Sleep Swimming

Last night I took a generic Tylenol-PM before going to bed.  When my alarm went off this morning I had to fight with the cloudy morning aftermath.  Even after taking some caffeine and biking to swim I stood on deck half asleep.  Then after jumping into the water which is finally at a normal temperature I just wasn't able to snap out of it.  I should have stayed in and down a double workout with the first 75 minutes as a warmup but after being in some pain this weekend I decided not to swim both workouts.

Warmed Up a 350

Kick Set: 4x75's (skipped a 50 for a pee break)

400 IM broken 50 drill / 50 swim

Main Set:
2x
200 Free on 2:35
3x100's Stroke (backstroke) on 1:30
200 Free on 2:40

50 easy

1x
150 Stroke on 2:20
3x100's Free on 1:20
150 Stroke on 2:20

50 easy

Then we did 3x25's spring off the blocks.  I tried to do a track start but I just can't get a firm stance.  I've decided to switch to a track start as it's only a matter of time before I swim in a pool with those Omega starting blocks with that kick stand in the back for track starts.  Our team is having  a starts and turn clinic sometime soon so I may sign up for that to get more practice starts in. 

Overall the workout was pretty easy which was good as I was sleep swimming the whole time.  Even when I tried to push myself I could only push so much.  I'm going to relax today letting my leg / hip recover.  It didn't bother me too much swimming but after biking home I was feeling something.  This week my plan is to swim Monday morning, Tuesday night, Wednesday morning and Friday morning with at least two runs in.  The weather is so nice in Los Angeles that getting up and swimming is so much easier.  No more shivering on deck and on the way home. 

Saturday Morning Lap Swim

After eating In-N-Out last night I had to do something today so I woke up and went to the lap swim.  I wrote down two different workouts in case I had to share my lane.  One of my teammates showed up from one of the slower lanes joined me so I adjusted the workout so we could share the lane.

Warm Up
400 Swim 400/400
300 Pull 300/700
200 Kick 200/900
100 Swim 100/1,000

16x25's Free on 30  400/1,400

8x50's Free on 50 easy / fast  400/1,800

4x100's on 1:30 400/2,200

4x100's IM on 1:45  400/2,600

8x50's Reverse IM on 50  400/3,000

16x25's 4 free on 20 / 4 breast on 25 / 4 back on 20 / 4 fly on 25  400/3,400

100 warmdown 100/3,500

So I was able to get in 3,500 short course yards in a little over an hour.  My hip reflexer was bothering me for some reason.  I did bike to and from swim but don't think that was it.  I must have just slept the wrong way.  The intervals were pretty easy allowing to take my time while working on technique and turns.  My freestyle turns have come along way just need to keep doing them to they become second nature.  That way when I meet comes I'll just do them without thinking shaving a few seconds of my freestyle swims.

Friday Morning Swim

After swimming and running yesterday I was a bit tired and sore this morning.  Warming up was a bit rough as I took it slow for a 300.

Warm up Set
4x
50 Drill on 55
75 Kick on 1:20
100 Swim on 1:30
I did one round of each stroke IM order.

Warm Up Set:
300 Free on 3:45
2x50's Butterfly on 55
200 Free on 2:30
2x50's Backstroke on 55
100 Free on 1:10
2x50's Breaststroke on 55

Free Set:
4x
125 Free on 1:45
75 Fast Free on 1:05

Stroke Set:
4x
125 IM (adding an extra 25 of each stroke IM order) on 2:00
75 Fast on 1:10 Stroke (i did these back/fly/back/fly)

I was feeling very sluggish during the workout.  I don't think I felt awake to the very last 75 fly.  At that point I was ready for another workout.   But in reality I just think I woke up and wouldn't have been able to swim.  Overall it was a decent workout considering I ran last night.

Afternoon Lap Swim

Since I slept in on Wednesday and missed swimming I decided to go and swim this afternoon at the lap swim.  I biked the 2 miles to the pool on this lovely sunny day in Los Angeles.  Really it is so nice outside today.  I paid my $2.00 for the lap swam and got in the pool. 

The water was warm but not as bad as it has been.  Then again I was going at an easy pace.  I had a workout in my mind but nothing written down.  I started with a long warm up and built on up.

400 Free
100 Back
300 Pull (no paddles)
200 Kick
100 Swim (1,100)

4x300 Pull with paddles on 4:00.  That is a 1:20 base I ended up coming in around on a 1:10 base giving me plenty of rest. (2,300)

50 easy recovery backstroke (2,350)

4x100's Free on 1:20 (2,750)

4x100's IM on 1:30 (3,150)

4x100's Free on 1:20 (3,550)

50 easy back warmdown (3,600)

So 3,600 yards on my own in about an hour.  Pretty much had the lane to myself for most of the hour.  Someone did jump in my lane but quickly moved to another lane as I lapped him every 50 yards I swam.  At least he moved over.  I've swam before at lap swims or gym swims when the person doesn't move over.  The workout I had in my head was for the same yardage so I kept to that.  I was planning on doing 4x300 on 4 / 4x200 on 2:30 /4x100 on 1:10.  But swimming on my own I decided that wasn't going to happen.  I swam hard but not that hard!  I enjoyed the swimming and the sun.  Without the pressure of making fast intervals or having someone on my feet I was able to make every turn count.  I may have to toss one lap swim a week to work on things like that.  A low pressure but quality swim. 

The Easy Path

Just got back from swimming and boy is it cold outside.  I rode to swim on the bike wearing shorts which was a huge mistake.  It is 54F in Los Angeles at 8:50pm but riding the bike it felt cooler than that.  The water was warm as it has been but a bit cooler due to the air being cooler.  Finally the water is getting into the comfortable zone.

As for the workout I took the easy way out as we had two fast lanes at two different intervals.  I swam in the slower of the two.  I figured as I have been swimming on the blah side I would be better taking the extra rest.  Turns out it was a bit too much rest and I should have pushed myself more.  I started my warm up slow and just slowly got warmed up and with the water temp almost to my liking was able to build.  At the end I used the last set of 50's to warm down.

Warmed up a 400 swim, 300 pull and a 100 kick.  During the pull I really took my time to work on my stroke and turns.

10x100's Pull.  3 on 1:30 / 3 on 1:25 / 3 on 1:20.  The other lane was 5 seconds faster.  I went last in the lane and really worked on my turns and stroke.   I figured this was a warm up set so no need to be blasting yet.

Main Set:
12x200's as follows
4x200 Free on 2:45.  Very easy interval.  Took my time.  Slowly moving up in the lane.
4x200's on 3:00  100 Free / 100 Stroke.  I did backstroke for my stroke
4x200's Stroke on 3:30.  I did them fly/back/back/fly. 
Each set of 4x200's we descended in each group.  1-4/5-8/9-12

12x50's as follows
2 kick on 55
2 swim on 50
I used this as a warm down set as we ended up finishing right at 8:30.  I did the first 4 breaststroke, the second 4 backstroke and finishing up with butterfly.

This was a nice workout.  Comfortable intervals all around making the workout a good workout.  I'm not dying or in pain.  I do plan on swimming in the morning but you know what they say about best laid plans.  I promised to run today but just didn't feel like it.  Thursday I'll force myself to hit the Nike Run Club in Beverly Hills and run 5 miles.  Haven't ran in two weeks so it'll be a slow run.  Was debating on running to swim tonight but gave up that dream.  And I really don't want to run at 5:30am.  Just think it'll be around 45F at that time.  Brrrr...

10x100 SCY Breathrough Montly Set

Another first Monday of the month came today as did our breakthrough set of 10x100's on 3:00 all out sprints.  In the past I like mostly everyone else did them all freestyle.  Month to month my times fluctuated with some months better than others.  These breakthrough or check sets are suppose to give us a snapshot on were one is in training.  In theory we should be improving month to month.  I have mixed emotions about this type of set.  On one hand I feel once a month is too much.  Also since it is announced before hand attendance at workout drops significantly for this day.  Which is good as we have 2 persons per lane but I don't think anything that discourages swimmers to show up is good for anyone.  On the other hand those who do show up seem to be more of a cohesive group of swimmers cheering each other on and giving words of encouragement.  Also when you do have that good month of swimming it only encourages you to train harder.

Personally this month was a mixed bag for me.  I started with the intention of doing 5 butterfly and 5 freestyle.  On my first 100 I came in at 1:04.  That was a bit too fast to keep up although looking back in time I remember when I did an off the block 100 butterfly and was happy the day I went under a 1:08 with a personal workout best of 1:06.  At a meet I'm still hovering at 1:00 with the goal of breaking that mark.  My second 100 butterfly I slowed up to a 1:05 and felt like crap,  My legs and arms were sore and the hot water made me fill ill.  My third 100 was aborted after a 50.  I gave up.  I know I should have continued and pressed forward at a slower pace but I just didn't want to.  The fourth 100 I switched to backstroke just to see what I could do.  I did a total of six backstroke each one getting slower 1:06 / 1:07 / 1:08 / 1:09 / 1:10 / 1:10.  The final and 10th 100 I did butterfly with a time of 1:06.

Afterwards the coach gave us all a speech on how we should be all doing these all freestyle to get an overall feeling of how we are in our training or at least do the same thing from month to month.  Now not to make this a bitching post I found it interesting that I heard a rumor that one of the elite faster swimmers was telling the other elite faster swimmers to skip the workout this month as they are on a National's training program.  These are the people who wanted this set to be a monthly thing in the first place.  It'll be interesting the 1st Monday of the June which is IGLA if we do this this set or not.  I hate when swim practices become political or pissing contests. 

Back to me...with limited time and workouts I need to figure out how to still work on my butterfly, do some good distance freestyle workouts and then add in some good backstroke workouts now that I know that stroke is also a strength for me.  Also after a few weeks of no weight training I need to get back to the gym.  Even though I was tired and sore more often when swimming I think my swims were a bit faster during workouts.  I seemed better adapt at swimming  in the pain and not giving up so much. 

Wild Mood Swings In The Pool

I told myself I was going to be very active this weekend and in the end spent most of my time eating baked goods and drinking wine.   I did at least swim this afternoon even if I really didn't want to.  Even when swimming I just didn't feel into it.  The first half of workout was tough and various people sat out a 50 here and there either in the first half or the second half.   I told myself I'd switch down to a slower lane for the second half so I'd do the whole workout.

Warmed up a mixed 300.

Warm up set of a 200 Drill / 100 Swim

Main Set:
6x50's Kick
1x50 Swim
200 Free on 2:20
a number which i don't remember of 150's on some interval I don't remember
4x100's Free on 1:15
a number of 50's.  Like I said I wasn't really into this workout so I just followed blindly just trying to make the set.

Stroke Set:
6x50's Kick
1x50 Swim
200 Swim Which I did backstroke before moving down to the slower lane
4x150's rotating a 50 stroke in IM order
4x100's Stroke on 1:40 Did these backstroke
4x50's Swim.

Then everyone in the slower fast lane got out so the faster fast lanes merged with my lane.  Damn was trying to escape from them.

Pull
2x
50
125
75

And that was it.  Call is Sunday blahs or part of my recent pattern of swimming.  Either way I just have to keep swimming till I get out of this funk and I'm back on track. 

My Notebook

I starting keeping a notebook of my workouts in July of 2007.  Before the notebook I'd scratch the workout on scrap paper put it up on my blog and toss it out.  The notebook for me is a great quick way of looking at past workouts.  I sometimes look at past posts I put up but that is mostly for swim meet times.  I find flipping pages is easier than scrolling down a screen.  Plus I'm not in front of my computer every moment of my day.  Most of them but not all. 

After this mornings workout I wanted to look at my past workouts.  Compare my old intervals to the ones now.  One thing I know is that two years ago I was doing 100 IM's on the 1:40 interval and now doing 1:25/1:30.  Of course sometimes when loafing in the slower fast lane I get to do 1:40's again.  Yeah!  As for free I'm gone from doing 1:20/1:25 to now doing 1:10/1:15.

It is hard to judge if this is really making any difference at all as I havn't been competing as much if at all.  What I'm trying to do is by reading my workouts and my times somehow I hope to knock some sense into me and stop psyching myself out. 

It's time to focus on the good things!

Friday Morning Swim and Excuses

I didn't make it to either running or swimming last night but I do plan on making up for that this weekend.  After a few nights of lack of sleep I decided to take a sleep aid to help me last night.  Waking up this morning was a bit tough but I got up and went swimming.  Once in the pool I felt sluggish to the very end of workout.  I'll have to cut the dose if I continue taking the sleeping aid or till I at least get back on a regular sleeping pattern.

I swam a very easy 300 free for a warm up.  During this time I really worked on my flip turns.  I figure start concentrating on flip turns during the slow parts of the workout and in time I'll just naturally do them during the fast sets.  Right now when I'm in the middle of a fast set and feel fatigued the first thing to go are my turns. 

Then it was time for the warm up set. 4x100's broken 50 drill / 50 swim followed by 8x25's.  We were on a tight interval to get our heart rate up.  I was still feeling like I was sleep walking so.

Main Set:
2x25's
3x50's
4x75's on 55
5x100's 1:15 for the first on and 1:10 for each additional one after that.  Boy was I sluggish.  As time went on I got slower and slower on each 100.  The fourth and fifth one I put no effort into it at all.

Kick Set:
3x
100
25
50
25
Hating to kick I just went about on a slow pace and letting every catch up to me so I was able to miss a 50 at the end.  I don't know the intervals as it was kick and I suck at kicking.

Stroke Set:
2x25's butterfly
3x50's back
4x75's rotating stroke IM order
5x100's first one on 1:30 followed by 1:25 for the rest.  I did number 1/3/5 butterfly and 2/4 backstroke.

Last Set:
2x
50 build
25 sprint
25 recovery
50 sprint
I did the sprints butterfly

I realize in my swimming I have phases.  I'll have a phase when I'm really gung ho and pushing myself and just blowing away my intervals.  Then I have a phase like know when I want lots of rest and just take my time.  I know in order to swim fast at meets you need to practice swimming fast but sometimes I just don't want to.  I just want to swim for the cardio workout or just swim and work on technique.  Watching some of my lane mates only get faster, stronger and better doesn't have the effect of inspiration like it should.  As I see them get faster I just want to move down a lane and just go even slower.  With most of my lane mates going to Nationals in a few weeks they are pushing themselves to get ready going faster and faster.  All I can say is that this phase will past and then I'll be gung ho again.  This happened before I went to Nationals last year and Gay Games the year before that.  I just got to keep swimming and then I'll wake up one day and be back. 

Less Sleep, More Swim

Last night my sleep game and went in intervals of 2 hours.  I'd sleep for two hours then wake before falling asleep for another 2 hours.  At the very end I got a 45 minute nap in before rising to go swim.  I sat debating if I should even bother swimming and even thought of turning home when driving to swim.  I decided to drive and not bike because it was really cold and I was tired.  Once in the pool I felt good as the pain I had felt last night wasn't as strong and I slowly woke up.  Workout was pretty much all IM but the intervals were slow enough to keep me going.   I warmed up a mixed 400 on my own before hearing that we'd do a series of additional 400 IM warm ups before doing a 400 IM. 

400 IM Drill/Kick

400 IM Pull / Drill

5x100's on 1:30 One of each stroke and one IM.

400 IM Swim

4x
100 IM
50
25
25
One round of each stroke.

The water was warm once again but with only two people per lane it wasn't over crowded.  I was able to stand up and cool off at the wall and kept drinking water.  Last night I didn't drink water leaving me fatigued and then getting cramps in my legs and feet.  I'm going to lay down hopefully getting in a nap and letting my body recover.  The lack of sleep must be what is making me sluggish and sore when swimming this past week.  At least I hope so.