the17thman

April In The Rearview Mirror - Swimming

Now that I'm settling into a work schedule that includes working at 8am on Tuesdays and Thursdays my swimming has dipped down to around my old average yards per month.  For April I swam 44,950 yards.  That is down from last month but whatever.  I also missed one long Sunday workout this month. 

Past Months To Compare -

March I swam 62,125 yards.

February I swam 41,750 yards.

January I swam 42,300 yards.

So far for 2011 I've swum 191,125 yards. 

December I swam 22,050 yards.

November I swam 34,375 yards

October I swam 2,700 yards.

September I swam zip, nada, nothing

August I swam 25,000 SCY

July I swam 49,900 SCY

June I swam 43,650 SCY and 4,000 LCM

May I swam 55,000 SCY

April I swam 46,050 SCY

February I swam 53,250 SCY

January I swam 46,750 SCY

 

Cloudy With A Chance Of Swimming

Grrr...I am so wimping out on running of late.  Another morning of setting my alarm to have an easy run before swimming has gone by with me hitting snooze.  I kept hitting snooze and it eventually defaulted to reset.  Luckily I woke up on my own in time to go swimming.

Warm Up 200 Swim / 300 Pull / 200 Kick then 300 alternating Catch Up Drill and Build by 50.  (1000)

Main Set -

6x100's Free on 2 mins. descend (600/1600) I was okay with my descends.  Not as fast as what I had set in my mind as my goal but not so bad.  I started with a 1:15 then dropped to a 1:09 then slowly dropping down to a 1:03.  Now I've always had lazy bad turns but since I've been working on them I'm tried to keep them somewhat okay.  But after I swam I realized my third turn always seems to be the one that falls apart.  I really felt it on my last one.  Something for me to keep in mind.

Then I did a 50 easy (50/1650)

8x50's Pull on 50 Breathing every 3 (400/2050)

So not the greatest swim but felt a bit better then Wednesday.  The neck and lower back pain seems to have moved over to my right shoulder.  More specifically the area I had a pinched nerve a few years ago.  Taking yesterday off from working out really helped my body reset.  I'm just going to start listening to my body a bit more and see how I'm feeling over the next week.

I'll be heading to the gym for some weight training today and maybe a possible spinning class.  It all depends.  The gym is having a demonstration at 2:30 on some of the machines on the first floor of the gym so I want to check it out.  I've used some of these machines in the past but that was when I first joined a gym some 7 years ago.  I think it was 7 years ago last week.  I know I joined a gym on Easter Sunday for what it's worth. 

(image via texas swimming)

Hello Joel, This Is Your Body. Are You Listening To Me?

Since the Leesburg pool is closed it meant getting in some extra sleep this morning.  I figured with a bit of extra rest I could even maybe do a short run before heading to the local pool at 7am.  But my body was talking to me big time telling me not to go running.  My legs were a bit stiff.  So I just stayed in bed to a lil' after 6am.  I figured I'd just go swimming and skip the run. 

At the pool we were lucky that they let us in a few minutes early but not so lucky that they didn't unlock the storage room with kickboards and the clocks.  The coach had his pace wrist watch so he gave us the send offs. 

Once I got into the workout I could feel pain in just about every muscle and bone in my body.  I kept slowly warming up hoping they'd all work out.  100 Swim, 200 Pull, 100 Drill and then a 50 swim with fins.  Then we did 6x50's - 3 Kick / 3 kick/drill.  So a 750 warm up.  I knew the main set was going to be IM so I did some stroke to warm up.  But not enough for my body to be ready.

Main Set:

100 Back on 1:40

200 IM on 3:20

300 IM on 5:00

300 IM on 5:00

200 IM on 3:20

100 IM

The second half was to be faster then the first.  Which even with my body slowly falling apart was pretty easy to do as I was slowly warming up.  My legs were tired and stiff, my neck had some sorta kink in it and everything else felt blech.  During the second half I started to bargain with my body telling it that if I can hold it together during this set I'll take tomorrow off as a recovery.  My body agreed and I did do better the second half.  Feeling less pain and more speed.  The coach said my 2nd 300 was about 6 seconds faster.  The rest I just have to guess I went faster based on how I felt.  (1200/1950)

I then did an easy 100 and got out for a 2,050 yard swim.  I work the afternoon shift and will hopefully feel up to doing arms / chest weights.  I was debating on taking a Boot Camp class but I don't know.  See how I'm feeling as the day goes on.  But tomorrow I'm not taking any classes, no swimming and no leg weights.  Notice I didn't say anything about running.  I'm going to wait to see how I feel the rest of today and when I wake up tomorrow.  I gotta work at 8am tomorrow so running just might not happen.  Guess I'll just wait and see what my body is telling me then!

Ji-ji-ji-jit-jit-jitt-jitt-jittery!

Ji-ji-ji-jit-jit-jitt-jitt-jittery!  Before I workout I always take a caffeine pill.  I buy the generic 200mg pills and pop one before working out.  But this morning I decided I didn't want to be groggy so I took 2 of the 200mg pills. OY!  My heart is still beating like I'm on crack!  Too much caffeine is not fun while working out.  And yeah, I know caffeine is a banned substance but seriously if USMS would to put the rule into effect no one would be in the pool swimming and Starbucks near every local pool would go out of business.

Warm Up

100 Swim / 200 Pull / 50 Swim / 150 Drilling with fins.  Then we did a 200 kick with fins.  (700)

Main Set:

I'm first going to post the core workout then what I did.

400 Free on 6:40

3x200's Free Descend on 3:20

Then 2 Rounds of 4x50's on 50.

What I did...

450 on 6:40

2x225's on 3:20 and 1x250 on 3:20 (which was a moot interval since we rested a bit before doing rour 2 Rounds of 4x50's)

4x50's on 50

The slower group did something else which I don't remember.  For my 2x225's what I did was for the 1st one I got my 100 split and my 200 split and didn't bother with the last 25 since no clock was at that end of the pool and for my 2nd one at the 25 I looked at the clock so I then got my 100 split and 200 split from that point.  For the 250 I couldn't see my 100 split but at the 200 I was around a 2:16 and damn if I can remember my 250 time now.  For my 450 I went out too fast for my 1st 100 feeling that caffeine then pulled back.  I also can't remember what I did it in.  (1350/2050)

So 2,050 yards.  This afternoon is a gym day.  Trying to decide if it'll be a leg/abs or arms/chest day.

 

 

 

Bunny Day Swimming Reset Workout

Ahhh...Sunday!  The last few Saturday's have been recovery days with no working out and then Sunday I'd swim a long workout.  So this weekend I took it easy yesterday and went right to bed after Doctor Who.  Even with a good night sleep I was a bit sleepy and groggy.  I headed to the pool hoping to wake up.

The workout - 

1x500 loosen

4x75 kick with fins on 1:30 - dolphin front, back, side on each one (300/800)

Took a bit of a pee break before moving on...

4x50 on :50 -  pace (200/1000)

Main Set:

1x400 free on 6:00 - good pace (400)

1x200 IM on 3:20 (200/600)

1x300 free on 4:30 - good pace (300/900)

1x150 IM on 2:30 (150/1050)

1x200 free on 3:00 - good pace (200/1250)

1x100 IM on 1:40 (100/1350)

1x100 free on 1:30 - goodpace (100/1450)

4x50 - one of each on 1:00 (200/1650/2650)

I felt sooo sluggish during the set.  My pacing was 1:15 for the 300 and 400 and a 1:12 for the rest.  My strokes felt forced and stiff.  I just wasn't feeling it but forced myself to continue.  

3x100 pull on 1:40 - focus on ride and catch (300/2950)

I then did some driling and pulling for about another 600 waiting for everyone to start swimming and finish the warmup.  Everyone was a bit later then normal.  (600/3450)  We then all did a 200 kikc (200/3650)

Main Set:

6x150's It was drill/kick/swim/drill/rest so a 125 on an interval then a 25 sprint on another interval.  I don't remember the intervals.  I did them fly, back, breast, free, fly and the very last one just swam a full 150 for a warm down.  (900/4550)

I got out since I have lunch plans and wanted to eat a small breakfast and do some laundry so I'd have something to wear at lunch.  So a 4,550 yard swim today.  The gym is closed today so no gym time.  Doh!