4-12-05: Tuesday
I'm trying to restablish a swimming routine but I've been so damn busy lately that it's hard. I did manage to get back into the pool on Tuesday for a quick 1500 yard workout. I swam my first 500 in 9:07. Then a 200 in 3:48 and a 100 in 1:47. Not bad times, but not my best by a long shot. Next I swam a 200 drill. Then a 200 and 6 x50 @ 0:30.
SPLs were pretty bad - like 15 and 16. I really need to start drilling again on form. My forehead was too low in the water and created drag. Push offs from the wall were very strong, but my strokes were not efficient since my spls were still so high.
Part of the reason is stress and part is just fatigue. I paddled so much over the weekend, that I'm still tired. I also figure that allergies are having some impact as well.
If we do a little rough math on my distances, you can see that my length time starts to increase at 200 yards. This does not factor fatigue in.
27.35 sec per length, 500 yards.
28.5 sec per length, 200 yards.
26.75 sec per length, 100 yards.
So it seems like it would be worthwhile to swim 200 and 300 intervals, as fast as possible with an aim of keeping the per length time under 27 seconds. This might be a good training focus, and it will be hard. That, plus additional dill work will be a good regimine.
4-8-03: Friday
Got back in the pool for the first time this week for 1700 yards. We're approaching the apex of the spring thaw kayaking season and I'll log 3 river days this week - so it looks like we're just going to get one swim workout in this week.
I went to the pool at about 3:30 and there were a lot of kids. We need to go earlier - more like 1:30 or 2pm. I'm hoping that my upcoming engagement will let me get more swimming in, since it's so close. Anyway, I was feeling a little low energy and hadn't had enough to eat at lunch, plus the guy swimming in my lane was doing butterfly sprints which was a bit stressful.
Consequently I ended up not swimming my normal 500, but did a 200 in about 3:48. I did another 200, and then started to feel warmed up. I did 5 x 200 more with about a 0:60 rest between each. Then I did a 200 yard drill set and a final 100 for 1700.
I timed some of my 200's and they came in at 3:48, 3:46 and 3:38. Amazingly consistent over 8 lengths. This seems like a good training distance for me so I think I may stick with it for a while. It goes faster than 100's and it's a tough swim. I was feeling it. The final set of drills was good - my form is slipping a wee bit so maybe next time I'll work more of these in.
My push offs were awesome. I'm really getting amazing distance on them - way past the ladder. Total swim time was amout 35 minutes today - but already I'm tired and sore. So hopefully next week, I can try to get in 2 or 3 workouts in the middle of the day.
4-3-05: Sunday
2100 yards today. I haven't done that for a while. I started with an 8:52 on 500 yards with a 4:24 and a 4:28 split on the first and second 250's. I always find it uncanny how even my swimming can be across 10 lengths. Not a bad time, not my best, but we are back under the 9:00 hurdle.
After 2 minutes of rest I did 16 x 100 with the following rest intervals for 4 x 100's each: 0:60, 0:45, 0:30 and 0:15. I took a 1 minute rest after 1200 yards and before the last set of 100's.
Waterfeel was good. I blew off drills in favor of medium distance. My heart was definitely pumping today during the intervals.
For the week, I ended up doing 2 workouts for a total of 4100 yards.
March 30: Tuesday
It's been a while again since I was in the pool: 9 days I think. Crazy time, trying to find a job and work on my own personal projects. I finally got back into the pool and a had a glorious 2000 yard workout. I'll be this way again on Friday morning and hope to get another workout in this week then.
I started with a 500 yard warmup - which i completed about 30 seconds slower than my best time. pretty good. I then then did 1000 yards of drills 4 x 200 @ 0:30 decending to 0:15 and 200 @ :30. next I did a 300, 150 and a final 50 on about 0:45. SPLs on my drill lengths were 15 which is in the range of acceptable.
Waterfeel was good and one of the ironman swimmers thanked me for setting the pace for his workout. He was the next lane and apparently I pushed him to swim faster.
3-21-05: Monday
It's been a week since I've been in the pool - it's been hard to fit in regular swimming workouts with all of the interviews and networking I've been doing. I'm committed to slowing things down a bit this week, taking care of myself, and in avoiding exhaustion like last week.
Today I did a 1800 yard workout, on top of the cardio and weightlifting I did in the morning. I started with a 8:52 500-yard swim to warm up. Not my best time but still under 9:00. I need to work on my pushoffs some more - I was sloppy on my first two lengths and that probably killed my time.
Next I did a 4 x 50 @ 0:30 set of drills for 200. Next I did 8 x 100 @ 0:30. I was bad and didn't time or count strokes, but I was flying. Waterfeel was good even though the pool was very murkey. I did another 4 x 50 @ :30 set of drills for 200 and finished with a 100 free. Try to get my next swim in tomorrow or wednesday.
3-14-05: Monday - New 500yd Record!
I was feeling somewhat battered from yesterday's snowshoeing, so I had a lighter workout today and only did 1500 yards.
I started out with a 500 and completed it in record time - 8:43 shaving 23 seconds of my previous best time of 9:06. I attribute the speed up to slightly faster stroke cadence and good wall pushoffs. Cool. My next goal is to get it under 8:30.
Next I did 3 sets of drills 3 x (4 x 50 @ 0:25) and then 4 x 100 @ 0:60. Total swim time was about 40 minutes.
3-12-05: Saturday
1700 Yards today. This week has been stressful and it's been hard to find the time to swim during the day during work - while I look for a job. I need tobe there to be on the phone. I'll try to swim more next week.
I started today with a 500 yard time swim. I came in at 9:05 - a personal best and about 10 seconds faster than my previous times. I'm still working on breaking the 9 minute barrier. After that I just mainly swam distance. I had a big yoga class workout in the morning and my head wasn't into concentrating on drills. Next I did a 250 yard ladder - 250, 200, 150, 100, 50, 100, 150, 200 with about a minute rest between intervals. Swimming was relaxed and pretty easy for all of my lengths.
