n + 1 swim challenge (Page 18)

Just got back from the pool.  It felt pretty good to get back in the water.  I took a few extra seconds between sets though.

500 wu @ 1:40

4 x 200 @ 1:34

4 x 100 @ 1:28

Total 1,700 yards

Solid session yesterday afternoon...my daughter swam with me as her easy day for the week. 

25SCM, 1700 totalpurpose:  stretch out intervals, reduce rest, keep effort below threshold

500 choice WU, 1' rest
4 x 50 push pace on 1:10(all about :54 - 1:40/100y pace)
30" rest
4 x 150 on 3:15 (avg 2:57 - 1:47 pace)
1' rest
6 x 50 pull/paddles on 1:10 (avg :52 - 1:35 pace)
100 CD easy

I was hoping for a little quicker pace on those 150s at that effort level, but it was the 2nd workout of the day and I was still a little sore from my strength session yesterday.

3200m this morning.  

Purpose: steady, strong efforts focusing on a good catch and pull.    Oh and avoiding the foolish workout the swim team kids were doing.  

300 W/U
4 x 50 swim w/ band

10 x 200 on 2:50, alternating 1. pull w/ paddles 2. pull

100 ez kick
10 x 50 on :45
100 CD

Supposedly a nice, easier swim at masters last night with 450 swim followed by 3 x 50 pull. 4 times through. Coach can be funny like that.

Wish I could help you Brian but I'm in the same boat with kicking.  I gave up a long time ago using a kickboard because it was too embarassing to kick up a storm and go nowhere.  If there is a trick to it I'd love to hear it.

If you are kicking and going nowhere (or backwards) you are likely kicking with your knees rather than from the hips.  While not on this issue specifically, I like this article by TJ Fry on a 2 beat kick, in particular the kicking the soccer ball analogy.

http://badig.com/2009/06/the-two-beat-kick/

I remember that article...good stuff. 

Another issue for many of us that didn't grow up swimming (and grew up running, instead) is that we have REALLY inflexible ankles.  When swimming properly, your toes should be pointed towards the wall opposite the way you're going, but for many of us we wind up having our toes point down.  Not only does it cause drag, but when you kick in that position you could definitely go backwards!  There are a bunch of exercises to help, but it takes a long time, especially for us older athletes.  Sitting on your feet (I think they call that the Japanese sitting position in yoga) helps.  You can also do ankle exercises, like pointing your toes and writing the alphabet.

Yeah, good stuff on kicking.  I did my first back to back sessions this year with n+1 today.  I should get in one more this week too so really happy about that.

Today I focused on my kick of course.  It is going to take a few sessions to break some bad habits but I think I have a better understanding of how I can improve.

3 x (300,200,100) 

1,800 yards 

Just going for "n" this week. Need to get sleep pattern back in order. The extra work isn't worth it if I can't recover from it.

That's good thinking, Ben.  We often push through our workouts when tired, deepening the fatigue hole, or worse, getting injured. 

I was curious about how I was kicking so I went back to this video session from last May.  This lady was great to work with.  She was a Div 1 coach for many years and helped me a lot.  We were taking one thing at a time and never got to kicking.  See anything with my kick that I could focus on?  If it asks for a password it's "Steve".

Thanks

http://vimeo.com/67145229

Pulled a workout from my "swim workouts in a binder" book last night

400 WU

100 each 25 faster
75 drill swim drill
25 fast
3x100 N/S
200 each 50 faster
2x100 N/S
2x200 each 50 faster
1x100 N/S
3x200 each 50 faster
50 drill
50 FAST
25 drill
25 FAST
250 CD

2800m

This workout is sneaky with those 200s.  2x200 followed by 3x200 looks so innocent, until you realize that's 1km worth of swimming!

Nice work,  lots of quality in there with all the negative splits and build 200s.

Honestly Steve, your kick isn't that bad.  Not something I would worry too much about.  You do have the inflexible ankles mentioned earlier but I don't think there is anything crazy about your kick that is hurting you.

If there was one thing I would suggest working on, it's your catch.  The post by Jonnyo a few weeks ago about the catch is perfect for you IMO.  Did you see that?

Thanks.  I had not seen that.  People are walking by my office wondering why I am doing this weird thing with my elbow.

I will give that a try in the pool.  I generally have a very hard time adapting to little things if they feel strange but I'll try.

Bunch of 150's at masters last night. Blocked together some faster and some not quite as fast send-offs, but each block was trending faster than the last. The base for the send-off was almost all 1:30/100 or faster. It's amazing how much an extra 5-10 seconds is appreciated after one of the faster ones.

Masters this morning:

25SCM, 2550 total:

purpose:  do what the coach says, try not to embarrass myself  :-)

800 choice WU (250FR, 300PU, 200BK, 50FR)
4 x 100 (50 drill/50 swim - catch-up x 2, 3/4 catch-up, fist) on 2:30ish
6 x 50 kick (this probably took 1/2 the session...)
6 x 100 (3 strokes back into free each length) on 2:30 ish
6 x 50 (deep dive on turn) on 1:30?
150 pull CD

We did a bunch of drill stuff today so the total yardage wasn't there for almost 90 minutes in  the pool.  Some of the drill stuff today was very specific to flip turns (which I don't do) so I worked on a quicker open turn.