February's Rearview Mirror - Swimming: Leap Year Edition

With one extra day in the month you'd think I'd get some extra swim time.  But with so much other stuff going on from Group Ride Training and work I gotta admit I haven't been swimming as much as I like. 

Totals For This Month
Activity    # of Sessions    Total Time (H:MM)    Total Distance
Swimming    15                    12:30                            21.68 miles (=38,150 yards, =34,884 meters)

So 38,150 yards for the month.  Not great at all. 

My goal is to be more consistant in March.  Which means back in the pool for the rest of the week.  I think I'll be settled into swimming Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday every week in March.  At least that is the plan so far. 

So almost at 50 miles to earn my free swim cap.  Yahoo, free stuff.  Instead of swimming I've been spending lots of time riding on an indoor bike.  In fact here I am way back on the left hand side on a bike wearing a white sleeveless tee.

Oh well another month is coming tomorrow.  Time to get soakin' wet down at the pool!

But I Have Some Great Friends That Are Swim Team Owners...

 Ouchie!  I went into workout with a bit of a closed mind this morning and of course thinking negative before hand is not a good thing to do before workout.  After a weekend of training on a spinning bike I figured I might have some leg fatigue.  The odd thing was that I didn't.  I actually

had a strong kick during a short kick portion of warm up.  But my right hand lower back / front above the hip was giving me a bit of discomfort.  Not direct pain but a bit of "oh yeah, i can fell it" type of discomfort.  Maybe I shouldn't have used fins and eased way back into using hips and legs in swimming.  Maybe it was all in my head.  Either way I got out shortly after warm up. 

Warm Up:

1x500 Mixed (200 swim / 100 pull w/o paddles / 200 pull w/ paddles)

I already was feeling some discomfort when I was reaching on my left side and breathing to my right.  Now the coach mentioned that it looked like I was sinking my left hand to deep and letting it just slide down instead of catching.  So maybe just maybe this was my problem.  Or not?

4x100's on 2:00 25 Drill / 50 Kick / 25 Swim - all with fins.  A few of those last laps swimming with fins I may have tried to kick too much too fast too soon.  With my left hand just slipping and me kicking I may have placed too much torque on my right side lower back / front which was my discomfort.  I'm blaming everything stupid I did on the discomfort and not the cycling/spinning. (400/900)

8x50's on 50 Pace. (400/1300)

Meh...then it was time to call it off.  That was only the very beginning of the main set.  It was to be 8x50's/400, 6x50's/300, 4x50's/200 and 2x50's/100 always working the distance part descending the distance while finding the pace in the 50's for the distance part.  Great workout if I wasn't being so wimpish.  I could have done it and maybe should have done it.  But I got lot's of classroom time to practice my class to do so I didn't want to kill myself.  Not yet!

So a sorta quick and easy 1,300 yards.  I'm way off my goal of swimming 50 miles before the end of this month for 2012.  Oh well.  I'll do my monthly swim summary tomorrow.  Gotta work very early so no swimming in the morning.  I may, may try to swim in the afternoon tomorrow before sunset but that is a maybe.  I keep worring about how much swimming I'll be doing as I start to teach classees and all the other stuff I want to do in my mind.  Now that my body is going to be my money maker how can I fit swimming in between it all?  I know I will, people do it and I have access to plenty of pools around here.  Gotta just not thing about tomorrow and just try to swim when I can and where I can till then.

Headline and graphic inspired by the great Jon Stewart via Gawker

Almost last chance swim workout.

Almost last chance swim workout. 

Another month is almost gone. 
1x500 (200 swim / 100 pull w/o paddles / 200 pull w/ paddles)
1x200 Kick (200/700)

4x50's on 60 Fly/BK, BK/BR, BR/FR and Free Pull (200/900)

3x200's -
1 Free on 3 Minutes
1 Back on 3:20
1 Fly/Free by 25 on 3:20
1 IM  (800/1700)

5x100's Reverse IM on 1:45 (500/2200)

I then only did a 50 warm down for 2,250 yards.  I gotta admit the last few days of weight training really was a double edge sword this morning.  I feel stronger making the butterfly a lot more easier as I was able to muscle myself to propel myself.  That and I was really concentrating on hand entry and my pull.  It just seemed a bit effortless.  Well effortless isn't the right word but less effort then in the past.  The double edge was that I was feeling it in my upper back.  All those reverse flies came out to haunt me in my fly.  But I guess it's a good thing to feel the muscles working while swimming, right? 

As for swimming I will be out of the pool for a few days.  With two days of training in a class room I won't be swimming this weekend.  Gotta work Monday before sunrise to who knows if I'll get to a pool in the afternoon.  So this is it till Tuesday.  Unless things change again.

A New Look, Another Swim and Just More of the Same.

I really wanted to swim yesterday but my body didn't want to.  Guess the change of Group Power Class added to Sunday's weight training was too much for my body.  In fact it seemed to carry over in this mornings swim practice.  My left shoulder was a bit sore.  Okay, more then a bit.  Which is okay as I know it's from weight training and fatigue and not something serious.  At least not yet..

The Workout:
1x500 Loosen
2x100's Kick w/Fins on 2:00
2x100's Lick/Swim w/Fins on 1:45 (900)

1x500 Good Pace on 7:30
1x500 Broken @ 250 For 10 Secs.  Neg Split on 7:30
1x500 Broken @ 100 For 10 Secs.  Even Split (1500/2400)

6x50's on 50 Descend. (300/2700)

The warm up I did my usual 200 Swim / 100 Pull w/o Paddles / 200 Pull w/ Paddles.  I felt pretty good with just a bit of snot running out of my post-cold nose.  At least I wasn't coughing, well at least not yet.  Then came the 3x500's.  I almost stopped during the first 500 after the 200 mark.  I was feeling pain in my shoulder.  Right at the beginning of my pull.  Ouchie!  My first 500 I was easily doing 1:20 splits and came in at 6:40.  My second 500 I was having a bit of difficulty with my goggles so I didn't get my exact splits but was 1:20 for the first two 100's then down to about 1:17's towards the ends.  I came in about on the 6:35.  As for the last 500 I was coming in at the 1:12's pretty much the whole time.  I was coughing a bit during the last 150 which sucked.  According to my math I guess that's about a 6 minute 500?  I guess. 

After about 4 minutes of chatting with the other swimmers I was off on my 50's.  Too much rest and no one really to swim with made these bad 50's.   I used the last 2 as warm downs.  So 2,700 yard workout in about 55 minutes.  Not too bad. 

In other news…Swimming.About.com has announced it's "Top Swimming Blogs - 2012 Finalists - About Swimming Readers' Choice Awards."  And Guess What?  I've been nominated.  I gotta admit I'm always shocked that anyone but my mother reads my blog.  Even she hasn't read it in years!  I'm honored to be nominated along with some of my favorite swimming websites/blogs…
The GoSwim Blog
The Southern California Aquatics Blog
The Swim Brief
The Swimmers Circle
Since I read these guys and gals at least several times a week I'm honored to be among them.

 

Back to swimming and me.  Not swimming Monday and Tuesday put me back a bit in my goal to swim 50 Miles for the first two months of the year.

I really can only swim 3 more times in the morning due to work.  So I gotta swim about 2,500 yards per workout.  Doable depending on if I actually make it to the pool.  

Last but not least of all it looks like my Nike+ Fuelband which I pre-ordered and should be here today will not ship to Thursday.  Grrrr...at least I should have it before my weekend training.  Can't wait to start posting about it.  UPDATE:  It arrived and charging!  Because of the new Fuelband I've decided to change focus around here a bit.  Since I can't use my Nike+ Fuelband for swimming I've relaunched one of my sub-blogs for all activities non-swimming.  Swimming posts will here at the17thman and everything else training wise will be over here at evenmoreofthe17thman. The sub-blog will be my "Training For Life" while the17thman's theme will be "Swimming For Life".

 

10,100 Yards To Go!

So I had a workout in mind to do this morning as my pre-workout workout but I kept making it easier and easier.  Still recovering from this damn cold.

Warm Up
Mixed 400

Pre-Set
200 Kick Free on 4 Minutes
100 Drill/Swim by 25 on 2 Minutes (300/700)
4x50's Swim on 50 (200/900)
4x25's on 30 (100/1000)
2x100's on 2:00 (200/1200)
rested a bit - then backstroke round
200 Kick backstroke on 4 (200/1400)
100 Drill/Swim by 25 on 2 minutes (100/1500)
4x50's Swim on 60 (200/1700)
4x25's on 30 (100/1800)
rested a bit - then butterfly round
200 Kick on 4 (200/2000)
100 Drill/Swim (100/2100)
2x50's Fly on 60 (100/2200)

Everyone was starting to arrive so I moved over after a quick pee break.

100 Pull no padles (100/2300)
10x50's Pull with paddles on 55 (500/2800)

4x50's Kick / 4x50's Drill/Swim (400/3200)

In theory 3x250 IM's on 4 Minutes but I had to take a pee break so I did…

250 (100 Fly/50 back /50 breast /50 free
pee break
200 (100 back / 50 breast / 50 free)
250 (75 fly / 75 back / 50 breast / 50 free)  (700/3900)

Then we did 4x100's (75 drill/kick/swim stop on some interval then 25 sprint)  I had to do them butterfly.  My middle two I wore fins.  (400/4300)

I then did an easy 50 and got out.  So 4,350 yards in 2 hours. This brings me 10,100 yards to go in the USMS Go The Distance milestone of swimming 50 miles!  So far in 2012…44.26 miles swum (=77,900 yards, =71,232 meters) and only 5.74 miles (= 10,100 yards, = 9,235 meters) to next milestone (50 miles milestone).  It'll be another week till I get there.  Can't swim Monday as I work really early then next Saturday and Sunday I have my training to teach.  I'm going to do my best to do it by the end of this month.  Think it's possible.

Damn Cold!

I hate being sick with a cold.  Especially when I'm not 100% down and out.  Just sick enough for my body not to be a happy camper.  I can function just not at full speed.   With that said I decided to go swimming this morning.  I won't be swimming Saturday or Monday so I hate to keep skipping swims. 

400 Mixed WarmUp / 200 Kick (600)

Main Set
100
200
300
400 Pull
300
200
100

1/2/3 was on a 1:40 base
4/3/2/1 was on a 1:30 base

Going down the ladder was to be swum faster then going up.  Which I did.  Not that I was blazing fast.  I ended up with a 1:04.  Not bad.  Going up the ladder I was breathing every 3 and coming in about on a 1:20 base.  So the 300 I was on a 4 minus but the second one I was a 3:48.  I forget my 200.  I made a few stupid turn mistakes.  (1600/2200)

I then did a 100 easy to warm down.  (100/2300)  The worst part of being sick right now is that the water temperature was perfect for swimming hard this morning.  Grrrr...next week better be better!

It's Cold & Flu Season!

Getting sick!  Ugh!  A cold!  Last night I hardly slept since I was coughing all night long.  Tossing, turning and coughing.  But I still wanted to get up and swim.  Stupid but I needed to.  Since I wasn't myself I did an sorta easy workout.

Warm Up
Mixed 400 then a 200 kick (600)

6x175's on 3 Minutes IM-ish.  I mixed it up by 25 and 50 emphasizing different strokes.  (900/1500)

6x50's Pull Free on 50 (300/1800)

And that was it.  God I feel worse now.  Hopefully I'll rally after breakfast.

Beat Me Up Buttercup! 42x100's Birthday Swim

Beat Me Up Buttercup!  Okay, I think it's Build Me Up Buttercup or something but when I heard that song on the deck radio around the 34th 100 it became Beat Me Up Buttercup in my head.  That and a Nicki Minaj medley played in my head to keep me going.

The 42nd Birthday Workout - 4200 Yards

10x100's Warm Up on 1:30

Rest 60 Seconds!

10x100's on 1:25

Rest 60 Seconds!  or so to square up the clock.

10x100's on 1:20

Rest 60 Seconds or so to square up the clock. 

10x100's on 1:20.  Now it was supose to be 1:15 but we decided 1:20 was best.  I did use my hand paddles to make it!

Rest a bit

2x100's on 2 minutes warm down!

Good god that hurt!  Mostly cuz' I was feeling yesterday's gym workout in my chest.  After a week of no weights for my taper I was back in Group Power yesterday.  After that I did my 10x10 Push Ups on 60 using the bosu ball.  OY!  I really was hurting and still am!  But all in a good way! 

Putting On The Pressure!

I gotta admit the stakes are high.  I've really put a lot of internal pressure on me for tomorrow.  First of all I know it's for fun.  That is what Master's Swimming is all about.  But, and it's a big but I want to be faster.  At least faster then last year.  And with that I did enter my times that I swam last year.  So before we get to this  morning's taper let's look at my times.

The 1,000 SCY Freestyle.  I've only swum it twice with once at UCLA in 2010 and then last year at this meet in Clearwater.  At UCLA I swam a 11:16.70 in a tech suit.  At Clearwater in a regular old Splish suit I did it in 11:43.34.  I want to be closer to a 11:30 but will be happy with just faster then last year. 

The 200 SCY Backstroke.  Once again I've only swum it twice with once as USMS Nat's in 2009 in a tech suit at my peak in swimming with a 2:09.04.  Then last year once again at Clearwater in a regular old suit and not even close to my peak with a 2:16.62.  I just want lower then a 2:16.

The 200 SCY Butterfly.  Now I've swum that even four times and have gotten slower every single time I swam it.  In Nat's in 07 I did a 2:12.  Then two years later another 2:12 at Nat's.  Those were my peak years after that it went downhill.  My exact times -
2:12.27     
2:12.95       
2:16.62
2:17.65
As with my backstroke I just want to below a 2:16.

For the 400 IM I just want to finish and not be DQ'ed.  That is if I even swim it.  I'm looking at the timeline and I got about 30 minutes between the 200 fly and 400 IM. OY! 

I'm putting extra pressure on myself on this meet for several reasons.  Some of which is how I've been mixing up my dryland routines this past year.  My body is defiantly showing better muscle definition and I do weight more then I have in years but not in fat.  In 2009 and 2010 I was training for 1/2 and full marathons while this past year not so much.  So will the emphasis on weight training make a difference in my swimming?  I'm betting yes but which way I don't know.  Also my swim training is not what it use to.  Yeah, I'm doing the yardage but not swimming at the faster intervals and pacing.  That can't be good.  But I've cleaned up my strokes.    Now how will all this play together?  I will be honest and don't have one single change in my training but several variables in play.  So this weekend will be interesting but not an end all chapter.  Just a way to check in and see what I need to work on for 2013 and more importantly 2014 Gay Games!

This mornings taper swim…
200 Swim
200 Pull
200 Kick
200 Swim - 25 Stroke / 25 Free IM  (800)

5x50's IM Switches fly/back. back/breast, breast/free, free/breast, breast/back (250/1050)

6x50's on 1:05 Easy/Fast.  Did the easy 25's free and cycled stroke butter/back/breast into the fast.  (300/1350)

8x25's.  IM Order.  No interval.  It was feedback time from the coach.  Offering advice and stroke technique critique.  (200/1550)

Swam a 100 easy to warmdown.  (100/1650)

Now I was debating on shaving or not shaving for this meet.  I mean this is the one and only meet for me in SCY Season.  Gonna skip a meet closer by next month.  I don't like that pool and it's outside with trailers for locker rooms.  So while I was swimming today I kept looking at the hair on my arms and legs just floating causing so much drag.  So I started to shave.  I was doing it at the pool when everyone left but being a bit modest (ha!) I stopped.  That and it takes forrrrrrrrrevvvvvvveeeeeer!  I hate shaving.  Gotta finish up later today.  So I'm rested, shaved and ready to go.  Hopefully now I don't over sleep!

A few more things to add pressure on in my life.  At the end of the month I have my 2-Day Group Ride Training.  That's the week before the local meet that I'm not going to.  After the weekend training I have a month to videotape me teaching and send it in for my certification.  That's gonna be nerveracking.  Yeah, I've teached spinning a few times as a sub but this is the real thing now.  Also I'm doing my NASM CPT (Certified Personal Training) over the next 180 days.  Just so much on my plate.  Wonder if this old dog can learn new tricks? 

Pace / Taper Thursday Workout

Brrrr…guess it was too early to break out the shorts for the short trip to the pool.  This morning's swim was about pace.

WarmUp
500 (200 Swim/ 100 Pull w/o paddles / 200 Pull w/Paddles)
200 Kick
3x100's Drill/Kick/Drill/Swim on 1:40 (300/1000)

300 50 Drill/50Swim (300/1300)

9x100's on 1:30
1-3 Pace on 1:15
4-6 Pace on 1:12
7-9 Pace on 1:10
30 Seconds between each pace set.

Okay so I paced them but not the given pace.  I was 1:17/1:15/1:12.  Oh well.  Close enough.  (9002200)

At least I got in the water and swam.  This is sorta a taper week for me.  Which isn't a big taper since it's not like this is a super duper important meet or anything.  It just may be my only SCY swim of the year.  So for me it's important in that I can judge how my swimming is going.  I'm always my harshest critic.  I'm a bit nervous about my events since I've scheduled myself a crazy Saturday with the 1,000 Free, 200 Back, 200 Fly and the 400 IM.  Oy!