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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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today's swimming routine:
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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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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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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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:
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:
