My Lap Swim

This morning I grabbed my swim stuff and headed to the WeHo pool for a quick lap swim.  I wrote down two workouts and didn't decide on which one to do till I got in the pool.  The total yardage is only 3,000 and the intervals were really easy.  Hey, It's Saturday!

Here is the workout I did:

300 Swim
200 Pull
100 Kick
50 Swim
100 Kick
150 Pull
200 Swim

8x75 IM on 1:20 / 50 Free on 60

2x25 Fly on 30, 50 Free on 60, 75 Fly on 1:20, 100 free on 1:30

6x50's on 60 1 easy free / 1 fast fly

50 warmdown

For a total of 3,000 Yards.  I had my own lane so I was able to do some fly.  The workout took only an hour.  Perfect swim for a Saturday morning.  The workout I didn't do was a freestyle workout with 3,500 Yards. 

Here is the workout I did NOT do:

300 Swim
300 Pull
200 Swim
200 Pull
100 Swim
100 Pull

5x100's on 1:30
5x50's on 45
4x100's on 1:25
4x50's on 45
3x100 on on 1:20
3x50's on 45
2x100's on 1:15
2x50's on 45
1x100 on 1:10
1x50 on 45
50 easy

It was a doable workout I just like the easier IM workout.  Maybe next time I do the lap swim I'll do the free workout.   

Warmed up a 400 Free

4x150's kick.

6x50's alternating drill / swim.  Did 4 fly.  Took a pee break and just did a 50 back/free.

200 on 3:20
2x100 on 1:45
200 on 3:20
4x50 on 45
200 on 3:20
8x25 on 30

I did all the 200's backstroke and the 100/50/25's all butterfly.

400 IM for time.  Ouch!  I was a bit nervous for this.  Started off nice and easy for the fly.  Kicked it up in the backstroke.  Worked the turns in breaststroke.  I have a horrible breaststroke but my push off is strong and fast.  Then all I had to do was hold on during the free.  I did a 4:05 for the 400 in workout.  Not too shabby!

Swam one lap to the deep end.  We then did two 50's  One free and one stroke working on our streamlines.  After that we did one 25 underwater. 

Four

Four.  That is the number of people who showed up from swim practice this morning at 6am.  Normally the 1st Monday of the month we do our 10x100 set so I think that scares some people away.  Since some of swam this weekend we got the coach to skip the set for us.

Warmed up a 300.

Warm Up Set:
100 Kick
200 Drill 25 Swim 25
100 Kick

Free Set:
4x200
4x100

Stroke Set:
4x100
4x50
I did 2x100 Butterfly then 2x100 Backstroke.

Not bad for a recovery swim workout. 

Swimming In The Rain: The Workout

Since I am not swimming the 1500 today at Regionals I headed to swim practice to swim outside in the rain.

Warm Up was a 300 Swim and a 300 Pull.  Then we moved on to a kick set.  200/150/100/4x50's. 

Main Set:
300 Free on 4:00
3x150's on 2:10 Choice (I did these Fly)
3x150's on  2:14 Choice (I did these Back)
300 Pace.  At each 100 I lifted my head out of the water to see my pace times.  1:09/1:08/1:05 to get a 1:22.

100 easy

Last Set:
200 Free on 2:30
4x100 Free descend on 1:20
200 Pace

50 warm down.

Swimming In The Rain

Swimming at an outdoor pool comes with the chance of swimming in the rain from time to time.  This morning was one of those times.  When I left the house at 5:41 (yes that exact time everyday) a few drops hit my head.  As I climbed into the car and rolled past the three stop signs on my street towards Robertson the rain started to come down a bit more steadily.  Once at the WeHo pool the drizzle turned into a rain shower.  We still all dived in and did our warm up in the rain.  As the workout went on the showers turned back to drizzle and back and forth a few times.  The good news was the intervals were pretty tight so not much waiting at the wall in the rain.

Swimming Alone

One of the main reasons I joined a Masters Swim Team is for the motivation that swimming with others brings me.  Okay maybe I'm a bit competitive and swimming next to someone makes me go faster.  Still for me it's the way I need to train.  But with SPMA SCM Regionals this weekend in Long Beach I am tapering so that means no weight training this week.  Instead of hitting the gym on Tuesday and Thursday of this week I've headed to the Lap Swim at the West Hollywood Pool.  After paying my $2.00's I jump in the pool and do my thing. 

Before I actually leave home I jot down a short workout.  Nothing too hard but also not too easy.  I only have about 40-45 minutes to swim as the Lap Swim starts later than our usual morning swim so my workout is perfect for a tapper week.

Warmed Up:
300 Swim Free
200 Pull Free
100 Kick Free

12x50's on 50 Free
3 Swim / 1 Kick
2 Swim / 2 Kick
1 Swim / 3 Kick

Main and Only Set:
300 Pull Free on 4:00
4x100's Free on 1:20
200 Pull Free on 2:40
4x100's Free on 1:20/1:15/1:10/1:10

100 Warm Down

The Lap Swim at 6:30 is empty enough that I had my own lane.  In the next lane over was a fellow team mate doing his thing.  We mumbled hello and good bye and just went out own way.  I do like these morning swims even if I'm on my own.  I can tailor the workouts to what I want to work on.  And without someone chomping on my feet I can take my time doing my streamlines off of each turn.  My turns are the worst and my streamlines are well not streamline at all.  Today I was able to make sure I did as best as I could.  I also worked on my hand entry.  Yesterday while goofing off looking up swimming stuff on the internet I found one of Total Immersion Swimming's Videos about hand entry.  The video had a moment in it about hand entry.  So during my 300 and 200 Pulls I was watching my hand entry and pull.  It's a bit too late to change my stroke before this weekend but it's something down the line I need to look into.

Brrr...

Damn it's cold out.  Swimming outdoors even in California means sometimes swimming in temps in the 40's.  What makes it even worse is when doing starts off the blocks.  Damn!

Warm Up:  Did about a 500 or so.  Wasn't really counting.  Just swimming.

Warm Up Set:
100 Free Kick
200 Free Drill by 50 (one arm, finger tip drag, catch up and fist)
400 Free Breath Control by 50 3/5/any/7
200 Free Distance Per Stroke
100 Kick

Free Set:
200 Free on 2:25 The middle 100 was fast
4x100's on 1:20 The 1st one the 1st 50 was fast.  The 2nd the 2nd 50 was fast.  The 3rd 100 the middle 50 was fast.  The 4th 100 the 1st 25 and last 25 was fast.
extra 15 seconds rest
200 Free on 2:25.  Build
4x100's Free on 1:20 Build in each 100
extra 15 seconds rest
200 Free on 2:25.  Race Strategy
4x100's Free on 1:20 Descend

100 easy

200 Stroke 25 Drill / 25 Swim.  Did this Butterfly

Then we did some 25's off the blocks.  Sprints.

6:30AM Lap Swim

With Regionals only a few days I felt the need to skip weights and hit the water.  But I didn't want to swim a full workout tonight and I really need to workout in the morning to get myself going for a full work day.  So, I woke up at my usual 5am, read the paper and headed to the 6:30 lap swim at the WeHo public pool.  I jotted a workout down before I left.  Just about a 45 minute workout.  Nothing too fast or painful.  Just a workout to keep myself swimming after being out of the pool for 4 days.  Getting right at the opening of the swim was a godsend.  For the first 10 minutes or so I had the pool to myself.  Then for the next 30 minutes shared it with one other person.  It wasn't to when I was leaving at 7:15 for other swimmers to show up.  That sure beats swimming at the gym.  The gym pool is always too hot about 84 degrees and it is indoors so when you are hot you stay hot.  The WeHo pool is outside so if the water is hot you can at least stand up to cool off.  And boy was it cold this morning.  Also at the gym pool you always have to dodge people attempting to do something called swimming and dodge those damn people who just stand around thinking being in the pool is exercise enough.

Once in I did a quick warm up of a 300 free swim, a 200 free pull and a 100 free kick. 

After that I did 2 sets.  One free and one fly.

Free Set:
1x25 on 30
2x50 on 50
3x75's on 1:05
4x100's on 1:20

Pee Break!

Fly Set:
1x100 on 1:40
2x75's on 1:20
3x50's on 60
4x25s on 30

For the 75's fly I took an extra 10 seconds rest on one of the 75's as the old man in the next lane told me a bad joke.

Then I warmed down 4x100's free.  Swim/Pull/Pull/Swim

Back In The Water

With S P M A Regionals only a few days away and with me out of the water for 4 days it was time to get back in the water.  Warm up was about a 500. 

We did some other warm up set with some drill/kick/swim.  200's.  Maybe four of them.  Hmm....can't remember.  We then moved on to a series of short sets.

5x150's on 2:15 50 Free / 50 Stroke / 50 Free (for stroke I did fly)

4x75's Free on 55

50 easy

4x150's on 2:30 50 Stroke / 50 Free / 50 Stroke.  I did these fly/back/fly/fly

6x50's Stroke

Then we did some work on starts and turns.   Workout wasn't that challenging but it was a good workout to get back in the water.  Now I just have to get back to speed in a few days. 

One Last Swim Before The Holiday

After swimming last night it was time to get one last swim in this morning.  Warm up was a very slow stretched out 500.  I was really tired and sore from last night but I kept on going knowing I had 4 days of no swimming ahead. 

We did some sort of warm up set but I don't remember.  Something kick/drill/swim.  Blah, Blah, Blah!

Main Set:
6x300 Free 1-3 on 4:15 4-6 on 3:45.  Descend 1-3 and 4-6.  I started with a 3:40/3:35/3:30 and then 3:40/3:30/3:25.

8x50's on 50.  3/5/7/10 Fast Stroke.

And that was it.  Happy Holidays!