Austin's first flipturn

Was in a bad mood when we left. The house was in shambles and kids weren't responsive.

300 Warmup
1000 - 2 x {5 x 100's pulling descending} on 3:00
200 - 200 IM
100 - Chasing Austin down once he get's halfway. Austin was eaten every time.

1600 Total

He asked me for some coaching on doing flip turns so Jacob, Austin and I worked on those for the last few minutes. Austin was able to do one, but pushed off on his back. I told him that whenever he does a turn to never do a hand touch turn. He must practice these in order to figure out how to perfect them. Cathi doesn't do flip turns and it add about 3 seconds to her time every length.

They both need to get out of the "ball" when they complete the turn so they can better push off the wall and then turn over on to their stomachs. Not bad for a first try though.

New Record

Tonight I wanted to push the limits so since I was in charge of the workout here is what I came up with:

3000 - 30 x 100's free on 2:00

3000 total

Austin came and he swam 2000. That is a new record for the boys as well. Feel good about the distance tonight, but don't really plan to beat that for quite a while.

Cathi's power workout

Today was a busy afternoon. I went in to work early so I could leave by 3:15.

• I helped Cathi with her Webelos teaching First-Aid at 4pm.
• Then accompanied Cathi's Music to my ears group at 5pm.
• Had dinner at 6pm.
• Had Bulls patrol at 7pm (first aid for Tenderfoot)
• Prepared for swimming and watched a bit of Biggest Loser at 8pm and left to go swim at 8:45 pm.

Today Cathi came up with the workout:
500 - 500 Warm up
50 EZ
1950 - 3 x {300 Free, 200 Free, 100 Free, 50 Free}
50 yards Grandpa swimming with Cathi
2550 Yards total

Jacob came this evening and swam 1100 yards. His PR is 1200. He did alot of breast stroke, which technically has alot of flaws which I tried to help him weed out, but at least he's moving and working hard.

I called today Cathi's power workout because she was swimming fast and strong. She was on my feet basically the whole time. On the 300's I would have at most one length on her and when she got to the wall she rested for a short bit and then went ahead to the 200's. She was awesome today and a great partner.

Austin's first mile

Today we took Austin and since Jacob's last record breaking I think it turned on the competition between the two. Here is my workout:

1100 - 500 free, 300 free, 200 free, 100 free
750 - Breath control. 15 x 50's (first 50 breath 15 total, down to one breath on the last 50)
250 - 5 x 50's (Over Unders - 25 Free EZ, 25 underwater swimming no breath)
50 fast (:30)
--------------------
2100 yards total

Austin swam nearly the whole time. He rested at most 1 minute. He kept track of his yards and did 1800 yards. So proud of that boy!

At least its better than sitting in front of the TV

Tonight's workout on paper doesn't look that tough. But tonight my chest was sore. We were a few minutes late getting to the pool and I wasn't in the mood to start with. But we got through it. The hardest part about this workout was the backstroke. I seem to get water in my nose and swallow more water than I should when doing backstroke. My technique is really flawed I think. I'm having trouble staying level in the water. I end up bobbing quite a bit. Then instead of kicking myself for having a crappy day I said to myself "Even a bad day swimming is better than a good day sitting at home watching TV".

800 - 200 IM, 200 Back, 200 Breast, 200 Free
300 EZ
800 - 200 IM, 200 Back, 200 Breast, 200 Free
100 Warm down

2000 yards total

Jacob came this evening and swam 900 yards. Gave him some pointers on how he should originate his kicks from his hips and not his knees. Looks better already.

Getting touchy

Today while swimming one of the 200's on the last 50 of the set I noticed that I could nearly lap Cathi, so I picked it up just a bit to see if I could. That was the first time I've done that. Well Cathi noticed and gave me a piece of her mind. She was upset with me the rest of the workout! We only did one repeating set:

2100 - 6 x {200 Freee, 100 Free, 50 Free}

Austin came today and I noticed that he wasn't kicking very much and that his arms were coming out way too prematurely. I stressed pushing the water with his forearm all the way through behind him so that he gets a full stroke. His stroke improved greatly by the end of the workout. He swam quite a bit and didn't rest more than 1 minute. He broke Jacob's record of 800 yards by swimming 1200 yards. Not bad for only an hour to do it in!

Nothing too difficult

300 Warmup
1800 - 3 x {100 Pull, 50 Fly, 100 Pull, 50 Back, 100 Pull, 50 Breast, 100 Pull, 50 Free}
200 - 2 x 100 IMs

2300 Total

Jacob came tonight and he swam 800 yards. Half of it was kicking. His biggest flaw with his stoke is his kicking. Because his legs are so deep in the water his upper body isn't parallel with the surface and his head come too far out of the water. Trying to get him to kick harder. His kicking cycles are too shallow, he needs to kick higher and deeper. I would love to get Austin and Jacob to a decent competitive time.

Tonight's swim was fine considering last weekend's procedure. In fact I couldn't even tell a difference from before. Swimming is the best non-impact activity possible!