Time to step it up (1/22/07 - 1/28/07)

MONDAY
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I ended up working later than planned which only left me about 40 minutes to swim. Mondays I coach so any sort of swimming or exercise I can fit in I count as a success.
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200/2x100/4x50 free
200/2x100/4x50 pull
200/2x100/4x50 back
200 easy
2000 yards total
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Boy am I feeling Vegas. I was beat tired in the pool. Nothing felt right, but I partied pretty big over the weekend and I'm not some young chickadee anymore. I think the key thing is that I swam 2000 instead of nothing at all.
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TUESDAY
-LCM
After last night's swim, I really wasn't feeling it but I just kept on telling myself, "this is where the tough ones distance themselves from the wimps". I forced myself to go to workout if only just to survive and keep me in good swim conditioning.
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700 w/u
4 X 100s (50 drill/50 swim)
2 X 100s kick
2 X 100s stretch out swimming
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Set#2
4 x 50s fly kick
1 x 100 pull free
4 x 50s (odd drill / even swim) fly
4 x 50s back kick
1 x 100 pull free
4 x 50s (odd drill / even swim) back
4 x 50s breast kick
1 x 100 pull free
4 x 50s (odd drill / even swim) breast
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Set #3
(6 x 100s):
75 free/25 fly
75 free/25 back
75 free/25 breast
(repeat)
200 cool down
total - 3800 meters
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The workout started pretty slow which I was ok with. Survival was my only plan for the night. No wimping out. Then Ken made me go first when started Set #2 and I started to get going. The workout wasn't too difficult but I made sure to work the kicking and 50s of stroke. Set #3 I finally seemed to get into my groove. Its funny how a 25 of a stroke can feel so good!! :-). I averaged about 1:23 for all of them regardless of strokes, which surprised me on my final one which had the breast leg. I think this was a good set for me to do since the rematch with Marc is in the 200 IM. I need to get my breast back to where it was 2 years ago and then I will feel pretty confident about the race. All in all, I am proud I went and even worked most of it.
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Wednesday
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BF night so I didn't do anything. I watched Little Miss Sunshine and made tacos. Cute movie and funny at the end. I hope Silverado opens soon because then I might start adding morning swim workouts to my schedule.
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THURSDAY
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Tonight I was really tired. I almost didn't go swim because I have been so tired lately.
700 w/u
4 X 150s - stretch out, breathe every 5
5 X 100s pull on 1:30, went 1:12s (1:02 yards)
Main set:
3 x 300s descend on 5:00
4 X 200s negative split 3:10
5 X 100s sprint with paddles and fins 2:00
200 cool down
Total - 4200 meters

The pull set I felt tight and fatigued, but 1:12s aren't too bad. That's about 1:02 yards. The main set though I really felt being weak. I have this problem when I work really hard that I get really flushed and drive heave. And sure enough after the 300 fast and last 100, I was throwing up. I'm not sure if I am under the weather but everyone around me is getting sick. My 300s were 4:17, 4:09, 4:00. That averages 1:26, 1:23, 1:20. The 4X200s weren't too good but I tried to negative split them. I took the 1st 100s out smooth and did my best. The 5X100s were both fun and painful. I did #1,2 and 3 on 1:08s which I was fine with. Then on #4, this guy Jeff flipped with me at the next lane at the 50 mark. Well I could see he wanted to race. My legs were hurting but I had to win!! LOL. I ended up going 1:05 and him 1:07. Then of course #5 he wanted to go at me again. I took the the first 50 out smooth without much kicking and then kicked like a mad man home to go a 1:03. That's about a 54 for yards. It hurt soo bad.
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FRIDAY
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I have been feeling a bit under the weather but I have decided that I need to swim Friday nights too. Drew has chosen to swim Friday as well, so it helps with the motivation to keep on going to it. Here is the set I did.

500 w/u
100 IM
200 free
300 IM
400 free
...............................
200 cool down
total 1700 meters
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During the 400 free, which I was taking at a medium pace, I started feeling more ill and thought it was best for me to call it quits for the night. Had I been feeling better, I would have continued the grueling set, going 500 IM, 500 free, 400 IM, 300 free, 200 IM, 100 free. I really enjoy this set when I am in better conditions. Instead I just swam a 200 easy and got out. I went home, took some Niquil and went right to bed.
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SATURDAY
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Oh what a night of rest did for me. I wasn't too sure about how the workout would go, but I figured I'd give it a shot.
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500 w/u
10 X 25s - drill down/build back
25 X 100s
5 X 100 free - 1:20 go 1:08 or 1:09
5 X 100 free - 1:20 go 1:06 (was supposed to be on 1:15 but no one else would have made them)
5 X 100 IM - 1:45 go 1:12
5 X100 pull - 1:20 go 1:04
5 X 100 free sprint - 3:00 go :58/:59
200 cool down
3,950 yards

I'm missing something here, because had I done a 250 warm down, it was supposed to be 4,000 yards. Anyway I will edit it when I remember. So for the main set, I was happy with how it went. The first 5 were solid warm ups. The second 5 I started to feel good as I was holding 1:06s. I was bummed it was really crowded as I was forced to edit the original set of these 5 being 1:15. But it was still good. The IMs were hurting, but I thought holding 1:12 were good (considering everyone else couldn't do that for free!). The pull I decided to use as recovery but I ended up feeling strong and putting in just a little more effort than planned. The the coach decided to edit the final 5 and have all lanes go together in groups. On all the frees I took the first 50 out strong and then applied my kick on the second 50. #1,2,3 where all either :58 or :59, with me even splitting them. On #4, I decided to do IM, but I was pooped. I ended up going a 1:06 with no legs. I think had I rested a second, not done 3 all out 100 frees right before, that I could muster out a 1:03 or better. That keeps me somewhat close to Marc :-). The final 100 I went back to free, but my legs were DEAD. I could only go a 1:01 as the previous 4 got me bad.

All in all, I'm happy with the workout.
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SUNDAY
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After yesterday's workout, I had far more motivation to swim than previous days. Here was the workout:

500 w/u
8 x 50s under/over
4 X 100 IM drill 15RI
12 X 75s IM on 1:15, cont stroke order (fly/back/breast then free/fly/back, etc)
100 EZ kick
4 X 125s kick, odd lengths fast
100 EZ swim
4 X 150s pull - hypo breathing on 2:15
16 X 25s hard - 4 of each stroke
200 cool down
total - 4000 yards

Not a bad workout. I felt tired in the beginning but gave it my all. The 75s IM were good for me as I ranged from :53 to :56 on all of them. My fly has felt good the past few days. The kick set was so so as I am never too motivated for a great kick set. The pull set I went on average under 1:40 and the last one was 1:36. None were too hard, just strong. The last 25s were fun as they were only 25s and all my strokes felt great. Great workout.

Running -

I have the Pacific Shoreline 1/2 Marathon in 1 week and I have been averaging 3 miles a week!! LOL. Actually more like 4 or 5 but still. Since its one week from today, I felt it was best for me to get out and run. Five miles felt like a good distance to go. To my surprise, I ran a lot faster than expected. I finished the 5 miles at exactly 50 minutes. I know in the beginning and end I was going in the high 9:40s and in the middle I ranged from 10 to 10:15. I am finally getting some good running songs in my ipod to keep me going. Between mile 3 1/2 and 4 1/2 I envisioned my victory over Marc aka "Aqua Jogger" in the 200 IM. I will not disclose the race strategy since I know he reads my blog daily and I will not provide him with ANY advantages.

I also ran with Drew's ForeRunner 201 and my new Apple Nike Plus gadget that we sew (sewed, sown, who knows), into the tongue of my shoe. I had used the Nike gadget a few times but it has always been off and I do trial runs to try and get it closer to the distance I am doing. I tried it again for mile #1 and I helped get it in sync with the Forerunner. But oddly enough by mile #2, the Apple Nike Plus was at 1 mile and Forerunner was at .91. In the end it appeared that for every mile I ran, Nike was 100 meters short. It may be I didn't run consistent, but I don't know. Maybe it would be best for me to run on a treadmill to get consistent timing. Or maybe I should do a trial run of 5 miles for a more spread out average. It doesn't look like I will have a chance before next Sunday though. All I need is to enter I am doing a 1/2 marathon and then have the computerized lady tell me I only have 400 meters to go and it really be 2 miles. She actually counts down every 100 meters from 400 meters, so that would drive me crazy!!

Morning workouts on Monday and Wednesday will begin in one week which will be good. I may do Mondays but Wednesdays are still up in the air.

My diet for the week was not as good as I planned. I'm still at 185 which is fine, but I haven't been the best sometimes. I will try for a better eating regime next week.



Week analysis - Started off sluggish but in the end I was really happy with my training results.