the17thman

Mind 0 Matter 1

The last day of February.  Leap Day.  After swimming the last four days in a row I should have leaped over today and stayed out of the water.  But I work up at 5am and got on my bike at 5:40am to get to swim.  I felt pretty good actually swimming but the intervals got to me.  I didn't stick it out and gave up too early.   Once I got out of the pool and was in the locker room I knew I could have stayed in and done the workout but when it's a mind over matter sometimes one gives up the fight.  Today was that day.

Warmed up on my own a mixed 300.  Then we moved on to a kick and drill set.  50 Drill / 3x100's Kick, 50 Drill  / 3x50's Kick, 50 Drill / 6x25's Kick.

Main Set:
4x100's Free.  Intervals 1:15/1:15/1:10/1:10
200 IM
3x100's Free.  1:15/1:10/1:10
2x150's IM on 2:10
Then I did a 50 out of a 100. 

These intervals were tough with me just barely making them with a second or two to spare.  If I had gone in a slower but still a fast lane I would have stayed in.  I just couldnt' keep it up at a fast pace.  Oh well I got 45 minutes of pool time in.  Taking the rest of today and Saturday off as my recovery time.  I'll be back in the pool Sunday at 3pm.

Thursdays Gym, Spin and Swim

Lately I've been having a hard time sleeping so I've been falling asleep on the couch watching Simpsons DVD's.   This morning waking up on the couch around 6am I hit snooze of my phone a few times and finally got up around 7am.  After that it was a very slow start before I walked the .7miles to get to the gym by 8am.  After an hour of weights and ab work I staked out my spin bike for the 9:15am class.  After about two months of the same songs the instructor had a new cd and I missed the old music.  I want the classic disco tunes back so bad!  At the end of the class the instructor gave me some compliment in front of the class that I brushed off out loud to which he then responded that I shouldn't be ashamed that I'm in better shape than the rest of the class.  Which really isn't saying much with the group that showed up this morning. 

This evening I got on the bike and biked the 2+ miles to swim.  I warmed up a 500 on my own.  Then we did quickly 2x50's scull drill before going on to some warm up set.  Six times something kick/drill/swim.  I don't remember or care.

Main Set:
50 Drill Free on 55
100 Kick Free on 1:50
2x100's Free Swim on 1:15
take 5 seconds rest
50 Stroke Drill on 55
100 Kick Stroke on 1:50
2x100's Stroke Swim on 1:30 (i did backstroke for this round)
take 5 seconds rest
50 Free Drill on 55
100 Kick Free on 1:50
2x200's Free Swim on 1:35
take 5 seconds rest
50 Drill Stroke on 55 did this fly
100 Kick Stroke on 1:50 mixed this up
2x200's Stroke Swim on 3:00.  I was in the wall lane so after doing the 1st one all fly I gave up and did the 2nd one 25 back / 25 fly.
5 seconds rest
50 Drill Free on 55
100 Kick Free on 1:50
2x300's Free Swim on 4:00.  The 2nd one I did on 3:24. 

50 easy

We then did 5 minutes kick.  50 Moderate / 25 Sprint.  I took a pee break and missed the 1st 50.

Then we got on the blocks and did 25 Sprints.  I think we did 4 of them.

Well dinner is here.  Time to eat and get to bed.

Back In The Pool 10 Hours Later

My original plans was to run the 2+ miles to practice this morning but after all the kick and spin yesterday my legs were not up to it.  So instead of running I got back on the bike.  Maybe if my legs recover later today I'll go for a short run.   Really trying to get in the running habit now that it is getting warmer here in LA. 

Warmed Up a mixed 400.

3x75 kick / 50 drill / 50 swim.  One Fly, One Back, One Fly.

You'll being to notice the Monday and Wednesday morning workouts will be mostly IM for a few weeks not by my choice but the coach's choice.

I think we did something else but I can't remember the workouts are all blurring together.

Main Set:
2x
200 Free on 3:00 Recovery
3x100 IM's on 1:30

Then we got up on the blocks to do 8 sprint 50's.  IM order on the coaches send off.

The workout shouldn't have been so hard but I was tired and sore from all the stroke last night so it was a struggle for me.  I was tempted to stay and do the 7:15 swim freestyle but I was getting leg cramps.  I blame leg cramps on kicking!  I really hate kicking as I'm sure I've mentioned several hundred times here.

Tuesday Spinning and Swimming

This morning I hit the gym for 50 minutes of weight training and spin class.  My favorite spin class is Tuesday morning at 9:15.  The first time I went I didn't like her and I think I referred to her as being too chipper and compared here to Katie Couric.  That was after only one class.  She grew on me. 

Tonight I took the bike for the 2 mile ride to swim practice.

Warmed Up 400 Swim / 250 Pull / 100 Kick

Kick Set:
I hate kicking so I took my time and took a pee break so I only did a 750 total.
300 Kick (okay did that)
3x100 Kick on 1:50  (missed a 100 for a pee break)
6x50's on 55 (missed one at the very end by kicking breaststroke and letting the first person to catch up)

6x50's Swim.  1-3 Free / 4-6 Stroke.  Mixed it up with Fly and Back

Main Set: 12x200's on 3:00 broken in groups of 4
4x200 50 Free / 150 Stroke.  I did these IM so butter, back and breast
4x200 100 Free / 100 Stroke.  I did these 25 fly / 50 back / 25 fly
4x200's 50 Free / 50 Stroke / 50 Free / 50 Stroke.  The first two I did 25 fly / 25 back.  The third one back and the last one fly for the stroke.

50 easy

6x25 on 30.  1-3 back / 4-6 fly.  One easy, one build and one fast.

Damn, this workout killed my legs.  I was cramping up by the last round of 200's.  During the 25's I couldn't kick.  Way too much leg work for one day.

Monday Swim

I know it's not snowing and really not that cold here in Los Angeles but this morning on the way to the 6am swim practice I was freezing.  I was riding my bike but even if I was driving it would still have been cold.  The pool water was way too warm again but it was nice for the 1st twenty five yards after biking in the cold.  I warmed up a mixed 500.  Monday's mornings have a low turnout in the fast lane mostly it's just me.  Some of the other swimmers don't like the Monday coach so they swim all weekend and use Monday as a recovery day.  Which leads me with my own lane.  Wahoo!  Overall turnout was low and we were two or one per lane. 

Warm Up Set
3x50 Kick / 50 Drill / 50 Swim / 50 Kick.  One fly, One back, One breast

Yeah, it's an IM workout today.  Another thing about is that this coach really pushes everyone to swim the Cal Tech Pentathlon so for the next month we'll be doing lot's of IM.

200 Pull IM

We didn't start our main set to about 6:45 so he had 45 minute of warm up.  After the 200 we did some 50's.  Can't remember how many.  But stroke.

Main Set:
200 on 4:00 Recovery Free
100 IM on 1:45
50 Fly on 60 SPRINT
25 Fly on 30 SPRINT
25 fly on 60 SPRINT
then after that she pushed my intervals while the other lanes continued on...
200 on 2:30
100 IM on 1:30
50 Back on 60 SPRINT
25 Back on 30 SPRINT
25 Back on 60 SPRINT
200 Free on 2:30
1oo IM on 1:30
50 Breast on 60 SPRINT
25 Breast on 30 SPRINT
25 Breast SPRINT

100 easy.

Then we did some jumping things.  Vertical pushoffs and frog jumps.  Don't ask me.  I then did a 25 warmdown.

Besides my own little blog here I've been updating our team blog the last week after we let it lapse a bit.  Check it out here