Monday, September 24, 2007

Monday Night Masters

North Boulder Rec.
Coach: ???

Warm Up:
150 yards swim
150 yards kick
150 yards pull
150 yards swim
straight through

Main Set:
100 yards swim, moderate pace, on 2:00
25 yards swim, moderate pace, on :40
50 yards swim, build pace, on 1:10
25 yards swim, sprint, on :40
Repeat 4x
(swam 100’s at 1:53 ish)
200 yards swim on 4:00
2x100 yards on 1:50
(yeah right, I did the first one at 1:48-1:49 and the second at 1:56)
4x50 drill, IM order, 5 secs rest after each 50
4x50 swim, IM order, 15 secs rest after each 50
Total: 2200 yards
This was my first time in the pool since my race 2 weeks ago and I was sure it would be a disaster but it didn’t go too badly. Luckily I had the lane to myself so I didn’t have to try to keep up with anybody. I’d like to try to be able to do 100’s at a 1:40 pace on a 1:50 interval by mid winter. Seems reasonable if I can keep up with twice a week workouts and make some improvements to my stroke. I’d also like to be able to breathe on both sides, every other stroke by next summer. That may be ambitious, I’ve been working on that for years but we’ll see.

4 comments:

  1. I hope you can master the bilateral breathing! I'm going to work on mine this winter too!

    ReplyDelete
  2. It's taken me years just to be able to breathe to my off side and it still throws me off balance. And breathing every other stroke makes me totally hypoxic after 50 yards. One of these years I'll get the hang of it.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I never did figure out how to breath at all except by pausing and lifting my head. I could swim for ages doing that, but they kept putting me back with the "babies" at summer camp because of it. I was very motivated from humiliation to figure it out, but never did. Tried again a couple of summers ago, figuring that with my age and life experience, it would be a snap. Ha!

    -ellen

    ReplyDelete
  4. It's all about balance. The 'Total Immersion' program (http://www.totalimmersion.net/) is great for beginners learning to swim and people looking to improve. Lots of good drills that teach you how to balance and position yourself in the water. I've never ponied up for one of their pricey seminars but I have the book and it's pretty good. Once you can balance in the water properly it's a simple matter to turn your head to the side to sneak a breath.

    I have the muscle memory for breathing on my right side because that's what I learned as a kid but I never learned to breathe to the left. I don't have the muscle memory for balancing on my right side so when I try to breathe to the left my right hip drops and I start to sink causing me to lurch my head up and gasp for air. I've gotten a bit better over the years with practice but I don't practice nearly enough. It's hard to practice that sort of thing when you have to keep up with other people in a lane at masters.

    ReplyDelete