend off from working out.  No swim, no gym and no run.  I should have ran last night but instead I sat on the couch and watched movies.  Of course that meant that this morning I'd be a bit sluggish trying to dust off those cobwebs and get moving.

Luckily for me it's Monday and the workout wasn't as demanding as it could have been.  Warmed up a 400 before our warm up set. 

2x400's.  The first one pulling.  The second one swimming.  I did these on 5:15.  I was by myself in the fast lane and the coach gave me a interval of 4:45.  That was a bit pushing it.  So I added 30 seconds and got 15 seconds rest.  I would of had to fly to make a 4:45 interval for 400 yards.

Main Set:
Why can't I remember it.  Hmm...I just remember that we were working on our freestyle kick while swimming.  I actually was kicking while swimming.  Which for me is really hard.  I hate kicking.  When I swim freestyle my feat just drag behind me as my upper body does all the work.  I know I did 50's on 45 and I did  4x200's on 2:45 freestyle rotating a 50 Kick from front to back the rest swim.  If I remember I'll post an update later.

Stroke Warm Up:
2x100 Kick / 50 Drill / 40 Swim.

Stroke Set:
100 on 1:45 fly
2x50's on 60 fly
4x25's on 30 fly
1x100 FAST Freestyle working on kicking on 2:00
100 on 1:45 back
2x50's on 60 back
2x25's on 30 back
1x100 FAST Freestyle working on kicking on 2:00

I took a slower interval for the stroke work to swim with another lane.  I just don't like to swim alone.  I may go running later or I may wait to tomorrow.  Once again tomorrow is Tuesday so I'm heading to Culver for the lap swim to get in some long course meters in.  Hopefully waking up tomorrow will be easier than this morning. 

Friday Morning Swim Practice

Not much to say about this mornings swim.  I biked to swim and arrived about 5:55am.  It's getting so dark in the morning.  Soon it will cold and dark.  Not a fun way to start the day.  Warmed up about a 350 before moving on to the warm up set.

Warm Up Set:
Twice (first round freestyle / second round stroke)
2x75's 50 kick / 25 swim
100 Drill
50 Swim

Main Set:
4x150's Free on 1:55
1x100 IM or Stroke on 1:30
3x150's Free on 1:55/1:50/1:55
2x75's Stroke on 1:10
2x150's Free on 1:50
3x50's Stroke on 55
1x150 Free FAST

50 easy

300 Pull on 4:00
100 Pull Breathing every 3 on 1:20
75 Pull Breathing every 5 on 1:10
50 Pull Breathing every 7
25 Pull Breathing every 9

Then I did a 100 warmdown

Wednesday Morning Swim

After swimming Long Course yesterday it was a breeze this morning swimming short course.  This being Wednesday we had our choice between freestyle and stroke workouts.  I decided to do the freestyle workout.  During our warm up we hit a hitch as one of the lane lines broke.  They tried to fix it but we ended up having to swim without a lane line.

I warmed up about a 200 as I was too busy chatting and then the broken lane line screwed up the warm up.  The freestyle lanes then did a 100 distance per stroke while the coach got the stroke lanes going.

We then did a 400.  Alternating 50 Drill / 50 Swim. 

Main Set:
3x350's on 4:30.  I was leading the lane and was getting 15-20 seconds rest.  My lane mates were getting 5 seconds rest if any at all.  They did the first two then by the third one all just stood by the wall or took pee breaks.  One by one as they re-entered the set each person would then push off on my feet.  So here I was working even harder cuz' these wankers had no common courtesy.  We regrouped after the 350's.

400 Pull.  I did the first 300 with paddles but stopped and took them off.  I ended up going behind the other swimmers for the last 100.  Actually I lost count so I was letting them go ahead of me so I'd just stop when they did.  Before we started the 400 our coach gave us an interval but said it's up to the lane leader to decide if we needed more rest.  Before we left I told everyone we'd regroup at the end of the 400.  The person leading during the last 100 of this 400 who did only a 100 of the last 350 decided on his own to stay on the 400 interval and left to start the next part.

3x250's on 3:15.  Funny the new lane leader didn't make the first 250.  I basically was on his feet the whole time so I moved to lead the lane for the rest of the set.  We had to change the interval since everyone but me didn't make the intervals.

3x100's Kick on 1:55 (Okay so now it was my turn to take a bit off as I took a pee break)

6x150's on 2:00.  Pretty much I had the lane to myself for this set.  Everyone else bailed.  I was doing about 1:50's on the first three and then descended the last three ending about about a 1:45 for the last one.

And that was it.  This workout was just annoying to me.  I understand that our lanes are made up of people with different skill sets.  But jeez if you are going to sit out something you need to remember that when you get back in the water to not jump on the feet of the guy in front of you who hasn't been sitting out.  That guy is working his ass of and is getting tired and here you are all rested and ready to sprint.  It's like Back Off!   Of course that just makes me work harder which might be a good thing.  Ugh!  At least tomorrow is my day off from swimming. 

Long Course Workout Tuesday

Myself and three other of my team mates swam a Long Course Meters swim workout during the Culver City Plunge Lap Swim this morning. I jotted down a workout and everyone followed.

Warm Up a 300. (300)

500 Pull 250 with Paddles / 250 without. I shared m paddles with someone so she did the reverse. (800)

I jotted down intervals but because we were at different swim levels those intervals went out the window. I worked on keeping to the same pace for each 100.

400 Swim I kept a 1:25 (1200)
600 Swim I kept the same 1:25 pace maybe 1:26 (1800)
400 Swim Keeping the same 1:25 pace maybe a bit faster (2200)
600 Swim Negative split this 600. First 3x100's on a 1:25 pace. Then 2x100's on a 1:20 pace and finishing up with a 1:15. If we keep this Tuesday workout going I'd like to be at my slowest on a 1:20 pace. So I got some improving to do. (2800)
200 Swim (3000)
4x50's Recovery (3200)

8x50's Sprint on 1:05 (3600)

100 warm down.

I also biked to and from the pool at about 4 miles each way. I use to hate long course but now I'm really liking it. Once you are in a groove it's just keeping in that and going.

I'm looking at my 1500 LCM Pacing from the meet the other week which were:

1:13.62
1:17.12
1:18.71
1:18.68
1:18.43
1:18.57
1:18.24
1:18.07
1:17.51
1:17.42
1:17.27
1:18.01
1:17.49
1:16.86
1:13.32

So now I just need to be consistent with a 1:20 pace during anything less than lets say maybe a 800.  Keeping a pace is almost easier in long course than short course!

Monday Morning Swim

After two days out of the pool getting back into the umm...swim of things was a bit of a challenge.  That and last nights run.  I had planned on leaving the house this morning a few minutes early to take a quick detour to the post office to drip off a bad movie back to Netflix.  But getting off the couch was too much so I just dropped it off at the box at the end of the street while biking to swim.  The difference in dropping a movie off at the post office before 6am and dropping it in a blue box that picks up at 11am makes a day of difference in getting a new movie.  Anyways, I rode the bike to swim.

Once at the pool I took my usual time getting in the water and warming up.  I did about a 350 mixed with some pulling.  We then did a warm up set of 4x150's broken 75 kick / 50 drill / 25 swim.  The drills were one arm freestyle, finger tip drag freestyle, catch up freestyle and fist freestyle. 

Free Set:
2x300's on 4 minutes.  Okay me and my lane mate screwed this up.  The first 300 we did a 350.  I thought so but since I was sorta lost in a dream like state I did the extra 50.  It wasn't to the next lane finished at the same time that we realized that we did an extra 50.  Then the second 300 my lane mate thought we had moved on to the next part of the set and stopped at the 150 mark.  Opps!  We did the second one on 4 minutes.
6x150's on 2 minutes.  Descend 1-3 take and extra 15 seconds then descend 4-6.  It took me a bit to get into my groove.  The 6th one was my best one which was planned but also I finally woke up.

50 easy

Then we  moved on to the stroke portion of the workout.  3x150.  75 kick / 50 drill / 25 swim.  One fly, one back and one breast.

Stroke Set:
2x100's IM on 1:30
4x50's IM order on 50
200 IM on 3:00
8x25's on 30

150 warmdown.

Easy enough workout for a Monday.  Tomorrow a few of us are going to meet at 6am at Culver to do a distance free workout on our own.  I need to put together a workout for our little group.  Till next time...

Friday Morning Swim

I'm tired.  That's it.  I made it to practice but sitting on deck at 5:55 I just felt like going home and napping.  Last night I tried to stay up to watch the swimming but failed.  I was up late but not late enough and too late for me to be up at 5am. 

Warm up was a joke for me as I goofed off.  I was hoping that I'd get slower intervals for todays workout but that really didn't happen.  I warmed up first around a 250.  Then we had a warm up set.  100 Kick then 4x25's alternating drill and swim by 25.  We did this set twice.  I took a pee break and took my time doing the warm up set.

After that we had one last warm up set.  Oh shit.  What was it?  I know a 100 on 1:20.  Damn.  I can't remember. 

Main Set:
4x125's Free on 1:40
200 Free on 2:30 (i changed this interval to 2:40)
4x125's on 1:45  (I did them 50 fly / 50 back / 25 free, in reality it was IM rotating an extra 25 of a stroke)
150 Free on 2:00
4x125's on 1:50 (i did them again 50 fly / 50 back / 25 free)
100 Stroke.  I did this butterfly.

50 easy

Last Set:
100 Pull on 1:15
75 Pull on (oh shit what was that interval) breathing by 25 3/3/5
25 Pull on 30 No Breathing (okay I took one breath, but that is it)
100 Pull on 1:15
75 Pull on (oh shit what was that interval) breathing by 25 5/5/7
25 Pull on 30 No Breathing (okay I took one breath, but that is it)
100 Pull on 1:15
75 Pull on (oh shit what was that interval) breathing by 25 7/7/9
25 Pull on 30 No Breathing (okay I took one breath, but that is it)

Then I warmed down a 50.  I don't know about today's workout as I was struggling.  I just didn't have any energy.  Oh well, next time.

Double Swim Workout Morning

This morning the alarm went off just like it always does on a Wednesday morning at 5:01am.  After about a minute of just laying still I got out of bed and started to shuffle my way into the hallway.  It was at that point that I could hear the low hum of music from the apartment building next door.  Once again the neighbors alarm clock went off and stayed on while the little whore is shacked up somewhere else.  Okay maybe not a whore but this is the third time in about a week that the alarm clock has gone off and stayed on for some period.  The only silver lining is that it is music playing even if it's wimpy soft rock. 

I leave my place at 5:41 and proceed on bike to practice.  I still haven't replaced the batteries on my head light on my bike so I'm riding in the dark.  I decided to try a different route to the pool.  It's still 2 miles but I take streets that have more traffic and more light. 

Practice turnout was pretty light so I jumped into the stroke lane.  Since it is Wednesday we get to swim either a stroke workout or a middle distance workout.  My choice wasn't from free will it is usually decided by who shows up at workout.  The middle distance free lanes today were made up of much slower swimmers.  It would have been annoying  catching up to them in 200's so I decided to swim butterfly in the stroke lanes. 

The warm up itself started off with me chatting it out about the latest Olympic swims from yesterday.  Being a gay team we ended up discussing Katie Hoff and her eyebrows.  Well I brought it up and then someone joined the conversation only hearing half of what was said but guessing correctly that the eyebrows in question were of Hoff.  I get into the pool and warm up about a 300 on my own before we start the warm up set. 

Warm Up Set
2x
100 Kick / 50 Dril / 50 Swim (i did both rounds fly)

4x75's Stroke.  10 seconds rest.  25 Pull / 50 Swim.  I alternated back and fly.

4x200's on 3:15.  Rotating a 50 Stroke in each 200.  So the 1st one being 50 Fly then 150 Freestyle.  The rotating 50 starts from the beginning and ends up the last 50. 

50 Easy, well I skipped that and took a pee break.

200 Stroke Fast.  Myself and one other swimmer decided to do butterfly.  We move over and share a lane.  That way it would minimize the need to do one arm butterfly as we passed each other.  My turns were pretty bad as usual and once off the wall when I was passing my lane mate my one arm fly put my timing off for a bit.  I ended up coming in at 2:30.  Not bad for a SCY workout time without starting off the blocks. 

100 easy

Next Set

2x100's Stroke on 1:45.  Did these backstroke
4x50's on 1:10.  Did these backstroke.
8x25's on 35.  Did these backstroke.

100 Stroke Fast.  Did this butterfly.  Came in around a 1:09.  I think.  Can't remember now but that is sticking in my head so let's say 1:09.  Not bad once again for a workout swim especially for the end of a workout.  But then that wasn't the end.  I stayed on for the 7:15 workout.

My warm down / warm up was pretty easy with some time to get some recovery drink in me.  I think I did another 300 or so.  Wasn't really counting.  Just swimming back and forth.  I ended up swimming in the stroke lane as the middle distance free lane was too crowded.  Ugh!

2x
100 Kick / 50 Dril / 50 Swim.  I alternated back and fly.

4x75's Stroke.  10 seconds rest.  25 Pull / 50 Swim.  I alternated back and fly.

4x200's on 3:00.  Rotating a 50 Stroke in each 200.  So the 1st one being 50 Fly then 150 Freestyle.  The rotating 50 starts from the beginning and ends up the last 50. 

50 Easy.

200 Stroke Fast.   I did this butterfly again.  This time we had five in a lane.  One person doing the 200 backstroke and the three others doing it IM.  This 2nd 200 felt better but I was breathing every stroke after the first 50.  By the 150 I had caught up to the last person so my last 50 fly was a joke.  I stopped to give him some room then did some breast when I caught up to him over and over.  I ended up with a 2:29 for the 200 SCY fly this round but it could have been faster.

50 easy

4x50's 25 Drill / 25 Swim.  Did this backstroke
200 Stroke on 3:10.  Did this backstroke.
4x50's Stroke on 55.  Did this backstroke.
8x25's Stroke.  Did these backstroke and used them as a warm down.

We had another 100 fast but our lane was a bit confused about the send off so I gave up and got out. 

I don't plan to doing doubles as a regular part of swimming.  But I felt good after the first workout.  Guess that is what happens when you don't swim Tuesday night and head back for Wednesday morning like I have been doing for the last few months.  Okay so doing a double goes against my "I'm cutting back" mantra.

Myself and another lane mate will start swimming on our own Tuesday mornings to get a long course workout in.  A good distance free workout that I feel I'm lacking.  This will change my weight training a bit.  So starting next Tuesday I'll be heading to Culver to swim at 6am.  This should help me with my 1500/1650.