first water

I've been doing IM sets with 50yd for each stroke. Today I increased that to 100yd. And it was hard. My strokes are coming together though. Butterfly is even kinda working. After the IM sets I did tons of dolphin kick yardage.

da numbers

• 2 x 100yd free/zipperswitch
• 100yd fly kick
• 8 x 100yd alternating IM strokes @ 3:00
• coming in under 2:00, usually around 1:45
• Fly was tiring. I cheated a bit and threw in some lengths of kick
  
• of note: my second 100yd free was 1:11
  
• 400yd fly kick
• started to feel a better kick
  
• 300yd fly kick w/ short fins
• by this time my legs were hammered
  
• 200yd apnea drill w/ short fins
  

first water

The GVAC pool is not especially fast. In fact, it may be the slowest pool I've ever swam in. Maybe this is because it's 3.5 deep the entire length, or because it's cold or the lanes are narrow. Whatever, it's slow and it sucks. And this morning's pool session was brutal.
da numbers:

• 2 x 100 yd free/zipperswitch
• 10 x 100 yd @ 2:00
• coming in between 1:30 - 1:35
• 2 x 200 yd @ 5:00
• coming in around 3:20
• 300 yd dolphin kick w/ short fins
• 100 yd apnea drill w/ short fins

This is my third consecutive day at 2000 yards.

first water

Didn't feel as good as yesterday. Felt a little tight and times weren't stellar. Lots of yards though.
da numbers:

• 2 x 100 yd free/zipperswitch
• 5 x 200 yd free @ 4:00
• coming in between 3:00 - 2:55
• 4 x 100 yd free easy/hard @ 2:00
• coming in between 1:20 - 1:25
• 300 yd dolphin kick w/ short fins
• 100 yd apnea drill w/ short fins

first water

Good yardage this morning. I'm back to "distance Mondays", my day of the week to crank out some longer-than-usual sets in the pool. For instance, today's focus was on a couple 400 yd freestyle intervals. And my times were not that dismal, coming in right under 6 minutes on my second go, putting my splits under 1:30 for 400 yd. Not bad for me at this stage. Today's routine totaled 2000 yd, my longest session since returning to the pool. And this has me thinking about adding 200 yd ever week for a few months, maybe getting up to 5000 yd days and breaking my old swim times, particularly the 500 yd in under 5 minutes. That's almost a competitive time and surely nothing to be ashamed of amongst the masters swim crowd.
da numbers:

• 2 x 100 free/zipperswitch
• 2 x 400 free @ 8:00
• 1st 400 time: 6:07
• 2nd 400 time: 5:57
• 3 x 200 pull w/ paddles @ 4:00
• steadily decreasing times, between 3:10 - 2:55
• 300 dolphin kick w/ short fins
• 100 apnea drill w/ short fins

first water

I was tired this morning, forgot my watch and almost just went home. But I went through my stretches, dunked, and worked on butterfly. Yardage was a little short today, 1200 yd, with the focus on fly and a few fast free 100s. Today produced my first lengths of real fly. No more stroke drills for me.

da numbers:

• 2 x 100 free/zipperswitch
• 6 x 100 free @ 2:00
• First 3 were purposely slow, coming in around 1:35. The last 3 100s were nearer all-out, coming in about 1:27.
• 8 x 25 fly drill
• 4 x 25 fly
• Fly felt surprisingly good, albeit exhausting.
• 100 apnea drill w/ short fins

first water

Maybe it's not me. Maybe the Carpinteria Community Pool is fast. I gotta say, the water feels thick. And my times are inexplicably quicker. Either that pool is fast or the GVAC pool is slow. I prefer to think GVAC is slow. Yesterday's IM set at Carpinteria was actually enjoyable.
da numbers:

• 2 x 100 free/zipperswitch
• 20 x 50 IM strokes @ 1:30
• Felt good, concentrated on stroke mechanics, especially for fly. It's time I graduate to full on butterfly and not the variation I've been doing.
• 3 x 100 pull w/ paddles @ 2:00
• coming in between 1:15 - 1:20
• 200 dolphin kick w/ short fins
• 100 apnea drill w/ short fins

first water

After yesterday's 200 yd times, I thought today's 100s would be a little faster. Perhaps this is why I swam the 500 and not sprints. With 200s at 2:50, 100s should be better than 1:35. That makes my splits in the 200 faster than a straight 100. Who knows, sets aren't races. And today's 10 x 100 @ 2:00 was not easy. In fact, that's about as hard as I've gone recently. 1,000 yd in 20 minutes is decent. Additionally, today's routine totaled 1,800 yd, a little longer than usual. Focus on relaxing. 100s sometimes make me tighten up.

da numbers:

• 2 x 100 free/zipperswitch
• 10 x 100 free @ 2:00
• coming in between 1:30 - 1:40
• 3 x 100 free w/ dolphin kick @ 4:00
• coming in around 2:40
• 100 free pull w/ paddles
• 100 dolphin kick w/ short fins
• 100 apnea drill w/ short fins
  

first water

Went to a new pool this morning - the Carpenteria Community Pool. It's pretty nice. No long course but a sweet little short course of about 12 lanes. The temps were warm, which I've grown fond of as I've "matured". I used to hate warm pools when I swam the 500. At 6:00 AM though, cold water is massively un-inspiring. My times during a 200 set were good, easily ten seconds quicker than on recent days.
da numbers:

• 2 x 100 free/zipperswitch
• 4 x 200 free @ 4:00
• coming in between 2:50 - 2:55
• 2 x 200 pull w/ paddles @ 4:00
• coming in ~ 3:10
• 200 dolphin kick drill w/ short fins
• 200 apnea drill w/ short fins

first water

Swam some IM at GVAC this morning. IM's are tough, man. I try to stay relaxed as I get tired, resist tightening up, which is good for my stroke but hammers my lungs. I'm just panting like a dog during sets. Gotta be good for me, I suppose.

da numbers:

• 2 x 100m free/zipperswitch
• 16 x 50m alternating IM strokes @ 1:30
• tons of rest between 50's - I'm never coming in after 1:00
• 50m free's had me coming in between :30 - :35
• all strokes felt better today
• 200m free /w paddles
• 200m dolphin kick w/ short fins
• 200m apnea drill w/ short fins

first water

As I'm still not over my cold, swimming this week has not been stellar. I took all last week off - no climbing, no swimming, no anything not conducive to recovery. And I can't take it any more. My symptoms now are confined to my head and sinuses but I can't stand not training for another week. I won't do it. Anyways, worked on my stroke a bunch this morning. Counting strokes is harder than one would think.

da numbers:

• 2 x 100m free/zipperswitch
• 12 x 50m free @ 1:00
  
• coming in around :40
• This was not fast. I was trying to count strokes here and get that number reduced in an effort to stretch out my stride. As I said, counting is difficult, nearing impossible today. I was around 20 - 25 strokes per length.
• 4 x 100m free w/ paddles @ 2:00
• coming in around 1:40
• 300m dolphin kick w/ short fins
• 100m apnea drill w/ short fins
  

first water

today's swimming routine:

• 200m free/zipperswitch
• 5 x 100m free @ 2:00
• coming in between 1:30 - 1:35
  
• 5 x 100m free/zipperswitch alternating 25m @ 2:30
• 100m free w/ dolphin kick
• 100m pull w/ paddles
• 200m kick drill w/ short fins