Rearview Mirror: My July Workouts

Here is July by the numbers:

In July I ran 15 times for 66.54 miles.

Compared to past months:

June I ran 12 time for 15.92 miles.
May I ran 1 time for 3.08 miles.
April I ran 16 time for 28.23 miles.
March I ran 18 time for 91.35 miles.
February I ran 18 time for 75.14 miles.
January I ran 24 time for 124.97 miles.

Maybe July wasn't the highest in miles this year but I'm back to running and the actual miles per run is actually up there so that is something.

As for the year I'm feel I'm back on track.  August and September are the hotest months but I will do my best to wake up early and run.  Hopefully I'll pick a 1/2 Marathon sometime between now and the end of the year to run.  But everything is on hold to I make some other life decisions. 

As for swimming...

I swam 49,900 SCY

Compared to past months:

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

285,125 SCY for 2010.

And as you can see from my MapMyRide.com cal I've been cycling.  Mostly just to the pool and to work.  Well to the 24 Hour Fitness near work. Then I workout, shower and walk the bike to work.  Then I cycle home most days.  I think once I took the subway home but that was a pain in the ass.  The train was crowded and I had to keep moving out of peoples way.  The Monday/Wednesday/Friday rides on the map are the swim rides.  It looks like I only cycled three times to work this past month. 

Well that was my July.  August here I come...

That Felt Good - Friday Morning Swim

Last night I got in some good sleep so at 5am it was time to wake up and get ready to swim.  I cycled to the pool which helped wake me up some.  I was running a bit late as I was trying to get the internet to work before I left.  It was sluggish then stopped all together but it was back up and running so I left for the pool.  Luckily or unluckily the chlorine levels were not up to snuff so we had to wait 12 minutes for everything to kick in. 

Warm Up

400 mixed

Warm Up Set:

3  Rounds -

75 kick / 50 drill / 75 swim

all continious / 1st & 2nd round freesyle and 3rd round stroke.  I did butterfly.  Felt pretty good. (600/1000)

400 Pull 75 Free / 25 Choice but the same stroke one did just before.  So I got some butterfly pulling in.  My fly felt good.  No pain and it seemed comfortable. (400/1400)

3x50's Free 1 Build / 1 Technique / 1 Fast.  I don't remember the interval.  This was to get our heart rate up for what was next.  (150/1550)

3x300's Descending on 4 Mins.  The 1st one I did a 3:29, the 2nd one a 3:27 and the third one was a 3:24.  I'm going by what I saw on the clock.  I heard the coach say 3:26 on the second one but since I was using my visual reading for the other two I'm saying 27 to be consistent.  I felt strong in this set.  It was nice to get some speed in the water for a change.  (900/2450)

100 easy (100/2550)

4x100's Stroke Descend on 1:35.  I did backstroke and struggled at first.  My times were 1:13, 1:14, 1:14 and 1:10.  So I didn't really descend.  The 2nd one felt faster then the 1st but oh well.  (400/2950)

50 easy (50/3000)

12x25's Fast 6 Free on 25 / 6 Stroke on 30.  I did butterfly (300/3300)

then just a 100 warm down (100/3400)

Not many people showed up at the 7:15.  Most of the team in on the way to the Gay Games in Germany.  After the swim it was time to cycle home.  Another good cardio day in.  I have an all day event tomorrow that starts in the morning so I doubt I'll be swimming, running, cycling or gym going.  So this looks like the end of working out for July.  Another month blew by so quickly.

Wednesday Morning Sleep Swimming

Grrr...last night I fell asleep in bed watching tv sometime after 9pm and then woke up around 1am by the noise of drunken people in the alley behind my apartment building.  I tossed and turned and maybe got an hour of sleep in after that.  When 5am rolled around I got out of bed and got ready to go swimming.  I don't know why but when my insomnia strikes I'm so hungry when I wake up so I had a quick light snack before swim.

Warm Up:

It was 10 minutes but with my stopping and going I did a 400 mixed.

Warm Up Set:

3 Rounds -

100 Kick 2 mins

75 IM drill on 1:20 I think

50 Free swim on some interval

25 kick  (750/1150)

More Warming Up:

300 Pull breath control then rest 20 seconds and then

6x50's on 55 Switch Ups fly/back, back/breast, breast/free (600/1750)

Main Set:

Three Rounds

200 Free on 2:40 just swimming to make interval

2x100's FAST Free on 1:25

100 Stroke on 1:40 just swimming to make interval

2x50's FAST Stroke on 55

No rest in between rounds.  I did backstroke for my stroke since when I was swimming fly earlier my elbow was hurting.  Figured no need to kill myself.  The 200's free I took nice and easy and was coming in around the 2:30 mark.  The 100's I did like 1:11's for the first round, 2:09's for the second and back to 1:11's for the third.  The third round in general was my slowest as I just didn't have speed left.  The tank was empty!  (1800/3550)

There was one last 300 warm down pull breath control but I decided to get out.  Between my shoulder and elbow pain I felt that was the safest bet.  But 3,550 yards is a good workout.  Plus I did cycle to and from the pool for the 4+ miles round trip.  So cardio got done today!  The month is almost over so I got at least one more swim in or maybe two.  As for August I hope to swim but financially I will admit I got to cut back and September looks like no more swimming for a bit.  Hopefully that'll change but it's up in the air.  That also goes for my gym going.  So more running it looks like.  Running and cycling for the time being.  It will be all good.

Monday Morning Blah Workout

Back in the pool for a bit this morning for a mixed workout.  Recovering from two injuries I haven't swam since last Monday or lifted weights.  I did run twice but that is it.  I was hoping that I'd get in the water and it would be like I was all better and back to swimming.  I felt sorta blah when I got up and hit snooze several times but managed to get myself out of bed.  Got to the pool and felt pretty good if a bit sluggish in the speed.  But then one of my injuries started to act up so I got out after an hour.  Here is what I did swim:

400 Warmup

4x100's 50Drill/50Swim 1 of each stroke (400/800)

3x200's 1st Free on 2:40 / 2nd IM on 3:00 / 3rd Choice (I did Backstroke) (600/1400)

Three Rounds - 6x75's

1st one last 25 fast

2nd one last 50 fast

3rd & 4th all fast

5th one first 50 fast

6th one first 25 fast

1st Round Free on 1:00 / 2 Round IM (minus the free) on 1:15 / 3rd Choice on 1:15 (I did backstroke) (1350/2750)

Then a 50 easy (50/2800)

Then we had a 600 free building by 100.  I did a 100 and felt some pain so got out.  I started to feel pain in the butterfly part of the IM but managed to ignore it.  But swimming a 600 in pain didn't sound like fun to me so I gave up.  (100/2900)

This week I'm going to take another day off before weight lifting and hope that my injuries start to recover.  Will run instead of lifting on my non-swim days till I feel better on my swim days.  At least this is one way to get my runs in. 

Yawn. Sleep Swimming

I don't know why but I just woke up tired this morning.  I did get a full night sleep albiet if it was just only 5 hours.  I didn't drink or anything but woke up groggy and tired as if I had a few too many.  Once I got my act together it was time to cycle to the pool.  

Got in the pool and warmed up a 450 or so.  then we started a quick warm up set 4x100's (50 drill / 50 swim) on of each stroke.  So about an 850 warm up.

Then we went into a rather boring main set.

Three Rounds of 4x200's / 1x100 / 4x50's - 

4x200's Freestyle on 2:40.  Rotating a 50 fast from the back of the 200 to the front.  Yawn.  It felt like this short part of the set went on for hours.

100 Freestyle fast on 1:20

4x50's Free on 50.  Each 50 was a bit different.  Rotating some fast swim in each 50.  I find these rotating a 25 fast in 50's and in general pretty boring.  Just the first round of this set just dragged on.  By the time we were done with the 50's I was just no in the mood to swim anymore.

15 seconds rest

4x200's on 2:50.  Now rotating a 50 fast stroke from back to the front while the rest was freestyle.  Did backstroke as my stroke.  Yawn.  Skipped a 50 for a pee break since I couldn't wait anymore.

100 Backstroke on 1:30.  Felt pretty good for this brief bit of the workout.

4x50's Backstroke on 55.  Still feeling pretty good.

15 seconds rest

4x200's on 2:50 still stroke like the previous round but this time I did butterfly.  I swam the butterfly parts but took a pee break and took off the free parts of my last 2x200's.  Since the coach wasn't paying attention to us and I didn't care I just did it.  Most of our lanes either had gotten out or had moved on to relay starts for those going to Gay Games.

100 Fly.  and then the two of us left just warmed down.  I did a 50.

I really was tired which wasn't a good thing.  I just couldn't shake it off this morning and get into gear.  I should have ignored the 50fast/150 technique and just swam the 200's pace.  It was a mind over matter battle this morning and my mind decided to stay at home in bed.  At least I got into some good cardio if not a fast swim.

Friday Morning Swim

After my morning run yesterday I came home and changed then cycled the 5 miles to the gym and did weight training.  Then it was time to shower and head to work.  I was too lazy to ride home so I took the subway home and cycled to home from the redline.  With all that working out I finally got a full night sleep.  No tossing and turning and no waking up every hour on the hour.  In face I overslept.  I ended up waking up at 6:15 so I had to swim the later morning workout.  I had to debate if I wanted to swim or not but eventually decided that I needed to swim.  So it was time to cycle to the pool.

Warm Up

400

Warm Up Set:

2 Rounds

100 Kick

2x50's Drill

100 Kick

2x50's Swim (800/1200)

Hmm..I think we did 6x50's or something like that.  (300/1500)

Main Set:

4x100's Fast Descend on 1:50 (did them backstroke)

200 easy on 3:15 (i think)

4x75's Fast Descend on 1:30 (i think) (did them butterfly)

200 easy on 3:15 (i think)

4x50's Fast Descend (did them butterfly)

200 easy on 3:15 (i think)

4x25's Fast Descend on 30 did them butterfly (1600/3100)

and that was it.  It seemed like we did swim more than that but that is all I remember.  It was actually raining during the last part of the main set.  Very odd for SoCal weather.

The Heat Is On & The Speed Isn't.

The last week or so has been a bit chilly which allowed me to close my sliding door in my room which has helped me sleep a few full nights but now with the heat coming back I've had to reopen my sliding door at night.  Which means a night of interrupted sleep.  First it took me too long to go to bed then was tossing and turning all night waking up several times.  Waking up at 5am meant actually hitting the snooze and getting out of bed at 5:15.  I say out of bed as I just couldn't wake up.  I took some extra caffeine hoping that would help once I got in the water.  I will admit that I did have a very short rally in the midst of workout but that didn't last.  Several times I wanted to give up and just leave practice but I stayed in for everything but the very last broken 200. 

Warm Up

400

then

6x50's odds free swim on 45 / evens stroke drill on ?? (300)

6x100's odds free swim on 1:20 / evens stroke (25 drill / 75 swim) on 1:40 (600/900/1300)

then

6x50's kick on 55 (3 butterfly on your back / 3 choice) I pretty much missed the intervals and did them on 60. (300/1600)

400 Pull (300 breathing by 50 3/5/3/7/3/5) and 100 build) I was pretty much dying with no speed at all.  I really wanted to leave at this point.  Still felt like I was sleep swimming.  Also I was hoping for a stroke set so I could take it easy. (400/2000)

Main Set:  Freestyle

4x100's on 1:15 (400)

100 easy on 1:25 (100/500)

4x75's on 55 (300/800)

100 easy on 1:25 (100/900)

4x50's on 35 (200/1100)

100 easy on 1:25 (100/1200)

4x25's on 20 (I think) (100/1300)

100 easy on 1:25 (100/1400/3400)

then I got out.  up next was a broken 200 by 50's for time.  My reasoning was three fold as 1.  when the hell do i swim less then a 400 at a meet?  2.  i was tire.  3.  i really didn't want everyone to watch me get my ass kicked by everyone as we were all racing in groups.  Yeah, my ego got me.  During the main set I started to rally during the 75's then we had the 100 easy and I lost my pacing and just didn't recover.  Overall the workout was 3,400 yards and I am waking up, finally. 

On the flip side I did cycle to and from the pool.  Yeah it was a slow easy ride but it's more cardio.  Hopefully tomorrow morning I'll be able to rally and get in a run and some gym time.  I took yesterday off thinking my elbow is still a bit sore so a day off would be good.  It was as my elbow only bothered me in the pulling.  As for the running I have no excuse for not running yesterday except for laziness!

Monday Morning Sprint Workout

The 6am workout is getting busier and busier of late.  Even on Monday morning which has been one of the lower attended workouts at least for the fast lane.  This makes up for some interesting lane groups.  People seem to bump up a lane group allowing ego's to take over.  So we end up having swimmers in lanes who can't make the intervals and spend way too much time taking rest at the wall during sets.  Since I was the slowest of the fast swimmers I had to deal with one of the ego swimmers who'd take a 100 off and then sprint on my feet.  It got really annoying as the intervals were sorta tight during the workout.

400 Swim

50 Kick (450)

200 IM 25 Drill / 25 Swim (200/650)

1st Set:

3 Rounds

200 (25 Free Sprint / 25 Stroke Technique) on 2:50

4x75's Free on 55

15 Seconds Rest

Oy!  The 75's were touch and go!  I wasn't ready for sprinting but alas didn't have much choice!  (1500/2150)  I was getting a bit pissy during this set as the person behind me kept taking extra rest skipping 50's and then would leave right on my feet and go full blast.  The thing is that for this swimmer this is his usual workout style.  I start to wonder what does a swimmer like that think he's getting out of a workout swimming at a faster interval but actually sitting out a good portion of it?  It just reminds me of my old Friday morning coach who told me over and over not to stop and rest when I'm not making intervals but to keep going and eventually I will someday make those intervals.  Well next set...

2nd Set:

3 Rounds

200 (25 Stroke Sprint / 25 Free Technique) on 3:00

4x50's Stroke on 55

15 Seconds rest

My 1st round I did all back, the 2nd round did the stroke part of the 200 fly but the 50's back and the 3rd round I did all the stroke butterfly.  I didn't feel the butterfly stroke till the 3rd 50.  Just didn't feel it.  (1200/3350)

And then did a 50 easy for a 3,400 yard workout.  I did ride my bicycle to and from workout giving me a 4.56 mile ride today.  I wanted to swim a double since although it was a workout with tight intervals the sprints really didn't feel right to me being so early in the morning.  But I was hungry and left to get breakfast at home.  I may try to make tonight's workout.  Then again that is 11 hours away and who knows how I'll feel by then.

60 Minute Friday Night Workout

Quick Workout Post...

Swam tonight for the 60 Minute Friday Night Workout:

400 Warm Up

6x50's Kick 10 secs rest 2 & 4 fly on your back (300/700)

6x50's Pull 10 secs rest 2 & 4 fly or breast (300/1000)

4x25's Drill (100/1100)

6x25's working on stroke drill (150/1250)

Main Set:

2x100's IM on 1:40 (200)

4x50's Free on 45 (200/400)

3x75's Stroke on 1:20? (225/625)

3x75's Free on 1:05 (225/850)

4x50's Stroke on 55 (200/1050)

2x100's Free on 1:20 (200/1250/2500)

I think that is what we did. 

4x25's 2 of them sprints / 2 under water no breathing(100/2600)

50 warm down (50/2650)

Meh...I think that is what we did.

Cycling and Swimming

Continuing with my cycling to and from the pool the round trip ride was 4.51 miles tonight.  As for the swim workout I wasn't feeling the IM/Stroke Main Set.  Swam for 60 minutes and got out.  I also am having "weight training" elbow.  This morning at the gym it was bothering me so I pulled back a bit on my routine.  While swimming tonight it was bothering me.  So since I already wasn't in the mood for an IM workout I just got out after an hour.

Warmed Up:  I think a 350. 

Warm Up Set:

4x75's 50 Kick / 50 Swim (300)

4x100's Pulling breathing 3/5 on 1:20 (400/700/1050)

Hmm...then we did some drill I sorta remember.  Hmm...it was a 200 Drill which I missed the butterfly 50 for a pee break.  Oh followed by a 200 choice swim which I did backstroke.  350/1400)

Hmm...we also did 6x150's Freestyle but I think that was after the 100's.  Anyways 6x150's in set's of two 3's intervals were on 1:50/1:55/2:00 (900/2300)  I felt pretty strong in the freestyle.  Too bad it wasn't a freestyle workout after that.

Main Set: 

200 Stroke on 3:10 Did my stroke all backstroke for this set.  Well for what I did of this set.

150 Stroke on 2:25

100 Stroke on 1:35

50 Stroke on 50

50 Fly on 50

100 Fly/Back on 1:35

then I got out.  next up was a 150 fly/back/breast and well I didn't feel like swimming any breaststroke.  (650/2950)

So I only swam 2,950 yards.  Not so bad.  Any swimming is better than no swimming.