My New Years Resolution

When it comes to flip turns I have the worst flip turns of anyone I know.  It's not as much as a flip as it is twisting turning motion with my arms doing some sorta of new age Tai Chi moves.  Then in the shallow end of the pool my right hand actually touches the bottom of the pool as I do a split second hand stand before pushing off.  Once I push off I don't take advantage of being faster underwater I pop up as soon as I'm off the wall.  Therefore I've made it my New Years Resolution banish the one hand handstand and to make every turn a real flip turn.  I wish I had a clip of me doing my freestyle flip turn.  You'd all laugh it's that bad. 

Here is a video of what a real flip turn should look like in case any of you don't know.

Sunday Afternoon Swim

It is amazing what a few weeks make when it comes to speed during workouts.  When I was swimming like crazy a few months ago I was making intervals I never have made before.  Now with some time off and eating Sprinkle's Cupcakes every hour on the hour I'm so out of shape.  I don't remember the intervals but let's just say I was in the slower fast lane and I was missing the intervals during the free set towards the end.  Of course the other people in my lane gave up and sat out a 50 at each rest point so at least I finished the whole set.

We did a bunch of warm up stuff.  First off I did an unstructured 300 warm up.  Then we did a kick warm up.  I can't remember the whole warmup set but it was sorta like this: 6x50's Free Kick.  400 Free broken 50 drill / 50 swim.  4x50's Kick Fly.  200 Swim Back.  I know I'm missing something in that workout. 

Main Set:
300 Free on 4:20
250 Free
200 Free on 2:40
250 Free
200 Free on 2:35
150 Free
200 Free on 2:30
150 Free
100 Free
I don't remember all the intervals but they slowly got 5 seconds faster.   About a month ago a 200 Free on 2:30 would be easy.  Today not so easy.  Of course maybe if I pushed myself harder it would have been easier. 

Next Set:
3x
50  Fly on 50
75 IM on 1:10
25 Free on 20

Stroke Set:
300 on 3:10 Butterfly
150 on 2:25 Butterfly
100 on 1:35 Butterfly
150 on 2:25 Backstroke
100 on 1:35 Backstroke
50 Butterfly

100 Warmdown

Oy.  I'm so tired.  Funny I felt stronger and better in the butterfly than I did during the freestyle.  The water was a bit warm but I finished.  The best part was after the free set everyone in my lane got out so I had the lane to myself.  Wahoo!

Friday Swim

Since I was hungover this morning I slept in and skipped swimming. Later in morning I ran the less than one mile to the gym. At the gym I jumped on a bike for twenty minutes trying to burn the hangover off. Then I ran home. Then around 3pm I put my sneakers on and ran another 3 miles. Some of it I walked. By legs were soar but I need to be running again.

After some rest it was time to head to the 7pm swim. Friday's swim is only 60 minutes. Warmed up a very slow 600. We then had a kick set of 6*75's on 1:30. Evens were free. Odds were. IM.

4x100's 10 seconds rest. 75 free 25 stroke IM order.

Main Set:
5x100's Free on 1:40
4x25's on 25 fly
4x100's IM on ???
4x25's on 20 Free
3x100's Stroke
4x25's backstroke
2x100's on 1:20

Warmdown. I wasn't feeling very fast tonight suffering from some new shoulder issues.

Back In The Water

After a week on dry land it was time to hit the water.  Once again it was freezing and once again the pool was warm.  I will admit I'm glad for once.  Between being so cold and not swimming for a week I was ok to swim in bathwater.  I also was the second person in the water as opposed to being one of the lasts.  Of course we only have 5 swimmers at 6am.  Since we had 5 swimmers and 6 lanes we each got our own lane.  I asked the coach for slower intervals so the 5 of us all did the same interval.  I just had more rest.  And after a week of not swimming I needed the extra rest. 

Warm up was a 400 swim, 300 pull and a 200 kick.  I really took my time doing it.  I felt so and slow.  Half hung over and half from not swimming.  After that we did a warm up set of four 200's.  They were broken as follows 100 kick, 50 drill, 50 swim.  Odds Free, Evens Stroke which was fly for me.

Then it was time for the main set.  16x100's.  Four free on 1:30 then four IM on 1:50 then rest and repeat.  I had a tough time.  The free's I maintained a 1:15 and the IM about the same but a tad faster.  My shoulders were bothering me.  At the 16th one hundred I remembered that I forgot to wear my new parka.  Doh!  I've wanted a swim parka for years so I asked my bf for one for xmas.  They are not expensive but it's just something I can never push myself to buy.  So he got it for me and on my first swim back I leave it at home.  Doh!

We then finished up with ten 25's on 30.  Odds easy, Evens sprint.  We did the sprints reverse IM with one extra fly.  Out of the 5 of us 3 were butterflies.  We all swim the 200 fly at meets.  The oldest is over 60 and is amazing.  He is my inspiration.  To be 60 and still active.

Well that was my first swim workout since my vacation and I'll need the day to recover.  I'll be posting another post later today about with my vacation roundup. 

Rain, Rain Go Swim.

With today being most likely my last swim to after Xmas I decided to brave the rain and swim.  Luckily the rain was more of a sprinkle now and then again.  But with warm water and what not I had no energy.  Which I don't get as I fell asleep after one glass of wine last night about 8pm.  Doh!  It was also hard to be motivated knowing that I maybe out of the water for a week.  Tomorrow night I have my company xmas party which means I'll drink too much and not make Friday's swim.  Then I'm off to spend the Holiday in Palm Springs so I wont be doing much of anything.

This morning I warmed up about a 400.  I say about because I was just swimming laps counting my strokes per lap. 

After that the coach assigned us a set.  Then snapped at us as we all began to ask questions at the same time.  Here is what we all heard "100 kick / 25 drill / 25 swim /100 kick with a 200 for a total of a 400".  Huh?  100+25+25+100 is a 250?  So of course we ask and she got mad at us.  She went on to say " you all know I repeat the set 3 times as I have a 9 year old at home and always repeat everything".  Which is true.  Repeats it three times once for each lane group so in reality you only hear it once or maybe twice at best.  So we all left at the same time and did the 100 kick, 25 drill, 25 swim and 100 kick.  When we finished she then explained it was 100/200/100 with the 200 being split 25/25.  Doh!  So we had to do a 150  to finish the set right.

4x100's Stroke on 1:40.  Descend.  I did these all fly.  Big mistake. I had such a hard time breathing.  The water temp was warm and the air temp was cold so we swam in an atmosphere of steam.  So every breath was a bitch.  I was just breathing chlorine vapors.

4x100's Stroke on 1:40.  I did these backstroke
4x50's Stroke on 60.  I did these fly.

4x4x25.  Four sets of 4x25.  One round of each stroke.

Monday

After a weekend of fighting a cold I went back to swimming this morning.  Call me stupid as it is 45 degrees outside at 6am and we swim at an outdoor pool.  I felt pretty good in the water just a bit sore.  But after swimming I'm back to sniffling and my throat is scratchy.  I should have rested a bit more.  When I woke up I felt great and last night I thought I was all better.  Oh well with the Holiday, Holiday events I only have one more swim this week and that is Wednesday.  Then I'll be out of the water for over a week. 

Warmed Up:  400

200 Kick
400 Free 50 Drill / 50 Swim
200 Kick Broken by 50's on 55

5x100's on 1:15
rest to the next top
5x100's on 1:25

easy 50

2x75 Kick / 50 drill / 25 swim.  one fly / one back

5x100's Fly on 1:40. 

All of the 100's were on the following pattern:
1st and 4th 25 Fast
Middle 50 Fast
First 50 Fast
Last 50 Fast
All 100 Fast

Okay so maybe I didn't stick to that pattern.  I was more concerned with making the 100's on the interval. Monday's are always have the smallest turn out of any our workouts and usually I'm the only fast lane swimmer at 6am.  I'm horrible at pacing.  I need to either be trying to stay ahead of someone or playing catch up.   Ask me to do a pattern on a fast interval and I'm fucked.  Just let me swim the 100's on 1:15 the way I always do.  I build in the 100.  If I start with a 25 or 50 fast my stroke is shit by the end.  So the 1st five free on 1:15 I did in my own way but the second round on 1:25 I did as the coached asked.  As for the 100's fly.  I also did as the coach asked as best as one can do when doing five 100's fly.  My first four 100's fly I did on 1:18/1:19.  The coach gave me addition 20 seconds before the 5th one so I was able to pull my stroke together enough to do it on a 1:09.  For SCY that isn't that fast as my best time is just a few hundredths about a 1:00.  But being the 5th 100th I'm happy with a 1:09.

3, 4, 5...One Too Many

After swimming Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday it was a big mistake to hit the water on Wednesday morning.  After about 30 minutes of warming up I got out and headed home.  My upper back and shoulders felt sore.  I was cold and just not into the workout.  I felt it was better to go home and relax. 

Tuesday Night Swim

I'm too lazy to retype the workout.  So here it is in picture form...

Monday Swim

Well I got my easy workout today.  While swimming after every set I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop but it never came.  This was the easiest workout in sometime.  Just what I needed.  I had a lane all to myself as no one showed up who also swims in the fast lane.

Warmed Up around a 400 free.

3x250 100 Kick / 50 Drill / 100 Swim.  The drills were fist / catch up and finger tip drag.

400 Pull Breath Control every 3/5/any/7 by 50

400 Swim descending each 100 working on push offs.  We were to stay under water to the 1st yellow marker on the lane.  i think that is 10 yards?  Anyone know?  Normally I push off almost right out of the water.  So staying under water that long was a chore.  In fact the first 200 I really made sure I didn't come up to the yellow mark on the lane line after each turn and was doing about a 1:20 split at each 100 yards.  The second 200 I started to be lazy and come up earlier and I was down to a 1:10 split at each 100 yards.  I know in theory you are faster underwater by my streamline and push off are pretty weak.  Yet another thing to work on in the next few months.

50 easy

Then it was time for the stroke part of the workout.

4x200's 100 Kick / 50 Drill / 50 Swim.  One of each stroke.

4x4x25's and then 125 IM.  One round of each stroke adding one extra stroke per 125.  The 25's were on 25 and the 125 on 1:40.

And that as it.  Pretty each.  The 125's IM were touch and go but still easy.

Sunday Swim

I went to swim practice today thinking it will be a nice easy swim.  Why I thought that goes beyond every other previous Sunday workout as they are always hard.  Today was no exception.  I wanted to give up so many times and just go home.

Warm up was about a 300.  Then we did a warmup set of 4x200.  This was broken kick and drill.  I alternated fly and back. 

1st Set:
6x100's Free on 1:15/1:15/1:10 repeat
50 easy free on 60
3x300 Free on 3:45
50 easy free on 60

2nd Set:
4x100's Stroke on 1:20 I did these back
50 easy on 60
3x200 Stroke on 3:10 I did these all butterfly.  OUCH!
50 easy on 60

3rd Set:
2x100 Free on 1:20
50 easy on 60
4x100 Choice on 1:20.  I did these 50 fly / 50 back

finshing up with 4x150's.  50 free / 25 butterfly kick / 25 underwater / 50 free

OUCH!  Painful workout.  I can't believe I stayed in after those 3x200 fly.