Thursday Night Taper Swim

The workout tonight was designed to be a taper swim and I with a bit of bad attitude made it even more of a taper swim.  My bad attitude was due to the fact that the first 1/2 of the workout was made of everything I hate about swim workouts.  Drill, breath control, over/unders and kicking. 

Warmed up by doing some freestyle, backstroke and butterfly in no general order.  I wasn't counting laps I just kept going for the 10 minutes or so.

Warm Up Set:
4x
100 Drill
3x50's Swim

Round One Freestyle, Round Two IM, Round Three Choice and Round Four Freestyle

Kicking Set:
Hmm...a series of 50's and 25's.  I think it was 3 times a 50 and 4x25's.

Then we did a 300 pull breath control breathing every 3/5/3/5/3/7 by 50.

Main Set;
4x100 Descend on 1:50 I did these freestyle
4x50's on 60 i did these butterfly
4x25's on 30 i did these butterfly

Then we did a bunch of sprints with starts off the blocks then some relay starts.

Pretty easy.  i plan on swimming tomorrow morning. 

Pool Sweet Pool

After over a week being at a different pool it was back to our home pool this morning.  Which meant getting up at 5:10am and biking over to the 6am workout.  I actually enjoy swimming in the morning.  I get up, put my contacts in, read the morning paper for a bit then head off.  I'm back by 7:45 and I am done.  I will admit that I think I swim better later in the day but then you have to pause your day and swim.  Or swim, come home, and head right to bed. 

Warmed up a 350.  I did a 300 swim and was thinking I could get some pulling in but only got in a 50.  The good news is that someone found my paddles last week and turned them in.  When I got to the pool I went to the "lost & found" pile and my little yellow paddles were found!  Wahoo!  Of course that means I won't be buying new ones anytime soon. 

Then we split between taper lanes and non-taper lanes.  We had 5 people tapering in 2 lanes.  The 7:15 workout had about the same but they had so many more non-taper lanes.  A majority of the 7:15 fast lane swimmers went to SCY Nationals and are skipping next weeks meet. 

So over in the taper lanes we did a 100 distance per stroke while the coach gave the other lanes a warm up set.

Then we did 6x75's.  50 drill / 25 swim.  I mixed them up with freestyle and butterfly.

3x225's.  The first one i did a 250 by accident going 25 free / 25 fly.  The second 225 i did free.  The third one 100 fly / 25 free / 100 fly.

6x75's build. Alternated free / fly

4x100's freestyle on 1:20 keeping a pace.  I did a 1:09, 1:10, 1:09, 1:08

4x25's sprints off the wall.  I mixed them up with freestyle and butterfly.

Finished up with some relay starts off the blocks.

I might have missed something.  A set or some 50's or something.  I was a bit stiff.  My upper back / shoulder blades were tight.  I just couldn't get myself going.  i did one of the sprint fly 25's yards on 15 seconds which is a descent time but my timing was off.  The coach even mentioned it.  I also had the wall lane so I doing fly against the wall.  Which I hit early on in the workout so I was trying to avoid it. 

Monday Night Swim

Friday seems like an eternity ago.  Two days off without swimming and it all seems like a distant memory.  At least to my body.  Tonight I jumped in the pool and warmed up a mixed 600.  After that we did a warm up set made of drilling.  It was a series (don't remember how many) of 100's freestyle drill.  The drill was breathing on your side kicking every 6 then turning over to the other side for the 1st 25, then down to 4 for the 2nd 25, then down to 2 for the 3rd 25 with just distance per stroke for the 4th 25.

Main Set:
100 Distance per stroke on 1:20
200 on 2;40
300 pull middle 100 breathing every 5 on 4;00
400 Fast Free on 5:20
300 pull middle 100 breathing every 7 on 4:00
200 free on 2;40
100 free

Easy 50

2nd Free Set:
2x
4x50's on 50 descend
2x25s fast free on 25

Stroke Set;
2x
4x50's kick on 60
100 on 2;40 broken 50 drill / 50 swim

2nd Stroke Set;
2x
4x50's stroke on 50 descend
2x25's fast stroke on 25

the first round i did fly and the second round backstroke.

50 warm down

i biked to and from swim tonight.  Which is 8 miles total.  At least I found a way with no hills!  Wahoo!  Makes the ride that much easier.

Friday Night Swim

Although I like the Culver Pool I am beginning to hate biking to it.  From my place no matter how I do it I have to face a hill.  Getting to the pool is half of the workout.  And then I gotta bike home.  Oy! 

Since the coach was late everyone was late getting in.  In fact I stayed on deck as the "acting" coach till he arrived about 20 past the hour.  I had a workout in my bag that I figured I'd just give if the coach didn't show up.  But he did and I got in the water. 

After a week of swimming, weights, running and biking I was pretty stiff during warm up.  Luckily Saturday is my full recovery day and boy do I need it.  I may do some weights Sunday after running the 10K but I doubt it.  I'll find an excuse not to.  Hey, I am starting to taper so it's all good.  I warmed up a 400 swim and a 200 pull.

Warm Up Set
3x
50 Kick on 60
100 on 1:50  50 Kick / 50 Drill
150 on 2:30  50 Kick / 50 Drill  50 Swim
Round One I did Fly
Round Two I did Freestyle
Round Three I did backstroke.

Main Set:
16x100's
1-4 Freestyle Descend on 1:20
5-8 50 Backstroke (choice) / 50 Freestyle on 1:30
take some rest
9-12 Freestyle Descend on 1:20
13-16 50 Freestyle / 50 Butterfly (choice) on 1:30

50 easy

12x25's on 30
1 easy free
2 fast choice

I then warmed down a 50.

Swimming On Hump Day

Since we have moved pools for the week my Wednesday morning workout became my Wednesday evening workout.  I rode the bike the 4 mile / 30 minute ride to the pool.  I tried another way and made one small turn thankfully I had my iPhone and was able to figure out where I was using the map feature. 

I got to the pool a little early so I just waited around.  By our swim time of 7pm it was clear that we had a very small turnout.  Since we normally don't have a Wednesday evening swim I think people use it as a recovery night off and those who swim in the morning swim in the morning cuz' they most likely can't swim at night.  So I was the only swimmer in the fast lane.  Wahoo for the space.  Bad to have to remember all the intervals.  Plus when you are in a lane with someone you sorta remind each other the intervals so you actually remember them better.  Or maybe that is just me.  It's a theory.

Warmed Up a mixed 600

Then we had a warm up set of some drilling and pulling.

300 Pull Breathe Control
4x50's Drill IM Order
200 Pull Breathe Control
4x50's IM Order 25 Drill / 25 Swim
100 Pull Breathe Control
4x50's IM Order Swim

I don't remember the intervals.  It wasn't much rest.

Main Set:
100 Free Fast on 1:20
50 Easy Free on 50
2x75's Descend on 1:05
50 Easy Free on 50
3x50's Descend on 45
50 Easy Free on 50
100 Free Fast on 1:20
50 Easy Free on 50
2x75's Descend on 1:05
50 Easy Free on 50
3x50's Descend on 45
50 Easy

Rest a bit to get the next intervals as the 2nd half was stroke

100 Stroke Fast on 1:30
50 Easy Free on 50
2x75's Stroke Descend on 1:15
50 Easy Free on 50
3x50's Stroke Descend on 55
50 Easy Free

That was my backstroke round.  I took some extra rest before my butterfly round.

100 Stroke Fast on 1:30
50 easy on 60 (since I was doing fly I gave myself 10 extra seconds.  don't tell the coach)
2x75's Stroke Descend on 1:50
50 Easy on 60
3x50's Stroke Descend on 55
50 Easy

Then after showering it was time to ride home on the bike.  4 miles.  Ugh!  I went up a side street through Beverlywood called Bagley.  Bagley has a bit of a hill.  Not being a real bicycler this was killer for me.  I hate hills.  After this workout the last thing I needed was such a steep hill.  I did it gasping for air.  It was a bit much.  I need to find another way.  The way last night had too much traffic and driving at 8:45 pm I didn't feel that safe. 

Well that is it.  Tomorrow is Thursday which is weight training then my 5 mile run with the Nike Run Club.

Too Too Much

Sometimes one is his own worse enemy or coach.  Since our team's regular pool is closed for 8 days I didn't have my normal Tuesday night swim.  Mind you I ran 7 miles and did weights this morning so it's not like I was having a lazy day.  But I decided to hit another local pool for the lap swim.  So I got on the bike and biked 4 miles to the pool.  Stood in line for ten minutes, paid my $3.00's and got in the pool.  The pool's temperature was perfect.  Nice and chilly!  I warmed up 400 swim, 300 Pull, 3x100's swim.  I then moved on to start doing a few 50's kick.  That is when some of my fellow team mates showed up.  it seems at last nights swim practice a few folks got together and decided to swim together.  One of the swimmers is one of our coaches so I joined in.  By the time they were warmed up and ready to begin I had done 1700 SCY.  The 1,000 warm up then a series of 50's & 100's mixed kick, drill and swim both free and IM. 

When I joined them it was time for 8x50's.  1-4 IM order drill.  5-8 IM order drill 25  / swim 25 (400/2100 SCY)

Main Set:
4x25's Fly on 30 (100/2200 SCY)
3x50's Backstroke on 60 (150/2350 SCY)
2x75's Free on 1:10 (150/2400 SCY)
100 IM on 2:00 (100/2500 SCY)
100 Free on 1:30 (100/2600 SCY)
100 IM on 2:15 (100/2700 SCY)
4x25's Back on 30 (100/2800 SCY)
3x50's Breast on 60 (150/2950 SCY)
2x75's Free on 1:10 (150/3100 SCY)
100 IM on 2:00 (100/3200 SCY)
100 Free on 1:30 (100/3300 SCY)
100 IM on 2:15 (100/3400 SCY)
4x25's Breast on 30 (1003500 SCY)
3x50's Fly on 60 (150/3650 SCY)

And at that point we ran out of time so I did a 50 easy for a total of 3700 SCY.  I only had planned on doing a little more then 2000 SCY maybe 2500 at max.  I still had that 4 mile bike ride home now in the dark on heavy traffic roads.  Ugh!

Luckily the time we have the pool tomorrow is at night so I can sleep in tomorrow.  So now that we have pool time close by I will have some coached workouts.  I was stressing  bit about swimming a week on my own.  I'll swim Wednesday, Friday and Monday with coached workouts.  We return to our pool next Wednesday so I'll be back to my normal swim routine after that.  As for this weekend and next Tuesday it's up in the air.  At least for today  7 mile run, weight training, 8 mile bike ride and 3,650 SCY is enough to get me some rest.  The good part is the pool is in Culver City so I stopped at Trader Joe's to grab some food for dinner and some wine.  Hey, I can sleep in tomorrow!

Recovery Workout

After yesterday's killer workout this morning's workout was a bit easier.  It was almost a taper workout but after the killer set yesterday I was okay with that.

Warmed up about a 400.  Then we did a 100 distance per stroke while the coach gave the other lanes the workout.

4x150's taking 10 seconds rest between each broken 150.  50 kick / 50 drill / 50 swim

4x100's on 1:20 rotating a 25 fast from beginning to end per 100.

8x75's on 1:20 free/stroke/free for the odds, stroke/free/stroke for the evens.  My pattern was 2 butter, 2 back, 2 butter, 2 free

25 easy

8x50's on 1:05.  Stroke / Recovery Free.  I did them fly/back/breast/free/fly/back/back/fly

4x100's free on 1:30 keeping around the same pace per 100.  i did 1:09/1:09/1:08/1:06. 

50 easy

then we did some relay starts off the blocks. 

I think that was the whole workout.  Maybe I missed something but all in all it was a pretty easy workout. 

Favorite Workout Ever?

The headline might be a bit much but I really like today's workout.  Well at least once we got past the warm up set.

Warmed Up a 300 before the warm up set.

Warm Up Set:
300 50 Drill / 50 Swim
4x100's Kick on 1:50
300 50 Drill / 50 Swim
4x100's on 1:20

Main Set:
500 Free on 6:20
400 Free on 5:00
600 Free on 7:40
300 Free on 4:00
700 Free on 10:00 (it was supose to be 9 but we took extra rest)
200 Free on 3:00
800 FAST
100 easy

That was my favorite main set in a very long time if not ever.  I swam in the faster fast lane with another distance swimmer so we pretty much stayed together the whole time.  He had swam an open water swim earlier today so I was able to keep up with him since he was a bit tired.  Otherwise I think in the 800 he'd lap me.  I know for the 1650 he is about a minute faster than me.  All I know is that we just kept swimming.  The slower fast lane seemed to fall apart and most of them got out earlier.  Not that I was looking or paying attention to the other lane I really was working on my pull and turns.  Really trying to get some distance per stroke.  I have the 1500, the 800 and the 400 freestyle in a meet in a few weeks so I'm glad to have gotten some distance in a workout.