Monday, March 31, 2014

Back to Business

I am back in the pool and loving it!  This is the first time I have gone to Joel's workouts.  I was amazed how well you can work your abs just by focusing the workout.  Great job, Joel!

Warm Up
400 SKDS (Swim/Kick/Drill/Swim)

8x50 @1:00  drill (straight arm/6 kicks/double entry/zipper)

4x50 @1:05  right arm down/left arm back

4x100 @1:45  dolphin kick w/fins on back

Main Set: 2 times (last 25 of each is sprint - 5 sec rest before sprint)
25
50
75
100
100
75
50
25

 3x100 dolphin kick

300 Cool Down

3,000 yards

Friday, March 28, 2014

Sprint Strokes

I have not been posting as often as I like lately.  I have not been swimming very consistently.  I have a cut that I really do not want to get infected, so I have avoided the old Granite pool in hopes of staying healthy.  I will start up again on Monday. 

Here is today's workout I came up with:

Warm Up:
200 Free
200 IM or Stroke Drill

~300 Kick (I randomly said when to sprint and when to go easy)

100 Easy

Main Set (4 times thru--IMO by round)
2x25 Sprint
50 easy
2x75 Sprint
50 easy

Cool Down at least 200

2,100 Total Yards

Saturday, March 22, 2014

IM Saturday

It was quite the IM day today.  I really enjoyed it; however, it was very hard.  And my back is a little sore. My core (abs and back) are not as strong as they used to be.  I will have to work on that.

Here is the workout from Laura (I swam with her at the U and love her workouts!)

Warm Up:
300 Swim
200 kick
200 Choice (Breaststroke)

12x50 IM drill @1:00

4x200 1-Back, 2-Breast, 3-Free, 4-IM

Main Set:
2x100 IM @1:45
2x100 Fly @1:50
2x100 IM @1:40
2x100 Back @1:50
2x100 IM @ 1:35
2x100 Breast @1:50
2x100 IM @ 1:30
2x100 Free @1:30

Cool Down:
300 Free

4,000 yards total

On Thursday we had a wonderful fly class from Tom.  It has helped my fly tremendously  I don't know if I am faster, but I am definitely more comfortable, fluid, and relaxed with it.  Here is a great video of Michael Phelps swimming fly.  The quote is from my friend Jamie.  I couldn't describe it better so I will just quote her.

"This is a great view of butterfly.  Head is down before hands come around and enter the water.  Look how far he pushes his chest, head, and sternum down into the water to make his hips rise to the top.  BUT in that position, notice the arms and hands are still on the top of the water, ready to get powerful leverage on the next pull.  Takes a lot of flexibility."

Friday, March 21, 2014

Sprinting!

The workout I created today was a sprint workout.  We do a lot of sets aimed at long distance swimming.  And it is important to remember to sprint.  Sprinting means going all out for a short distance.  It also means that when you are done with that short distance, you should need to recover.  The best recovery is dynamic recovery in which you are moving.  So when you have an "easy 100" after a fast one, the easy one should be recovery and your rest.

Here is the workout:

Warm Up:
200 swim
200 kick
200 drill

16x25 @:30
Sprint starting at
1-the far flags
2-the half
3-the near flags
4-the whole thing

5x50 kick @1:10 (:55 if you use fins)
1-all sprint
2-3/4 sprint/last 1/4 easy
3-1/2 sprint/1/2 easy
4-1/4 sprint/3/4 easy
5-all easy

Main Set 2 times:
2x50 drill @:50
2x100 negative split @1:50 
1x200 build (start at 85% end at 100%)

Cool Down

2,250 yards total (plus cool down)

Thursday, March 20, 2014

Butterfly ~ I like it...now!

It was very tough to get up this morning.  But I am sure glad I did.  It had a great workout and I feel amazing.  I wish I could feel this good all day long.  Tom gave us a really good workout and then he gave us an amazing training on butterfly.  I have never felt so comfortable with this stroke before.  It was great!  I hope he does it again and often!

Here is the workout and my short notes about the butterfly session:

300 Warm Up Swim/Kick/Swim

Twice @:30 sec base:
2x75 6 kick drill
2x50 skulling w/staight arms in front (like a mummy)
2x25 build

20x50 holding pace (:35 or faster)@:50 (I held :34 & :33)
    The goal here is to hold your race pace until you cannot do it any longer.  If you miss your pace for two 50's in a row, you should stop.

175 easy

Butterfly Breakdown:
50 kick (stomach down/on back back)  focus on head being neutral
50 kick on stomach arms out front ~ focus on stretching arms and chest and getting butt in the air
8x25 progressive fly  start with 2 second glide, 1 sec glide, regular
**think about head coming up when hands start to pull.  Get your chest and head down deep each stroke.  Get your butt in the air each stroke.  Head and chest act as weight on a lever to get strong kick.

I wish you could come to Tom's class.  It was the best butterfly training I have ever had.  I have always struggled through fly.  Today made it very easy and relaxed.  I definitely need to strengthen my back muscles.  That and my arm to chest flexibility would really help my fly. 

Wednesday, March 19, 2014

I finally swam again!

 So, I took about a week and a half off.  I just have not been getting enough sleep to wake up at 5am.  But my beautiful daughter has been sleeping better at night.  That means I get more/better sleep.  Besides, I need to step it up since I signed up for the Bear Lake swim already! 

This was yesterday morning's workout from Tom.  It was kind of a lot of distance freestyle, but I guess that is what I need.


400 Warm Up

400 Kick (every 4th 25 fast) w/board

4x50 finger tip drag @1:00

Main Set:
4x100 free @1:20
2x200 w/pull buoy @2:40
400 paddles & buoy @4:20
2x200 w/pull buoy @2:40
4x100 Free @1:20

8x50 cool down @1:00

Monday, March 10, 2014

Remembering back to Saturday

I didn't get a chance to post Saturday's workout before I left for the Internet Restricted Zone that is my parents' house.  It was a funtastic weekend!  So I might forget some of the workout, since it has been a few days.

Workout
200 swim
200 kick
200 stroke
200 swim

8x50 15 yards fast/35 yards easy @:50

100 easy IM

5x300 100 fast/50 easy @4:15?

5x200 100 IM/100 Free @3:15

100 easy

8x50 15 yards fast/35 yards easy (I did these reverse IM)

200 Cool Down

Total:  4,500 yards

Friday, March 7, 2014

Stroke Work

I know that at most masters practices we usually focus on distance freestyle.   But today we did some stroke work.  A little IM, a little choice stroke.  It was a nice change.  And everyone was very good-spirited about it!  Here is what we did:

Warm Up:
300 choice
100 kick

8 (10)x75 IM order [kick/drill/swim by 25] @1:30 (1:20)

6 (9)x100 50 worst stroke/50 best stroke @2:10 (1:50)

2x300 free negative split (1st half moderate~2nd half fast)

2,200 (2,750) yards total!

There were a record 9 swimmers today!  That is a record for a Friday!  Thanks for coming to practice today!

Wednesday, March 5, 2014

Holladay Lions Pool

I do not have any clue what temperature they keep their pool at, but the Holladay Lions Rec Center is way too hot!  It is great for playing and water sliding, but terrible for any form of actual exercise.  And it is pretty expensive.  It cost me $5.50 to swim for about 45 minutes.  That seems excessive to me.  But, I haven't been going where the temperature is normal and I can go for free.  So I had to do a night swim in a hot tub.  I still got 3,000 yards in!

500 free warm up
500 250 back/250 free
500 100 kick/25 free
500 reverse IM (I actually did a 125 straight fly!)
1000 swim (I think I was averaging about 1:18's per hundred)

Hopefully I will get my butt out of bed tomorrow morning.

Saturday, March 1, 2014

Amelia is a swimmer!

I brought Amelia with me this morning, she was wide awake.  So Matt suggested that I bring her swimsuit so we could go swimming together.  The pool was a bit cold but she still swam and had fun with me.  I am so glad Matt thought of it.  I cannot wait until Thursday when we start the Mommy & Me class!  I hope the pool is warmer by then.

Here is this morning's workout from Jamie:

100 warm up

8x50 thumb slide drill @:05 rest (use lots of kicking)

Main Set: (do stroke until you need to switch to free--you can do 50/50 too if you want)
3x100 @ 1:40 Back
3x100 @ 1:35 Back
3x100 @ 1:30 Back
3x100 @ 1:25 Free
3x100 @ 1:20 Free
3x100 @ 1:15 Paddles
3x100 @ 1:10 Fins & Paddles

250 easy

Fly Progression Set:
4x25 right arm fly
4x25 left arm fly
4x25 3 rt/3 lt/3 reg
4x25 regular fly

100 Cool Down