Can You Run Out of Things to Improve On?

A bunch of Masters swimmers have asked me to coach an extra weekly practice, mostly focused on technique. In swimming, improving technique is where your biggest bang for the buck comes from, since simply grinding away at more weekly yards rarely gives much of a boost to swimming performance. In the process of discussing this weekly addition, one swimmer noted that we might run out of things to work on.

Is that possible? Can you run out of things to work on in swimming? I'm guessing that Missy Franklin and Michael Phelps haven't done so, and therefore neither should we. Swimming is a game of constant thought processes and incremental improvements that add up to big performance gains. At first, when swimmers are starting out with poor technique, each thing they change can make huge differences in their effort level and in their times. Later, as the stroke gets more refined, the changes become tinier and the gains smaller, but there are still gains to be had.

One of my Masters swimmers told me this week that his fastest 50m swim of all time came when he was concentrating on "laying his armpit on the water" - in other words, reaching full extension of his stroke. Sometimes one area of concentration can produce a leap in performance that can't be built through sheer yards alone.

So, all that being said, I've been swimming competitively for 28 years now and there are still new things that I'm working on each and every year. Right now in my stroke, I'm concentrating on a couple of areas:

1) Offside breathing - moving the head turn earlier in the stroke. I realized that I was turning my head too late when I breathed to my "off" side (as opposed to the good side I normally breathe to) and that's part of why I have a more difficult time breathing to the left. I'm working on getting my head to rotate earlier and return to neutral position earlier in the left armstroke recovery.

2) Head Down - This is my perpetual problem, especially as I enter a flip turn, I tend to pick my head up and slow my momentum. But I have remnants of head-up swimming at other times as well, and since it affects body position and I tend to sink, it's important to keep the head down.

3) Turns - I'm working on coming in closer to the wall on my flip turns. I had an epiphany the other day, which is that if I take an extra stroke, even if it's a short one, I get closer to the wall on the turn, have a tighter and faster turn. I used to glide into the wall on my last stroke, thus losing momentum.

These are just a few things that I drill on every week. If you're serious about improving your swim stroke, I recommend picking just a couple of things to work on. Google those problem areas and find drills and technique instruction to help you make the changes that you're looking for. And overall, never forget the concept of Kaizen - constant and never-ending improvement. It's how swimmers get faster, from the cream of the Olympic crop down to the triathletes and Masters swimmers who are just starting out.

Back to the Pool: Today's Workout

All good things must come to an end, and that includes open water lake swimming season. So it was with a heavy heart that I returned to the pool this week, and I needed a good workout to see me through it. This one goes by fast, and challenges you with lots of different speeds and times. So if you're in need of a little indoor lap swimming boost, try this workout on for size:

WARMUP/TECHNIQUE

300 Swim
6 x 50 Kick - focus on keeping your feet close together and touching your big toes together with each kick
6 x 50 Drill/Swim - touch toes every kick and feel your rhythm (also helps eliminate any scissor-kicking)


4 x 75 Build each (get faster each 25)
12 x 50 Drill/Swim in IM Order


MAIN SET
This set is continuous, no rest other than what is in the intervals. Go through all five rounds of the set without stopping. The 25s and 50s should increase in speed from a Distance Pace in the first round to All Out in the last.

5 X
(
2 x 25 @ :30
1 x 50 @ 1:10
1 x 100 - Distance Pace @ 1:30
1 x 200 Pull - Smooth @ 3:20
)

200 Cool Down

Total: 4000 yards

The Great Waldo Crossing of 2012

As open water swimming adventures go, it was top of the heap. Okay, maybe it wasn't quite as dramatic as last year's traverse of Crater Lake, but our group crossing of Waldo Lake last weekend, one of the clearest lakes in the world, was breathtaking from start to finish.

When we started swimming, the lake was so smooth it was like a blue mirror of the early morning sky above. Water temperatures around 60 made it pleasant, if slightly chilly near the shore, and only a few degrees colder out toward the middle. We started off with ten swimmers, plus our support crew of a kayak and paddleboard. Three of the swimmers planned to do a shorter out-and-back route, while seven of us had signed on to swim from North Waldo Campground to Shadow Bay in the south, two of the only three places on the lake's rim where a road comes into the lake. The rest of the lake is surrounded by forest and wilderness, a unique and beautiful place.

While I typically post a photo of us in wetsuits about to start swimming, I thought I'd prove that we are actually normal people who wear real clothing most of the time. Okay, we're mostly normal people who wear neoprene a lot of the time, but here we are in our warm clothes on the beach before the swim.

So this is where I say something about the water clarity at Waldo. It's simply stupendous. You can see a hundred feet or more, making it feel more like flying above a submerged topography than like swimming. As you can see, we weren't above taking a break to clown around under the water. When you're swimming with a group, you could literally look around and see the other swimmers next to you like they were hovering in thin air. I spent at least fifteen minutes of the swim tripping out on all of the swirls of light on the bottom beneath me, the prisms created by colliding waves. The soundtrack in my head played "Right here right now, there is no other place I want to be" on an endless loop.

At a couple of spots, we got out and sat on the beach to warm up. The silence at Waldo is pristine, and for a moment we sat without speaking, listening to nothing more than the slight sighs of the water against the rocks at the edge, looking out over the unspoiled beauty of the clouds reflected around us. Although some wind and chop picked up in the last mile or so of our 6.2 mile swim, most of it was calm and lovely and I felt strangely like it was over all too soon.

But of course, then came a big barbeque, potluck, campfire, and an evening of friendship and fun. Once again, I find myself one of the luckiest people on the planet, because I get to experience such beauty and share it with some amazing people.

Swim Workout: Thanksgiving Leftovers

What is so great about a Thanksgiving meal that you can't get on any other day? It's not the turkey or the pumpkin pie, or your grandma's red jello with colored marshmallows. You can have any of those any day of the week. It's the variety of food at the table, the sheer numbers of dishes. The different smells, flavors, textures, spices. And of course the company, whether family or friends.

Variety is not just the spice of life at the holiday table, but in the pool as well. All too many swimmers do endless variations of sets that look something like:

2 x 400
2 x (2 x 200)
2 x (4 x 100)

etc. etc. etc. Boring!

So I like to create or find ways to make my swim sets interesting for my Masters group. Often that means varying the length, timing, interval, stroke, or speed, throwing in drills or kicks or fun stuff like making them all get out of the pool to do pushups and situps. I got lucky this weekend because I got up late on Saturday morning realizing I hadn't done my research and written up a good workout for the gang. I say "lucky" because GoSwim.tv has an excellent bunch of swim workouts already written up and one of them was just what I was looking for. I added and changed a few things here and there, so this workout, like a good Thanksgiving dinner, has a little bit of everything. It went by fast, we were never bored, and it kept us on our toes. I called it "Thanksgiving Leftovers"

WARMUP:   1500

300 Swim, 200 Kick, 300 Drill/Swim by 50's, 300 Pull
 
16 X 25 with fins on :30, swum as 4 X the following:
     1 X 25 1Left/1Right/1 whole-stroke Fly
     1 X 25 1L/1R/2 whole-strokes Fly
     1 X 25 1L/1R/3 shole-stroke Fly
     1 X 25 dolphin kick on your back

MAIN SET: 2300

4 X 200 on approx. 25 seconds rest
#1 and #3 are pull; descend time on #3
#2 and #4 are 50 kick/50 swim/50 kick/50 swim; descend time on :34

8 X 25 on :30
Odd 25s:  Low Stroke Count Freestyle
Even 25s:  Low Stroke Count Breaststroke

12 X 50 on 1:00
Three rounds of:
2 X 50 backstroke
2 X 50 Freestyle

8 x Two-turn 50s:
Start in middle of pool, swim toward one wall and do a good flip. Sprint the next 25, do another good flip turn, glide back to middle of pool.

75 easy
75 FAST
75 easy
75 FASTER


WARMDOWN:  200
4 X 50 pull on easy sendoff

TOTAL:  4000 yards

Countdown to Ironman, Week 37: Training Buddies and Getting Psyched

What triathlete doesn't feel their blood stir while watching the Kona IM Championships? Even total couch potatoes have been known to rise up like Lazarus swearing "I will do that!" and for some, the Iron Fever is strong enough that they do, transforming their life in the process. For me this year, it's all part of the building excitement of my own coming Ironman. Although I do go through entire days where I don't think about the Ironman (not many, mind you), once you sign up for one it's never far from the front of your mind.

This weekend I got to watch the start of the Kona race down at our local triathlon store, The Multisport Advantage. Just the fact that a town our size (130,000 people) even HAS a triathlon store is a real blessing. But this one has some very cool stuff, including a Computrainer MultiRider setup with eight bikes all connected to one Computrainer screen. While they were having some technical difficulties with the computer on Saturday, I still got a taste of how fun it would be to train all winter with that kind of triathlete fellowship and fun. I already knew several of the folks there from training and racing here, and I think that would be the perfect antidote for trying to train in our cold and rainy winter weather. This photo is from their website so you can see their cool setup:

I'll definitely be hauling my bike down there as often as I can to get in some indoor miles without the typical drudgery of the trainer in my basement. They even have the Ironman Coeur d'Alene course so I can see exactly how much torture I'll be in for ahead of time (and hopefully be adequately prepared).

In other news, my swimming is starting to come back. While even a few weeks ago I found it hard to turn a 100 yards in less than 1:35, we did some sets on Saturday of descending 100's in groups of four, and I posted 1:28, 1:23, 1:20, 1:17 as my splits for each descending set. And that was leaving a full five seconds after my lane mate (even though he has the best draft in the pool, so it's mighty tempting to hug his toes). Toward the end of the workout, my left arm started fatiguing out, especially on the pull sets, but all in all it is holding up better and better each time. There are some days now when I forget it's not fully recovered yet in terms of strength, and those days should get more numerous over the winter, leaving me back to full force by spring.

Bored In the Pool? Try These Workouts

I have to admit it: I'm allergic to being bored in the pool. Every summer after coming in from fabulous months of swimming in blue lakes under an open sky, I look at that 25 yard length of enclosed water and shudder. So I have to get really creative with my fall swim workouts so that I don't go absolutely bat-shit crazy in my first month or two swimming indoors.

Here's a couple of my recent Masters Workouts to get you back into the swing of indoor swimming. Both of these will kick your butt if you do them right (go HARD when it says Hard, go DISTANCE PACE instead of Easy when it says Distance Pace):

WORKOUT #1:

WARMUP:
300 Swim
100 Kick Fly, 100 Pull
100 Kick Back, 100 Pull
100 Kick Breaststroke, 100 Pull
100 Kick Flutter, 100 Pull

MAIN SET:

4 x 225 @ 3:30:      Odds: Straight @ Distance Pace
                               Evens: Break at 150 for 10 seconds, go hard on the final 75

6 x 125 @ 2:00       Odds: Straight @ Distance Pace
                                Evens: Break at 75 for 10 seconds, go hard on final 50

8 x 75 @ 1:15         Odds: Straight @ Distance Pace
                                Evens: Break at 50 for 5 seconds, go hard on final 25

200 Pull
100 EZ

TOTAL: 4150 Yards


WORKOUT #2:

WARMUP:
300 Swim
300 Drill/Swim/Kick by 25s
200 Pull
200 Drill/Swim/Kick by 25s

MAIN SET:

3 x ( 4 x 100:  
        #1:  25 Fast/75 Distance Pace (DP) rest :30
        #2:  50 Fast/50 DP r. :30
        #3: 75 Fast/ 25 DP r. :30
        #4: 100 Fast, r. :60
      )

3 x ( 3 x 100:
        #1: 25 Fly, 50 Free, 25 Back r. :30
        #2: 25 Back, 50 Free, 25 Breast r. :30
        #3: 25 Breast, 50 Free, 25 Fly, r. :60
       )

3 x ( 2 x 100:
       #1: 25 Kick Hard, 50 Distance Pace, 25 Kick hard on back, r. :30
       #2: Build 0by 25s to ALL OUT r. :60
      )

3 x 100: #1 SLOW, #2: MEDIUM, #3: FAST  @ 2:00

200 EZ

4200 Yards

Are We There Yet? Another Killer Distance Workout

In preparation for our long distance swims this summer, we've had some doozies of workouts lately. Here's the one I wrote up for Saturday. Previous to this, I don't think I've swum over 5,000 yards in, well, many many years, except for our annual New Year's "Year in Fifties" Swim. But this workout was 5700 yards, and let me tell you I ate about half a chicken, a bag of salad, and 3 bananas when I got home and I was still hungry as a horse.

Warmup:

2 x (100 each: Swim, Kick, Drill, Pull)
4 x 75: build each (each 25 faster within the 75)

===============
2 X:
(
900, rotate lane leader every 75 (we had five people in our lane, so this gave each of us a small drafting break)
600, alternate by 50's swimming with fists closed, and swimming with hands open
400 Pull
200 Fast
50 EZ
)

200 Cool Down

What You Can Learn About Swimming (and Biking and Running) From This Accountant

Meet Warren. Meet Warren's pace clock. Well, he doesn't actually own the clock, but he's very attached to it. We have to pry it out of his hands at the end of every Master's swim practice and tell him he can't take it home to put beneath his pillow at night. The story of a man and his clock gives us insight into how we might become better at endurance sports...

You see Warren is an accountant, of the very-best-in-town variety. And he doesn't just use his acumen with numbers in his working life, he brings it to the pool with him too. One of Warren's best attributes (besides his speedy pace and terrific draft) is that he is an absolute wizard at pace management. Pacing is one of the skills that many athletes simply struggle with. It takes experience, self-awareness, and concentration to learn good pacing, but like any other skill it can be improved with time. Unfortunately, as any triathlon swim start will show (or the end of the Ironman marathon), many triathletes could take a few lessons in pacing from Warren here.

Our Master's group is preparing for an epic 5+ mile swim of Crater Lake this summer, so we're really starting to ramp up some challenging distance workouts these days. This week's set was no exception. We did a set of ten repeats of:

300 yards at an aerobic (long distance) pace
Exactly 5 seconds rest
50 yards at just past the Anaerobic Threshold
Exactly 10 seconds rest

This set is 3500 yards long, so it's imperative that you start with a pace that can be maintained with good form throughout. Our lane decided we could hold a 4:15 for the 300's (1:25 pace per 100) and a :40 pace for the 50's. Over all of those laps, all of those 100's, Warren's feet hit the wall right on the 1:25 for each and every one.

How did he do it? What does it take to be able to say "I'm going to go out at XXX pace." and actually do it? Here's a few pointers from the master. Though they are swimming-specific, they can be applied to any sport. As it turns out, Warren is also an endurance cyclist who will be riding the dreaded RAMROD this year (which supposedly stands for Ride Around Mount Rainier in One Day, but which most cyclists translate as Ride Around Mount Rainier Or Die), a grueling 152 mile event with 10,000+ feet of climbing. So pacing is as critical in that event as well, and anyone who aspires to long-distance cycling, running, swimming, or multi-sport events could take notes:

1. Self-Control:  If you need to go out at a slower pace than you're used to, you have to get in the right mindset. Don't let your ego get in the way. We might've been able to get away with a 4:00 pace for those first few 300's, but then it would've eaten away at us and the last few would've felt like death. This way we felt strong throughout. It's hard to go out slow and feel like you've got a lot of throttle left. It takes self-control. Many a marathon runner or Ironman athlete has lived to rue their early pacing decisions, so this is a good lesson to learn.

2. Experience: The way to be able to pace effectively is to know your paces in the first place. Learn to love your clock (or watch). In the pool, you can check it briefly just before you turn at the end of each 50. If you run, spend some time at the track or use MapMyRun.com to map out some mile markers on your regular routes. Bike computers and heart rate monitors can give you some great info too. You don't have to become a Clock Slave, but using it judiciously brings more knowledge. The more knowledge you have about your paces and how each of them feels, the easier it is to set out at just the right speed.

3. Constant Vigilance: If you find yourself off of your pace, adjust immediately. Because I was conveniently drafting behind him, I knew what Warren was doing. Each 300 was divided mentally for him into 100s, and he knew he was aiming for 1:25 with each 100. He was checking the clock at our 50 splits, and the second 50 of each 100 was adjusted. If he found himself a second fast on the first 50, our second one was slightly slower. If he was a second or two too slow, I saw the afterburners come on and his kick picked up as we dropped that second or two from our second 50.  This kind of rigorous attention to pacing helps you learn to keep on top of it. Then in the heat of a race, you can make sure you're going out at the speed you want to return in.

4. Negative Split: Have enough in the tank that the last half of your workout (or event) is faster than your first half. You can only do this if you follow steps 1 - 3 above. Too many athletes leave a string of crash-and-burn results behind them as they fail to pace effectively.

If you take the time to learn to pace effectively, you too could be smiling as casually as Warren here after swimming 5500 yards!

In case you're interested, here was our "Finisher 550", the set we swam at above threshold (fast but not all out) pace AFTER swimming the above 3500 main set:

25 on :30
50 on :60
75 on 1:30
50 on :60
50 on :60
75 on 1:30
25 on :30
25 on :30
50 on :60
25 on :30
50 on :60
25 on :30
25 on :30

Triathlon Swimmer's Dream Set

What's better than looking at one of the Seven Wonders of the Natural World? Why swimming across it, of course! A group of my Master's swimmers are planning a five mile swimming odyssey from Wizard Island (that thing that looks like a wizard's hat in the middle of the lake). So, to get us ready for this Herculean aquatic task, I'm preparing a series of distance workouts that would test any swimmers' mettle. Coincidentally, these sets are all great for triathletes as well, especially those with an Ironman in their future. Here's the set of the day, my all-time favorite distance set.

WARMUP:

200 Swim
10 x 50 : 25 Drill (Superman Catch-up)/25 Swim concentrating on arm entry in front of shoulders (no crossing over midline)
300 Kick
4 x 75 Powerup (Get faster in each by 25s)

MAIN SET:

3 x    (   500
             50 EZ
          )  @ 8:30 interval . Descend the 500s (each one faster by 10 seconds)

Rest 60 seconds


3 x    (   500
             50 EZ
          )  @ 8:30 interval . Descend the 500s (each one faster by 10 seconds)
Make this second set of 500's faster than the first

100 Cool Down

4600 Yards

My lane really cranked on these, doing them in about 6:49, 6:42, and 6:33 for the 500s. In the lane next door, our resident All-American Master's swimmer Chris, who happens to be 70 years old this year, turned in a smoldering 6:23 for the fastest 500!! I hope if I keep swimming until I'm his age, I can do that.

First Ever Women's Relay, and The Best Inspiration Yet!

When I first started swimming with the Masters at our pool, I was the only woman there. Day after day, year after year, it was just me and the guys. Now don't get me wrong, I swim with a really fun group of guys. The best, really. But something was missing.

As a coach, one of the things I most hoped for was to increase the number of women in our program. And in the past few years, our women's participation has picked up steadily until now our lanes are a good mixed bag of guys and gals. But still, many women don't come to the meets - some are triathletes, many have young children, some may be intimidated by competing when they're just starting in Masters swimming. So this year, we finally had enough women at the meet to field a women's relay team, and I can't tell you how exciting that was!

Here we are, ready to swim the Medley Relay and the next day the 200 Freestyle Relay (we went under 2:00!), we had such a good time. What an awesome and strong group of ladies to swim with.

Luckily, the last day of the meet went much more smoothly overall. I avoided chocolate milkshakes altogether, and I turned in some times that I was much happier with. A 6:33 for the 500 was 11 seconds faster than last year's time. That's more like it!

But although the fun of the weekend meet was drawing to an end, the inspiration was far from over. To anyone out there sitting on your couch and thinking you can't do something like this, let me introduce you to the 89 year old lady who swam the 100 IM (that's butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, and crawl stroke). Check this out!

In order to not DQ (disqualify) yourself, you have to swim these strokes according to a strict set of guidelines, and this lady can do it. Wow, if that doesn't  inspire you to do your very best at everything, I don't know what will. All I can say, is I hope I'm doing this when I'm 89.

A Bad Waitress, An Ill-Timed Milkshake, and the Worst Race I've Ever Had

The Ignisecond: The moment you know you're doing something really really stupid, but it's too late to stop it.

You can tell I wasn't much of a partier in college when I tell you that Saturday's 1000 yard event was the worst thing I've ever done to my body. Unlike other swim teamers in college, I never showed up for a meet (or even a practice) hung over. So I've never really felt like puking in the middle of a lane before. Now I know better.

It all started off at Saturday's meet, when the team decided to go out for lunch. We had been swimming events all morning and were starving. Only three of us were swimming the 1000, and we were in heat five. Since the early heats tend to take 20 - 30 minutes, we would have at least an hour and a half for lunch, right? We went to a place close by and advised the waitress that we were in a hurry, and would need to get some quick food. I ordered a baked potato and a chocolate shake. The baked potatoes are already made up, they just pop them in a warmer. This should take five minutes. One would think.

Half an hour later, still no food had arrived. I had to go and badger the waitress. Still nothing. Finally at 47 minutes into our break, we get some food. Did I mention we were starving? At this point, I'm wondering should I eat or not. But I was so darned hungry and the food was right in front of me, and.... I hate half a small baked potato and drank the shake, figuring at least that would digest quickly. We high-tailed it back to the meet....

....only to arrive as they were ringing the bell for the last lap of the heat before ours. We literally skivved out of our warmups, hurried over to the starting blocks and they blew the whistle for us to get on the blocks. I had an internal debate on the way to the lanes as to whether I should stop and make myself throw up into the garbage can. But I didn't. So there was my Ignisecond. Standing there on the blocks, I knew I should just get down and scratch the whole event. But my team was in a close race for 3rd place, and I knew if I swam well I'd probably get second place, which is worth a lot of points. So I took the blocks and waited for the buzzer. Beeep, and we're in the water and swimming.

Stroke...don't throw up...stroke....don't visualize a chocolate milkshake...stroke....don't throw up...turn. One lap down. Stroke...don't throw up....stroke.... oh God, how many more laps to go?....stroke...don't throw up... turn. That was what it was like for 1,000 yards.  I tried to go as fast as I could, yet knowing that if I really pressed close to the anaerobic edge, I'd lose it.

You will be happy to hear I did not hurl in the pool, thus making the entire swim meet have to vacate the lanes for chunk skimming. And I did complete the race. That's something, I guess. 2 seconds slower than last year. Should've been way faster, based on my 1650 time from Friday night. Still, good enough for second place. The woman who took 3rd place was hot on my heels, only 10 seconds behind me. That's a quarter of a second per length of the pool, or 1 second per 100. I couldn't have swum any slower and held onto 2nd. So I did my job after all. But I never ever ever want to do that again. And I don't think I'll ever look at a chocolate milkshake for the rest of my life.

The Ultimate Motivation

Why do I go to Master's Swim Meets? Is it to swim? Well, heck yeah. And hang out with my buddies from the Aquaducks? Yeah to that too. But really, a Master's Swim Meet is the ultimate motivation. I mean, if you have even the teensiest tiniest doubt in your mind that being an athlete makes a lifelong difference, you just show up at one of these meets and see some octogenarian swimmer belting out a 400 IM (that's butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, and freestyle for those of you playing at home), and how can you help but be motivated by that?

Today in the shower after swimming the 1650, I was talking with a lady who had just finished her heat of the same race. I asked her how it went and she said she was very happy that she swam it faster than last year. Not bad, considering she's in her late seventies. But then here's the kicker. This year she had cancer, and a mastectomy, radiation, reconstructive surgery, physical therapy. You get the picture. And then she comes back and swims a 1650 faster than last year. That's pretty impressive in my book. Move over, Lance Armstrong. Do I want to be like that at 77 years old? You bet I do!

A great start to a fun weekend of swimming. And my 1650 (or the "swimmer's mile")? 22:45. That's 18 seconds faster than last year. Oh yeah.

Off To The State Swim Meet

I'll be in Portland for the weekend with our Master's team for the State Association Championships. If you're swimming Masters here, come find me (in my Aquaduck Sweatshirt and cap) and say hi!

My times from last year that I want to beat (all short course yards - 25 yard pool):

1650 Free: 23:03
1000 Free: 13:47
500 Free: 6:44
50 Free: 30:81
100 Free: 1:10

I'll swim the 1650 tonight, then a mix of events tomorrow and Sunday. I'm also swimming the 50 Fly, and a bunch of relays. I wanted to do the 100 Fly, but just haven't been swimming enough at all. Due to all the karate in the last couple of months, I've been lucky to get in the pool once a week, sometimes twice. So I hope that I can even meet my times from last year, especially in the long events. The short events should be better since I think my strength is good right now.

Girrrl Power and Triathlete's Dream Set

For the first time ever, we had more women than men at the morning Master's swim practice this a.m. So awesome! For many many years I was the only woman in the pool with the Master's, and while I adore all the guys I swim with, I have to admit it's really cool to have some girrrl power in the pool! Some of these ladies are smokin' strong too, and with any luck we'll be able to field a great relay team at the Association Championship meet in April.

Today's workout was a toughie, designed to get people ready to swim long with a strong pace, this is a great set for triathletes or open water swimmers, as well as people aiming to swim the 500, 1000, or 1650 in a meet.


Warmup:

200 each: Swim, Kick, Drill, Pull
4 x 75 Build Each

Main Set:
5 X 500  + 100 EZ 
Before each 500, do 10 pushups on deck then get a hard start and really push the first 25.  After the first 25, settle into a sustainable, aerobic pace.
#1:  Swim
#2:  Pull buoy.  Breathe every 3 the whole way 
#3:  Swim, faster than #1
#4:  Pull buoy.  Same breathing pattern as #2.
#5:  Swim, aim for fastest split of the day


100 EZ

4200 yards

Help! My Alarm Clock Is Killing Me!

Why do the Master's Swimmers look so shocked every time I show up for the 5:15 am workout? They get a good laugh in at my expense because I am SO NOT a morning person and it shows. I only fill in for this crazy time slot, I don't do it full time and now I know why. On my second week now of being a slave to my alarm clock, I'm getting nothing else done.

You see, night time is when I actually make things happen. The kids are asleep, or at least in bed. My early-to-bed-early-to-rise hubby has wound down for the night, and the house is all mine. ALL MINE. I get to type random stuff here on my blog, I get to catch up my 80,000 emails, I get to see a few friends online, read some stuff, fill my brain. Then around midnight or so the old grey matter winds down, I stagger off to bed and wake up at the very reasonable hour of 7:30 or 8:00. Without the alarm clock.

Sigh. I'm turning off my computer now. I'm setting the alarm for 4:30. At least I've got a good swim workout to get revenge on anyone laughing at me on the pool deck in the early morning hours. I'll post it tomorrow... if I'm not asleep that is.

Kill Yourself in the Pool: Swim An Entire Swim Meet

I gave them fair warning. I threatened to do this last year. Half of our Master's team went off to a swim meet in Portland this weekend. The rest of the swimmers who showed up for practice today were met with quite a workout!

Here's what I came up with: We're going to swim the entire siwm meet. Every event, in order. Lots of groans. Especially when they realized the last event is the 1000 Free. Oh yeah, and there's a 400 IM in there, and a 200 Fly, and a 500 Free. Oh yeah.

Today's workout: "The Swim Meet":

Warmup: 150 Swim, 150 Kick, 150 Pull

500 Y     Free
100 Y     Back
200 Y     Fly
50 Y     Breast
100 Y     Free
200 Y     Breast
50 Y     Fly
400 Y     IM
100 Y     Breast
200 Y     Free
50 Y     Back
200 Y     IM
100 Y     Fly
200 Y     Back
50 Y     Free
100 Y     IM
1000 Y     Free

Swim Pacing and Sprint Faster: Saturday Swim Workouts

I didn't post last week's Saturday Master's workout so today you get a "two for one" deal and I'll post this weeks as well.

Since we're entering swim meet season for the Master's, you'll notice that I'm working on some very specific stuff in these workouts, namely pacing, starts, turns, and sprinting. Let's start with pacing. Do you know your paces for different speeds? Can you accurately set out to swim a specific pace and nail it within a second or two? A lot of swimmers could use more work on pacing, especially if they want to swim a distance event (whether in a swim meet or a triathlon). There's nothing worse than setting out at too fast a pace for a Looooongggg swim and feeling dead by halfway through. So this first workout puts some very specific work on knowing your exact paces down to the second.

In the main set, you will pick your absolute fastest pace for the given distance, then calculate out your paces from that. For instance, the 9 x 50. If your fastest 50 was going to be 35 seconds, and you have nine 50s at one second increments, that means your 50's will be at 44, 43, 42, 41, 40, 39, 38, 37, 36, & 35 seconds. For the 75's, if your fastest is a :58 and you have seven of them at 2 second increments, your 75's will be at 1:10, 1:08, 1:06, 1:04, 1:02, 1:00, and :58. The first ones will feel VERY slow. The later ones will feel very fast!

WORKOUT #1: Know Your Paces

Warmup:
2 x

(200 Swim
4 x 75--> 50 Drill/25 Kick)

4 x 75 Swim: Build Each

=========
Main Set:
9 x 50--> Descend in 1 second increments, rest :10
7 x 75--> Descend in 2 second increments, rest 10
5 x 100--> Descend in 3 second increments, rest 10
3 x 125--> Descend in 4 second increments, rest 10
1 x 150--> ALL OUT

Rest 1:00 in between each set
=========

200 Pull
5 x 50 --> Work starts and turns
5 x 50 ALL OUT @ 1:00
200 EZ

WORKOUT #2: Sprint Fast, Now Sprint Faster

This workout concentrates on getting some yards in the different strokes. At the end, just when you're good and tired, you get a killer sprint set that will knock your socks off.

Warmup:
200 Swim
4 x 50 with good long underwater dolphin kick off the wall
4 x 75 IM kick (dolphin, back, breast by 25s)

200 Swim
4 x 50 backstroke with good long underwater dolphin kick off the wall
300 Pull
============
Main Set:
4 x

(50 Fly @ 1:00
100 Free Smooth and steady @ 1:45)

 4x

 (50 Backstroke @ 1:00
100 Free Smooth and steady @ 1:45)

4x

(50 Breaststroke @ 1:00
100 Free Smooth and steady @ 1:45)

Now:

ALL HARD:

25 rest :30
25 r. 10 + 50 r. 45
25 r. 10 + 50 r. 10 + 75  r. 60
25 r. 10 + 50 r. 10 + 75 r. 10 + 100

WOW!

4 x 50 Starts and Turns
200 EZ

Saturday Swim Workout: The AMRAP

I learned of the term AMRAP in the Crossfit gym, perhaps it originates there, or maybe it predates Crossfit. In any case, it's a very useful tool to have in your arsenal. AMRAP stands for "As Many Rounds As Possible" and a typical AMRAP workout has a time period (20 minutes or 30 minutes) and a list of exercises (with the number of reps of each) that makes up one round. One great thing about the AMRAP is that you know how long you're doing it for. Usually not more than 30 minutes, so you know you have a defined ending point. Another great thing is that AMRAPS are very trackable and measurable. If you did 15 rounds this time, and 18 rounds in three months with the same AMRAP workout, you know you're faster, stronger, etc.

If you know me, you know I'm all about things that are measurable and trackable. I like know if what I'm doing is making an improvement in my fitness. And if I'm coaching someone, I want to know if I'm helping them to get better. So the AMRAP is a perfect tool. Plus, they make you push yourself hard, and that's usually a good thing.

So today's Master's Swim workout was an AMRAP. And just for kicks and grins, I made my swimmers get out of the water and do pushups in every round. A lot of our team is going to be training for some long swims this year, including a 10k competition. The pushups in this workout help simulate the type of arm fatigue that you feel in very long distance swims. I was pleased to note that a lot more of the swimmers could do decent pushups than the last time I inflicted something like this on them!

Here's the workout:

DRILL: One-arm crawl. Emphasis on keeping the non-stroking arm straight and steady, turning head to breathe instead of picking it up, and hand entry on the stroking arm.

Warm Up
4 x 75 D/S/D (that's 25 Drill, 25 swim, 25 Drill)
100 Slow Corkscrew – concentrate on Body Position
4 x 75 IM Order Drills
100 Corkscrew
4 x 75 S/D/S

Starts and Turns

10 x 50: Start Hard, good push off the wall, underwater dolphin, Good turn, cruise back

30 Minute AMRAP:

Swim 100
Pull 75
Kick 50
Pushups on deck: 5


Cool Down

EZ 100

6 x 50 Starts and Turns

EZ 100


Total Yardage:  2100 + AMRAP (8 rounds would be 1800 for a total of 3900 yards)

How Karate Made Me Swim Faster

Due to our crazy family schedule, plus all the karate and kickboxing I'm doing lately, I've only gotten into the pool once a week (and not even that in the last few weeks). So how is it that I'm getting faster? How is it that I just made a move up to our fastest Master's lane? How could I be coming in on 2:30 for the 200's and not even feeling like I was pushed to the limit?

It's very simple: skills transfer. The skill of swimming fast largely depends on being able to fire your core muscles in a carefully choreographed series in order to propel your arm outwards from your body and into the glide. Then you need to use the core muscles in your back to haul your arm back toward you, carrying all of that water with it. These are the same muscles and almost the same sequence it takes to throw a really good punch.

You throw a punch from your hips, not from your biceps. Likewise, you swim from your hips, not on the strength of your arm muscles. People who say "I did a hard swim workout today, my arms are really sore" are missing the larger part of the swimming stroke. All of that punching I've been doing has made my stroke stronger, because I'm learning how to fire my core muscles harder, faster, and longer. Likewise, all of the conditioning I've been doing to make my karate better has helped not only my punching and kicking but my swimming.

So you want to swim faster? Go punch a bag! Learn how to throw and retract a hard punch, and see how much that tranfers to your stroke. Not only that, I guarantee that it's terrific stress relief!

Think Running a 10k is Hard? Try Swimming One!

Brutal. Challenging. These are words that describe how world-class athletes train. Fran Crippen was one of the best in the world, and what he excelled at was swimming distances that would turn most of us into a quivering pile of mush.Think about 10k. Think about swimming 10k. Kind of frightening, isn't it? But he excelled at it. Unfortunately, in a tragic event in a 10k race in water that was warm enough to cause competitors to suffer heat-related issues, Fran Crippen died last month. But he left a legacy of videos, interviews, and workouts that challenge any swimmer to aim for excellence in the sport.

Since my Master's swimmers are taking on the challenge of a five-mile swim across part of Crater Lake this summer, I'm starting to challenge them with distance sets and workouts that are increasingly difficult. This Saturday's workout has to stand as one of the hardest we've ever done, and I found myself in the pool once again wondering why the heck I would write something so hellish on our workout board! When it was done, just about every muscle in my body was fibrillating and twitching. So this is one to use if you really want to challenge yourself. Instead of drafting behind each other, we swam side by side in the lanes to push each other to go our hardest.

This workout is a variation on the Fran Crippen workout recently posted on GoSwim.tv:

Warm Up

4 x 75: 50 Drill, 25 Swim
200 Swim
4 x 75: 50 Drill, 25 Swim
200 Pull
4 x 100 Kick IM Order
50 EZ

Main Set
#1: 

All at anaerobic threshold +  (we swam these at a near-sprint):

25 on :30
50 on :60
75 on 1:30
50 on :60
50 on :60
75 on 1:30
25 on :30
25 on :30
50 on :60
25 on :30
50 on :60
25 on :30
25 on :30
 


50 EZ

Set #2:


4 x
(300 @ aerobic (distance) pace
rest 5 seconds
50 @ anaerobic threshold+
rest 10 seconds
)

50 EZ

Repeat Set #1 at nearly all-out (if anything, we went harder the second time through)

25 on :30
50 on :60
75 on 1:30
50 on :60
50 on :60
75 on 1:30
25 on :30
25 on :30
50 on :60
25 on :30
50 on :60
25 on :30
25 on :30

150 EZ

Total Yardage: 4350

The Ironmom Extra Mile:  Here's a great article from distance swimmer Terry Laughlin with tips and experienced advice on how to become a better distance swimmer.