Blog Archives

3/29 Practice

3/29/2013

Dryland strength training, then...
Warmup: 4 x [100 free - 50 back - 50 breast]
Kick: 300 breast
Main Set: Swim 8 x
3 x 100 (2 freestyle & 1 IM) Steady effort (:10 rest within set, :30 rest after each set of 3)
Warmdown: 10 minutes drilling

Practice Notes:
Strength training; worked it hard, as usual.
Grueling, grind it out swim practice. I'm whipped at the end of a hard week.
Warmup and kicking went fine.
24 x 100s. I worked them, but not to the max. I felt strong, but not all that fast. Freestyle were all right on 1:17; did them on 1:30 sendoff. IM's were all around 1:30; one arm fly. Back and breast feeling strong.
Came home and crashed big time.

3/28 Practice

3/28/2013

Warmup: 600 choice, then 6 x 50 faster
Drill: 6 x 25 sculling
Main Set:
Swim: 9 x 50 (:20 rest)
1-3: 25 fly - 25 back
4-6: 25 back - 25 breast
7-9: 25 breast - 25 free
Sprint: 3 x 200 freestyle (on 8:00)
broken :10 each 50, get elapsed times
Swim: 4 x 150 free, smooth (:20r)
Warmdown: 10 minutes drilling

Practice Notes:
Broken 200's on long rest are the crux, right?
Times: 2:40, 2:38, 2:37. Oooh, each 50 hurt successively worse!
Is this the test model where you subtract :30 to find out what your full speed race time would be?
4 x 150's on 2:20 sendoff and went 2:01, 2:00, 1:59, 1:56. Smooth and strong, no bonk, though I felt the effects of the sprinting.
Other swimming went well and felt fine.
Afterward I feel pretty drained. Came home and took a nap; now preparing for several hours of NCAA hoops.

3/26 Practice

3/26/2013

Warmup: 1000 choice
Swim: 8 x 50, 25 back/25 breast with good stroke ransitions (:20 rest)
Main Set: Swim 4 x Fast... best average (on 8 minutes sendoff)
300 free + 100 active recovery
Swim: 4 x 150 free, steady & smooth (:15 rest)
Warmdown: 10 minutes drilling

Practice Notes:
Good, strong practice. I was a little worried after bonking yesterday, but everything went fine. Warmup and 50's were good.
300's with long rest interval felt nice and strong throughout. Consistent times: 3:40, 3:38, 3:38, 3:39.
150'a bit slower than usual after working so hard on the 300's, but kept them all below 2:00.

3/25 Practice

3/25/2013

Dry land strength training, then...
Warmup: 800 yards, changing stroke each length
Kick/Drill: 16 x 25 fly with fins
odds: dolphin kick on back
evens: whole str
Main Set: Pull: 4 x 600 free, steady but strong (:30 rest between swims)
Sprint: 6 x 25 FAST... not freestyle (:30 rest)
Warmdown: 10 minutes drilling

Practice Notes:
Interesting practice. Halfway through the 600's I was feeling really good, strong, working them hard. I thought to myself, "I'm going to do all of these in under 8:00! At the 300 mark of third 600 I was at 3:50, right on my goal. Then my arms simply gave out. Second 300 was 4:50, and I was still trying. Weird to simply crap out in the middle of a set, when usually I get stronger. Times for the four 600's: 7:50, 7:50, 8:40, 8:30. Have not bonked like that in practice for quite some time.

Swim Practice

3/22/2013

Dry Land strength training, then:
Warmup: 600 choice, then 8 x 50 faster
Kick: 200 breast
Drill: 8 x 25 breast
Sprint: 6 x 75 freestyle. FAST... for best average! (on 4:00 sendoff)
Swim: 10 x 100 free on 1:30 sendoff, negative splitting each swim.
Warmdown: 10 minutes drilling

Practice Notes:
Gnarly practice. When I finished dryland training I was thinking, "How can I swim today, too?" Of course, this is the case after dryland most of the time and I eventually come good... as I did today. Once I got into it, I felt quite strong.
-- 75's on 4 minutes sendoff. :47, :47, :47, :47, :46, :46. Third laps were really hurting, but lactic burn was not too bad.
-- 10 x 100 on 1:30 sendoff. Times were all right on 1:13, except for the last two, which were 1:12 & 1:10. I thought I might die, but stayed strong throughout. Felt really strong, actually. Tried to hit the third lap hard on all of them.
Overall, pretty good practice, considering the end of a hard week and after a hard strength training session.
Really tired afterward.

Swim Practice

3/21/2013

Warmup: 600, changing stroke each length, then 8 x 50 at faster pace
Drill: 8 x 25 back
odds: single-arm
evens: whole str
focus hip rotation
Main Set: Swim: 4 rounds of: (4 x 150 IM, descending)
round #1: 1-2-2-1
round #2: 2-1-1-2
round #3: 1-1-1-3
round #4: choice
(:20 rest within round, 1:00 rest between rounds)
Warmdown: 10 minutes drilling

Practice Notes:
Long, grueling IM practice. I worked it where I had to. Totally whipped afterward. Descended each of the 150's rounds, but did not keep close tabs on the times. They varied from 2:45 down to 2:10. My backstroke is feeling particularly strong. Breast not so bad, either. Fly I do one armed all the way, so it's hard to tell.

Swim Practice

3/19/2013

Warmup: 4 x (100 free - 50 back - 50 breast)
Kick: 300 dolphin on back with fins
Drill: 8 x 25 free focusing on hip rotation
Sprint: 12 x 50 free, FAST (on 1:30 sendoff)
Pull: 800 free, negative split
Warmdown: 10 minutes drilling

Practice Notes
Pretty good practice. Felt strong throughout. A bit sore to start with... from yesterday's strength training, I think.
Warmup and drilling went fine. I hate the dolphin kicking on the back. Probably good for me, though.
Fast 50's were all :32 or faster; a few maybe below :30, but hard to tell when using the pace clock. Surprisingly, lactic burn did not set in too badly late in the set. I thought I might falter toward the end, but did not.
800 pulling: 200 splits were: 2:58, 2:57, 2:40, 2:40. I pushed the second half pretty hard.
Warmdown as per usual.

Swim Practice

3/18/2013

Dry Land Strength Training
Warmup: 1,000 choice
Drill: 8 x 25 fly with fins
odds: single-arm, 3 strokes alternating each side
evens: whole stroke
Main Set: Swim 3 times (300-200-100 freestyle) :30 rest all the way
300s: smooth and easy
200s: threshold
100s: FAST
(drop average 100 split by :05 at 300-200-100)
Warmdown: 10 minutes drilling

Practice Notes:
Worked the dry land training hard. A bit more motivated now, after the 200 swim yesterday.
Warmup and drilling went fine, as usual.
Main set:
300's: 4:00, 4:15, 4:05
200's: 2:28, 2:28, 2:27
100's: 1:08., 1:08, 1:07
Felt pretty strong once I got going.

All-Comers Meet in Bend

3/17/2013

200 SCM Freestyle: 2:26.92. Wow! I did not think, at this stage of my training, that I would be able to go under 2:30. Maybe the strength training I have been doing is paying off. Last year, tapered and shaved, I went 2:26.68. This bodes well for next month, when I will chase the world record of 2:24.31 once again.

Swim Practice

3/15/2013

Warmup: 800, change stroke each 50
Kick: 200 breast
Drill: 8 x 25 back, focus on hip rotation
Sprint: 3 rounds of 6 x 25, choice (:30 rest within round, 2:00 rest between rounds
Warmdown: 600 free mellow