First Swimming Video!

Thanks Gord's for getting this to me. I can now see what I need to work on!

PUSH PUSH PUSH

I crawled out of bed on time and ate a quick bowl of Captain Crunch, gave Chandra a kiss goodbye and was out the door. I got to the pool a little before 4 am to meet Gord's in the parking lot and went into the gym to get changed. To my surprise Gord's was getting ready and got into the pool with me to do the workout. It was awesome to have him in the lane next to me. He really pushed me. He did most of the workout with me and got out so he would not be hating life to much tomorrow.  I cannot believe how fast that man is in the water even with not being in shape. I have no pain in my shoulders anymore and I feel I am getting faster as I progress. I know I will never be as fast as Gord's but I have the best man I can think of helping me get to where I need to be.

Here is the workout I did this morning:

 Focus: Stroke efficiency

Start by configuring to show your last interval SWOLF, and you average SWOLF for the workout.  Take a look and try to get your SWOLF score down in the lower thirties.

400 free easy warmup

4 x 100's kick with fins (alternate fronUbacklflutter/dolphin)

8 x 50's breath left side odd, breathe right side even on 1:00

800 free@ 80% (capture your swolf for that interval)

200 free@ 90 % (capture your swolf for that interval, it should be fairly close to your 800).

Put on some paddles

600 pull@ 85% (your swolf score should drop by at least 3 points)

400 finger paddles @ 80% (You should have an pretty good swolf average established.  Try to maintain the average for this interval)

200 PT paddles (You swolf score will definitely suffer here.  Don't worry about it.  But don't give up. Make those forearms kick in)

Kicking set:

8 x 50's kick no fins on 1:15

Backstroke set:

6 x 75's back/free/back by 25 on 1:40

Distance free:

1500 yards freestyle.  Focus on a good anchor and kicking strong.

Drills:  8 x 50's alternate between face down sculling/finger tip drag/touch and pull/backstroke

6,150 yards total - Nice work! Upload your workouts  to Garmin when you get chance.

I had to get out of the pool to get to work so I skipped the warm down portion. So far this has been my favorite workout this year. Probably because I got to swim with Gord's and I was being pushed by him while he was in the water.

Two days of workouts

So I got out of bed late this morning and slowly got to the gym to do today's workout. I am usually in the water swimming by 4 am. I got changed and sat on the deck with my feet in the water and zoned out into a daze. I was staring at the other end of the pool and started to see myself swimming the EC. I stopped for a feed and Gords threw it out to me so I could take it, and the boat captain said what are you stopping for you don't need anything! I shook my head and jumped into the water and started my workout 45 minutes late.

Here is what I did the last two days:

 Advanced

Objective: Streamline off the wall!

Warm-up - 900 yds:

200 easy swim

500 - 5 X 100 on 1:30 (FOCUS ON streamline after flip turn)

200- 8 X 25 @:10 rest [odds drill/evens perfect freestyle]

Main Set- 4,000 yds

**four times through**

200 stroke of choice @:10 rest

2 X 200 free on 3:00

100 stroke of choice @:10 rest

2 X 100 free on 1:30

2 X 50 @:10 rest - drill/swim by 25

Cool Down- 500 yds:

300-4 X 75 @:10 rest [kick, drill, swim by 25]

300 easy choice

Total: 5,500 yards

Focus on endurance and holding a threshold pace.

Before swimming configure your watch to show your pace last interval.  Data field: "Pace- Last Interval" On the 100's you'll have to hit the lap button at the start of the

100 and again at the end of the 100.  Then look at the Pace from the last interval and make a mental note of where it's at.  At the end of each round of 10 x 1OO's take a rough average of what the pace was for that set of 10.

Warm up:

600 free

200 kick

1000 free straight@ 80% (Get time)

10 x 100's@ 90% breath left side only (breath every 2 strokes) (get pace on watch at end of 100) :15 rest  Hit the lap button at the start/end of every 100.

10 x 100's@ 90% breath right Side only (breath every 2 strokes) (get pace on watch at end of 100): 15 rest Hit the lap button at the start/end of every 100.

I had to cut the workout short because I slept in. Normally I would go back to the Gym and finish the workout but today is the day I get my kids.

Sore Shoulders and an Early Morning

I really need to do a better job of keeping this blog up to date. I will try and do a better job of that. I dropped my deck coat off to my moms to get my new patches sewn onto it making sure she left room in between the two for the third Bear Lake Patch I hope to earn this year. Christmas time was rough trying to keep focused on my swimming and I did not do a very good job of it. If I am going to swim the EC this year I have to keep my head in the game. I swam yesterdays work out and I really pushed myself hard to make the times. I made every one and felt it this morning. Chandra kicked me out of bed and said we have to go to the gym. I am greatfull that I have her in my corner and to help push me like I need to be done sometimes. with her going to the gym with me so she can run on the treadmill is awesome. she goes until I get done knowing that I have big workouts from Gords to complete and never complains. I'm proud of what she has accomplished and the goals she has set for herself.

Mondays workout is below:

Focus: Breaking the thumb first entry bad habit:

http://www.feelforthewater.com/2011/02/do-you-ever-get-shoulder-pain-when.html

400 free bi lateral breathe warmup

(Imagine a fish is just below the surface about 16 inches ahead of you at your 1 and 11 oclock.  You're trying to spear the fish with your fingertips.

1000 - 10 x 1OO's freestyle (odd breath left only, even breath right only) on ,

1:45

Imagine your are holding a briefcase on the arm recovery.  It would be difficult to hold that handle at an angle as you enter the water.

200 kick with fins

2100- 6 rounds of the following:

200 free Bilateral Breath focus on hand entry and solid anchor on catch. rest :10

100 free- 50 breathe left/50 breathe right rest :10

50 backstroke rest :10

1000 free straight bilateral breathing

200 kick with fins

1000 - 5 x 200's pull focus on good streamline off the wall looking down and making it past the flags before breath. on 3:15

400 free bi lateral breathe cooldown

6,300 yards total

 Here is today's workout

Focus: increasing your speedN02 max (6,450 total)

500 free warmup

4 x 50's free @ 80% on 1:00

4 x 50's free @ 75% on :50

4 x 50's free @ 70% on :45 (should get less than 5 seconds rest)

4 x 50's free@ 90% on 1:10 (should be hitting :35 or faster)

300 kick with fins

4 x 1OO's free @ 80% on 1:50

4 x 100's free@ 75% on 1:40

4 x 1OO's free @ 70% on 1:30 (should get less than 5 seconds rest)

4 x 100's free@ 90% on 2:00 (should be hitting 1:15 or faster)

I decided to stop here because my shoulders and back were killing me. I will go to the pool tonight and finish this work out.

This is what I will finish tonight to get the complete workout done!

600 pull bilateral breathe

2 x 200's free @ 70% on 3:00 (should get less than 5 seconds rest)

2 x 200's free @ 80% on 3:30

Rest an extra minute

1 x 200 free sprint (get under 2:30)

300 easy recovery

1 x 400 free @ 70% focus on streamlined pushoff the wall and thumb first hand entry.(get under 7 minutes)

1 x 200 free @ 80%  get under 2:45

1 x 100 free@ 90% get under 1:15

1 x 50 free @ 100% get under :35

600 cooldown