Went super easy today, lots of stroke drill stuff, working on form. I was feeling run down from training earlier this week, I think. Which is what I wanted.
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Today was an easy pool session, IM sets mostly, and at a slow pace. This worked out because I could tell I was a little flat to begin with.
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It's been a while since pushing back the inside of that envelope felt good in a pool. This morning's session was both punishing and smooth. This has got to be the first time in years I felt that groove where a smooth stroke lives, letting me autopilot through a nearly respectable set: 10 x 100m on the 2:00, coming in between 1:27 - 1:32. To start chipping those 100m interval times away, below two minutes, will be good. To get those down to 1:35 will be better.
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Monday swim sessions are brutal. This is my long day. Long, anyways, for me. 400m is about all I can will myself to attempt. Sets of distances longer than this would probably cause my form to fall apart or me to pass out. And honestly, I probably could pass out. Even 400m without a lifeguard to watch me is pushing it. After turns I am eye-bulging gasping for air, starting at about 250m.
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Now that I'm lifting weights once a week and swimming almost daily my joints don't feel super good after a session with the weights. For instance, I'm sore today. I lifted last night with Marcela at the Shed. She has great form on the bench, by the way. But the once a week thing is just enough to make me sore, rather than accomplish anything significant, I think, in the strength department. This may call for a drastic overhaul of my weight training strategy. Recently, sets every two minutes was all the rage. Looking forward, it may make more sense to slow down the pace of my sessions but increase weight. I'm just saying, it's something for me to think about.
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IM-athon. Did a bunch of IM stuff today in an effort to mix it up. IM stuff hammers my breathing. I was panting like a dog after a couple cycles. And it came to my attention my butterfly form needs some work. There's definately a rythm to the fly and I definately don't have it.
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Swam again this morning. I had big plans for my 100m times today, only to massively disappoint myself. Maybe I didn't mention this in writing but I've been entertaining the idea of my birthday challenge involving a 300m freestyle under 3 minutes. Needless to say, that does not look like an option any time soon.
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Swam some longer sets today, felt like good training.
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Bridget got me in to the Coral Casino yesterday. I can't tell if it's trying to be a gym or spa or pool or what. But I can say it accomplishes none of these well. The "weight room" was friggin' laughable, which I would have laughed at had I not been so pissed mid-workout that they would even call it such. To mention just a few annoyances: the dumbbells stop at 75 lbs, there are no barbell weights, the machines are insane, half the space is for treadmills, at least one trainer has a pony tail (and he's a dude) and everyone there at the time was super not inspiring. On the plus side, I was so bitter the staff treated me like family because I behaved exactly like a rich Montecito prick. It's like they don't know what to do if you ask. Responses were much better when I demanded beligerantly. And after 3 seconds with the "guy" at the front desk I was happy to oblige. There's one more thing cool about the Coral, I guess - flat panel TVs in the locker room. Not to mention the locker rooms are marbled out. Rad. But oddly, I felt myself longing for the parade of old dudes strolling around with their junk all everywhere talking way loud about baseball and inane things. Next stop, the pool. The pool's really nice. 50m. Actually, 50m plus one foot, I'm told. That way they never get asked to host a swim meet. What? Assholes? No! So, I cranked out some apnea 50's with the long fins. I'm getting better at those. Something else I would not have expected from the Coral, a nugget index of 0. I'm not sold on the place.
Was not feeling the eye of the tiger this morning. But I dragged myself to the pool, focusing once again on my pitiful stroke technique. Lots of zipperswitch, freestyle, IM drills and fin work. I'm starting to realize my years in the weight room have not done me any favors in the pool. It's been an effort to stretch out my stroke. I'm statically stretching tons and concentrating a bunch on good mechanics. And things maybe are starting to come together I feel. Today I was focused on relaxing my movements, not something I practiced with the weights, and getting a good stretch at the top of my latissimus, just below and behind my shoulder, at the end of my freestyle catch after my leading hand enters the water. Some points for me to remember regarding freestyle:
Morning swim, again. I've been focusing on stroke mechanics a lot. If not for my hospital incident I would be more focused on increasing yardage. But I feel now like my limiting factor is my lungs. And they're just going to take time to heal. In the meantime, maybe as long as a year, it seems appropriate that I emphasize not solely on stamina, for which I'm handicapped, but instead on form, flexibility, speed and strength. And, honestly, I'm not bummed to do stroke drills for the next few months. The way my lungs are now makes any substantial endurance training painful and frustrating. Having been away from serious endurance efforts for as long as I have (years) makes me tend to approach epic swim sessions with less than a vengeance. I'd rather ease in to it anyways. Make it a habit before you make it a passion.
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Swam early at GVAC this morning before work. Focused today on stroke technique, alternating zipperswitch drills and crawl, and threw in some IMs.
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Micah and I got in the UCSB long course pool Sunday for some dynamic apnea. Not tons of noteworthy stuff was done except 50m no-breathers with the long fins. I did a ton of those, kicking on the surface to slow down my heart while staying warm between underwater lengths. Slow lengths with breathing is way better than sitting around to catch my breath while getting cold.
Friday I decided to hit the UCSB pool in the evening for some freediving work. Long course 50m lengths with the long fins proved too much on the 2:30, of which maybe 1 length in 30 minutes was no breath. So, I slowed it down to 3:00 - 4:00 minute rest. Then I did a few no breath, not super comfortably, and left. That much rest makes me cold. Probably some mellow lengths on the surface during rest intervals is a good idea.
Was a little tired from a bunch of training this week, as is typical of Fridays, but got myself in to the gym for a good session with the weights. Today's focus: arms and abdominals. da numbers:
Had a good session in the GVAC pool this morning. After warming up I got in to some alternating zipperswitch and crawl 100s. Zipperswitch is great - the second 50 of each 100, when I went to regular freestyle, felt smooth and stretched out. da numbers:
This morning came pretty early. Yesterday's swimming & lifting combination smoked me I guess. Things felt better once I hit the water though. My times were slow mostly because I'm trying to get my crawl technique dialed in. And because I suck. da numbers:
Lifted late afternoon yesterday, opting to swim before work. So, by the time 5:30 PM came around I was not a raging bundle of energy. But things came together, as they usually do, once I started pushing the weights around. This turned out to be a good session, and a good fitness day.
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Swam at GVAC this morning. It was good. Pool's not great but they have a jacuzzi outside. I'm trying to work out a few things with my freestyle technique. For one, I'd like to synchronize my pull with my kick - easier said than done, apparently. I think step one will be to build a better kick. da numbers:
Something I've always liked about swimming is how much better I feel the instant I hit the water. I know no matter how tired, bored, cranky, etc. I am things will get better as soon as I get in. That's true for lakes, rivers, oceans and pools. For example, yesterday I had to go in to work at 3:30 AM, had expected to get up at 5:30 to swim, instead worked until 10:00 AM then met Micah at the UCSB drink at 11:30 AM. Circumstances were not inspiring me - I was tired and grumpy. But I had spent the previous evening pumping myself up for a morning pool workout, a short day at the office, followed by more pool where I'd do some fin and apnea work. Plans changed so that I could either pool it up in a less than optimal state or pout at home. As soon as I hit the water I felt great and had a rad workout. the numbers:
Fred Hatfield would be proud. Well, that's probably saying too much. But morning workouts are my thing now. Today I swam in the UCSB short course. It's the kiddy pool, sure, but I'm working hard (seriously) and feel my day at the big boy pool is close. Sundays are the exception. The fish that show up for mid-week morning swims are fast. They don't show up at 11:00 on Sunday. That's when I do long course work. My day is coming though. Today saw my 100m times around 1:15. I'm not going to say that's not bad. But it's not horrendous. The super motivating thing about the UCSB pool is there's always a population of strong swimmers there, at least in the morning, and the two pools are about 30' apart. And most mornings there's a team taking up most of the long course lanes, which is good and bad. The good part is I get to see their work outs. The bad part is they make me feel like a wanker.
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