swimmingMoose

4-12-05: Tuesday

2005-04-12T19:24:00.000-05:00

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

2005-04-08T18:41:00.000-05:00

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

2005-04-03T16:02:00.000-05:00

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

2005-03-30T15:59:00.000-05:00

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

2005-03-21T21:43:00.000-05:00

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!

2005-03-14T20:57:00.000-05:00

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

2005-03-12T21:55:00.000-05:00

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.

3-8-05: Tuesday

2005-03-08T20:56:00.000-05:00

1500 yards today. I started with a 500 which went by fairly fast. I wish I had timed it because I think I broke the 9 minute barrier. Next I did a 250 pull buoy to see if I could swim a bit faster with it and that worked pretty well. My stroke cadence was up without to much of an impact on my spls, which informally, were about 16/17. This is without a pushoff because of the buoy.

Next, I did 10 x 50 @ :30. I started out trying to swim fast but wasn't able to break through the 0:47 barrier so I just cranked out a series of 50 second intervals. Finally a did a 250, free and then called it quits, since I did a 40 minute cardio session on the bike in the morning. Total swim times was 34 minutes including interval breaks. The goal is t otry having several more of these shorter workouts this week and see if they help me get unstuck in my times.

3-5-05: End of Season - What's next?

2005-03-05T16:37:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow is the beginning of whitewater kayak season - my true (current) passion and I need to ask myself what the future of swimming is going to be. It will be hard from here on out to get any swimming workouts in on weekends, and it's hard to get to the pool consistently 3 days during the work week. Swimming has become pretty important in my life and I really like the way it feels - so how to work it in with all of the other stuff I'm doing. Here are some ideas.

One option is to increase the number of days I swim during the work week but to change my goals. In some ways I've shirked the hard work of doing sprints and really working on my fast swimming. I also probably need to learn how to do a flip turn to get my times down. So - one option is to do a 500 warmup and then do 750-1000 yards of fast 50's flat out starting on a 30 second interval to build up my speed performance. It might also make sense to throw some pull-buoy and kick board work in there for variety. I swim pull-buoy fast and it might help me get the feel of swimming fast and matching my stroke cadence/glide. I can also throw in drills but increase my speed, so there are lots of variations. But overall the distance I swim needs to drop because I will need and want to increase the number of days per week that I'm in the pool.

I hope that my skin can take the chlorine and that as the weather moderates and the humidity comes back up this will be doable. Another option is to switch over to Winchester after work, or at lunch for some fresh water swimming, and there are a lot of 'closed' and open water swimming options there. But this isn't going to help me until the water temperature comes back up in late May or June.

So let's experiment with the shorter, more frequent workout next week (around my Atlanta/Montgomery) roadtrip and see how that works. It means that I will need to do two workouts almost every day - morning cardio + weights + bosu and a fast swim workout at mid-day. Let's give it two weeks and see how it goes.

The opther option is to continue on my current workout past and only swim 2 days a week - but 1) I don't wan tto do that because I get some mental benefits from swimming and 2) that's a very expensive way to finance 8 workouts a month (for $86).

3-5-05: Saturday

2005-03-05T16:29:00.000-05:00

I was really tired this morning from my trip to NY on Thursday and Friday and slow to get moving but I make it to the pool and had a pretty good, 2000 yard, workout. After my last session with fins I wanted to do a little drill practice so that was the focus of my workout today.

I started with a 500 which I swam in 9:12. Damn consistent between workouts. I wasn't trying to go fast, but it's funny that I swim my warmup 500 the same length of time each workout. To within a second across 20 lengths!

Next I did 5 x (4 x 50) @ :30 of my standard drills. My spl was 14 on lap 1 and 15-16 on lap 2. Waterfeel was really good today. Next I did a 200, 150, 100, and 50 ladder to finish up for 2000. The last 500 hundred was tough. I was tired from the trip and I started to flag after 100 yards on the ladder. I swam the last 50 at a sprint in 0:45. Not bad, but I'd like to still break the 0:40 barrier before the end of the season.

3-2-05:Wednesday

2005-03-02T15:22:00.000-05:00

1700 today. My concentration was way off because of my annual physical in the morning and other things going on in my life. I tried swimming with fins again today (after a 2+ month hiatus) and it really did help me experience the feel of swimming faster. The downside is that it created a huge amount of drag - so a mixed blessing.

I started my workout with a 500 with fins, then a 200 with fins. Like last workout, I tried to do another 500 but petered out after 8 lengths - mostly psyched myself out. Then I did 10 x 50 @ :20 moderately fast, experiencing the feel of moving faster in the water. I need to start swimming faster in my drill work so that I can develop my hydrodynamic profile in faster swims. It's easy to do slow - now we need to transfer the skill to a faster swim. Next I did a 250 with fins. The a 150 and a 100 without fins. My kick was way off because of the fins, so I need to drill some next workout to recapture that feel.

2:26-05: Saturday

2005-02-26T17:24:00.000-05:00

2000 yard workout today, the 3rd this week. Worked on distance and started to work on my time/spls on 50 yard swims. Started with a 500 yard warmup. This wasn't two bad. Then I did 4 x (4 x 50 @ :30) drills and timed each spl count interval. My results were an 80, 77, 78, 79. Amazingly consistent. I could feel myself petering out on the second 25. It might be worth doing golfs on 25 yard swims to see what the splits look like. Stroke counts, even on these faster swims were 15 to 17, which I consider good.

Next I did two times 250s with a minute of rest between them. The first at 4:30 and the second at 4:29. Can you believe this! I cooled down with 2 easy 100's.

Reaching 6000 yards in one week is a real milestone, but my goal is still 5750/week. Let's not get ahead of ourselves. It feels good to be able to swim the longer distances again and that's good, but we need to work on speed more. Maybe a 25 sprint, 25 easy combination is worth trying.

My drills felt pretty good. I'm getting the feel of shoulder snapping back on my thumbscrape drills. Catch up is good but I need to work on my hand and arm placement, and on speeding up in the first third of my stroke. I also need to work on increasing the cadence of my stroke - without losing my hydrodynamics. Lots of work to do here. Elbows up feels wonderful and I need to work on doing this more deliberately on all of my lengths. Next swim probably Tuesday to let my skin recover.

2-24-05: Thursday

2005-02-24T22:26:00.000-05:00

Today was a big workout - 2000 yards. My goal was to work on swimming longer distances. I'm still trying to play catchup to where I was endurance wise before vacation.

I started with a 500 yard warmup which went pretty smoothly and I felt really strong. I timed this at 9:13. This I followed with a 200. I had hoped to be able to do another 500 but I psyched myself out of it. So I decided to do a 250 ladder instead for 1250 yards (5o @ :30, 100 @ :45, 150,200,250,200,150 @ :60, 100 @ :45, and 50 @ :30. I followed this with another quick 50 to end the workout.

The distances abover 150 were tough. I think part of the reason is just counting, which gets much harder above 150 yards (6 lengths). I find myself starting to peter out at 100 yards and then 150 gets even harder.

I really didn't do any drills today. My head was a bit low. Kicking was good until my last 150 when my left calf cramped up and I used a pull buoy to get through the remaining 3 laps of the 150 until I could stretch the leg out.

For my next work out I'm going to switch gears and work on drills and 5o yard medium and fast swim times. Maybe I'll also do a ladder where I decrease my rests times, to get back to improving my recovery times and lap speed.

2-21-05: Monday, President's Day

2005-02-21T18:05:00.000-05:00

I had a 2000 yard workout today and I'm fairly exhausted, trying to get back my endurance after our vacation. I started with a 500 yard warmup and just kept at it until I finished. Hard but not impossible. Next I did 600 yards of 50/100 @ :30/:45 and 600 yards of 50/150 @ :30/:60. The :45 rest was just too short. Then a warm down with a 150, 100, and 50 yard swim at :60, :45 and :30. I swam the first 500 is 9:48 and my spls ranged from 16-17 - but my focus today was on getting my distance endurance back up. Total workout, including rests was just over 50:00

Water feel was pretty good, but head position was a bit low. Kick was good. I also started speeding up on the first third of my pull instead of pushing water down, as I suspect I've been doing. Sreamlining was pretty good on my reaches, and I really tried to get my head behind my shoulder swimming on an tilt.

My next workout will be a 1750 on Wednesday or Thursday. Again the focus will be on distance and endurance. I think I'll do a 500 warmup, do 400 of drills and then a ladder up to 250 in 50 yard increments - which would bring me up to a 2050 workout. I'll fiddle a bit with the rest times to push myself on the recoveries.

2-19-05: Saturday

2005-02-19T16:48:00.000-05:00

This was the first workout after our vacation to Cancun - so it's been a week or so since I had a workout. The water down in mexico in the Clubmed pool was just too cold and the sun was too bright. In addition, there were no lane markings or any other reference points in the pool, so you couldn't see where you were going. I did 2, 600 warmups there, but no workouts.

Today, my main goal was to get back my water feel and to assess how much endurance I've retained or lost. I started with a 300 yard warmup and didn't really let myself go for a full 500 because I was anxious to get to my drill sets. I also felt a bit out of gas during the 300 yards, which were more like 3 x 100 instead of a block warmup. Next I did 5 x (4 x 50 @ :30) for 1000 yards with my usual drills: thumbscrape, catch, elbows up and spl counts. My kick was good today, but my head position was a bit low. Overall water feel was very good and I posted some excellent 14-15 spls on my measured lengths. 50 yard times were in the normal 50 second range - I didn't do any sprint work at all.

My thumbscrapes were a bit sloppy. the drill has evolved from actually touching my thumb to my suit to a upper torso rotation drill where I reach forward and try to lie as vertical as possible snapping my torso with each stroke. let's just say that it took a while for my snap to re-emerge, but my reaches were ok. The catch up drill was great and swimming this drill helps my keep my head high. Same with the elbows up drill but I got a bit sloppy as I got tired. Finally, my spl's were surprisingly good today - coming out at 14-15 before I fatigued and only going up to 17 at my worst. I attribute the good spls today to excellent push-offs. My distance seemed much better today than before vacation.

I finished the workout with 4 x 100 @ :60 and a 50 to bring my total to 1750. The final set of 100's was tough, particularly the last 50 of each 100. My endurance was off and my form deteriorated during those last two lengths. The solution for this will be to do 50/100's during my next workout to try to built my endurance back up. I also need to swim a bit longer on the warmup. But overall - not a back workout after a lazy vacation.

2-10-05: Thursday

2005-02-10T19:42:00.000-05:00

Today was the first time I was in the pool since Saturday, almost a 5 day break. I was sick the past 2 days and this was my first chance back. I did a 1850 yard workout and felt like I could have gone on beyond that but decided to take it easy in order to not get too tired: we'll be in Cancun tomorrow afternoon for vacation and I'm eager to do some swimming outside again in the sun.

Today's workout started with my usual 500 swim. I was really tight and didn't really get loose during this first 500 - only later during my drills. The first 250 were tough but after that I got more confident and swam through the 500. Next I did 600 yards of my normal drills and stroke counts and toward then end I was feeling pretty good. It took a while for my water feel to come back and my body position was a bit off until I raised my head a bit and then my spls dropped off by about 2 strokes down to 14/15 from 17/18. I experimented a bit with streamlining my head during breaths and I think this contributed to the dropping of the head. My kick started pretty weak but then got better as a I swam farther.

Next I did 4 x 100 in order to build up some light distance work followed by two timed 100's to see how fast I could go. I did the first 100 is 1:43 and the second in 1:35. My turnarounds and pushoffs during both timed swims were horrendous, so I know I can drop my times significantly with a little more concentrated practice. Next I did a timed 50, and came in with a 0:45 time. Then I cooled down with 3 x 50 @ :30 and called it a day.

2-05-05: Saturday

2005-02-05T21:40:00.000-05:00

2000 yards today - somewhat more than I had intended. This brings me to 5750 for the week, whereas my target was 5500. This work continued my theme this week of longer distance.

I started with a 500 to warm up and then did 2 sets of 4 x 50 @ :30 of drills (spl 15/16), which brought me up to 900. It took my 300 to loosen up. I got to the pool by about 8:45, early enough to miss the kid swimming lesson, buy I forgot about the 9 am water aerobics class. I did my second 200 as they were removing the lanes! It was a gas. We were swimming diagonally around the moving ropes.

I continued my workout by doing to 550's, swimming horizontally in the pool. I walked off the distance which is 21/38's of a normal 25 or about 10/18 spl. I did two sets of 40 lenths, just crawl, with very little push off from the side. It took a while to kick in, but I can really feel the 2000 yards right now. The experience was a bit like swimming in open water or what I would imaging that would be like. Without ropes I inhaled a bit of choppy water - probably made choppy by the aerobics class in the shallows.

Next week I'm going to get 2 workouts in Boston - it will my 11th week swimming. The goal in both of those workouts will be to work on more distance - I'll shoot for 2000 yards on Tuesday and Thursday. If you think about it - I did 3, 500's today, so I know I can do it.

2-3-05: Thursday

2005-02-03T17:11:00.000-05:00

Big workout today - 2000 yards. I think I'm going to add 500 yards to my week total and try to extend my distance gradually up to 6000 yards a week, since my focus this week has been to swim longer distance.

I started with a 500 free swim and it took me about 300 before I got loose. I didn't workout this morning, so this was my first workout of the day. After that I did 200 yards of sprints to try working on my fast swimming. I don't really have a sprint or even a moderate speed since I've mostly swum drills to date. I averaged 40-45 seconds per 50, which is a bit faster than my usual 50 seconds per 50. I followed this with 200 of my normal drills - it wasn't a drill day.

Next I did 2 x 250 free and felt like I was running out of gas after the first 100 yards, but kept at it through the entire distance. Counting strokes helps to concentrate the mind and I found I was doing about 18 spl. I timed the second 250 at 4:30 which works out to 55.5 yards per minute which provides a good benchmark to improve against. I set out to do a 500 but psyched mysef out and did the 250s instead.

Next I did 6 x 100 free @ :60 and concentrated on my spls during the last two laps. These were very smooth and I hit 15/16 on my last 50. I can swim 100's all days - it's the bigger distances that I need to work up to.

Next workout more of the same with a focus on moderate distance and short speed. We need to do a 1750 to hit 5500 yards for the week.

2-1-05: Tuesday

2005-02-01T17:02:00.000-05:00

Today I went in a very different direction with my workout, and did much longer distances. I started with a 500 warm up and it took me about 200 just to start to loosen up. It's good to get some big yardage out of the way first and to get fairly loose, and I think I'm going to increase my warm up this way in the future.

I followed with drill work, again focused on greater distance. I did 5 x (150 @ :60, 50 @ :30) for 1000 yards. I used thumbscrape, catchup and elbows up to help me organize and count through the 150 but I was less focused on the drills today and more on the distance. This was true except for the 50's where I did 2 spls. I consistently came in at 15 & 16 with a low of 14. Definitely in the zone. My push offs were fairly good today. I'm not going as deep as previously so I usually break the surface with a little momentum and don't end up doing a standing start. Kicking was excellent today. I still am however experiencing some cramps, so maybe I should throw in some board work with the fins.

By this time however, I was beginning to tire, and did another 250 to co0l off - with a 150 and then a 100. These were free.

I am encouraged to see that I can do this longer yardage and think I will concentrate a bit more on it for a week or so. I do need to be able to add more total yardage and the way to do this might be to introduce some short drills into my main workout after I've gotten the base yardage out of the way. In other words, work on yardage and getting loose in the beginning of the workout, and the add more yardage through shorter drills and speed work in the second half of the workout. We'll try that next, since I need to do another 1750 this week.

1-29-05: Saturday

2005-01-29T16:14:00.000-05:00

1500 yards today. I had a great workout. Before my workout I did 40 minutes of walking on a treadmill and worked up some heat/sweat. I then drank a bunch of cold water and got in the pool. My way of guaranteeing a'5' day.

Today's mission was to work on my pull down toward the hip, upper body rotation, the speed of the first third of my stroke and keeping my right elbow up - since I think I haven't been. I started with a 200 free. then a 2 (4 x 50 @ :30) with the normal drills, then 6 x 50/100 @ :30/45 for a total of 15oo yards. SPL today was mostly 15 with some 16's. I also had some 14's (yay) but could not break out and get down the 13. Now we're back in the range. The main workout was tough. The 100's were a chore, but the rest periods were sufficient, and they were not as bad as on Wednesday, probably because of the 50's.

I willed my right elbow to stay up and at a 90 degree during my right arm pulls and it appears to have made a pretty big difference in the amount of power I get out of the stroke. I need to keep on this. In addition, I started to feel a snap - that's the best way I can describe it - as a I my arms switch from side to side. I think this is good. We'll need to keep doing it. The feeling is really distinctive. I didn't really feel the hip motion and pull too much today. Something to work on in the coming week. I also need to experiment with hand position entering the water and how far my arms are from centerline when pulling back. Kicking was good today and my feet were just under the water. Head position was also good, but perhaps a bit low. Push offs were much better and I seem to be keeping my momentum when I break the surface better.

In addition, I met a fellow named Roger, who was swimming in the next lane, and who told me that I have a really good stroke. Very quiet. We spoke later and he seems like he'll be an inspirational friend at the gym.

Next workout will be Monday. the 50/100 main workout is fine. Perhaps I should start dropping my rest interval. Maybe I'll start with 5 seconds and see how that goes. I like the 15oo yard workout

1-27-05: Thursday

2005-01-27T20:36:00.000-05:00

I swam a 1500 yd workout today, the second day in a row to get back on schedule and like all of my second day workouts, it was a bit of a chore. I'm feeling a bit bushed this evening. The goal of this workout was to start working again on middle distance endurance at the 100 yard level.

I started with a 200 free, followed by 2 x (4 x 50 @ :30) of my normal drills. Stroke counts were down at 15 and 16. Then I did 8 x 100 @ :45. I started out trying to do the first 50 fast and the second 50 slow but that didn't really work out and I ended up being happy with just getting through each 100. My times were pretty consistent for each 100 - at 90 seconds which isn't a bad pace at all. Stroke counts were 15 and 16. I then wrapped up with 2 fast 50's, with stroke counts at 16.

The 800 really took some concentration to get through and once I got past 500, I decided to go for the other 300. :45 seconds was adequate rest. Formwise, I concentrated on just getting through the lengths except on my stroke counts laps where I mostly did a catch up, elbows up stroke with my head up.

Next workout is Saturday for 1500 yards. I think I'll go back to 50/100 splits for my main workout to continue to build up my endurance and concentrate on drills during the 50's.

1-26-05: Wednesday

2005-01-26T19:03:00.000-05:00

Big workout today. Back up to 2000 yards. I felt pretty good today but it took a few laps for me to get back my water feel. This past week we had 3+ feet of snow, so I haven't been in the pool since Saturday.

Stroke count was pretty good today. I had a number of 15 stroke laps, but the rest fell mostly into the 16 and 17 range. I seem to get the best spls on laps where I'm swimming fairly hard, have my forehead up and doing catch up and elbow up emphasized strokes. It took me a while before I remembered to keep my speed up on the first third of my stroke and to avoid pushing down with my hand. I need to still work on this more. Kicking was a bit off today. There were a few times when I noticed I was doing any! I need to get more conscious about it.

I started my workout with a 200 free. Then 2 x (4 x 50) @ :30 with my usual drills. Next I did 8 x 50/100 @ :30/:45 in order to gradually get back into 100 distance. After a few sets the 100's got easier and my rest times were adequate. I did drills on the 50's and then counted the 1st and 4th strokes on the 100's. I had one 18 but the rest ranged from 15-17. I finished with 2 x 100 at a very easy pace with @ :45.

Next workout is tomorrow and then Saturday after I deliver my sea kayak to the buyer. Tomorrow I'll do a shorter workout around the 100 distance.

1-22-05:Saturday

2005-01-22T15:31:00.000-05:00

Today was a good 1500 yard workout again. I felt like my old self in the water. Water feel was good and some of my endurance was back. Spl was 15-16.

I started with a 200 yard swim. Then I did 6 x (4 x 50 of drills) for 1200 yards. these were laddered by rest interval: @ :30, :20, :10, :30, :20, :10. Then I wrapped up with 2 x 50 @ :30 stoke counts which were all 16. The drills were the usual: thumbscrape, catch up, elbows up, stroke count. I found that I swam the catch ups and elbows up laps more strongly, with good speed and that I was pulling a lot more water than in the past. I experimented with my hand position a bit, making sure that I wasn't pulling down on the water but pulling back - by rotating my wrist down a bit more. In addition, I tried to go faster during the first one third of my stroke and the rest of the stroke and found as a consequence it was easier to get a long thumbscrpae style stroke. This might just be the effect of going faster. Kicking was good: small but consistent and body posture felt pretty good with my forehead breaking the water.

Next step is to try to mix in some 100's again and I'm thinking about do 50/100 @ :30/:45 sets during my main workout in the near future.

1-20-05:Thursday

2005-01-20T16:12:00.000-05:00

I took a step back today and dramatically simplified my workout. I stuck to 1500yds and focused almost entirely on drills. I started with a 200 yd swim. Then 5 x (4 x 50 @ :30) of thumbscrape, catch up, elbows up and stroke count drills. then 3 x 100 @ :45 for a swim down.

My water feel felt much better. Spls was down to 15-16. I kept my head higher, kicked a bit more, and did a bit less rotation. My final 300 were hard. I had a problem with 50+ distance, which seems really odd because I was fine with 100+s just two weeks ago. Maybe the travel last week and a low grade cold have really put me back. Well, we need to work slowly back up.

I got good extension today on my thumbscrapes, and good rotation. catch ups were great and I get really good traction doing them when I combine them with thumbscrape or elbows up. I de-emphasized my pushoffs today, again to simplify stuff. I had to figth the wake waves o fthe other swimmer in my lane a bit, but it wasn;t that bad. Elbows up gave me very good power, as well.

Next workout - more of the same, except maybe we'll drop the interval rest down to :20 from :30.

1-17-05: Monday

2005-01-17T16:21:00.000-05:00

200o yards today, but again it was a struggle. Spl's were up in the 16-17 range although I did have a couple down at 14 & 15. I think I need to back off on my distance a bit and focus more on slow drills and possibly a little speed work. I still felt tired from my travels today. Swimming a 150 or 200 was just out of the question - 100's were hard.

I started out with a 300 swim, 150 with flippers and 150 without. My kick has been sucking wind lately, so I wanted to do a bit of kicking to restore the muscle memory of the movement. I then did 2 sets of 4 x 50 @ :30 of my standard drills: thumbscrape, catchup, elbows up and stroke count: one set with flippers and one without. I can really feel the flipper drag now that I'm attuned to it. Next I did 6 x 100 @ :30 of drills, followed by another 4 x 50 @ :30 of drills. I was pretty zonked at this point, but stuck it out for yardage. Next I did a 100 kick and 100 pull, followed by 3 x 100 free.

I guess I getting frustrated now - two workouts that are so so in a row. I need to do a little more cross training out of the pool and build my spirits up, with some lighter pool work later in the week. Thursday looks like it will be a good day for my next pool workout - sales training will keep most people out of the office.

The problem these past 2 workouts is that I'm not putting it all together as in previous workouts the week before my last big trip. My swim at the Westin SFO was even better. Perhaps a good diet and a better day-to-day schedule will also help. I also think that I need to get pack to planning my workouts a bit more deliberately. The past two have been somewhat ad hoc and I think I do better when I have clear goals defined before I show up to the pool.

1-15-05

2005-01-15T14:13:00.000-05:00

1900 yards today but I was tired from traveling this week. In addition, my left pec was sore, I think from stretching last night to relieve a lower backache. I swam through it, but it didn't really get better. Part of the stuggle today was that my kick was way off. Only when I started kicking harder toward the end of the workout, did my spls start to drop down into the 14-16 range. My have been increased foot drap.

I started with a 300 yard free, followed by 8 x 100 drills @ 0:30. I started to really drag at about 500, but gutted out the 800. I rested up a bit after that with a 200 alternating pull, followed by a timed 200. The 200 came out at 3:30 - not incredible but respectable. After that I did a 100 and 6 x 50 drills again to try to recapture my old spls. It turns out I wasn't kicking enough in my early workout, and I think adding flippers in my next workout will be good to get the motion back. One good thing however that happened during the workout is that I've started to count my strokes on nearly every lap in every drill and free swim. That cool. Oh yeah forgot, I swam a 50 of backstroke. That was hard to do in this pool because there are no flags, but it was a good alternate stroke that I might want to play with for a little variety and muscle balance down the road. I used to do it a lot and it really felt foreign.

1-13-05: Westin SFO

2005-01-13T19:25:00.000-05:00

I'm traveling this week and finally got a swim workout in. My first since Monday. Only now do I realize how much I depend on these swim workouts to keep an even keel. They really calm my mental state. Tonight I'm staying at the westin SFO which frankly I selected for it's proximity to the airport and the 'heavenly bed'. It turns out that they also have a small 20 yard lap pool that no one uses. Unlike the Marriott where I stayed last night, this one is indoors. It's heavily chlorinated, but the water is warm and fast.

Dropping from 25 yards to 20 yards was a bit confusing, but I ended up having a pretty good workout pounding out 2040 yards in about 40 minutes. Right on pace and somewhat faster than my normal workouts because I dropped my interval rest time down to 15 seconds: without too much 'pain' either. Again this suggest that I lengthen my distance intervals to 100 yards and up. 80 yards in this pool were easy to deal with.

I started out swimming a 400 free (20 lengths) to get warmed up and reassert my feel for the water. This I followed with a drill set of 8 x 80 with my normal drills. Stroke count in this pool was 11, and I didn't push off, in order to get enough strokes in. Then I did a ladder that went like this: 40, 80, 120, 160, 200, 160, 120, 80, 40 which brought me to 2040 yards.

Frankly I was just happy to be swimming today and my concentration wasn't what it normally is in my regular pool. But I did notice that the combination catch up, reach/thumbscrape motion gives me very good rotation and good slipperliness. I kept my head down again and this brought my hips and legs up. I also did relatively little kicking and didn't feel like I was losing out on the power. My pace was easy-to-moderate. Just building the base. Now that I have the feel of this pool, I think I'm going to schedule a 1500 yard workout first thing in the morning before my plane, so I can do a Sunday morning swim and round out the week with a big 4 workouts.

1-10-05: Monday

2005-01-10T13:56:00.000-05:00

2000 yard workout today. I had planned on doing 1500 but I was feeling good and decided to go for it. I will also be traveling this week and don't expect to get another workout in until wed/thurs, or maybe I should say practice.

I started off this workout with a 300 yard swim, followed by my standard 8 x 50 drills on :20 seconds rest. Stroke count ranged from 14-16. Very good. I exaggerated rolling back and forth which felt moderately more streamlined. I'm a little concerned / aware of right and left side differences. Good stretch forward on thumbscrape, good rotation on catchup and good power on elbows up.

My main workout was 7 x100 @ :30 concentrating on my drills. Rest time was sufficient, maybe consider dropping it down to 25 seconds next week. It's gratifying - because I can do 100 yard distance with some reliability and consistency. Stroke counts (which I started doing more frequently) were all ranging in the acceptable 15 to 16 stroke zone.

Next 200 of pull, alternating right and left breathing. Working on rolling on my right and breathing which makes it easier to do and give me much better stroke form and catchup timing.

Finally - I cheated on my warm down and did 3 x 100 at a moderate, not easy pace. I also experimented with head position some, pushing my head a little lower in the water. This made a huge difference on perceived exertion! and I wonder if it's what TI recommends. My hips rose noticeably.

I also concentrated a bit more on the pushoff today and on streamlining underwater. That first stroke is still killing me because I lose all momentum, but my push-off distance has improved tremendously.

I tried two of the TI drills - lying on your back and on your side and in both cases by hips sank to the bottom of the pool. I need to read the book again on this.

1-7-05: Friday

2005-01-07T19:04:00.000-05:00

I did a 1900 yard practice today after a few days of rest. It felt good to be back in the pool. I will be traveling next week so we'll have to try to get some swimming workouts in there somehow. I think I'll be able to do Monday, Tuesday and Friday, like this week. However, if I can get a swim workout in CA outside - it would be heaven. Something to work on.

Today I did another all drill workout with a few twists - pun there. I've just started Total Immersion but haven't gotten to the new drill part yets, so I was a little unsure with my normal routine. I continued doing my standard drills but tried emphasizing my upper body rotation much more by reaching way forward on my strokes. I feel like I ended up swimming easier actually - I did a pretty good distance today without really getting tired, or feeling like my heart would burst during a longer distnace. In fact I added another distance on my ladder during my main set - going 50, 100, 150, 200, 150, 100, 50 on :30 seconds rest. The rest was quite sufficient, which is cool and I may start dropping the rest by :o5 seconds or add a 250 in there. The ladder is really good for builing distance and interval recovery and I really like it as a main set. In fact maybe it would be good to do some timed, longer sets again.

My stroke intervals were good at the beginning of my workout - an awesome 14 & 15, but by the end of the workout I was back up to 16 & 17 spl. I worked a bit on my pushoff and streamlining today and feel like I got some better distance there. Right side breathing was a bit easier with the pull buoy with the upper body twisting. In addition, I also felt like I was getting good flotation. Basically I played with all kinds of variants while exagerating the roll today.

Now to read more TI. Depending on the snow - I may swim tomorrow and/or sunday. Hopefully we'll get enough snow that I can snowshoe again tomorrow.

1-4-05: Tuesday

2005-01-04T22:14:00.000-05:00

1500 today. This was the second day in a row and I'm feeling tired, in part, because I didn't sleep all that well last night. I did manage to eat enough before my workout however, so I didn't run out of gas during hte workout - still I did have a lower energy level than yesterday.

I did today's workout completely without zoomers and really tried to concentrate on streamlining and getting lift with my drill work. I found good lift with my elbows up and catch ups. I think I slowed my kick down somewhat and also concentrated on keeping it small so as not to create drag. Stroke counts ranged from a miraculous 14 up to 16 and 17 toward the end of my workout as I began to tire. I also tried to exagerate my upper body rotation, reach and side swimming - with good results, but I need to do a lot more of this.

I started with a 2 x 150 pull, swim and 8 x 50 @ :20 drills (thumbscrape, catchup, elbows up and strokecount. Then my main was 50, 100, 150, 100, 50 @ :30 and I focused again on drills throughout the main set. The 100's and 150's were a bit more challengining than th e50's which are now a snap. a 30 second rest was tough on the 100's and 150, but I gutted it through. My drill concentration on the longer distance deteriorated, but the ladder felt good and I should repeat it in future workouts: it's a good way to combine distance and intervals. Warm down was a 2 x 100 pull right and left side breathing. More right side breathing really sucks. I have no endurance and I can't figure out where to place my head when I rotate. I guess I need to slow it down. Perhaps using a pull buoy is not the way to figure this out and I need to try without one. it might be that the pull buoy alters the normal rotation you get without it. The a 2 x 50 finish with stroke counts.

1500 is a good lunch time distance because I can do my entire workount, including driving to the club in 1 hour. I think I'll do 2000 yard workouts on slower days or weekends when I'm not so rushed. The 1500 is also ideal for concentrating on drills for the entire workout and for building that base that I need for longer workouts in th efuture, several months out.

I am very encouraged by the drop in stroke counts. I also worked on my pushoff today and in particular on the transition between glide and the first stroke. I still don't have it, but it's getting better. I think I should read up on th eproper technique. Also - I need to shop around for some swimming videos to incorporate into my workout. I am excited by the new emphasis on heavy drill work. It really makes the workouts go by faster and with more variety.

My next workout will probably be on Friday or Saturday. I have started working out less on the bike in the morning of a swim workout and that seems to be working out.

1-3-05: Monday

2005-01-03T23:19:00.000-05:00

Today was the first workout of the new year for 1500 yards. I didn't want to overdo it given that I did 40 minutes of bike in the morning. Also I made sure that I had eaten enough lunch before my work out, so I avoided the out of gas issue I experienced last week.

I dropped zoomers from my workout because they created noticeable drag during my warmup. I also dropped my kick board routine after reading such bad things about kickboard practice in my total immersion materials. Instead I focused a lot more on drills today with different lengths.

For my drill workout, I did 8 x 50 at :20 rest with thumbscrape, catchup, elbows up and strokecount. Spl today was 16. An excellent count. I couted this multiple times through my workout. A 20 second rest was fine on the 50 distance. I was a little sloppy on thumbscrape, losing concentration. Catch up was very good and really helps contribute to good upper body rotation and reach. Elbows up gives me a powerful stroke.

For my main, I did 5 x 100 @ :30. At times the rest felt a little short, but I can do it. Maybe we should try reducing it or decending in future workouts. Or doing more 100's. Here I again focused on drills but with a longer distance and found that I could concentrate on the drill pretty well for the entire 100. These 100's felt pretty good. Maybe do more elbows up 100's, because I can feel the power of the stoke and I swim faster. I also tried to do less kicking today and I'm definitely getting less power form my kick, but my kicking frequency is about the same. I tried reducing it, but it's pretty well burnt in.

Then I did 2 x 100 pull right and left side breathing. Right side is pretty ragged. lots of reach and rotation helps some but not enough to get a clear breath. exhaling with my face in the water helped, but I'm still not getting the form right. It seems that I'm creating more resistance with a bow/head wave. So I need to work more on this. I'm not sure that pull helped but I think so.

Then 2 x 50 with stoke counts to finish the workout. 1500 is a good distance if I've already had an earlier workout in the morning.

Given this weeks tight schedule, it looks like tuesday and friday will be my workout days. So I think I'll pop up for a swim tomorrow again at lunch. again for 1500.

12-29-04: Wednesday

2004-12-29T15:49:00.000-05:00

I had a hard hard 2000 yard workout today. Hard because I was tired from my extra kicking workout yesterday, I worked out on the bike this morning and I had a poor lunch prior to the workout. I'm going to be away the rest of the week, however, for new years at Mohonk, and wanted to get my 3rd workout in for the week. I did learn some stuff though - besides remembering not to work out under similar conditions.

I started with a 3 x 100 pull, kick, swim. Immediately the kick and the swim with zoomers were hard. I did 8 X 50 @ :30 of drills without zoomers to try and recover. So so concentration on thumbscrapes and catchups, but a good showing on elbows up and adduction. I thought about a :20 second rest but needed :30 today. A pretty sure sign of fatigue. On the positive side, I got a 16 on a stroke count with a good push off.

Next up, I had planned on doing 2 timed 300's, but found that I could really only do a 200, so I altered my workout in real time and did 2 x (200,100) with zoomers and timed the first 200 and 100 @ 2:30 and 1:15 respectively. Very consistent times with where I am so far in my other workouts. I then added another 2 x 100's, again with zoomers. That was about all I could take.

On my swim down drills I did 2 x 200 of pull, half with left side and half with right side breathing. The right side is still ragged, but I found a few things that make the breathing easier, like exagerating the thumbscrape and the elbow flexion. I can control these with my right arm, but my left is all over the place - diving and sloppy. Still it was incredible to do 8 lengths of pull on my right. Final swim down was 100 of easy free.

So now I'm off for a few days at Mohonk where I can work or my anaerobic and aerobic fitness using other excercises. Next week will be busy again with kayak practices, so we'll have to juggle the swiming schedule a bit. I think in this next phase, I obviously need to work more with the zoomers and 100 yard intervals and that's what I should focus on next week, working up to mid distances like 200's and 300's. I like the ladder workout's I've been looking at that go 25-50-75-100, etc. and maybe I'll start doing some of those.

However, I am very please with my progress to date. I'm seeing good changes to my body: shoulders, gut, and legs and am easger to do more swimming next year.

Of note today and yesterday - I've started to get cramps in my left calf/toes, so maybe some more stretching or potassium would be good. Need to read up on this.

12-28-04 - Tuesday

2004-12-28T13:37:00.000-05:00

Today I did a 1900 yard workout and really concentrated on elbows up. I was reading one of my swimming books last night with an eye to diversifying my drills and the purpose of the fist drill really popped for me - it's designed to keep your elbows up, so that you can adduct using your lats and get more power out of your stroke. It works - but it really works well if your combine it with thumbscrape, catchup and reach/glide. Then the form really comes together.

I started todays workout with 200 of pull and 200 of kick. I kept the elbows up for the pull and really concentrated on my form. My lower back continues to hurt (I stretched for 40 minutes this morning, doing yoga at home rather than a bike workout) and arching during kicking is a bit painful. Reaching forward with the kickboard and putting my face in the water reduces the arch and feels better.

Next I did 8 x 50 thumbscrape and catchup drills and threw in elbow up. That was good. It's really starting to come together. My head is still diving but reaching forward and planing just under the surface helps to eliminate the diving.

For my main set I did a 500 yards swim - no zoomers, doing a stroke count on every 4th lap. Neat combination. My low was 16, my high was 18, but I did 17 strokes the other 3 times. So that's pretty consistent but not my low. I didn't push it by working on my push-off which may explain why I'm 1 or 2 strokes off my best. The 500 was hard, but not impossible. It was a lot less boring with the extra drill on every 4th lap: that's a winning combination that I should use in the future.

I added another 500 to my main set: 200 pull, 100 kick, 100 pull and 100 kick. By that point I was pretty exhausted and started to cramp up in the legs. I concentrated on elbow up again during the pulls and really got a pretty fast pace going.

My final cool down was 2 x 100, with zoomers. Not exactly a cool down. I was swimming for speed with elbows up and then finished the workout.

Future things to work on: longer bulk distances in the 300-900 range, elbows up, and 100's. I also need to get back to right side breathing.

12-26-04, Sunday

2004-12-24T17:24:00.000-05:00

Today I had a big workout - along several dimensions - and swam 2300 yards. A couple of firsts today. I swam 400 yards of pull and kick to warm up. This included 2 x 100 yards segments of kick. My max in the past was a fifty - so now I know I can do the entire 100 distance. You can really feel this distance in your legs. On the pulls, I did right side breathing. My form is a mess on that side, but using a pull buoy is good because I can slow down the movement, versus free swimming. My big issues now are rotation on the right side and synchronizing it with the breath (I inhale water) and I'm crossing my hands over the centerline. Bad. So we need to clean this up and work on form. It will come. I did 2 x50 right side during my drill section of right side breathing, as well. Also sloppy, without zoomers. My warmdown included more pull and kick 100's and I could really feel the zap in my legs at the point.

My main workout was 3 x (6 x 50 @ :30 descending) with zoomers and it was tough. That last 150 is a real buster but I strung 3 together and hung in there. This was a good main workout. 20 seconds is my optimum recovery duration for a 50, but I can get through with less. I wonder whether I should do some future workouts at 100 again - to work on closing the recovery window.

A few observations about my workouts so far. I'm not really pushing myself on speed during my main workouts, and think I should start doing that more. I also need to start doing more drills again. I did some today, but think it might be useful to add a lot more drills/length sometime soon to circle through the major drills again. I also noticed that I'm dropping my head a bit and need to bring it back up. So a form-focused workout would be good.

Also, I had some lower back pain today and my lower back is tight. Some of this is due to a killer back weightlifting workout I had yesterday. I need to add more back work and yoga stretching into my workout routines to alleviate this tightness and increase my flexibility for my upcoming kayak pool session practices.

12-23-04, Thursday

2004-12-23T15:29:00.000-05:00

Today I did a 1500 yard swim, in part because I had such a hard bike workout this morning. A couple of things stood out today. First, I did 3 x 50 @:30 in the beginning of my main set and timed myself at :45-:46 per 50. That was cool. It's a good pace. I also did an extra 50 at the end of my workout and forced myself to breath on my right side - and I did it. My form sucked and I inhaled a little water, but I can do it! This opens up some new drill possibilities for me and can help me avoid overuse injuries. Let's face it, it will just make my workouts that much more interesting.

My warmup today was a 50 kick, 100 pull, 50 kick. I've done this the past few workouts and it's a good way to get started. Later this workout, I did a 100 kick, so I'm thinking about increasing the size of my warmup - partiularly on the kick part. In doing to 100, I found that I got a lot more propulsion on smaller kicks that don't break the surface of the water and flex my knee less. Something new to remember.

After my initial workout I did 3 x(2 x 50, thumbscrape, catchup @ :30). During the first 50 it was tough to concentrate on the drill, but I calmed down after that. I started doing the thumbscrape correctly again and I could really feel my thumb scraping the top of my swimsuit at the end of my stroke. This had 3 good effects. I got a lot more rotation because I was pulling farther back, I got more thrust because I was pulling farther back, and my hand would come out of the water parallel with my body - reducing, I've read, shoulder strain and impingment.

After drills, I did the 3 times 50's, folled by 6 x 75 @ :30. No zoomers today. This was good. Initially I found myself flagging after 50 yards onm these, but later in the set I started to concentrate on my form more and my strokes got smoother and more consistent. The 30 second breaks were just right, almost a little long. The one diconcerting thing is that I can't see the clock on half of the 75's which makes the rest hard to measure. Still it's a good edge distance for me to work with on my aerobic endurance because I can recover from 50's easily.

Post main set, I did a 200 pull and a 100 kick - details discussed above. The for the swim down I did 5 x 50 X :30 which was an easy cool down.

12-21-04, Tuesday

2004-12-21T19:06:00.000-05:00

I swam my second 2000 yard workout this week. It was my only aerobic workout today - I just couldn't get out of bed to go to the gym this morning in our 8 degree weather.

Today's focus was on building up my aerobic endurance on short swims - 50's. My main set consisted of 3 x (6 x 50 @ :30 descending) for 900 yards with zoomers. This worked pretty well but I found that it didn't really push me that hard. I think I need to up my interval distance up to 75 yards. At 50 yards, I found that I still recover very quickly even with a very short rest periods. The original workout I had planned for today called for a 10 x 50 @ :50 descending, which was just ridiculously long rest interval, so I changed it on the spot.

My mind was elsewhere during drills today. I really wasn't very focused. I'm not sure how to cure this other than discipline. Maybe I need to try some new drills. I did do a stroke count today - at 14 - a new record by getting a really good push of the wall. So that's good. Pushing off the wall is legal.

I'm feeling pretty good and will try to get a workout in tomorrow as well - probably a 1500 with a main set built around a 75 yard interval, descending, without zoomers, to see if that pushes the heart rate a bit more. It should. I also feel a reliance on the flippers and need to work a little on swimming without them, although they are priceless/must-haves for kick drills.

12-19-04, Sunday

2004-12-19T17:25:00.000-05:00

Last week I only got to the pool twice due to sickness again, and work conflicts. I think this week and next, I'm going to just go as often as I can whever I have a free moment, and shorten my workouts to just 1500 yards, or tailor them to work on specific things.

Today I learned some stuff about my aerobic limits. My main workout was 1000 yards, 5 x100 @ :45 and 5 x 100 with zoomers, decending. First off, it takes about 35 seconds for my heartrate to drop back to near normal after a 100. During a 100, I fine through the first 50 but really start to lose headway on the second 50. And finally I do a 50 (at the end of my workout) in about :48 seconds.

So the 1st and 2nd, 50 split is interesting. There are two things I'm going to try to work on this. One, start swimming more 50's and 100's as my standard training distance instead of 200's. And secondly really start to focus on my heartrate more by doing descending sets, where I get less of a rest, in the hope that my recovery period will drop. I still haven't measured my heartrate, but I think I'm going to really have to next workout. Also, interestingly, during the second set with zoomers, descending below 35 seconds didn't appear to be too big of an issue, so I can descend below that limit without completely running out of gas.

I can focus on this distance during shorter workouts, as well and do my 2000+ workouts on weekends when I have more time.

My strategy to go swimming later in the day on Sunday, arriving at 1pm, worked again and I got a lane all to myself.

Other stuff: I'm now using the pool clock very effectively instead of my watch. It's good that I can see it with my goggles. My stroke count today was again down at 16. that's good. I used zoomers for some initial kick drills and for half of my main workout. They really increase the burn and are useful in moderation. I can see why people like them for building up their legs. They really do provide I good way to improve leg endurance. So these initial kick drills were good and I think I'm going to keep the kick, pull, free segment as my warmup for a while.

I'm not good at the ripple drill and I suppose I need to work on that more. I also need to spend a little time working on alternate breathing. It's a weakness. Perhaps I can break it with a little practice in the shallow lane. Being out again last week really impacted my drills and making good form automatic. So I need to get back to basics and get some concentrated drilling back into the workouts.

And once again, the main set was hard at about 300 yards but I gutted it out for the full 1000. Breaking it into 2 x 500 helped me keep count and that's real important.

12-14-04: Tuesday

2004-12-14T20:35:00.000-05:00

Today I did another 2000 yard workout. The focus of this one was long intervals, with a timed 600 and 400 in the main section of the workout. I did the 600 in 10:25 and the 400 in 7:40. that's 62.5 yds/min and 52.17 yds/min respectively. Not too bad. Stroke count was a record low of 16.

The 600 yard swim was hard. I really had to push myself to complete it. I started out strong, but really started suffering at 200-300 yards. I just told myself to endure - and concentrated on my form. It's impressive how much the drills have helped there. I feel like good form made it possible for me to complete the swim. After a 2:00 rest the 400 did not feel as hard to do and I again concentrated on my form. I did have some problems in the 400 keeping count. It's so much easier to keep count with the shorter distances.

I noticed that my right hand is a little ahead of my left on the catchup drill and worked at slowing the left stroke down until my right hand was in the water next to the left. That seems to give me a better cadence and more consistent acceleration. That's worth watching and working on more.

I also got pretty good rotation today by really reaching forward, and following through as I pull my arm back. This definitely contributed to my low stroke count. I did not use zoomers at all today. I really don't want to rely on them too much and I wanted to do the long swim unassisted. I did 200 yards of pull-buoy in my cooldown period, which is a good drill after a long swim.

I also noticed that I'm dropping my head a bit too low, and that bringing it up and concentrating on keeping it there gives me extra speed.

My next workout is on Thursday and I changed it from 20 x 50 to 5 x 200 in order to work more on distance swimming. I need to get my medium endurance up and I figure that doing 200's with a minute or so of rest and timing them will give me a good baseline for comparison as I get more fit. Again without zoomers.

12-12-04 Sunday

2004-12-12T17:21:00.000-05:00

I took the past week off from swimming due to an illness which left me very tired, and today was my first day back in the pool. Today's workout was tough, especially in the middle. Today was a short interval day and the main segment of the workout was a set of 10 x 100 @ :45 wearing zoomers. 0:45 was too short a rest, so I upped it to :60; but at 500 yards I thought I'd have to quit and do my cooldown. I persevered - remembering that sometimes workouts aren't pleasant and focused on my form, which really made swimming much easier, and finished the second 500 yards. On my cooldown, I substituted kickboard and drills with pullbuoy 50's, which helped me get a second wind, and finished with 5 x 50 @ :30 ES to finish my 2000 yard workout.

The zoomers really help me go fast, but they really are hard to swim with and require extra strength and endurance above and beyond just kicking. No doubt they are helping me build more stamina, but they made the main segment a lot harder today.

Stroke count today was down around 16/17 which is very good and my form didn't really suffer much from taking a week off. I swam a 50 with head out surprisingly smoothly, and also really concentrated on torso rotation and not crossing the midline on my stroke - which I've read can cause should impingement. Not crossing the midline gives my more power in my stroke, and I think makes me work my lats more. I swam a 50 of fist - also very smoothly without running out a gas. So the drills are cool and they really help with the form.

2000 yards was tough today. My total workout time including rests was 55 minutes which I gave myself a '5' for. The new rule is that 60 minutes of swimming is a 5. I think I'm going to stay at 2000 yards for a few weeks now and build up my stamina at this level. While I could go all the way for 3000, I think it better that I work on form and distance at this level and get comfortable with them before I go up to the next level.

12-04-04; Saturday

2004-12-04T20:19:00.000-05:00

I swam a 2000 yard workout today, in fact first thing in the morning. I definitely felt some fatigue in my legs from using zoomers for the first time yesterday, but it wasn't too bad. Today was my short interval workout. I made it to the pool by about 8:15 in the morning and managed to finish all of my 60 lap/1500 yard workout before the club pulled out the lanes for the 9:00AM aerobics class. But just.

This workout consisted of a lot of 50 yard segments with :20-:45 rests after each and it was ok. I limited my use of zoomers to the main workout, not using them during drills, warm up or cool down. My original plan for the main segment of my workout was to do 50/25 yard segments, but that didn't work out - it was just too hard to keep straight, so I ended up doing 50's and one or two 100's with timed rests after them. That worked better.

During my drills I also did a head out of the water drill for the first time, for 50. Wow, that was tough. Stroke count was 17 or 18 today. Thumbscrape is a good excercise because I get really good upper body torso rotation when I scrape my thumb against my leg. Catch up is still natural for me; I have good form there, and fist is propulsive, but it's still hard for me to concentrate on using my lats to pull my arm back.

After my normal 60 lengths, I continued and swam the equivalent of 20 more lengths uisng the pull buoy and zommers/kickboard. I still had energy after my normal workout, so I think I'm just going to go up to 80 lengths next week, instead of 60, or 2000 yards. No swim on Monday - I want to list weights in the morning and do bike intervals, but I'll get back to the pool on Tuesday.

12-3-04; Friday

2004-12-04T19:54:00.000-05:00

On Friday, I popped out for a short optional workout to try out my new speedo and zoomers. I was only in the pool for 20 minutes but did 40 laps. I did kickboard for the first time - 10 lengths in all - usng my zoomers. I've never been comfortable with a kickboard because my kick could never provide me with enough propulsion to do a length. But with zoomers, I can do a length, no problem and I did 10 yesterday. You can really feel it too. I also swam 20 free with the zoomers and I felt like I was flying. The added speed works your legs harder, burning more calories and since you're going faster, you can also stroke more quickly which burns calories faster too. I just need to be sure that I don't come to rely to much on zoomers like I did with the pull buoy in the past. Zoomers will help me build leg strength, but I need to limit their use - they are too seductive. The new speedo is much better than my old shorts. Glad i got it, but I also need some sandals. Discovered that I contracted athlete's foot again today.

12-2-04, Thursday

2004-12-02T22:41:00.000-05:00

I slept poorly last night - in a NY hotel room - and it showed in my swimming this afternoon. I also didn't get the food I needed when I needed it on the road, so my energy level really felt low. Finally - and this may be a factor - this was my only workout today. normally, swimmingis my second workout and how can I say it, I'm somewhat looser when I get in the pool.

I drove to the pool from the airport and had a 1500 yard swim before going to the office. Today's workout was my long disance swim and the main workout consisted of a 600 yard (24 length) swim. even though I felt draggy, I turned in a pretty good time on this: 13 minutes total, with a 6:00/7:00 split on the first and second 300. That first split projects us to 3000 yards/hour which is my overall goal for the winter - but I feel that given the proper food and rest I could still take another minute off that time.

Drills today were good, but it's clear that I have a long way to go before I really burn them in. I tried one arm swimming - that was a joke - I almost drowned my self trying to do it. I need a technical session where I work on some of these harder skills and try out off side breathing. I tried doing more rotation, exagerated really and that helped reudce my stroke count. I tried underwater glides off the wall and that also reduced stroke count. I'm still not good at the tranisition from the glide into the first stoke. Total stroke count was up at 18 today - not my best. Catchup and thumbscape still remain good excercises and I did a 50 with a fist stroke. I propelled myself forward ok, but without the proper awareness of the lat contraction. Again - probably because I was tired.

My zoomers and new speedo suit arrived today and I am excited to start building my leg strength with the zoomers. The inventor also claims that they increase your speed and have a cascading effect on your stroke as well. So, I'm eager to try them.

My next workout is a short interval workout - which will be a good place to try the zoomers. It will also be interesting to swim short 50's with rest. It certainly will be more interesting that todays long swim.

11-30-04, Tuesday

2004-11-30T20:41:00.000-05:00

I planned today's workout last night in some detail breaking my workout into 5 stages: warmup, drills, main, drills, and cool-down. I'm mainly using the workout template recommended by the essential swimmer with a log format I found at about.com. This worked pretty well. Today was a long interval day: each week, I'll also do a long distance workout and a short interval workout, with an optional 4th workout each week which will focus on technique.

Like yesterday, breaking the workout into segments really eases the couting of laps and knowing where you are. I took a speadsheet printout with me to the pool and propped it up on a kickboard so I could refer to it. Also new in this workout was the timed rest: taking timed rest breaks between intervals.

I was swimming some long intervals today -100 yards at a fast pace - and was getting worn down on the 3rd and 4th lengths in the main section of my workout. I normally swim about a medium pace, but scheduled these as fast pace 100's. I don't think before today that I ever really realized what fast means.

The drills have been paying off - even though I was stroking hard, I could see that my form was making the lengths easier to swim. Less overall exertion. That was neat to see. I didn't time my fast laps - but I guess I'll have to start in the future.

I did time my rest breaks however, and it was surprising to see how fast 30 or 20 seconds would go by. I could easily catch my breath during these breaks, and the rest really did refresh me. I will need to start taking heart rates sometime in the future - but I think this is kind of useless because I'm already in rather incredible cardiovascular shape.

My overall workout today was 60 lengths and this is really feeling like it's really well within my distance envelope. I think next week I should consider just jumping up to 80 lengths and have done. Total times from work to pool and back is over an hour, even though my workout was barely 37 minutes including my rest breaks. It is worth adding that taking rests did not increase the elapsed time of the workout.

Stroke count was around 18 today. tomorrow I'll measure this a little later in my workout after doing more drills instead of frist thing, like today. This is a great measure of form.

I swam the catch up drill for the first time today and it came rather easily. The point is to have your other hand in the water before you pull with the one already in front of you. I was already doing this, so it wasn't a big leap for me, but it's good to viaulize and concentrate on consciously.

The first cooldown drill was a shock today - I had 3 x50 of fist. This is a hard stroke to do a 50 with. I need to slow things down a bit and really concentrate on keeping my elbows at right angles when I do it and pull back with my lats. When doing this drill I found myself not rotating as much and not as streamlined - for instance my head was not in the right position but a bit lower than it should have been. Slow it down and take it apart.

11-28-04 Sunday

2004-11-28T12:27:00.000-05:00

60 laps. I was supposed to only swim 50 today but I felt like swimming a few more. Unlike last workout, I felt anxiety free after this one. It feels like the psychological affect/release is finally coming back.

This workout consisted of a 10 length warmup, 10 lengths of pull buoy, 5 x 100 sprints with about a 30 second rest after each. Then a 10 lap cool down and then my extra 10 lengths broken into a 100 and a 150. The sprints made counting my laps easier, because I really only had to count 5 blocks of 4 laps. This is a consideration as I increase my yardage. The spints were also good mentally because I could focus on the swimming and not on the counting.

I did a couple of stroke counts during the workout; getting down to one 17 and the rest 18s. That's a new low.

I also concentrated on form: reaching forward, not crossing the mid line and following through. I also started to pay attention to keeping my arm low and bent as I pull around after a stroke and set up for the next cut. The guy next to me had really good form: he was doing this perfectly with his fingers nearly touching the water as he came around - one of the workout excercises I'm scheduled to try in the future.

I also experimented with turning my head to the left, in order to aclimate myself to the odea of breathing on my left. I'm going to have to try this in the shallow section and maybe when I start kicking.

I didn't prepare enough for this workout and the idea of trying sprints was somewhat spontaneous but it worked. I need to prepare for these longer workouts more and for my next workout on tuesday.

I also changed things a bit - doing 10 laps each for my warmup and cool down instead of 18 and I may continue with this partition in order to get more drill time in the future. So instead of a 14 lap workout, I had a 30 length workout.

Long Term Goals

2004-11-24T22:21:00.000-05:00

I've started thinking about my long term goals with swimming because it's important for me to strive toward a measureable result. I'm not sure about competing. For right now, I guess I'm mostly interested in being about to build up my endurance and good form. It's been almost two weeks since I started swimming 3 times a week. Last week I started with 40 lengths and I'm up to 50 lengths in about 30 minutes. That's 1250 yards. After another 10 weeks, I think I'd like to work up to 3000 yards in 60-75 minutes. That will include the rests I need for drills. That would also prepare me for a masters workout, should I decide I want to join a club.

I'm not really interested in swimmin any stroke except the crawl since I've had knee problems in the past with the breast stroke and I don't know the buterfly. I used to swim a lot of backstroke, but don't know I want to diversify with it yet. I need to see. A lot wil lchange in the coming weeks. When my zoomers arrive, I'll probably get a little more serious about kicking workouts and form.

11-24-04 Wednesday Day Log

2004-11-24T22:05:00.000-05:00

50 lengths. 18 to warmup amd 18 to cool down. did drills for 14. did 2 sets of fist drills, where you make a fist and swim the crawl. when I started this, I went nowhere fast until I started getting my forearms and lats involved. good excercise to really understand how dependent we are on the hands and the extra propulsion that the forearms can give. in my warm up and cool down, I continued to emphasize reaching forward and skimming my hands just under the surface. Long strokes and torso rotation. I worked on my follow through my lightly touching the sides of my thighs before removing my arm from the water. This worked pretty well as a reminder to take very long strokes. During my last 8 lengths, I measured the number of strokes I took per length and got this down to 18. Two workouts ago I was up at 29, so the form is improving. Total workout time was about 30 minutes.

For my next workout, I wil do 50 lengths. Still builing up my endurance. I havenot been paying any attention to my heart rates and have not been taking any rests between lengths. I'll strat doing that next week, when I go up to a 60 length workout. The 14 length drill session still seems to short to take 45 second rests between sets. We'll get there.

I was a little tired after my first 10 lengths this morning. I attribute this to the hard interval workout I did early this morning for 50 minutes.