What?? A HALF MARATHON!?!? (1/29/07 - 2/4/07)

MONDAY

I coach tonight, so I just like to get my feet wet after work and before I coach. The goal is to do a minimum 2000 yards and for me, that's an official workout.

500 w/u
100 free
75 free / 25 fly
50 free / 50 fly
25 free / 75 fly
100 fly
100 free
75 free / 25 back
50 free / 50 back
25 free / 75 back
100 back
100 free
75 free / 25 breast
50 free / 50 breast
25 free / 75 breast
100 breast
200 cool down
total - 2,200 yards

The intervals for the 100s were on 1:30 except for the one before the 100 of stroke. Those I did on 2:00 to see how can I do it at about 90% effort. The 100 fly was 1:08, the 100 back was 1:08 and the 100 breast was 1:14 high. I was really surprised with the 100 breast time. Sometimes my breast is on, other times its off. Today it felt ok.

TUESDAY
LCM
I was tired when I got to workout so I had to play the motivation mind games to get me in the pool. It didn't help that it was raining on and off.

500 w/u
8 X 50s - drill down, build back
Main Set
300 swim 4:30
3 X 100s swim 1:30
2 X 50s kick recover
3 X 200 IM 3:45
3 X 200s pull 3:00
2 X 50s kick recover
3 X 100 IM 1:45
300 free
2oo cool down
Total 3700 meters

The main set was good but my free wasn't impressing me. I came in around 4:10 for the 300 which is 1:23 pacing. I really should be no slower than 4:00, so I will make sure to keep that going. The 3X100s free I did 1:18s which were better but I don't think I was warmed up yet. 1:18s are about a 1:07 yards so its a little better. The 200 IMs were solid as I came in just under 3:00 on all three of them. That converts to 2:34 yards. The key I had for those was really to make sure I never broke stroke on the fly. Without a wall at the 25 mark, its more difficult than in a yards pool. I didn't seem to have much of a problem, so with that I need to carry that thinking over to anything 100 meters or less. The 200s free were 2:40, as I was feeling the IMs and used them as a recovery. 100 IMs where 1:28 (around 1:15 yards), which is decent without having walls to transistion twice.

It was a hard workout and I am glad I did it. Times weren't that good but effort was.

THURSDAY
LCM (50 meter pool)-
Nice workout. Thursdays are always good with Dr. Tom coaching. Here was the workout:

500 w/u

8 X 50s - 1st 4 doggy paddle / 2nd 4 one arm

Main Set
R1 - 3 X 100s - 1:40
R2 - 3 X 100s - 1:35
R3 - 3 X 100s - 1:30
R4 - 3 X 100s - 1:25
R5 - 3 X 100s - 1:20

400 pull
200 cool down
Total - 3000 meters

I wanted to get our early so I only did 3,000 meters. The main set was tough. The first set of 3 I went 1:28s (nice and easy) R2 I applied a little bit more effort I went around 1:23s. R3 were 1:20s - 1:22. R4 everyone else decided to pull but I figured this would be my way of working even harder since they were taking the easy way out and pulling. R4 I went 1:18s - 1:20s. R5 was good. My first one I tried to use easy speed and focus on grabbing more water. 1:14. That's about a 1:03 high in yards. It felt great for no real effort. The second one I went 1:16 but it began to hurt, especially since these were on 1:20. The final one I struggled home with a 1:17. Being on such fast intervals I was pleased. In two months I would like to do this set again but be no slower than 14s or 15s.

FRIDAY

We were planning on swimming, but we hit traffic on our way to Huntington Beach to pick up our bib, chip, etc for the HB Pacific Shoreline 1/2 Marathon on Sunday. I have hardly been running so this should be an interesting run. But hey, I'm tough! I did 5 miles on Sunday that didn't seem to faze me, so I hope I can keep it going this coming Sunday. Needless to say, we didn't make it in time for swimming and have decided to just stay in, do laundry, clean, eat pizza and watch another episode of season 1 of 24. Jack Bauer told us we had to. And we do what he says.

SATURDAY

With the 1/2 marathon tomorrow, I didn't want to swim too hard or too far. Originally I was going to finish workout with a 100 IM from the blocks but as the workout went on I felt that it should wait until after the run tomorrow. I'd hate to do something stupid. Here's the workout:

500 w/u

Set 1
100 swim
100 IM drill
100 kick
100 IM swim

Set 2
25 fly kick :30
50 fly swim 1:00
25 fly sprint :30
50 back kick : 1:00
100 back swim 2:00
50 back sprint 1:00
75 breast kick 1:30
150 breast swim 3:00
75 breast sprint 1:30
100 fly kick 2:00
200 fly swim YIKES 4:00
100 fly sprint 2:00
The workout continued, but this is where I chose to cool down. (200 c/d)
Total : 2,100 yards

Strokes have been feeling good. I didn't really sprint any of the "sprints", and I more or less just did them strong: 25 ly I went a :14. 50 back I went a :32. 75 breast I went a :58. Then I wasn't expecting it, but there was a 200 fly swim. YIKES. I surprised myself as I have all week with solid butterfly. I ended up going a 2:32. What makes that good for me is that it was a solid swim for survival. Two years ago in a meet I could only muster a 2:31. Of course that was with no real fly training. But still in the middle of the workout and it being about 80%, I can't be more pleased. Yea for fly lately!! LOL.