Friday, October 31, 2014

Trick or Treat Swim

We got to pick Trick or Treat.  After all was added up, we got Trick...that means a harder workout.  It was a lot of butterfly.  And I am proud to say I did all of it without breaking stroke!  Even on the warm up.  Max showed us the Treat version after the workout and I am not sure it was something he was really going to have us do.  It was a pull set (unspecified) and then we would create a synchronized swimming routine to Thriller.  I wanted the treat, but majority ruled.

Here was the workout, it was pretty fun:

Warm Up:
400 reverse IMO
200 IM Kick (I did it with fins and did breast last w/out fins)
200 inverse IM (upside-down)
200 free

4x25 under water @1:00

Main Set:
2x100 BATerfly :20 rest
8x25 mummy kick (skulling) @:40
2x100 BATerfly :20 rest
8x25 zombie fast @:30
2x100 BATerfly :20 rest
8x25 vampire swim (no breath) @:30 (on 1 of them I had to take a breath)

400 cool down

2,700 yards total


On another note, I finally got my ballot filled out.  I am officially a voter.  I would recommend to anyone to get a mail in ballot.  It is so nice to be able to do research on the candidates as you are filling in your ballot.  Either way, please vote.  As it turns out, Utah has the lowest voter turnout of any state in the union.  Let's make a difference!

Wednesday, October 29, 2014

No Coach

I am not sure why there wasn't a coach this morning, but one of the other swimmers wrote the workout.  I had already done my own warm up and we added the 100's pull because we had more time.  I am feeling so great that I got up.  I have gotten really good nights sleep recently.  That is right multiple nights sleep.  I think last night was the third one!  I am so lucky.

Here is what I did today:

Warm Up:
400 Swim
400 50 kick/50 breast (last 100 was all kick for me)
100 pull

Main Set:  All IM
100
200
400
200
100
100

6x100 @1:30 pull, descend 1-3

Cool Down:
400 Swim

3,100 yards total

I have been using the FLOG program on USMS to track my yardage.  I set a goal for 425 miles to swim in 2014.  I am no where near making it.  So I revised my goal to 130 miles.  I think that is more realistic.  I am still behind the pace, but I am starting to catch up.  I am also tracking it in Excel.  I am not sure if I will be getting a USMS membership next year, so I want to be able to track my progress on my own.  I just realized that I can probably create a graph to go with it!  That would a nice visual.  Anyway, I have just under 91 miles completed.  I should be at about 107.  So I am not too far off.  Especially if I can get in 3 workouts a week.

Thursday, October 23, 2014

My own workout

 Today I got up and swam a little later than usual.  I was in the pool by 6:40am.  There wasn't a team practice, so I made one up on my own.  I had planned to do  a 600 warm up, but evolved into 2 400's.  Also, I was going to do 8x100's.  It makes me happy when I change workouts to increase yardage rather making it easier.

 Here is what I came up with.

400 Warm Up

400 50 Kick/50 Breast

8x50 build @:50 (alternating back & free)

12x100 @1:25 (I started by holding ~1:20 and ended up around 1:16)  You want :05 to :10 sec. rest on each

200 Cool Down

2,600 yards total

I should not have tried to do fast backstroke.  I felt it when my shoulder/back/neck muscle pulled.  It has been hurting so I am not surprised that it happened again.  I need to take it easy.  As soon as it happened, I started breathing every 4th stroke to the left.  That seems to help.

Monday, October 20, 2014

I didn't swim last week. Of course I have plenty of excuses. Monday I held a backstroke clinic at Olympus.  I was too lazy on Wednesday to get up for practice, then I realized that I should have because the pool had different hours due to UEA.   So no swimming last week for me.

I did a few walks this week though.  And Matt and I biked Amelia up to the park one day after work this week.  That was fun.  Yesterday Amelia and I went for a walk up through the school, over the field (major thorn warning!), and then to the upper park.  It was a lot of fun.  I was surprised to see so many families there since it was Sunday.  I would like to do that every week.  We were there during the 3 o'clock hour.  Maybe we can find some new friends.

So here is this morning's workout:

Warm Up:
300 Swim
200 Kick (I did 50 kick/50 breast)
100 Pull (I just swam)

4x100 @2:00  kick down/swim back

Main Set:
4x200 descend @3:00
4x100 pace :15 rest (I held 1:20's)
4x50 fast @1:00 (I held ~:36)
4x100 pace :20 rest (I held 1:18's +/- :02)
4x200 negative split @3:00 (I did the last one cool down)

3,600 yards total

I was going to try for 4,000 but we ran out of time.  I also pulled something in my back.  I am pretty sore on my left shoulder blade.  It helped when I was breathing every 4th stroke to the left.  I think I am pressing down in a funky way with the left arm when I breath to the right.  I thought about it during the cool down and it really helped.

Friday, October 10, 2014

Fitness Friday

Today's workout was not a lot of yardage, it was a fitness day.  The main set was similar to circuit training.  If you have ever done Spit Fires, you will know what we did.  We had four lane and went down one lane, did an exercise,  swam back in the next lane , did an exercise....and so on.  There were 8 exercises in all, so a 200 swim for each round.

650 Warm Up

10x75 Kick/Swim/Kick by 25 @ 1:20

50 Easy

SNAKE (I made it 3 1/2 times through) 200 yards each round
Swim down each lane one way and do a fitness excercise at each end.
6 push ups
10 squats
10 Pull ups on backstroke bar
10 streamline jumps
6 Pop ups (like you are trying to get out of the pool)
10 Crunches
10 tricep dips
30 sec. plank

2,150 yards total

Fitness workouts are hard for me.  It is easy to float around in the pool.  I can tell which exercises I need to do to strengthen my lower back...PUSHUPS! 

Thursday, October 9, 2014

Group Swim

There wasn't practice this morning, but a group of us got together and swam at Fairmont at the usual 6am.  I hope that there are lanes available for lap swimming when the high school teams start practicing in the mornings.  It was a fun, basic workout.  I think I could have made the times on the 100's if I were in better shape.  I was lucky if I made the 1:15's.  On the first round I went way too fast on the 1:10 and paid for it the rest of the 100's.  

It was great swimming with Jamie again, this might be the last time I swim with her.  I hope she comes back and swims with me regularly.  I will miss her.

Here was the workout:

[8x]
75 IM @ 1:10
50 Free @ :50

7x100 
(all times are + or - base time: sample times are on base 1:20)
     +5          1:25
      -5          1:15
   +10          1:30
    -10          1:10
  base          1:20
     -5           1:15
   -10           1:10

200 easy

Repeat the 7x100

400 Cool Down

3,000 yards total

Don't forget to include a warm up.  I came a little late and missed it.  Also, I think right now I might do the 100's a little differently.  I struggled with the -10's.  I would probably either do them as -5's or change my base pace to 1:25.


Monday, October 6, 2014

Back at it, again!

I actually got back in the pool last Wednesday for the first time since the Bear Lake swim.  It felt really great to swim again.  I got 2550 yards in.  I don't really remember the workout though.  I also swam this morning (thanks Jamie for texting me last night!  I will really miss swimming with you)

Here is this morning's workout:

400 Warm Up
6x100 drill @1:40
8 minute timed swims (3 or 4 times)
     I did 600 yards in each.  The first one was about 8:20 and got about 10 sec. fast each time.
50 cool down

3,450 total (this will change depending on how far you go on each of the 8 minute swims)