I got some good stretch chords workouts that I will post shortly.

But first question. I never understood the point of the Vasa Swim trainer, the Vasa Erg, stretch chords, all being done face down towards the floor. It makes no sense because these are generally uncomfortable positions on your stomach or hunched forward.

So I did a test, lying on my back on an exercise ball with the chords anchored to a door or my chinup bar. This was waaaaaay better and lying on an exercise ball, you also get to work your core for the short axis strokes (fly and breast) and give you core a break on the long axis (free and back). You can get a bit of rotation in for the long axis strokes too.

These are all valid points dev. Well said.

Got in today but per our convo dev I took all day sunday completely off and skipped my strength routine today. Trying to get some good recovery in me to see if I can get rid of this heart rate issue. (the one where it just doesn't recovery as quickly as it did pre vax)

Anyways, 105mile solo ride on sat was enough and nearly 7k of climbing. 5hr 30min. I needed a couple down days. The run this am tho, while easy, felt really heavy in my chest and kind of awful to be honest.

Anyways SWIM... thats why we are here.

Our SPEED SESH got moved to tuesday this week so it is tomorrow morning. No crazy long monday swim for me this week.

Today was 3k total as:
1000 easy 200swin 50Kick
10 x 100 on 1:20 holding 1:10s (If I stayed focused it would be an 8or9 and if I didnt focus it would be an 11 or 12)
750 as 200swim 50 scull
4 x 50 alactate work
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Tomorrows awfulness is the same as last week.

2 x 50 on 1:30 as fast as possible
1x 25 on :45 as fast as possible
2 x 50 on 1:30 as fast as possible
1 x 25 on :45 AFAP
100 max
300 easy

doing 3 rounds and will finish with 6 x 25 max sprint kick on 50
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daved

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http://www.theundergroundcoach.com

Swam at the lake Sunday AM. Water about 63-64 and I used the wetsuit so it was quite comfortable. Forgot my cap And watch.. There was a cove with a swim beach and a buoy line I used that as my guide to start. Zig zagged across the cove a few time and I was done. Later I used google earth to measure my swim and it only was about 1800yds. It was a little shorter than I wanted but it was enough to get the heart rate up and keep my feel for the water. It’s about 1.3 miles across the lake where I swam and I’m going to get my friend to bring his SUP next time and be my guide on a lake crossing so about 2.6 mile total swim

BRISK BABY... Phew, my buddy who I swim with does a ton of OWS and he is looking to hit Walden this weekend. I know folks have already gone in Walden but, you wont find me there.

So quick recap of todays speed sesh as we had to move it to tuesday bc Eric has something thrusday....

(see previous post for the set)

my 50s today were on fire!! I was within a stroke or two of eric all day on these. Solid to low 26s for most of them and a couple 27s and yes a 28 on the last set as it was really adding up

Speaking of adding up, the fatigue with this set is beyond. My buddy managed to bang out 54s on his 3 x 100s at the end of the sets but he was not feeling great about them and how ridic hard it was. I was the same, it was just a massive struggle from the 50yard mark on. I manage a 59 and 100 and my final didnt fall apart like last week and I held on for a 101 (might be 100 if I give myself a coaches watch but I dont like that).

The 25s were always FULL ON. Eric just has another gear there and I was 11s and 12s. I was actually closer to him on the 50s than I was the 25s.

Lastly we ended with our 25s max kick w board. I was actually able to do better on these than before. I was still being crushed but I was finding more foot speed. Those are so hard.

So, thankfully now I am on the downward slide into my event so we will still do some speed work sets but it will be shorter and more rest. I am hoping to get those 100s down, way down over the next couple weeks. Still figuring out the set tho. It may look something like this:

2 x 100 on 3min
1 x 50
300 easy
doing 3 rounds next week and only 2 on race week.

Ok all for now. Thanks for following along. Monty, got the box!!

daved

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http://www.theundergroundcoach.com

Distance Tuesday

W/U
4 x150 Ez, kick/drill, drill/swim. swim

Main Set
20x200

1 Smooth 3:00 5 descend 3:00
1 Smooth 3:00 4 descend 2:55
1 Smooth 3:00 3 strong 2:50
1 Smooth 3:00 2 fast. 2:45
1 Smooth 3:00 1 all out

20 x 25 :30. Im/free order. smooth

Come on Fishman, spill some times!! At least if you do an all out 200, inquiring minds want to know. Only half of this thread is about your sets and mileage, the other half is all about the bling!!! Give Dave and Adrian something to shoot for, the rest of us can just remember how it was in the old days..

Had a bad headache today, have been wondering for a week if I'm having delayed symptoms from my 2nd shot. Hadn't heard anything about that, so probably just some low level bug that snuck through the masks and social distancing. So just went through the motions today to keep my feel;

10x100, 5s@1;40(1;28 to 1;22) 5 IM kick@2;05(1;57 to 1;52)
1000p@13;30 descend by 200(12;46--6;26/6;20) 100IM kick easy
14x50@1;00, odds buoy/ evens back easy, focus on catch and pull
2900SCY in 50 minutes

HAHA yes, please keep the motivation coming for SPEED!!!!

Let us know.

Monty, I was just in a discussion w a buddy out here who also is concerned about the delayed effects of the moderna shot specifically. I know there is a thread on this already. But keep an eye out and I would caution on the side of more rest than you think post shot to keep yourself going.
I have made the decision to back off substantially even though I have a race coming up. Just this am going up the stairs was real work at the top to catch my breath.

Im hopeful next week will be different for me.

MyMainSet next week:

2 x 100 on 3:00
1 x 50
300 easy recovery

3 rounds

Then pre-race race week will only be 2 rounds.

My buddy eric teased with hitting 52s (he prob will) and 24s on the 50s... he prob will.

I am hopeful for a 55 maybe and some 25s

daved

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http://www.theundergroundcoach.com

I don't want to hijack/make political this thread, but this is highly overlooked by those in power. If you can afford to work remote, come to Texas or Florida in the US. We are back to normal life here.

I had a hard swim yesterday after Monday being recovery day (long swim Sat/Sun and upper body lift on Sun).

4300 total - SCY
1200 warmup yards
Main set 1
4x25 kick :30
4x50 @ 40
4x100 @ 1:20
4x200 @ 2:20

50 easy
2x25 kick
2x50 :40
2x100 1:15
2x200 2:20

Cool down

Today off from swimming, it's leg day in the gym, then Thursday will be long aerobic swim, Friday speedwork, Saturday off, Sunday long lake swim.

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"The person on top of the mountain didn't fall there." - unkown

also rule 5

yesterday:
(aerobic efforts, nothing very hard)
300 easy
8x50 drill
4x200 IM
4x200 free
4x200 pull, paddles + ankle band
2x50 easy

3200 scy

+ ~4.5mi easy run with some strides at the end

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If you can afford to work remote, come to Texas or Florida in the US. We are back to normal life here. //

I believe that most of the US has been open to swimming, at least here in CA we have been open for maybe 9 or 10 months now? I know some individual pools have been closed in certain spots, but I think by and large, most of us can find a pool within driving distance.


Today did more aerobic IM and other nonsense, just to keep my feel:


5x100s@1;40(1;29 to 1;20)
20x50- 5 bk/brst@1;00(49 to 44)5 buoy@;50(39's)5fly@1;00(41/40/39/39/38)5 buoy@;50(39/38's)
7x200- 1 IM kick@4;30(3;56)5 pull@3;00(2;35/33/30/29/26)IM kick(3;52)
6x50@1;00, odds fly/ evens paddles-fly(38/39/39) paddle(40's)
3200SCY in 58 minutes

Thats great!!

4 x 200 on 2:20 is legit!!

Well done

daved

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http://www.theundergroundcoach.com

3400 SCY with the Masters team

300S/200K/100P
2x{100 moderate 10 sec, 200 fast 15 sec, 300 race pace, 1 min rest, 300 moderate 15 sec, 200 fast 100 race pace 1 min rest}
100 easy
200k (75 hard/25 easy; repeat)
100 easy

The long main set with short rest and mixing up speeds is a killer for me, but thinking it will build strength.

Yes, the 'change of pace' work is much like over-unders which are used a lot in cycling and running training but not so much in typical triathlon swim training. I'm a big proponent of that type of stuff. Learning to keep your stroke together immediately after a hard effort is very important stuff. I highly recommend this workout from a few weeks ago in Triathlete (workout 3).

Took yesterday off so I could go hard in the pool today. Trying to shake some lingering soreness from the last two weeks since my first Moderna shot which I followed up with some really hard efforts for a virtual Olympic tri two days after.

300 easy
8x50 drill
2x50 25 sprint (12.0)/ 25 easy
main set (benchmark set):
20x100 on 1:25
1:01.86 avg. Fastest = 1:00.91 (#20); slowest = 1:03.03 (#1)
4x50 cruise for warmdown

3000 scy
(pool was warm but not super hot today-- around 84F, with air temp in the lower 60's, breezy and drizzling rain)

will get in 30-40min of running, weather permitting.

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Tuesday 60.2 mi bike
Wednesday 7.5 mi run, 18 mi bike
Today 11.8 mi run (long run in remembrance of the 8th anniversary of the Boston bombings), 1300m swim

swim 2 x [600 swim + 50 kick]

---

maybe she's born with it, maybe it's chlorine
If you're injured and need some sympathy, PM me and I'm very happy to write back.
disclaimer: PhD not MD

That was a great challenge set there Adrian, glad the temp dropped a degree or two so you could finish it off solid. After reading your workout, I decided to do a harder than normal warm up, and if it went well, I would do a mini challenge set too. Only my water was back to 85, so instead of 10, I bailed at 6 repeats @ 1;30. In fact the entire workout was pretty much long rest and much faster swims.

10x100-5s@1;40(1;25/23/20/18/15)5IM kick@2;00(1;56/53/50/48/45)
6x100p@1;30(1;08/1;06.9/1;06.9/1;06.8/1;06.6/1;06.8) guessing on the tenths from digital clock turnover- 200IM Kick@$;30(3;51)
3x100 buoy@2;00/50fly@1;30( buoys-1;20/1;17/1;16) flys(36/35/35) 200IM kick@4;30(3;53)
6x50, odds buoy@1;00/evens breast@1;10( buoys(39/37/36) breast(44/43/41)
2950SCY

You and Dave have gotten me motivated to start doing some more faster swimming. Intuitively I know this is the best thing to swim fast for pool events, but we get so caught up in our distance Tri swimming sets, we sometimes forget that so important element, so thanks you guys...

Nice job, Monty. I was definitely still worried about overheating; had to consciously hold back on numbers 6-12 and make sure to stand up and expose as much skin as possible during the rest intervals to stay as cool as possible. It has seemed like the pool is always cooler on Thursdays for some reason, so I planned around that this week.

Yeah there is no substitute for speed, even in tri. Over the past few years I've been able to race a couple of Olympic swimmers and one or two other solid Texas swimmers turned triathletes, and the biggest difference is that raw speed over the first 100m. I raced Clark Burkle in a local splash n dash and he just smoked me off the start; a former 4:15-500y Texas guy has started doing some tris and he also smokes us in that first 100-200m.. Unfortunately I wasn't able to see how fast Garrett Weber-Gale swam back in November, but that was a SwimRun, so lots of equipment.

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No problems staying cool in Whonnock Lake today.

Did my first lake crossing of the season, UP here in the Great White North.

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http://www.fitspeek.com the Fraser Valley's fitness, wellness, and endurance sports podcast

I'm a bit jealous that you get to swim with an actual masters team, do you also have a lane mate who can move water in front of you? I so long for those days of swimming in the line, and banging out times you never thought were possible. Was half in and out today, but decided to just go do it. Decent warm up and thought I would do a 1000 pace effort, and go for a 1650 tomorrow or Sunday at a lower altitude and temp. But breezed through the first 500 in 6;24 and thought may as well keep going. New 1650 PR for pull, think it is close in comparison to the 1500SCM I did about a month ago at sea level(20;07)..

10x100-7 zoomer @1;40(1;27/24/22/20/17/15/13)3 IM kick@2;00(1;56/54/52)
1650p for time(20;33--6;24/6;13/6;09/1;47) 150IM kick(3;01)
10x50, odds fly/bk@1;10/ evens buoy@1;00- fly/bk(41/40/39/39/37) buoys(39/38/37/37/34) 100 kick
3400SCY in 57 minutes

Since I did not start out thinking I was doing a mile for time and decided on the fly, did a real nice descend at the end. Now wondering if that may be a good pacing strategy going forward, or sticking with going out hard and even pacing. What are you guys doing in your later years??

That’s a pretty fast 1650. On pacing for longer swims I’m aiming for even splits, but typically do the first 200 or so a little faster so I’m motivated when I look at the clock and see I’m ahead of my target pace. Then I lock into an even pace. I don’t have the ability to accelerate in a long swim. Which takes me to today’s workout. I took Adrian’s advice and did the work out he shared via link

3400 SCYs
3x400 (75 strong/25 fast) 20 sec rest
3x300 (100 strong/100fast/100 strong)
3x200 (50 strong/50fast/50strong/50 fast)
3x100 (fast) 20 sec rest
6x50K on 1:15, 100 easy swim
It was a killer trying to go fast and drop down to “strong” then back to fast. I’ll do more of this.

It’s more of a master’s work out group 5 or 6?, we each have our own lane, so no feet to chase. There’s a 28 year old woman who swam at U Norte Dame who crushes us all. It is fun to ‘race’ during a workout, as I know the swimmers now and how I should be doing against them. There’s a more hard core masters group that swims 3 days/week at 5AM, but too early for me.

Ya, felt pretty good on the mile, but just looked it up to compare to my 1500 time, and did not know the 1500SCM is actually a longer swim. I knew the LCM race was, but always assumed the short course one was faster. The calculator has SCM about 7 seconds longer that SCY for the 1650. So I guess my swim I did back last month on vacation is my actual new standard. Says I have to go a 19;59 for the 1650 to equal that 20;07...So pretty much need a really cool pool at sea level, which I had today!!

No mile though, took advantage of the swim meet happening and did a big set with Dan, where he did free to push my 200 IM's.

15x200 as (2swim@3;20/1 IM @4;00) swims-(2;48/45) buoys(2;43/42) pulls(2;32/32/32/33/34/34) IM's(2;50/2;48/2;48/2;48 last one broken, 50's@1;30-2;24-34+/39/40/31) 100 IM kick
3100SCY in 58 minutes

IM felt good and the cold water saved this set. Dan bailed on last one so I decided to go for speedwork while my arms were completely blown from this set...

Pretty necessary recovery swim this am after an all out 72mile ride w some buddies yesterday... lots and lots of PB on segments and one KOM! Ill take it. (even tho it was a tie w one of the guys I rode w)

Anyways, 4200 scy today. Buddies warm pool.
1000 as 75free 25 back
1000 as 75 free 25 brst
10x 100 on 1:30 75fr25kob
500 kick w board
500 75swim 25 scull
4 x 50 wd (some alactate but I was cramping so ....)

Speed thursday. Time to back off a bit and have (hopefully) even higher quality swims.

MyMainSet:
2 x 100 max on 3
1 x 50 max
300 recovery

3 rounds this week.
2 rounds next week
1 round before I travel to race.

My sprint buddy is hoping for 24s and 51s 52s.... I have no idea what to expect but I do hope Ill be faster than I have been. 56s maybe??? and then challenging him on the 50s

Nervous just typing... ha

daved

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http://www.theundergroundcoach.com

7 mi run 64:43 and 1600m easy swim today

swim was
1000 w/u
400 build by 100
50 kick
150 easy

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maybe she's born with it, maybe it's chlorine
If you're injured and need some sympathy, PM me and I'm very happy to write back.
disclaimer: PhD not MD

Good luck Dave with the big sprint set, I'm going to have to psych myself up to do something similar one of these days, and stick with it like you have. Like you, I just did a recovery set today, two hard swim days and I did weights and a hard run this morning! Double workouts in a day are really rare for me these days, so have to take it easy until I can build up some ability to hammer twice in different sports in a waking day:

2500 really small paddle pull, super slow start and descend(34;18--7;23/7;00/6;48/6;38/6;35)
500IM kick super easy(10;21)
10x50 as 2 buoy@;50/1-IM kick@1;00(buoys-41/39's) kicks(55/54's)
3500SCY in 55 minutes

Felt a little better today, but still sluggish after doing 3 workouts yesterday:

8x(100/100s@1;45/50fly@1;00/50 back@1;00) swims(1;28/25) buoys(1;22/21/21/20/20/20/19/19) pulls(1;16 to 1;14's) Fly's(41/40/39/38/38/37/37/37) back's(all 43's, last 3 42's)
3x100- 2 IM kick@2;15(1;57/56) 100 IM(1;25, ouch)
6x50p@;50(38/37/36/35/34/32)
3000SCY in 55 minutes

yesterday I ran 10 miles with 8 x 1 min on / 1 min off pickups, and rode 6 mi.

today 7.1 mi run and 1100m swim (straight swim)

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maybe she's born with it, maybe it's chlorine
If you're injured and need some sympathy, PM me and I'm very happy to write back.
disclaimer: PhD not MD