Thursday Night Swim SCY

Image by wisze via FlickrEarlier this morning I got on the bike and hit the gym.  I wasn't feeling the whole gym dry land training thing and did weights for about 45 minutes maybe a minute or two less.  I rode the bike just cuz' I didn't feel like running.  I think I have the case of the blahs.  I actually slept in more than I wanted.  I woke up to the alarm around 6am but turned it off and went back to bed.

The blahs continued tonight during swim practice.  I just wasn't feeling it but didn't want to give up and leave.  So I swam.  I really couldn't gather the strength to really be a speed demon.  But I did rally at the very end and put in a good butterfly swim.

Warmed up a tedious and slow 400.  We then did a warm up set as follows:

200 Pull breathing 3/3/5/7 by 50.  I started off with paddles but my body and shoulders were not ready for them and I took them off after a 100.  I really goofed off during this whole warm up.  I was hoping I'd be able to shake it off by the main set.
150 stroke 75 drill / 75 swim backstroke.  I started to be good and do one arm backstroke but when I was looking around with my bobbing head I noticed no one was doing drills so I did more swimming than one arm.
100 Kick
50 Build backstroke.
200 Pull breathing 3/5/5/7 by 50
150 stroke 75 drill / 75 swim Breaststroke.  I missed the first 100 of the 150 as I walked as slowly as I could to the bathroom and back.
100 kick
50 build breaststroke.
200 Pull breathing 3/5/7/7 by 50.  after the breaststroke I was last in my lane and tried my best to do the breathing pattern.  I had to do more breathing every 3 than the others and mixed it in from time to time.  By the last 25 I was breathing my normal 2 strokes.
150 stroke 75 drill / 75 swim butterfly
100 kick
50 build butterfly

then since the coach noticed that no one was doing breath control we had to do the last 200 over again.  200 Pull breathing 3/5/7/7 by 50.

I think we had a small set here but I don't remember what it was.  50's?  25's?  whatever. Oh and since I hated the long warmup set I have no idea what the intervals were.  I just went 5 seconds after the person in front of me.

Main Set:
100 IM on 1:40
100 Stroke on 1:40 I did these backstroke
100 Free on 120
4x25's on 30 your 3rd best stroke.  I did these backstroke
rest a bit
100 IM on 1:40
100 Stroke on 1:40 I did these backstroke
100 Free on 120
4x50's on 55 your 1st best stroke.  I did these freestyle.  I loafed these big time.
rest a bit
100 IM on 1:40
100 Stroke on 1:40 I did these backstroke
100 Free on 120
4x75's on 1:25 your 2nd best stroke.  I did these backstroke also. 
rest a bit
100 IM on 1:40
100 Stroke on 1:40 I did these backstroke
100 Free on 1:20 oh i think i took an additional 15 seconds rest and moved from 1st to 2nd after this.
4x100's on 1:45 your 1st best stroke.  I did these butterfly.  I know I didn't keep to the correct pattern but I wanted to work the fly at the end of my lax workout.  Now my lane mate was doing free and I think he looked at the faster fast lane's interval of 1:40 because that is what I think we did.  My last 2x100's I did a 1:13 and a 1:11.  Not great but good considering I was having a blah workout and that was the last thing of the workout.

I warmed down a 100 and got out.  Our lane started with 4 people but by the time we got to the main set we were down to 2.  Of course it was the lane wall but I don't mind 1 other person in my swim lane.

Wednesday Morning Pace Swim SCY

Another chilly morning here in Los Angeles.  Getting myself into gear this morning took a bit this morning as I started off with a very slow warm up.  I did about a 250 freestyle pull in between a few chit chats.  We then started with a warm up set 3x150's broken with a 50 drill, 75 technique and a 25 build.

600 Pull.  First 200 breathing every 3/5/any/7 by 50.  Then the last 400 was distance per stroke.  We were supose to count our strokes swimming to the deep end then minus on stroke coming back.  In order to keep count of laps and count of strokes I did this every other 50. 

8x100's on 1:20 Pace.  I was keeping them at 1:12.

2x400's on 5:15.  First 400 was keeping a pace.  The second 400 we were to keep the first 200 on pace then the second 200 use our 200 race strategy.  I was coming in just under 5 mins for both 400's.

800 Free.  I did it on about a 9:34.  My first 400 I was doing about 1:14's then I descended for the second half.  Considering I swam yesterday morning and last night the time wasn't so bad.  Plus I was by myself with no one to either pace with or push me to go faster.  A month ago I did an 800 in workout in abot 9:25 and last spring about a 9:45 so it's in between my other morning 800 swims.

After we did a 25 to the deep end and then one 25 off the blocks.  My dive was pretty bad.  When I hit the water I must have been at some strange angle as it felt like my legs just slapped the water flat.  Just like a belly flop but with the legs.  It was just after the 800 so I'm chalking it up to being tired and lazy.  Then I warmed down a 100. 

Tuesday Night Swim SCY

Image via WikipediaAfter this morning swim I did my usual 50 minutes at the gym with weight training.  Then tonight it was back in the pool.  By the very end of the workout my body was aching.  I'll sleep good tonight.

Warm Up:
300 Swim
300 Pull
125 Kick

Warm Up Set:
3x
100 kick
75 drill
50 swim
25 build
1st round freestyle, 2nd round breast and 3rd round backstroke.  I took a pee break and skipped the 100 breast kick. 

Main Set:
200 Free on 2:50
2x75's Breaststroke on 1:15
100 Free on 1:20
4x50's Breaststroke on 55
We rested and changed the lane order.  I so wasn't going to lead in a breaststroke set.  Also we screwed up the 50's interval it was suppose to be on 50 not 55.  I kept it at 55 for the other two rounds.

200 Free on 2:50
2x75's Back on 1:15
100 Free on 1:20
4x50's Back on 55
At this point our lane of 4 went down to 2.  The 2 of us remaining took a pee break before moving on.  As you can tell we were the less serious of the 2 fast lanes

200 Free on 2:50
2x75's Fly on 1:15
1x100 Free on 1:20
4x50's Fly on 55
My lane mate pulled the free and did IM for everything else.  I was dying by the last 50 fly. 

50 easy.  And now I have my own lane!

6x100's Pull Freestyle.  2x1:25 / 2x1:20  / 2x1:15

8x25's.  Okay this is when I fell apart.  It was to be 12x25's and well I sorta made my own intervals.  I was getting tired and lost track of when I left the wall.  When I'm tired keeping track of intervals becomes impossible.  I'm just trying to hold me stroke together. 

I then warmed down an easy 100.

If I hadn't swam this morning and did weights this workout would have been a breeze.  Even with that said I held my own.  Yeah, I goofed off during the breaststroke parts.  The 6x100's pull I felt strong and I really was watching my hand entry, catch and pull. 

3500 LCM Tuesday Swim

>  Warm Up
>
>  300 Swim
>  300 Pull
>  Broken 300:
>  50 Kick
>  50 Drill
>  100 Swim
>  100 Kick
>  50 Drill
>  50 Swim
>  (total warm up 900 meters)
>
>  400 pulling.  Think about pulling your arm over a barrel.
>
>  2x50s Build
>  1x100 Build
>  (heart beat should be up 200 meters / 1500 meters)
>
>
>  Main Free Set:
>  2x100's Free 1:35
>  1x200 Free  3:00
>  1x300 Free 4:30
>  1x100 Free 1:35
>  2x200 Free 300
>  1x300 Free
took a quick pee break
>  1x100 Free 1:45
>  1x200 Free 3:15
>  2x300 Free 4:30
>  For the 2x portion's the 2nd one should be faster.  For example let's say you decide you want to swim a 1:30 pace.  Your first 100 would be on 1:30 and your second 100 would be faster.  Then your first 200 would be on 3 mins and the second one faster.  Pick a pace you can hold and then the goal is to beat that pace for one 100, one 200 and one 300. (2000 meter set /  3500 meters)
>
Then I warmed down a 100.  I had written down more for the workout but my lane mates decided to get out.  Then a lady jumped in to do some kicking so that also helped me decide to get out when I did.  The lap swim was actually busy so the 4 of us had to swim around 2 lap swimmers.  We were in the marked fast lane but the two other lap swimmers were so clearly not fast swimmers.   After a few near collisions one did more over but that was about 75% into the workout.

As for my swims they were okay today.  I didn't burn any bridges when swimming.  My last 200 I did a 2:57 and my last 300 finished at 3:55.  Not bad for LCM but I thought I was on a faster pace at that 300. 

Monday Morning Swimming

The smoke cleared a bit this morning so swimming was a bit easier then yesterday afternoon.  It wasn't a perfect air quality day but hey this is Los Angeles.  To check the air quality levels for Los Angeles check out Air Quality Management District LINK and AirNow LINK. 

Since today is Monday the workout concentrated on technique and drilling. 

Warmed Up a 400 swim.

12x75's Freestyle as follows: 10 seconds rest

1x75 Kick
1x75 50 kick / 25 swim
1x75 25 kick / 50 swim
1x75 swim
4x75's 50 drill / 25 swim
1x75 50 technique / 25 fast swim
1x75 25 technique / 25 fast swim / 25 technique
1x75 25 fast / 50 technique
1x75 fast

4x100's on 1:20 as follows
1x 50 technique / 50 fast
1x 25 technique / 50 fast / 25 technique
1x 50 fast / 50 technique
1x100 fast
rest 30 secods
1x 50 technique / 50 fast
1x 25 technique / 50 fast / 25 technique
1x 50 fast / 50 technique
1x100 fast

50 easy. 

Then we moved to stroke (i worked on my butterfly)

1x75 Kick
1x75 50 kick / 25 swim
1x75 25 kick / 50 swim
1x75 swim
2x75's 50 drill / 25 swim

Hmm...then we did some more swimming stroke.  We did 4 of something but was it 75's or 100's.  Oh I think it was 50's as follows.  1st one the 2nd 25 fast.  2nd one the middle 25 fast.  3rd one the 1st 25 fast.  4th one fast off the walls.

25 easy

We did one 50 freestyle well more like one 60 freestyle.  Pushing off the wall at the black line do a flipturn then swim into the wall do the flipturn then back at the black line do another flipturn swimming to the wall with one last turn and push off finishing at the black lane.

Then we did 3x25's starting from the center of the pool working our turns.

After that I warmed down a 75ish.

I was temped to stay and swim a double but decided to head home.  Tomorrow I'll swim a LCM workout at Culver.  Have an idea for the workout for my mates and I.

Swimming In The Smoke

I ended up swimming at the outdoor pool even with the air quality warnings although I didn't last for the whole workout.  I didn't even finish the main set. 

Warmed Up a 250

Warm Up Set:
something here...umm...100's maybe.
6x50's Drill on 55
4x100's Swim on 1:20
6x50's Kick on 55
2x100's Swim on 1:20

Then we did a stroke warm up.  I think we did it twice with a 75 IM on an easy interval then a 50 free fast on 35 then something then another 50 fast on 35.  I so don't remember this workout.

Then the main set in which started off badly for me and went downhill.  By the first round of the set about 1/2 of the swimmers got out.  Already a low turn out turned into one lane per swimmer.

I did a 100 back but it was to be a 250.
4x50's IM order on 55
100 IM on 1:20.  that didn't happen.
50 easy.
regrouped. well i was on my own while the two fastties continued the set correctly.
250 back. 
4x50's IM order on 55
100 IM on 1:20.  I actually did the interval
50 easy

Okay this set was to be 4x but it ended up only being 2x.  I got out but a small group of folks stayed in and had a mini-swim clinic with the coach.  I would have stayed but I felt like crap.  I wanted just to get out of the water and home.  I'll swim in the morning when hopefully the air will clear up a bit.  I figured at the very least I got into the water and did something as opposed to sitting on the couch eating chips.

8 Swims in 6 Days

In a week of having too much restless energy I've swam two double workout days including Tuesday and tonight.  Mind you tonight's workout is only 60 minutes including warm up and announcements.  Also the one thing I like about my swim team is that each workout is different.  Monday mornings are highly concentrated on drilling and technique.  While Friday night is all about sprints.  Wednesday swimmers get to decide if they want to swim a middle distance free workout or a stroke workout.  Now Friday morning has always been the tough morning workout.  Even with the various coaches who have stood on deck over the years on Friday morning it's always been the tough one.  Not that Tuesday or Thursday nights are any easier but they are different with yet two more coaches. 

Warmed Up a 100 pull free, 100 kick and then another mixed 150 swim.

Then we did a warm up set of I think it was 3x100's.  50 kick / 25 drill / 25 swim. 

Oh jeez.  The problem with swimming so much in a short time span is that the workouts are all jumbed together in my head.  I know we did 75's IM no freestyle.

Oh well.

Main Set:
4x50's back on 55
6x25's fly on 30
100 free on 1:30
4x50's breast on 55.  I hate breast and did as much underwater butterfly kick for as long as I could hold my breathe.
6x25's back on 30
100 free on 1:30
4x50's fly on 55
6x25's breast on 35
1x100 IM on 1:40
2x50's free on 45

I didn't have much left in me so I didn't go all out.  Between that and goofing off during the breaststroke I tended to only work the butterfly.  And even then my arms were a bit strained.   Now I can have a good night sleep and relax tomorrow. 

Another Friday, Another Swim

After last nights swim I was a bit worried I'd sleep in and miss the 6am practice.  Last nights workout was tough.  Yes, it could have been tougher with faster intervals but just the same it was tough enough.  Somehow my body was able to pull one more swim out of my fatigued muscles.  Of course the warm up was a bit labored.  I pulled a very slow which at times was me close to just floating.  I did a 250 before the first warm up set. 

Warm Up Set:
2x
200 Kick n 4:00
50 Drill on 55
75 Swim on 1:05
25 Swim on 30  This was a 700 yard warm up.

Main Freestyle Set:
2x
75 on 1:05
50 on 50
4x100's Free on 1:10.  Very tight.  I'm shocked I was making these on both rounds getting up to 4 seconds on a few of these.  This was an 1,100 yard set.

50 easy

Main Stroke Set:
25 fly on 30
50 fly/back on 50
75 fly/back/breast on 1:10
100 IM on 1:30
75 fly/back/breast on 1:10
50 fly/back on 50
25 fly on 30
I think it was only 1x100 IM although that sorta doesn't seem right but close enough.  The stroke set was 400 yards.  Hmm...very short set.

Pull Breathe Control Set:
2x
100 on 1:20 breathing 3/5/5/7
4x25's on 30 no breathes.  Okay so I only did the last one of each round no breathing.  For each of the other 25's I played the game of going longer without breathing by each 25.  I only took one breathe on those 25's.  This set was only 400 yards. 

By my calculation this was a 2,650 yard workout which can't be true.  I must be missing something.  Maybe we did the stroke set twice because I recall doing more than just 1x100 IM.  At this point of the week the workouts all start to blend into my head.  It's like I don't know if I'm coming or going.  6 Days and 7 Swims. 

When I arrived at the pool I look over to the whiteboard and I was able to see last nights  faster fast lane intervals.  Oy!  Here is the comparison:

2x100's on 1:25 is what I did.  They did them on 1:15
200 on 2:40 is what I did.  The did them on 2:25
300 on 4:00 is what I did.  The did them on 3:30
100
2x200's
300
100
200
2x300's

I would have sunk to the bottom of the pool! 

Thursday Night Swim 3,900 Yards

My usual Thursday night 5 mile run with the Niketown Run Club LA is on hold for a bit.  I decided that I'd rather be spending the time swimming.  Plus to be honest I don't like running at night.  I figure in a few months it will stay light longer and I'll head back.  I'll just have to force myself to run either on the treadmill at the gym or some other time of day.  I started to think about this yesterday remembering how when I did run two weeks ago a few cars would put on the high beam at me blinding me even more so when running.  Figure I'd play it safe and keep a bit warmer while I'm at it. 

So once that decision was made it was time to jump on the bike and head to swim.  It's finally warming back to normal temps after a few brisky Los Angeles nights and mornings.  This made the bike ride to and from the pool enjoyable.  Tomorrow will be warm but the winds will pick up making the ride just a tad more challenging. 

Thursday nights the two fast lanes move closer to the walls with one of the lanes being the wall lane.  After seeing the "fasties" in the other lane I jumped into the wall lane.  Due to overcrowding in the medium lanes we had one refugee in our lane.  I warmed up a 300 on my own before it was time to start the warm up set.

3x200's Pulling breathing 3/3/5/7, 3/3/5/7 and 3/5/7/7 by 25.
3x150's Drill 50 Stroke / 100 Free, 100 Stroke / 50 free and the last one all stroke
3x100's Free Swim on 1:25
3x50's Stroke Swim on 50
I don't remember all the intervals but they were pretty tight for a warm up set at the beginning.  The yardage was 1,500 which is one damn long warm up set.  I will admit I was a bit frustrated at this set as it was continious and I started off behind someone who from swimming know he is faster during warm up.  The problem was that once it came to choice of stroke the three of us all were doing different strokes all clumped together.  We didn't have time to reset the order. 

Main Freestyle Set:
2x100's on 1:25
200 on 2:40
300 on 4:00
100 on 1:25
2x200's on 2:40
300 on 4:00
100 on 1:25
200 on 2:40
2x300's on 4:00

That set was 2,400 yards and boy did I like it!  It was my kind of set.  I kept to a 1:10 base for most of the set.  I took it a step back during the last 100 coming in around a 1:15.  The last 200 I negative split with a 1:15 and a 1:12.  As for the last 300 I finished it up on 3:29.  It was a struggle holding it under the 1:10 goal I was trying to do.  We had two fast lanes and once again the case for me was that the faster lane was too fast and the lane I was in I had way too much rest.  I was almost lapping my lane mates in the 300's. 

And my rant for this workout...We started the set with 4 swimmers.  By the end of the first round of the three we were down to 3 swimmers.  Fine.  Whatever.  I believe the other two swim mates did do the second round all the way.  Actually I think that might be incorrect I think one person might have skipped a 50 or so.  But during the third round is when my frustration level grew.  The good part was that we got an extra ten seconds between the 200 and the 2x300's as we shifted over one lane.  The thing that irks me which it shouldn't is that in order to make the set one person used paddles.  Which shouldn't irk me but with paddles the size of a Ford Pinto I'm so afraid of being slammed by them.  Luckily I still kept ahead of that winged paddle person to be really upset.  If he'd been at my feet I would have lost it.  That only perculated my frustration level.  What got me was when someone took at least a 100 if not more off during the last 200 then the next 300 keep pretty damn close to me.  Here I am slowly fading but working my ass off and I have a fully rested person on my tail.  It's my biggest pet peave in swimming.  I like both the swimmers in my lane tonight so it wasn't as annoying as it could have.  I can list a few other swimmers who are annoying and infamous for pulling this little tactic who'd have me at the edge.  At the end when we were all done one of my mates turned to the other mate and commented that he was strong during the last 100.  I mumbled to myself something to about when you don't do the whole set you tend to be able to that.  Then I did a 100 warmdown and got out.

I believe they went on to do a warm down set including kicking and over unders.  Two things that are not on my fun things to do in workout so I didn't miss much.  The ride home was nice on the bike and I got to see the first house in Beverly Hills decked out with a Christmas tree and lights outside. 

Total Yardage without warm up and warm down was 3,900.  Nice!

Five Hundred Pace Workout

After yesterday's mini-swim-a-thon with two practices I didn't know how I'd be feeling this morning.  Turns out I was feeling pretty good.  Of course it took a bit longer to work the kinks out as I did the slowest 300 warm up ever.  The good thing about today's workout was the lack of kicking!  Wahoo!   Being Wednesday we had our choice of swimming in the stroke lane or the distance free lane.  I picked the distance free lane but to be honest it's more of a middle distance free lane.  Today the workout was made up of a series of 500's.

We started with 4x100's.  The only part of the workout that wasn't a 500.  These were 50 drill / 50 swim taking 10 seconds rest between each 100.  1 & 3 of the 100's we did the "head lead" drill.  2 & 4 were a modified swordfish.  Okay so what is "head lead" drill?  Well I did a quick google search for this post and this is as close as I could find scrolling only two pages of search results:

Head lead - Balance, streamline.      Kicking on front with hands at side holding balanced streamlined position.  Keeping the neck lined up with the spine, head down, flat back.

500 Pull.  First 200 breathing 3/5/any/7 by 50

Main Set:

4x500's as follows:
500 Swim.  I was doing my typical heads up after I push off at every 100 to watch my pacing.  I ended up doing a 6:02 for the 500.  The interval was supose to be 6:45.  I was ahead of my lane by almost a full 50 so I ran and took a quick pee break.  I got back in the water on the 46 but everyone in my lane was still swimming.  I took off and did a 50 only to realize they did a 550.  We regouped and moved on.

500 broken as follows 2x200 on 2:45 and a 100.  Take extra rest.

500 broken as follows 5x100's on 1:25.  I descended each one doing a 1:10, 1:09, 1:08, 1:07 and a 1:06.  It wasn't that I was trying to descend I just concentrated on my stroke.  Keeping my head down, not breathing the first stroke after turn and really working my pull.

500 brken as follows 10x50's on 50.  I just tried to hold my stroke and technique.  I hate 50's

25 easy

Then we did 4x25's off the block.  They were supose to be sprints but I used them as a warm down.  Swimming a 25 is pointless.  Just like swimming 10x50's which seem to go on and on forever. 

Now my body can recover for the rest of the day with no plans for any more excercise.  Tomorrow I'll do my circuit weight routine and then maybe either run 5 miles or swim.  Being so chilly in LA I'd rather swim outside in a heated pool than run.  I have no plans on running a 5 or 10K anytime soon so maybe running will take a breather for a few months.