Head position - domino affect

1000 - 4-4-4
800 - 16x50 down drill choice, back 12.5yard sprint, 12.5 yard easy. :50-55
3200 - 4x (3x200 2:50, 3x50 :45, 50 easy)

1st set - pull with paddles and ankle strap, 2nd - pads only, 3rd - buoy only, 4th - no equip

total 5000

I had planned on doing 6000 yards today, but my alarm was set, but not turned ON, so Cathi asked at 6:45, "Gordon, did the alarm go off?". Crap! So I didn't get in the water until 7:25 this morning.

I have a work meeting every day at 9:30 and I missed yesterday's because I was late getting out of the water, and I couldn't do it two days in a row, so I had to sacrifice the last 1000 of today's swim cause I'm a freakin' "get your butt out of bed" slacker!


Anyhow....Some of the feedback I got back from Coach JGal from the video of last week's meet was that my head position is too far forward. Which causes me to look forward too much on the breath instead of to the side which ultimately results in bobbing in the water.

Granted, in the meet I wasn't bilateral breathing and I was going at a pace that I wouldn't even attempt in a long open water swim. So when I swim, I'm a little better about keeping my head in a neutral position in the water, breathing to the side so my mouth is more toward my shoulder (in the pocket). I'm also thinking about my arms stroking further from my mid line so that I never get my hand too close.

I think this also might be because when I breath I don't keep my head in the "pocket" and I roll my body too much, which causes my arm to enter the water too close to my midline and also my stroke comes too close to the midline. So one bad habit can really lead to several bad things, kind of like a domino affect. So I'm starting by thinking about the first domino (head position). That should prevent the other dominos from falling too.

By the way, I finally talked with the old guy who walks up an down the shallow lane. His name is Kent and is trying to strengthen his bum knee. Good to catch the names of these people I see every day at the pool, but don't interact with.

Recovery

900 - 300 swim, 300 kick, 300 pull

1000 - 20x50 down drill choice (1-arm, 6-3-6, catch up, others) back easy swim on :5-10RI
1800 - 3x (300 :20 ri, 200 :20 ri,100 :20 ri)
set one is fins + pads
set 2 is pull pads optional
set 3 is optional equipment or no equipment
*whole set is stretched out and easy, get the kinks out of the post-meet soreness!

400 - 8x50 back stroke recovery 1:00

total 4100

Getting used to the cold

I asked JGal for some tips on getting used to the cold and she offered several great ideas.

• Cold showers. you have to earn hot ones.


• Ice baths for at least 10-15 mins and put your face in.


• Sleep with only a light sheet/quilt, get rid of the duvet! - already doing this


• sleep with light pjs...none of that long flannel stuff! - already doing this


• don't layer up if it's cold outside...just a light jacket. under dress for the cold! - already doing this


• don't wear house shoes/socks around the house if it's cold, just go barefoot. ditto house clothes, wear shorts and light t's a lot. no bathrobes! - already doing this


• no mittens! let your fingers/hands deal w/ the cold! - already doing this


• put on weight (fun!) - I don't plan on doing this until 3-4 months before channel swim, and even then only about 10 pounds.


• find cold situations (raining outside, snow) and go out in them under dressed.
  
• get in your lake asap, even if only for a few mins.


• when you want heat in the car, don't let yourself! unless you've cold passengers of course.

So lots of things to work on. Tomorrow I'll stop by Bountiful lake and take a temperature just to see where we are at. I don't think I'll jump in though. I'll start with cold showers for now.

Results of Utah State Swim Meet

Swam three events: 500 Free, 1650 Free, and 200 Free.
Here are my results:

• 500 Free: 5:42.75 - New PR by 5 seconds


• 1650 Free: 20:39.24 - New PR by 20 seconds


• 200 Free: 2:02.46 - two seconds away from PR

I'm definitely happy with the 1650 and 500 times although I was hoping to break my record by a bigger margin, but at least I got PR's right?

Here's video of the 500.
Splits:

	Split time	Average 100 split	Total
50	29.02	0:58.04	0:29.02
100	32.68	1:01.70	1:01.70
150	34.21	1:03.94	1:35.91
200	34.56	1:05.23	2:10.47
250	35.50	1:06.39	2:45.97
300	34.95	1:06.97	3:20.92
350	35.27	1:07.48	3:56.19
400	35.90	1:08.02	4:32.09
450	36.00	1:08.46	5:08.09
500	34.66	1:08.55	5:42.75

I took second place overall. I swam next to the 19 year old USU male team captain who beat my by a good margin, but never did lap me. I kept telling myself, when I was his age, he was still crapping his diaper.

Here's video of the 1650 (Really just posting it for JGal's stroke analysis, I don't expect anyone to sit there for twenty minutes watching boring lap after lap!)
Splits:

	Split time	Average 100 split	Total
50	32.10	1:04.20	00:32.10
100	35.49	1:07.59	01:07.59
150	36.55	1:09.43	01:44.14
200	36.89	1:10.52	02:21.03
250	37.23	1:11.30	02:58.26
300	37.81	1:12.02	03:36.07
350	37.78	1:12.53	04:13.85
400	38.03	1:12.97	04:51.88
450	38.29	1:13.37	05:30.17
500	38.12	1:13.66	06:08.29
550	38.11	1:13.89	06:46.40
600	38.16	1:14.09	07:24.56
650	38.14	1:14.26	08:02.70
700	38.39	1:14.44	08:41.09
750	38.57	1:14.62	09:19.66
800	38.17	1:14.73	09:57.83
850	38.19	1:14.83	10:36.02
900	38.77	1:14.98	11:14.79
950	38.50	1:15.08	11:53.29
1000	38.83	1:15.21	12:32.12
1050	38.78	1:15.32	13:10.90
1100	38.30	1:15.38	13:49.20
1150	38.85	1:15.48	14:28.05
1200	38.68	1:15.56	15:06.73
1250	38.54	1:15.62	15:45.27
1300	38.65	1:15.69	16:23.92
1350	37.96	1:15.69	17:01.88
1400	37.84	1:15.69	17:39.72
1450	37.21	1:15.65	18:16.93
1500	36.46	1:15.56	18:53.39
1550	36.45	1:15.47	19:29.84
1600	34.49	1:15.27	20:04.33
1650	34.91	1:15.11	20:39.24

From the looks of this table 38 seconds is my base race pace. If I could just pick that up to just under 38 seconds each time, I could lose another 10-20 seconds. Pretty consistent except for a quick adrenaline rush pace at the start and end.

Again, took second place overall. I ALMOST got lapped by James Jonsson on this one. He did his 1650 a split second after I did my 1600. Afterwards he commented that I cut 20 seconds since last time. HOW THE HECK DID HE REMEMBER THAT! What a cool guy.

After my 1650, my triceps felt worn, but not wasted. I knew I could do a 200 in decent time, but my goal of getting under 2:00 appeared to be too much to expect. I ended up getting 2:02.46. Here's video.

Felt great about my 1650, OK about the 500, and a little let down on the 200. Now to gear up for a great open water season, and start running/biking a little. But not too much. I have the 19 mile Bear Lake Swim on July 3rd! If that goes well, I'm thinking about bumping my Channel swim to August of 2011! I also have some ideas about cold water acclimation. But that's a different post.

Last Day Tapering before meet

100 Easy
400 - 8 x 50's strong on 1:00 (all under :33)
100 back
100 kick
300 - 12 x 25's sprint on :30
50 easy

1050 Total

Shaved last night and man do I feel slippery! Now to take the opportunity to get myself mentally ready for Friday and Saturday.

Some pre-meet rituals I usually do:

• Carb up
• Shave
• Eat a fish for dinner the day or two before
• Overload on potassium - bananas and yogurt

2000

400 Free warmup
1500 - 3 x {200 Fast (2:27), 100 kick recover, 100 Free fast (get 1:05), 100 back recover}
100 Build up free

2000 yards total

Slept in and it feels really strange to only swim 2000 yards. Happy with the 100 times, not so much with the 200's.

Swim your events

Today I slept in a little and got to the pool at 7:20am. Felt great to get a full 8 hours sleep. Today is just a little time trial, knowing that it will be a good deal slower than what I will produce at the meet since I'm not:

• jumping off the block


• shaved


• fully recovered from last Saturday's 12k


• psyched up with spectators


• competition in the next lanes

200 warm up
1650 Free fast (21:51)
100 back
500 free fast (6:17)
100 back
200 Free fast! (2:18)
250 Easy
3000 yards total

Felt pretty good about those times. Especially the 1650 since I was able to maintain my bilateral breathing on that until about 1500 and then turned it on.

Last Chance workout!

I think I'm ready for next weekend's meet. This week I put in the yards and got some good times. I'm excited. Here's today's long workout.

1000 - 4x4x4
1000 - 2 x 500's kick with fins
1000 - 1000 free nice and strong stokes under 14:00 (13:27)
1000 - 10 x 100's free on 1:30 (banked :45)
2000 - 10 x 200's free on 3:00 (banked :25)
200 back
1000 - 20 x 50's free sprint on :55 (get all under :35)

At this time a high school kid shared my lane and had a one on one session with the coach. He was pretty good, but not the fastest kid on the team. Which was good cause he pushed me, but didn't overwhelm me.

600 - 300 free, 200 kick, 100 drill
200 sprint (get under 2:25) (got 2:20)
800 - 2 x 400's free stretch, last 25 of each 400 do backstroke
500 - 500 kick with fins
100 EZ
400 - 8 x texas 50's on 1:00
300 - 6 x 50's odd back, evens free on :55
1000 - 4 x 250's maintain pace (actually got a little slower, but not more than 5 sec)
900 - 3 x (3 x 100's descending on 1:30) Paddles, buoy and ankle strap.

Got just over 1:15 on first, under 1:15 on second, under 1:10 on the last one. Very pleased that I could push it that hard on the very last set of a long morning!

12,000 Yards total (3:40 elapsed time)
45,500 yards total this week (almost 26 miles)

The trouble with today's workout is that I forgot to fill up my water bottle so I only have a 20 oz gatorade to ration throughout the workout. By the time I got to the second to last set (250s), I could sense that my body was at that "wall" where I had used up all the energy from last night's pancakes. I was tired, but I really wanted to finish this workout and finish strong so I flipped a switch once I got the pulling equipment on.

Next week tapering..... Yeah!!!

Swimming at Steiner again

Good thing I went online and checked SDRC's lap pool status. Closed tonight and tomorrow for a state meet. So I went up to Steiner to swim. Which was nice cause I got to get in an hour earlier than planned. Here's what I did:

600 easy warmup
450 - 6x { 50 :45 fast, 25 :30 easy) last two 50's do back stroke
2000 - 20x100 moderate - strong pace, fins and pads, on 1:20

After finishing the eighth set of these, the lifeguards came up and moved me over a couple lanes to allow water aerobics class to begin. So I had an extra minute or so of rest between the eighth and ninth set, but other than that I was going on the 1:20 every time. I was really pushing it. Felt great cause I was getting between 1:06 - 1:13 on all of them.

50 stretch
1000 get time strong pace (13:06)

Masters started the next lane over and a couple of young bucks were swimming. So my goal was to not only keep up with them, but gain a foot or so per 25 on them. That's what got me well under 14:00

almost straight into...

400 - 4x100 on 1:25 fast fast fast!, MAKE THESE! (Got 1:10-1:15 on these)
100 stretch
300 - 3x100 backstroke moderate :20 ri
600 - 12x50 odds push off 20yd sprint, rest easy. evens no pushoff 15yd sprint, rest easy 1:00
200 warmdown

total 5700

Felt great! No shoulder issues at all. In fact I was running some numbers. And I think I'm going for a 12,000 yard swim tomorrow. After that I will have swam over 45,000 yards this week. That's a new PR and I'm going to make it official and start recording max yards per week.

But SDRC is closed, so I'll have to swim in the warm Layton pool. Which is better than driving all the way down to Steiner again. When I got home tonight, I made pancakes, cooked up some sausage links and an omelet and the kids and I had a feast! Tomorrow morning It'll make all the difference to have had a good meal tonight. That's what made tonight's workout such a success. I kept myself well fueled during the day in anticipation of this workout. Not junk, but some good carbs.

4, 2, 1 Go!

1000 - 4-4-4
1600 - 16x100 odds kick, evens buoy and paddles, :15 ri
3000 - 4x { 400 moderate-strong pace on 5:45, 200 moderate-strong pace on 2:50,
100 moderate-strong pace on 1:25, 50 backstroke easy}
200 easy

total 5800

The main set was awesome. I was able to get 5:25 on the 400s, 2:35-37 on the 200's, @1:15 on the 100s.

Wonderwoman was in the next lane and kept me going fast. Looking forward to tonight's cold water swim at SDRC (cold compared to Layton that is).

Fast 500s

900 - 300 swim, 300 kick, 300 pull
800 - 4x100 kick on 2:50, 4x100 pull on 1:40
2000 - 4x500, ALL sprint fast pace get under 6:30, on 8:00 (6:26, 6:22, 6:26, 6:31)
400 - 3x100 easy, 50 back 50 free
1000 - 2x500 same as above (6:31, 6:34)

Crap! Got tuckered. Bilateral breathing went out the window after 200 yards

400 - 3x100 easy, 50 back 50 free

total 5500

My quads are sore, don't have any idea why.

Hot tub vents

So I discovered after swimming at the Surf N' Swim for several years now, that to avoid the hot water as much as possible you have to go the deeper end of the pool. There are two places in the shallowest lane where hot water enters at the bottom of the pool right in the middle. This water felt like hot tub water (probably over 95 degrees). So today after swimming the first two sets, I moved over to the deeper lanes to avoid the major hot pockets of water coming from these vents.

800 (200 drill kick pull swim)
2000 - 2x1000 with fins and paddles, :30 ri
1000 - 2x500 with fins :30 ri
500 - 2x250 no equipment :30 ri
100 easy
800 - 8x100 fast! (1:09, 1:12, 1:14, 1:16, 1:20, 1:21, 1:21, 1:22) first four on 1:20, second four on 1:25

I felt great about these times. Thank goodness I was out of the "hot water" lane by this time.

300 - 6x50 down free drill, back backstroke on :55

total 5500

Another good English Channel Resource

http://home.btconnect.com/critchlow/index_channelswims.htm

I like the solo swim database that has alot of information on everyone who attempts to swim the channel, as well as website information on them if available.

Cool stuff.

That's better

Got to bed at a decent time and it made a big difference. Although I didn't feel like he-man during the workout, I didn't give up and was able to get decent times:

500 warmup
2000 - 10x200 5 (descend 1-3 and hold), 5 (ascend 1-3 and hold) on 3:00 (2:43, 2:37, 2:34, 2:36 (oops), 2:33)(2:32, 2:36, 2:38, 2:44, 2:47)
1200 - 2x600 strong pace, use paddles on 9:00
1200 - 4x300 same, paddles, buoy and ankle stray on 4:30
800 - 8x100 same, no equipment on 1:30 (held @ 1:17-1:22)
300 easy warmdown

total 6000

I was thinking during my warmdown why yesterday was so sucky. I think when I do kickboards at the beginning, especially when I don't use fins, I go so slow that it messed with my mind and makes feel like an old fart going so slow. It's those negative thoughts that really bring me down. So I really ought to NOT do kicking (at least without fins) at the beginning, either that or I'll have to focus mentally, not be negative and realize that kicking isn't going to be fast.

I mean I only have 10 1/2 size shoe. I'm not like a size 13 and can kick with any serious amount of force. Plus my quads are so girly! I noticed today that they have shrunk since I haven't been biking all winter. I really need to put that muscle back on.

Bruised and confused

Between getting my butt kicked last Saturday while snowboarding for the first time, and losing an hour of sleep to Daylight Savings, today's workout was far from standard.

I planned on doing 5000 yards, but ended up bonking and getting out at 2000 yards.

500 - 10x50 :50 warmup
1500 - 3x ( 50 drill / 100 kick / 150 pull / 200 swim )

I was supposed to continue and do the following:

2000 - 4x100 1:20
2x200 3:00
1x400 5:45
2x200 3:00
4x100 1:20

500 - 10x50 down drill back ez 1:00
300 - 12x25 sprint :30
200 warmdown

5000 yards total

Going to bed early tonight! No more slacking this week!

16,500 yards from Phelps logbook

Found this workout which claims to be taken from Michael Phelps logbook, but I enhanced it to give me even more yardage. Starting at 9 instead of 8.

Here's what I did in the morning (got in the water at 5:40am):

• 900 - 1 x 900 free stretch


• 1600 - 2 x 800 free


• 2100 - 3 x 700 free


• 2400 - 4 x 600 free


• 2500 - 5 x 500 free push it a little

Ended up circle swimming the first half of this. Which is good cause it forces me to put on the after burner when passing the other two in my lane. After about an hour they moved to other lanes that cleared up.
When I got to the 500's, there was a fast woman in the next lane who made me keep a good pace and not take it easy. Was only able to get a couple feet on her per 50. Pretty fast lady.

9500 yards for the morning

Here's what I plan to do to finish up the workout this evening at SDRC while Austin is at the club.

• 2400 - 6 x 400 free on 6:00 hold 5:30


• 2100 - 7 x 300 free


• 1600 - 8 x 200 free on 2:50 hold 2:40


• 900 - 9 x 100 free on 1:25 hold 1:20

7000 yards for the evening
16,500 yards total for the day

Drained

Today's swim I had planned another 6K, but 2500 yards into it, I hit a wall. My 2000 warmup was really slow and I just didn't have much energy. As I thought about it, I realized I didn't really have a good day yesterday with calorie intake. I only probably had about 2000 calories. So I stopped at the 3600 yard point with the understanding that tomorrow's workout will be 16.5K and I need to fuel up for tomorrow, so I don't bonk.

2000 - 2000 yards straight (finished at 29:59) Nice an slow
1000 - 10 x 100's pull bank on 1:30 (banked :55)
600 - 6 x 100's kick with fins

3600 yards total

500s

I came up this one last night and just did it from memory:

1000 free warmup Long stretches, easy
1000 - 2 x 500's kick with fins
250 recover (100 back, 100 breast, 50 free)
1000 - 2 x 500's free pull on 7:00 - first set moderate, second set strong
250 recover
1000 - 2 x 500's free on 7:00 first set pull, second set no equipment
250 recover
1000 - 2 x 500's free no equipment get under 6:45 on 7:00
250 warmdown

6000 yards total

Lower back on the left side is touchy. My shoulder blade muscles are also full of knots. Need another massage. Will set up an appointment for next Thursday morning.

300 and 100 descending

900 - 3x300 free pull on 4:15
500 - 5x100 free (hold 1:15 pace) on 1:30
900 - 3x300 free on 4:30
400 - 4x100 free (hold 1:14 pace) on 1:30
900 - 3x300 free pull on 4:15
300 - 3x100 free (hold 1:13 pace) on 1:30
900 - 3x300 free on 4:30
200 - 2x100 free (hold 1:12 pace) on 1:30
900 - 3x300 free pull on 4:15
100 - 1x100 free all out (get 1:05)

6,000 yards total

I was able to meet all the prescribed pace speeds or exceed them. Except the last one I got 1:06. Not bad. Good workout.

One of the old ladies who is always at the pool every morning walking in the shallow end came over and asked if I was a cop. I said "No, I'm a computer programmer". She said she and her friend were wondering if I was a policeman trying to stay in shape.

I think the haircut misleads people.

500s

Went online looking for a 6000 yard workout and not only did I find it, but found a good article on how to improve your 1650 time. Speed work is important and that's what this workout does. I figure if I could maintain 1:15/100 yard for my 1650, I would break my PR and end up with a 20:37 which would be great. So that's what my goal is gonna be at the meet next weekend.

600 freestyle
200 backstroke
200 breaststroke
500 - 10 x 50s on :45 descend 1-5 x 2
500 freestyle recover
500 - 5 x 100s on 1:25 (get 1:18 on all)
500 freestyle recover
500 - 5 x 100s on 1:25 (get 1:15 on all)
500 freestyle recover
500 - 5 x 100s on 1:30 (get 1:14 on all)

I honestly thought I wouldn't be able to meet the goal times on all these sets, but not only did I meet them, I went a few seconds under a few times. I was very pleased that I didn't bonk. 5x100's goes by pretty fast and then I get 500 yards easy to recover, so this actually was a great workout!

1,000 pull, recovery
500 - 10 x 50s (25 easy, 25 sprint) on :30

6,000 Yards total

12K at SDRC

1000 - 4x4x4
1000 - 2 x 500's kick with fins
1000 - 1000 free nice and strong stokes (get under 14:00)

Got 13:20 something

1000 - 10 x 100's free on 1:30
2000 - 10 x 200's free on 3:00
200 back
1000 - 20 x 50's free sprint on 1:00 (get all under :35)
600 - 300 free, 200 kick, 100 drill
200 sprint (get under 2:25)

Got 2:22

1650 - 1650 free get time under 22:30

Got 22:29 Amazing that I cut it so close. By this time I was beat!

350 - 7 x 50's odd back, evens free on :55
1000 - 4 x 250's descending breathing - 1st set bilateral (every 3rd stroke), 2nd set every 4th stroke (rotate which side to breathe on every 25 yards), 3rd set every 5th stroke, 4th set every 6th stroke (rotate which side to breathe on every 25 yards)

About halfway through the third set I had to cheat every once in a while and the fourth set was a disaster. Sure makes a big difference when you have to prolong the amount of oxygen you're used to getting. But just like anything else, if you work on it, you get used to it.

900 - 3 x (3 x 100's descending on 1:30) Paddles, buoy and ankle strap.

I was amazed how kick butt I did on these. My easy sets I was getting around 1:18 on. Moderate around 1:13 and on the fast around 1:10

100 Warmdown

12,000 Yards total

What a great workout. My shoulders started aching just before the 1650 and it didn't get bad. Just tired. Didn't get the "low oil" light on my display.

Same workout, once in morning, once at night

This morning I did the following:

800 (200 drill kick pull swim)
600 - 6x100 descend 1-3 by 2s (2 easy, 2 med, 2 strong) on 1:40

1:35, 1:20, 1:12

1650 paddles (Can't really remember, but I think it was in the 22s)
1000 pull (13:50 something)
800 paddles (9 something)
500 pull (6:30 something)
200 paddles (2:28)
100 pull (1:09) WOW!

paddles = hand paddles only, no buoy, no ankle strap (strong arms with light kick)
pull = no paddles, buoy with ankle strap (no kicking at all)

*all on :20-30 RI
150 warmdown

5800 yards total

What a good workout. I was able to go strong and not worry about pushing it for another set. It was a relief being able to go at a pace I felt comfortable with. I didn't dog it though. I also noticed that today when I went from paddles to no paddles my stroke rate definitely increased, and my oxygen intake wasn't as stressed when doing no paddles. It really works my arms and shoulders when I do paddles.

I did the same workout tonight. I went to SDRC and it was closed because of a little kid swim meet, so I hurried up to Steiner Sport Complex and that place is even better than SDRC. In the lane next to me I noticed was Alistair Cockburn. He's one of the fastest "old guys" in the nation. I think he held an age group national record for 100 back or something a while back. He's over 50, but as fast as a college kid.

Anyhow, tonight's workout was exactly the same as this morning's but faster. On my 1650 I got 20:34. My PR is 20:59. But I had hand paddles, so it doesn't count, but it's encouraging that I went that fast just in a workout. Also got 1:11 on my 100 pull. That's awesome. Great workout! Looking forward to tomorrow's swim. Will have to do it in the afternoon since SDRC has another meet tomorrow morning.

11,600 yards daily total

Needless worry

After yesterday's less than stellar workout, I must admit that I was worried while driving to the pool today that I might not have the stamina to meet the descending requirements for today's workout.

1000 - 4-4-4
2000 - 4x500 (descend 1-3 hold) on 7:00

6:48, 6:47, rest an extra minute, 6:38, 6:33

1000 - 4x250 (descend 1-3 hold) on 3:30

3:27, 3:25, rest an extra minute, 3:18, 3:15

500 - 4x125 (descend 1-3 hold) on 1:50

1:40, 1:37, rest an extra :30, 1:33, 1:29

200 - 4x50 (descend 1-3 hold) on :45

:38, :36, rest an extra :30, :32, :32

300 warmdown - 100 breast, 100 back, 100 free all EZ

total 5000

What made ALL the difference in today's workout being successful and I actually work my butt off was taking an extra rest at the halfway point for each set. If I didn't do that, I wouldn't have been able to successfully descend, and I figured it was better to take a little extra rest just at that halfway point to make it a success.

When I was into powerlifting years ago, 90% of the time I would lift alone. This could be extremely dangerous since if I wasn't fully aware of what my body could actually do, the weight would come down on me and crush me without a spotter. I have NEVER had an incident where I failed a lift when alone and knew just the right amount of reps to do and not do one more where I would fail and be unable to complete the lift. I compare that "knowing one's body limits" in lifting to swimming. I could have tried doing all these sets on the prescribed interval, but I would have failed. Even though it wouldn't have hurt me to have failed, and in fact pushing the body to failure in lifting can also be beneficial, so the analogy goes both ways actually.

Utah State Swim Meet 2010 Registration

Well I finally got an registration sheet and entry form for the Utah State Meet. You can get the registration form here (in case you can't find it on the Utah Masters Swimming site).

I registered for the 500 Free on Friday, March 26th. Then the 1650 Free and 200 Free on Saturday, March 27th. I'm skipping the 100 and 50 free as I want to focus more on the distance events. Especially the 1650. I really want a new PR (under 20:59)

Feeling like TAR

600 stretch

I was tight from the beginning so I made sure to do really good stretching and a nice easy warmup. It helped but by the time I got halfway through the next set, my tris and shoulders were back to being turds.

3000 - 10x300 on 4:20 Strong pace (1:00 extra ri at halway point)

I was running out of breath after a few of these. I was maintaining around 4:00-4:05, but I just couldn't catch my breath enough during the rest interval to maintain the pace and by the halfway point got 4:20, so I took an extra minute rest at halfway. On the second half, the same thing happened.

50 stretch
1500 - 10x150 on 2:10 Only got about 5-10 seconds rest between sets and took an extra minute at halfway point.
50 stretch
100 all out get time - wanted 1:03, got 1:04.
200 warmdown

Total 5500

Really was a tough one today. My arms just didn't have it today. But I kept going and got the full workout in. Even though I did consider quitting after the 300's.

More pulling

900 - 300 swim, 300 kick, 300 pull
2800 - 2x800 paddles :20 ri, 2x400 paddles :20 ri, 2x200 paddles :10 ri
Keep focused on hand pull, try to keep stroke rate lower but strong pulls
100 stretch
500 fast get time (6:17)

I was aiming for around 6:30 so I was pleased with 6:17. That's the fastest 500 I've done in practice for over a decade. And less than a minute(5:25) than my all time PR set back when I was a senior in High School.

600 - 12x50 odds back moderate :55, evens free fast :45
400 swim kick pull swim

Total 5300

Recovery and then dentist visit

800 (200 drill-kick-pull-swim)
1000 - 10x100 odds kick evens pull :20 ri
1200 - 4x300 pull with paddles, nice and easy stretch out, 4:00
1200 - 8x} 75 (50 drill, 25 swim) on 1:20
50 build :55
25 sprint :30
300 stretch out warm down

total 4500

Pushed it on 300's pull and was getting @3:40 on those which is pretty good. My inner fingers are getting a little sensitive to the strap on my paddles. I'm not used to wearing the paddles for such long distance (such as the case on Saturday).

Had to hurry after this workout to the dentist where I got my very first cavity filled. Feeling numb. Like my lip and tongue are gonna fall off.