First!

I'm trying to get back into a more structured routine. We'll see how that goes. I'm swimming with the team on Mon, Wed, and Sun, and I'm going to try and swim on my own on Fridays. The Friday is going to be some kind of specific focus, whether it be a stroke day, kick day, pull day, or working on some specific part of my stroke. Today was a kick day, partly to test the knee out and partly because my kick is terrible at the moment.

400 SKPS (pull with band, no buoy)

5 x 50 kick w/ fins
5 x 50 dolphin kick with fins
100 easy swim
5 x 50 kick no fins
5 x 50 kick dolphin kick, no fins
100 easy swim
(All kick on :60 turnover.)

8 x 50 d1-4 @60 (40, 38, 35, 35, 43, 40, 38, 35)
100 easy
4 x 50 d 1-4 @ 60 (45, 40, 35, 34)
50 ez
50 strong (:33)
100 easy

That finishes off the week at 9800m (no swimming on Sat for me)

---

Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

3 mi run, 3k swim

main set:
12 x 75 (4 of each pull, kick, swim)
2 x [6 x 25 on :30 + 4 x 50 on 1:00 + 2 x 75 on 1:30 + 1 x 100 + 50 easy] all at 100 pace
4 x 25 on :30 + 2 x 50 on 1:00 + 1 x 100

held 1:15/100 pace

---

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

Warmup:
-200 pull
-200 kick
-4x50 build on 1:00

Main Set:
10 X [4x25 on :40, IM order]
-20 seconds extra rest after each group of 4
-60 seconds additional rest after 5th group of 5

Cool Down:
100 kick
100 pull (no paddles)


1800y total.

This is "recovery week" on my TrainerRoad plan, so I kept it short with lots of rest. I didn't just cruise, though; pressed those 25's a bit, averaging low :16's for fly, high :18's for back, mid :19's for breast, and high :15's for freestyle.

---

"They're made of latex, not nitroglycerin"

Sprints this evening.

3300SCM Total

Main set was
16 x 25 (dive/build/fast/easy) @ :40
3{
6 x 50 fast with a dive off the block @ 1:40
200 easy}

Plenty of rest time in each interval so it was hard efforts all around.

Goals for March - pretty much the same as Feb. Aim for 10K/week. Continuing to work on strengthening my kick.
Adding to that is an all out 25m + flip turn no breathing. Currently can do most of the 25 but then need a breath before the flip turn otherwise, I don't have enough in me to do a solid push off.

pouring rain, but pool didn't notice it outside:

2x(2x100s@1;40/100IMkick@2;10/50fly@100/150p@2;10/50 breast@1;10) swims(1;24 to 1;23's) kicks(1;56 to 1;54's) flys(36/36)pulls(1;59's) breast(42/42)
2x(200p@3;00/50fly@1;00) pulls(2;39's/flys-36/37)
2x(100IM kick@2;20/50 breast@1;00) kicks(1;57's) breast(42/42)
200 buoy(2;50)
2100SCY

Friday was IM day

300FR/200k/300FR Pull
4x50 stroke on 60

400 IM on 7:00 (5:52)
4x100 stoke IM order on 10 sec
300 IM on 5:15 (4:30)
3x100 on 10 sec
200 IM on 3:30 (2:53)
4x50 stroke on 60

6x50k in 1:15
4x50 stroke on 60
8x25 stroke on 30
100 cool down

3600 SCY

No swim today. Pool closed due to snow. (And would be closed anyway due to a diving meet)

Spent 3 hours snow blowing, shovelling, sweeping off cars, and pulling the kids around the yard in the sled.

---

Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

Swim meet, short course yards:

500 free: 5:27
200 fly: 2:27
200 free: 2:03

I’m going to run a bit more in the next few weeks, and add the swimming back in Mid/late April. Of course, this is the week that temps won’t be above freezing until Thursday.

nice job!

8.2 mi run, 1000 yds mixing swim/kick/band pull this AM

March 2/4, 4000 yds total
will update 100/100/100 numbers later

---

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

Glad to be back in the pool after a few too many beers this weekend!

Practicing 400m race pace. I'm not sure if I have that many gears to tell the difference between a 400m race pace and 200m race pace, but it was good to play around with speed regardless. My coach also told me that my easy pace is probably too fast, so I'll try to slow that down, or use the easy sets to practice backstroke.

Main set
2 x{
5 x 50 m @ 1:00 (easy/fast/fast/DPS/DPS)
5 x 100m @ 2:00 (easy/fast/fast/easy/fast)

3550SCM in total

Nice swims, especially that 200 fly. I trained all season to swim the 200 fly at Masters State Championship last year. What I learned was that I'm a pretty good at the 150 fly.

---

"They're made of latex, not nitroglycerin"

Sunday - 2500 yards good aerobic pace - 41:45

Tuesday - 2400 yards
300 WU
9x200 variable pacing
300 CD

Well....after imploding last week and firing my coach (me)...I'm back at it after getting a training plan from D3 Multisport (Mike Ricci).

Today was a test day. 1000yTT.

WU:
400
6x50 (:15)

MS: 1000yTT for time (17:08) 1:42/100y

CD: 200
-------------------
1900scy

I don't think I paced the TT very well, it was pretty far from "all out". I'm sure I left quite a bit on the table. I just stopped at the end of the 1000, rather than "begging for mercy" with 100 to go. I think I ended up pacing that more like I had a Bike and Run to do afterwards. I'm pretty sure I could have kept going for another 500 or so. But, its a place to start.

March 2/5: 3150y
R/D/S: 90/81/50

How was the last 50 in that 200 Fly ?

---

___________________________________________
http://en.wikipedia.org/...eoesophageal_fistula
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerebral_palsy
2020 National Masters Champion - M40-44 - 400m IM
Canadian Record Holder 35-39M & 40-44M - 200 m Butterfly (LCM)

13.2 mi run, 625 yd swim (4 x 100 swim/50 kick, then a 25 kick c/d)

---

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

FINA Top Ten was out last week...

Made it in 5 events - SCM (no long course last year)

200/400 IM
200 Fly
800/1500 Free

Some issues with the times submitted (I had 3 800 times and the slowest was on the list in 5th) ... best result should be 3rd in 800 Free - 8:51.1

Had a conversation with Swim AB on the weekend and have to put together some stuff where results were entered wrong at Provincials and we'll see if there are other errors that impact the top 10, national rankings likely affected too.

Swam in our brand new pool on the 1st... 10x50m.

---

___________________________________________
http://en.wikipedia.org/...eoesophageal_fistula
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerebral_palsy
2020 National Masters Champion - M40-44 - 400m IM
Canadian Record Holder 35-39M & 40-44M - 200 m Butterfly (LCM)

Fitness is slowly coming back. Pool closed yesterday, thanks to old man winter, so I hopped in at lunch for a makeup swim. Decided to go for a bit of work aimed at race pace time to fatigue. What "race pace" is right now is kid of a wild ass guess, since I haven't raced in about a year and my fitness is nowhere near where it should be. Motivation is pretty high right now though, since I can see progress now and I age up next year. Still gotta get that 1500 record this year, then a clean slate in 2020.

400 skps
100 kick
4 x 50 d 1-4 @ 60 down to guesstimated 400 pace (36)
50 kick ez
8 x 50 @ :55 hold 36's
100 ez
4 x 50 @ :60 hold 34's (200 pace-ish?)
100 ez
2 x 25 fly (quick, DPS) - no set off time, someone else had jumped into the lane and I was just timing it so I wouldn't clobber him
50 ez kick
2 x 25 fly - as above
100 ez

1800 SCM

Plan is to do a set like this (not necessarily this exact one), every couple of weeks, gradually increasing the number of reps at each pace on those 50's, then drop the target when I get to 2x race distance.

---

Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

My vision was to split the race like this:
:34.50
:38.50
:38.50
:38.49


My actual 50 splits were:
:35.33
:39.24
:39.66
:43.82, felt like 1:43.82

---

"They're made of latex, not nitroglycerin"

Could you hear Elton John playing that piano? We've all been there.

One of my stupid goals for 2020 is to get sub 2:20 for my 200 fly. I'm already questioning why the hell I want to do that to myself...

---

Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

Yeah, about half way through that 7th 25, there was a sudden and involuntary shift in form to the "Steinway Technique"

---

"They're made of latex, not nitroglycerin"

All this 200 fly talk is making me nervous and anxious. I know I need to swim it because it is probably the best event for me in comparison to my peers, but for the first time in my life, I dont want to swim it.. Conundrum...

So today I decided to back off on the 100/100 runs, just do some easy runs as warm ups for harder swim workouts. Only problem was today my HR was high doing 9;50 pace, so didnt expect or try to bomb a swim. But from now on, I'm going to take more rest and just swim everything faster, up until the point I can take less rest and swim as fast, so with that in mind;

5x100IM kick@2;10(1;55 to 1;50)
2x(100/100swims@2;00/100IM kick@2;30) swims(1;16/15/15/13) kicks(1;53's)
2x(50/50@1;30/100IM kick@2;30, fly 1st set, breast next) flys(35/34) breast(41/40) kicks(1;53's)
500p@7;00(6;20)
200 dolphin(4;18)
2200SCY

Gonna have to start paying for a proper pool too so that I can do backstroke and some good IM sets..

First day back in the pool in months...we suck in our house. Started the Prep Training block two weeks ago and didn't have the discipline to gtfo bed. But, we're getting it in now!

A bit short, but I'm not a "swimmer".

900m

50x2
100
200x2
250
25x2

All free. Average was 2:20/100m time off my watch. Gosh I'm slow and fat.

---

Washed up footy player turned Triathlete.

Hey look, Fresh meat!

Welcome to the Fish thread!

Since you aren’t a swimmer, I’ll give you a little tidbit. Average pace over a workout is possibly the most useless metric in swim training out there. And there are a lot of useless metrics in swimming.

---

Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

USMS Summer Nationals are at MVN
...

Found out one our parents in the swim club used to live on the same street as Bill Rose in North Vancouver when he coached up here, her aunt is Mark Schubert's wife.

---

___________________________________________
http://en.wikipedia.org/...eoesophageal_fistula
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerebral_palsy
2020 National Masters Champion - M40-44 - 400m IM
Canadian Record Holder 35-39M & 40-44M - 200 m Butterfly (LCM)

I'm just owning that I'm currently a tugboat.

---

Washed up footy player turned Triathlete.

Skipped the morning run to get in some extra swimming, and intensity:

5x100IM kick@2;10(1;59 to 1;50)
4x(100@2;00/50@1;00/100IM kick@2;30 free) swims(1;16/1;14/34/33) kicks(1;51's)2nd set breast(1;28/1;27/40/39)
4x50's, odd fly@1;00/evens dolphin@1;30(34/34 kicks 1;02's)
150p@2;30(1;54)100IM@2;00(1;16)100IM kick(1;53)
500p@7;00(6;21)
200 dolphin(4;06)
150p(1;58)
2900SCY


One thing about running before swimming, it really does warm you up to get right at it, today took awhile to feel right...

Extra long practice tonight. Spent a few minutes reviewing video that we took last week, found a couple of things that I know I need to work on (just reinforced what I already knew) plus a couple of other things. Found out that I’m dropping my elbow mid pull, for example)

Practice today was about going fast.

Long warmup
800 SKPS
6x50 (25 dr/ 25 swim) IM order no free twice through
100 (50 k 50 p)

Main set
3x {
3x50 @ :55 d 1-3 down to race pace
50 ez
100 AFAP
60 sec break after each 100
}
Intent on the 100’s was to go flat out on each one. If you get slower, that’s ok. I didn’t do it right, should have gone faster on the first repeat since I held the same times for each repeat. 1:07, 8, 7)

300 ez warmdown

2400 m total

ETA, I was pleasantly surprised by how much speed I had. I didn’t think I’d be under 1:12’s or so, to be that much quicker than expectations is a good sign.

---

Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

The biggest thing my video review showed was how much drag I’m getting from my belly. I’m trying to make a better effort with diet, and have lost a bit of weight over the last few weeks. I know that intermittent fasting thing won’t work for me, at least not right now, so I’m trying to just make better choices with snacks. Going for apples instead of chips, that kind of thing.

---

Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

Nice times there! We could all do with a bit more attention to our diets, and especially beer consumption. I do it mainly because it helps me on the run, but I never through about how much drag that could be creating as well. I'm blaming it on this Canadian winter... bah.


Morning practice this AM. Technical (free/back)

Warm up:
300 easy
200 IM drill

Prep:
6x75 practicing hard turns (easy pace, with the last 10m of each 25m going all out into a hard turn)
12x25 honestly I can't remember (drills maybe)

MS:
2x {
8 x 25 (dive + glide/breakout 5m/breakout 15m/finish fast)
3x50 (back kick/ back drill/ back easy)
2x100 easy (free/back)

Warm down:
3x150 (pull/pull/DPS)

Total: 2800

We had intervals, but there was a tonne of rest as it was a technical set. My big aim for today was to continue to work on holding my bilateral breathing steady. I find that it often deteriorates on my non-dominant side as the set goes on. Coach had a look and said it seems I'm not fully extending that arm when I breathe on that side and then try to compensate by then flinging that arm out instead of doing a high elbow. Difficult to work on as I really need to think about it when I'm already tired 3/4 of the way into the workout, but that's where the mental side of this comes in.

A little bit of my video attached (it's all I got so far). This isn't at a triathlon pace, it's faster than that. Probably between a 200 and 400 free effort level...

I'm late to finish the breath, and pulling too far under my body. These are gonna be hard to change for me, time to do some slow pulling to get these issues corrected.

https://www.coachseye.com/...483882e954d3cab47213

---

Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

Boring as can be today, no motivation to swim anymore as I age into slowness..

10x100 WU mix drill/swim/pull

36x50, first 24 @ :55, final 12 on :50 because I wanted to get the hell outta there.
.. 12 - 25 kick/25 swim
.. 12 - 25 stroke/25 free IM order
.. 12 - pull

8x25 odd hard on :25, even recovery on :35

Bail.

Oh.. ETA.. 3000 scy

It also looks like your are forcing your hand in a cup position, hard to tell in those few seconds for sure and that angle. Maybe when you pull with paddles, you can also learn to relax you hand in a more splayed position??

Quite possibly, it’s not something I’ve been thinking about. My paddles kinda force the fingers together though (Finis Agilities). Maybe that’s a good excuse to get a new toy for the pool.

---

Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

Today's workout was
SCM
2x50 (:56, :59)
2x100 (2.11, 2.16)
3x200 (4:46, 4:50, 4:49)
1x100 (2:33)
2x50 (1:09, 1:08)

Just trying to build more total pool time at the moment, rather than break myself off with specific pacing yet. Happy that months off the pool not longer feels like a month away from running. No idea on rest.

Also...would this dude be considered a denizen? He had fins and a dumbbell and was swimming like a dolphin. Or, is that some super secret old SEAL type shit that I need to be doing.

---

Washed up footy player turned Triathlete.

Hey StroBro....(welcome to the fish thread...its way more friendly in here than out there)! You gotta follow some conventions, man!

NN x DISTANCE (rest) @ pace [optional drill]
NN x DISTANCE @ interval (holding Y:YY)

Also you need units: SCY, SCM, LCY, LCM? And, we need paces and rests for each set, so we know which virtual lane you swim in.

Well, I did mention I'm swimming like a tugboat. IRT rest, I didn't see a pace clock so no idea there. But added some times.

---

Washed up footy player turned Triathlete.

new coach...new plan, which seems to be designed around building volume (10x100, 12x100, 14x100, etc all at T-pace +/-) at a "fixed" pace vs. USRPT which is more about building pace at a "fixed" volume (30x100 faster and faster). Obviously, its not quite so decoupled. But, I've probably been doing the USRPT way for long enough (or maybe even too long). Maybe some more "volume" will clear the way for some more "pace".

In a podcast that I listened to last month, Tim Floyd says that he periodizes USRPT and traditional swimming. Granted I've probably gotten it backwards, because Tim uses USRPT for race-prep (6-12 weeks from Races), and volume-based for general prep. Oh well...its not like the new plan is devoid of short-fast stuff...even if it isn't "to failure".

Tim said that typically he sees triathletes gain 10s / 100 with USRPT, then maybe lose 5s/100 during volume training, then gain another 10s/100 in another USRPT cycle, etc. It was an interesting podcast.

WU: 400 straight

MS:
6x50 on 60s (holding 45)
10x100 on 1:55 (holding 1:40)

CD: 300 straight

2000scy

There was some confusion on my part about the workout instructions. It wasn't clear if this was supposed to be a max-best-effort set...or, something a little easier..some of the instructions implied HARD, and other parts implied MODERATE. In the absence of a clear answer in time for this morning, I did it as max-best-effort. Always better to swim too-fast than too-slow, right?

I may not have "failed" in a USRPT sense. But, I probably only had 2-3 more 100s in me going straight into the 100s with only 15s rest after the last 50y.

I'm having a decent swim week so far with 2500 on Tuesday, 4000 on Wednesday and 3300 (all SCM) this morning.

Tuesday was 5 x 400 alternating long and strong with descending by 100s. Everything was out of sync and the times reflected that but I got it done.

Wednesday's 4000 was the longest swim I've done in quite a while and felt the opposite of Tuesday
15x100 on 1:30 (mostly 1:16s)
3x200 pull on 2:00 (2:31, 2:32, 2:34)
6x100 IM on 1:45 (1:30ish)

This morning
3x200 pull
2x{
4x50 descend 1-4 on 60s
2x50 kick with 20s rest
100 pull with 20s rest}
4x300 a T pace with 30s rest
Was supposed to do 5-6x300 at the end but I kinda hit the wall at the end of that last 300 and bailed.

Happy with where my paces are going. Aiming for doing a solid 1500 at a masters meet at the end of April.

And I have the underwater video. A few things really stand out. Besides my gigantic belly, that is....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Jz3vTDpCyk

---

Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

Mambo!

Warm up
3 x 300 r:15
#1: easy
#2: 50 swim / 25 kick alternating
#3: 50 swim / 25 kick alternating

16 x 25 r:10
repeat 4 times:
#1: easy
#2 & 3: 80% (moderate)
#4: 90+% (fast)

Main Set (5 rounds, with 2nd swim increasing by 100 each round through):

100 @70% r:20
100 @80% r:10
100 @70% r:20
100 @90+% r:10

100 @70% r:20
200 @80% r:20
100 @70% r:20
100 @90+% r:10

100 @70% r:20
300 @80% r:30
100 @70% r:20
100 @90+% r:10

100 @70% r:20
400 @80% r:40
100 @70% r:20
100 @90+% r:10

100 @70% r:20
500 @80% r:50
100 @70% r:20
100 @90+% r:10

Caeleb Dressel only made the "B" Final at the Arena PSS in Des Moines, in a 50.mid, and according to the comments section on SwimSwam he's a complete failure. LOL....

https://swimswam.com/...-prelims-live-recap/

---

Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

He might as well just retire.

Another 3000 this morning, 4th day in a row and I'm feeling the fatigue.
300 wu
6x50 descend 1-3, 4-6 on 1:00
3x200 pull on 3:00
2 x (
4x25 IM order, 10s rest
50 ez
4 x 50 IM order,15s rest
50 ez
200 IM
100 ez)
200 ez
100 IM fast (or more like not so fast....)
100 cd

Are you coming down here for Provincials? I'm feeling a lot better about where things are going, there is a chance that I'll swim the 1500 at provincials. I'll see how things go in practice over the next month and then decide.

---

Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

Yes, that's my plan. 1500 will be my target event if I can keep on track between now and then. I'm going to be in BC for 10 days starting Sunday, I'll have to find a way to get some pool time in there.

I'm gonna be in Bermuda for 10 days or so in a little over a week. I'm planning on getting in the pool every morning (hopefully that works out), the pool is only a 5 minute drive from my parents' house. And I have a mask/snorkel/fins set for the 3 year old. It'll be awesome, lots of water time (I hope).

---

Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

Yours sounds better than mine. I'll be working and there is a chance it will be long days. I'll make it work somehow.

Pretty amazing how angry folks can get trying to second guess the fastest swimmer on the planet.

Tuesday:
300 easy
8x50 drill
1000 build (11:40)
5x100 descend (1:05-04-03-02-02) on 1:30
50 easy
8x25 fast on :30 (:13's)
50 easy

2500scy

Today:
300 easy
8x50 drill
2x{
5x200 descend on 2:45
50 easy
} Round 1: 2:17-15-14-11-09, Round 2: 2:17-15-14-12-09
3x100 pull w/band only
100 easy

3200 scy

---

-----

Let alone second guessing a coach like Gregg Troy. He's brought more than one Olympic Gold medalist through his program.

Some fast swimming you're doing. impressive...

---

Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

https://swimswam.com/...he-kick-in-swimming/

Yay, a "sports scientist" telling the coaching community that they're all wrong for putting an emphasis on the kick. I like Gold Medal Mel's comment. Essentially, "yeah, that's a nice theory, now show me your work"

And for fly he's just wrong. If you've ever pulled a fly set, you know that the kick is definitely propulsive.

---

Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

that's... a take I guess...

"The intensity of the kick for a 200m race will be less than 100m and quite a bit less than a 50m race"

No shit, sherlock. That's called limited energy, no one can maintain a 50m effort for 200m.

---

-----

No shit, sherlock. That's called limited energy, no one can maintain a 50m effort for 200m.

Thats funny that this even has to be said, I guess the painfully obvious is not always so...

More 50s for me today, seeing if this old body can develop speed still;


2x100s@1;40(1;21/20) 100IM kick(1;55)
8x50 fly@1;15(3 kick, kick, pull, one hard-47/47/47/38/47/47/46/36)
8x50 breast@1;15(3 kick, kick, pull, one hard-48/47/47/41/47/47/46/40)100IM kick(1;52)
500p@7;00(6;23) 100IM kick(1;53)
4x50free@1;15(34's)100IM kick(1;55)
4x50 back, odds fast, evens med fast(40/42/39/42) 100IM kick(1;52)
500p@7;00(6;18)
100IM kick(1;52)100 buoy(1;21)
3100SCY


I just saw there is a pentathlon meet this weekend about an hour away from me, I might just jump in and see how slow I actually am at the moment. And I just figured out I need actual qualifying times if I want to do nationals, so have to swim sometime I suppose. Been over 7 years since I went off blocks in a meet, I don't even have a race suit!!!

Other thing about Dressel and this swim meet, I just saw that he had the fastest time overall from that B heat, so really looks like he just sandbagged a hair too much in the prelims. Probably a very good lesson to learn now, and not at trials or the games...

He beat the fastest swimmer in the A final by .2, quite a bit in sprinting, and certainly a rare event from the B final...

And looks like he made 3 finals today too, I will be looking forward to his 200 free(edit, looks like those were finals he swam already). Not sure he has done one in a big meet lately. This is his 800 free relay prep no doubt..

He was wearing a brief, not a tech suit, in heats. Combine that with maybe feeling a little off in the morning, plus needing to be pretty quick to make the A final (8th in heats was 49-mid), and he missed out. I doubt he really cared, he’s swimming this meet tired. It’s just a day to see where he’s at. I don’t think it’s so much “sandbagging” as it is just being a hair off in the morning. I don’t get the impression from Dressel that he’s a sandbagger.

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Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

I dont mean sandbagging in the literal sense, just the soft swimming one does when your are either the fastest in the world, or one of the fastest. And when you swim so many events like he does(and Phelps and Lochte before him) he cannot go all out all the time. There is a backing off of the gas pedal, and I believe he just backed off a hair too much.

Of course it could have just been an off swim, but all his other swims at this meet would suggest otherwise it would seem. Trying to thread the needle of a couple tenths is a dangerous game, even for the worlds best it appears...

I don’t think he backed off at all. He’s tired, like a lot of guys at this meet. Blake Pieroni said that he was exhausted coming into this meet, for example.

Dressel just got 5th in the 50 fly final in 23.99, a bit over a second slower than his American record. Granted, he’s already swum the 2free final tonight, but when he’s fresh he’s a body length better than anyone else in the field.

---

Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

Sprints last night.

Main set:
3x {
6 x 25 all out with dive starts
}

Total 2800 SCM

Going to try and do the CSS test on Sunday as part of a technical set I'm going to put together for myself. Does anybody incorporate this into their training? I figure if anything it'll give me a good benchmark to gauge my fitness as the year progresses.

I don’t, but I’m not a distance swimmer. That’s really where CSS has relevance

---

Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

8.5 mi run, 725 yd swim. Main set was 5 x 100 on 1:30

---

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

Hey this sounds really awesome. Can you post some pics from that pool in Bermuda?

We have Ontario Provincials in 2 weeks. I'm going to do all the IM events (100,200,400,800IM), the 1500 free and 200 fly. Things are going reasonably well. I recently started skate skiing again as I seem to have regained some control over my left leg which is helping my fly and breast stroke a bit.

I have not been on ST that much. I've been pretty pre occupied with my startup and aside from this fish thread and some running threads, most of ST is just bike techie propellerhead guys rambling about the same tech stuff. This is pretty well the only thread were sport is dicussed vs toys and gear. I am sure once more races are going on there will be more threads about actual racing vs toys. Till then, keep swimming.

I actually did an 800IM "build" as part of my daily 1000m warmup....200m easy free, 800IM build, then kick sets then main set usually 50's, 100's, 200's hard.

800 IM sounds downright horrible. I've never heard of that being an event before.

3x500 desc swim, pull, pb+pads
100 ez

Never done that much pad work so, I took it a little easy. Hope to be able to push it a little harder as I get used to it.

Last hard work out before 1000 free at NE Masters meet next Saturday than 500 free/400IM/200IM the following weekend. Looking to be about 3 sec faster per 100 than last year in all races.

SCYs
300s(3:55)/200k/300P(3:43) 4x50 IM stroke on 60

5x200IM on 3:30 (2:52-56)
Broken 200 IM 10 sec at 50s (2:43)
6x50K on 1:15
6x50FR on 50 (34-36)
4x50 fly on 70 (40s)
4x25 fly on 40 (18s)
100 cool down

They have a heat in the 800 free at MSO provincials where you sign up to do IM.

14.2 mi run, 775 yd swim (550 swim + 50 kick + 150 swim + 25 kick)

forgot the number of swims, will figure it out later, but 81/86 on 100/100

---

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

Roughly, what do you project your 1500 time will be?

Did 90 mins in the water today. 4000 ish? Lots of drills trying to work on my crossover in freestyle, plus a bit of fly mixed in. General structure was 2-300n of drills followed by 4x50 swim on :60 “strong” with technical emphasis. Held 34 -36 throughout.

4x50 fly - first 3 were mixing 1-arm and drill, going about :40 on those. Last one was full stroke - :33. Off time was 1:10 rather than :60 though.

---

Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

3000 yards in the 53° ocean (yes, wetsuit). Followed that with a 6.2 mile run exploring the trails of the Las Ramblas Wilderness where next week I’m racing a 10k there. There’s nothing technical there, but parts are very steep. I can’t go as fast as I could a year ago with my back issues, but I finished with energy – still have endurance, just no speed.

---

Proud member of FISHTWITCH: doing a bit more than fish exercise now.

Masters Team Practice:

1000 SKIPS warmup
(200 Swim, 200 Kick, 200 IM, 200 Pull, 200 Swim)

8x50 on 1:00, strong UDK off walls into race-effort breakout, then ease off)

4x200 on 3:30 for average (2:35)

100 EZ backstroke

2x[4x75 IM Cascade (fly-back-breast, back-breast-free, breast-free-fly, free-fly-back) on 1:45

600 cool down.


3500scy total. First time I swam 3500 yards in about 10 months.

---

"They're made of latex, not nitroglycerin"

I have no idea where I will land for the 1500m time, as my training has been focused on back, fly, breast during various sets/IM sets. I don't see why it would be slower than last year (24.42). In theory if I can swim each 100m 1 second faster, then I can target sub 24:30. I need to shave off 3 seconds per 100m to go under 24 so I think that's not going to likely happen.

I'm just using the 1500m at provincials as a test time and then I will have three more meets to see where it goes between now and Nationals during the 3rd week of May. But really, I don't really care too much about the 1500m time. I had done that in every olympic tri in a triathlon in my life. I am more interested in gradually improving at the other three strokes and getting better at fly and IM events (and standalone back and breast stroke events in which I am really really bad, but that provides an opportunity to improve).

Ok, first meet in over 7 years in now in the books. I had no idea what to expect, except that I knew I would thrash doing 50's in each stroke and the 100IM. It went ok, my arms were empty at the end, figured I did 3500 or so, with 5 all out sprints sprinkled in..All in a training suit, no taper, and nothing to taper off of...

50 fly--29.5. Just happy there is still a 2 at the front, my days may be numbered on breaking 30
50 back- did a push off start and my lower calf cramped right away. swam anyway and it tore a bit, hoping it is temporary-35.7
50 breast- this was the event I was most anxious to see, and it went ok, faster than my back, so something wrong there--35.5
50 free- felt like a windmill, long on turn, and actually got arm weary halfway back- 27.3
100IM- knew it was going to be tough, but managed a 1;09.6, so still under 1;10- 33.6 out, 36 for breast/free

I feel positive about all the swims, I have almost 6 weeks to try and become a swimmer again before nationals. I have some speed left, so now time to build endurance in my best events, 200fly/200 Brest/200/400IM's. And this just reinforces that I need to get in an actual lane with some folks at a real practice, this HOA club pool swimming has hit its limit I'm afraid.

I did at least win the sprint pentathlon in my AG, even beat a couple of the younger ones too..

Yeah, I’m gonna try to get some photos and maybe video while I’m down there.

On another good note, I’ve lost 3 lbs over the last 10 days, not doing anything crazy, just switching out my pre-bedtime snack to an apple instead of chips. Chips are my kryptonite. If I open a bag I WILL eat the whole bag. I can moderate anything else.

And Monty, well done!

I know a few guys who are faster breaststrokers than back. You aren’t alone.

---

Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

Yeah Monty! This is totally awesome. Nice to see you had times starting with 2 for the free and fly and a sub 1:10 for the 100IM....amazing! Best of luck at Nationals!!!!

Second week of new training plan.

400wu
6x50 (15s) holding 45s
12x100 (15s) holding 1:38
300cd

Felt good today. Did the 100s at around Tpace (-2s). Its interesting doing the mod-hard 50s before the 100s. Also, I'm more used to doing these with 20s rest, so its a little different with 5s less. Felt good enough on #12 that I pushed the pace up to 1:36 for "fun".

7 mi run 62:36, 875 yd swim (500 swim, 50 kick, 100 swim, 50 kick, 150 swim, 25 kick)

82/87 in 100/100, still haven't had time to update my swim #s

---

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

You did better than I would do right now! Good job! With my back, very nervous starting off the blocks and my flip turn could be a disaster should I try really hard. Was thinking of Nationals, but I would only want to do the distance events and they're on Thursday - can't really make that happen. Best that I just stick to ocean for now. With the time change, we started in darkness - 6:00 AM. I fashioned a bungee with blinkies to wrap around the buoy so we could find our way back. The problem was, finding the buoy to attach it! The biolumencense was entertaining, though. We finally did find it and decided to do laps to the reef point and back. That worked pretty well. I also left a light on at our spot on the beach so we could navigate back. It was getting light enough by then that it wasn't a problem. The water has dropped to around 53-54 degrees. No shivering after 2000 yards - I love my T1 wetsuit!

---

Proud member of FISHTWITCH: doing a bit more than fish exercise now.

Ya, felt really weird on the blocks, and turns.. Guess that is why we are supposed to swim several meets before the big one, get that shit out of the way. Got back to an easy run and did a kind of post meet swim down:

5x100s@1;40(1;26 to 1;20)
4x200p@2;50(2;37/34/32/29)
10x50@1;00, 6 breast/4 buoy(46/44/44/44/43/42--40/39/38/36)
1800SCY

Practicing 100m race pace today (approx 1:30 for me)

Warm up:
300 Easy
200 Kick/Pull
2 x 100 Basic (Streamline/right arm/left arm/swim)

Prep set (breast)
20 x 25 various drills
12 x 50 swim

Main set (free)
3x{
3 x 100 @ 2:15
200 (breast/free)
}

Warm down was just the last 200

Total 3300 SCM

Rest of the week should be more endurance focused, which used to be my forte. Looking forward to seeing what I still have in me.

Nothing too exciting today, just a basic aerobic swim.

1000 warmup (200s, 300k, 200p, 200 IM drill, 100 swim)

400s
2x300s (moderate / strong 3:55)
2x100 IM (moderate / strong 1:24)

100 ez

8x25 alt non free / free

200 easy

2700m total

---

Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

Didnt want to think too hard today and needed some aerobic work

2500 yards straight at aerobic pace

41:35

8.6 mi easy run, 675 yd swim (400 swim, 50 kick, 100 swim, 50 kick, 50 swim, 25 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

Weights today. My arms feel like jelly now.....

---

Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

The best is if you then go straight to the pool.. lol.

That would make him a "jelly fish".

Added a little more volume today...really need to look at my calendar for when my first pool sprint is. Easy to Moderate pace. No Pace clock, this is like a backup pool used when the main one is in maintenance mode in the winter and is normally only open in the summer.

2x50 (1:00, :59)
2x100 (2:14, 2:20)
4x200 (4:42, 4:48, 4:52, 5:00)
1x100 (2:37)
2x50 (1:15, 1:18)

Still a bit of a tug boat. But I think in a week or so I'll kick up the tempo. Still working on my stroke and position (hips). And trying to learn how to rotate effectively.

I think I'll stop being a bitch about when it rains going forward because NO ONE WAS AT THE POOL. A little cool but nothing big once you get going. I'm guessing guys like Jason swim naked in 60 degree water anyways.

---

Washed up footy player turned Triathlete.

Traveling for work and swam at a 50m pool this morning. First time in years I've done long course - not a fan. :)

I felt like complete garbage so kept things fairly short at 2000m with a mix of 50s, 100s and a couple of 200s.

I'm also using this travel as an excuse to get some running in after a dismal winter. The pool is about a 15 min run from my hotel so a couple of short runs to and from seems like a good way to get going again.

Thanks for the laugh. I need it today.

---

Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

My solution is in water starts and open turns with my disc issues. It means giving away time, but better than nothing as I have no previous baselines to go off. Having said that, this year, I progresed to dive off pool deck....almost sliding into water head first to minimize any risk on my various broken body parts and I am getting to the point that I am coming out even with other people diving properly, so I can't use that.

2000 LCM this morning.
300 wu
8x50 descend 1-4
200 kick
5 x 200 pull
100 CD

Would have done more but I got kicked out of my lane for a masters club. The other available lane looked like a bit of a shit show with all the people in it so I bailed.

So, after a 15 week layoff, I started swimming again in January. Not hitting it as hard as last year, as I'm cycling 3x a week this winter, too. (Last year it was swim, only, until summer).

Today was 10 weeks back, and it was time for a benchmark swim/set to get some sort of gauge on my fitness. Since I rode a little this morning, and my legs weren't 100%, I went with "1.2 mile (2100 yard) pull, no paddles." Came in at 28:03. That's about 3sec/100y off where I was last fall, and 4.5sec/100y off where I was at my peak late last spring, when I was just finishing off a 7 month program targeting 1000/1650 race pace. I was reasonably pleased with that. I think the foundation is back in place, now it's time to pull the old 20x125 @ mile-race-pace set out of the box and start honing that speed endurance.

---

"They're made of latex, not nitroglycerin"

400wu
4x {3x25 (20) ez/med/hard} 22s, 19s, 16s
6x200 (20) @1:39/100,
100ez
200 kick
200cd pull

I'm changing it up this year, following a training plan from D3. The plan actually has some usrpt sets in the later stages. Right now it's something different every time in the pool.

Low turnout tonight with the tri club, so I split the lane with my lane mate instead of having to swim circles. That tends to work better on longer swims.

Most of the workout was concentrating on form, trying to eliminate the crossover I have. Rather pleased with the 50’s at the end of practice too.

warmup
400 skps
4x50 kick with board, swim
100 easy

Main set
#moderate
500 breathe 3,5 by 100
5x50 descend 1-5 @ :50
400 breathe 2,4 by 100
4x50 alternate fast, easy @ :50
300 breathe 3,5 by 100
3x50 d 1-3. @ :55
200
2x50 sprint @ :60 (33.8, 32.7)

200 easy

---

Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

Endurance this evening

WU:
400 Easy
200 IM Drill
200 Kick/Pull

Prep set was a bunch of sculling and drill work, mostly 75s

MS:
2x{
3 x 200 @ 3:45
4 x 50 @ 1:00 4 to 1 (first 50 was all out, working down, and last 50 should be 70% effort)
}

CD:
2 x100 easy

Great session, and one of the few times I got to be the cheerleader of the group. Usually I'm too out of breath getting my butt kicked.

Hard 3k today, did my first mini USRPT set of breaststroke. Will double it soon, not sure what that will tell me though, 200 pace maybe?

500s@7;30(6;56)500IM kick@9;45(9;17)500p@7;00(5;15)
10x50 breast@1;05 mini usrpt(42/42 then 41+s for rest)
200 dolphin(3;58)
200p(2;35)
4x50 fly@1;00 evens kick kick pull(35/47/36/47)
200IM kick (3;48)
200p(2;31)
3000SCY

Yeah, if you can make 20 of those consecutively, or even high teens, that's an indicator that you should average in the 42's on the back three 50's of a 200 (41's+1 for the missing turn at the 50s). I'd guess a 2:48ish race effort, off the blocks?

Supposedly, the adaptations come when you go all the way to failure, recover for an interval, then go again to a second (and third) failure. You should be "offering" 30 reps, with the expectation that you won't get all the way there before failing 3 times. If you can get to 30, you should drop the interval to 1:00. When you can get to 30 on THAT, then it's time to advance the pace.

A good USRPT set for the 200 is close to a half hour affair. You know what else is about a half hour affair? The swim leg of a Oly or HIM. Pro Tip: If you do Olys or HIMs and you want to work on your swim power, but are afraid you won't be getting enough endurance work in, USPRT training for the 200 is your droid. A 1500 or 1900 meter swim to open a triathlon will feel like a cake walk compared to 20+ 50's at 200 race pace on a ~20 second rest interval.

---

"They're made of latex, not nitroglycerin"

2800 LCM this morning, finally didn't feel like garbage.

300 wu
100 kick
200 swim
4 x (5 x 100 on 1:30) with an extra 30s after each 5
1st set, 1:20/21
2nd set 1:19s
3rd set 1:18/19
4th all 1:18s
200 cd

Erthing SCM pour moi until someone changes a pool configuration.

Didn't wake up early enough to swim near the house so I swam downtown at the gym's pool. Would anyone caution against flip turns at 3ft depth?

No pace clock hear either so idea on rest, but less than Tuesday. 1525m total.

1x25 (0:25)
2x50 (0:56, 0:59)
2x100 (2:04, 2:11)
5x200 (4:46, 4:47, 4:55, 5:10, 4:57)
1x100 (2:25)
2x50 (1:13, 1:15)

I guess I'm like the guy who said his first lap is his fastest, although I'm not focusing on speed right now and just my stroke and building up volume as I said previously.

---

Washed up footy player turned Triathlete.

3ft is plenty to do a flip turn in. I'm not sure what the pool I was in this morning is but it's 3ft max, seems like less.

I did flip turn in it, was just wondering if that's advisable...

---

Washed up footy player turned Triathlete.

Competitive swimmer since I was 8 (with a huge gap from after high school to some 15 years ago... my fragile ego would never allow me to start a pool race in the water or from the deck, and open turns, as well. Nope. Not gonna happen! LOL! Guess I’ll be skipping some masters swim meets for some time.

---

Proud member of FISHTWITCH: doing a bit more than fish exercise now.

9.3 mi run Wednesday
15 mi bike + 1.5 mi brick run yesterday
9.5 mi run w/ 4.5 mi @ 8:41 pace , then 675 yd swim (swim/kick mix)

85/91 on 100/100, still need to add up the swims

---

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

Yeah, if you can make 20 of those consecutively, or even high teens, that's an indicator that you should average in the 42's on the back three 50's of a 200 (41's+1 for the missing turn at the 50s). I'd guess a 2:48ish race effort, off the blocks? //

So I got a hair up my ass and am thinking about another meet this Sunday, only it is 200's and a 400IM. I'm not in any shape for these swims yet, but I guess swimming them as much as possible in a race situation is the best training. So maybe I will get to see what 10x50 breast on my mini usrpt will net in an actual race, then can go from there on doing more of them..(so if I could have done 20+ of them, then maybe a 2;48, but since it was just 10, maybe mid 2;50's?)


Yesterday I did another pretty hard day, skipped the run again for more swimming:


6x100, 3s@1;40(1;17/16/16)3 IM kick@2;00(1;52/52/50)
500P@7;00(6;13)
9x50fly@1;00 every third kick kick pull(39/39/46/39/39/47/39/39/48) 50 easy
200 dolphin(4;05)
5x100@2;00 odds pull, evens IM(pulls-1;12/12/10) IM's(1;19/1;17)
100IM kick(1;53)
200p(2;32) 100 easy
200buoy(2;47)
2900SCY


And the past couple workouts without a run first, I get in the hot tub and get warm for about 15 minutes, anyone else do this? It really seems to work, can get right to swimming pretty hard without any delays..

Last workout before 1000 free in meet tomorrow. (took yesterday off completely)

300S/200K/300P
4x50 on 45 (35-36)
5x100 on 10 (1:14-1:17)
200 cool down.

1700S

5 starts off blocks. Wow they seem high.

5 starts off blocks. Wow they seem high. //

They sure do!! good luck tomorrow, give us a race recap afterwards. IF I stay healthy for the next two days, I will go myself on Sunday and swim a few races. And this is for all the fishes, what tech suit do you recommend for an old man these days? I just realized I will have to buy a new suit soon, but have no idea what state of the art is, where to get it, and the cheapest as possible..

A lot depends on how long you’re gonna be in the suit at a meet. I wouldn’t go for a super compressive suit like an Arena Carbon unless you know that’s what you want. Definitely look for taped seams rather than stitched. Depending on budget you may even want to get 2 suits, reg and high waist, to see what works best for you. And pay very close attention to sizing, if it doesn’t take you at least 10 minutes to put on the first time you wear it, it’s too big.

I really like my Speedo LZR Elite 2’s (I have 2 of them that I picked up on sale fir $50 each) but a standard waist would probably fit better than the high waist I have now.

Shortlist for masters for me, current suits and recently discontinued

LZR racer x(might be getting discontinued, speedo has 2 new high end suits out now)
LZR elite 2 - great suit, medium compression but still fast.
Arena R-evo
Funky trunks apex stealth or predator (very likely my next suit)
If you can find a TYR avictor (being replaced by the Venzo) for a good price, those are very fast. They have some of the best material out of anyone.

That’s not exhaustive, there are a lot of decent suits, but those are the ones I’d start with.

---

Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

Thanks for all the info Jason, and f*&k me!! I just went on eBay and saw the discounted prices, youzza. Here is one I found that will take an offer, thinking I will offer $145 or so. But my only question is do you buy your actual size? If I'm a 32 waist(or 31+) do I go with the 32 in this suit? IS this a decent price, as it looks like the replacement is 350 or so?

https://www.ebay.com/...4826ab2049f839eb15a5

They are fucking expensive and have only gotten worse in the last couple of years.

You don’t buy your training suit size. Consult the size charts, but for reference I wear a 34 training suit and a 27 LZR elite 2. But I’d probably be in a 30 Arena Carbon pro or flex.

---

Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

http://www.triboutique.ca/...speedo_7050711-s.htm

99 Canadian for a later elite 2 if you don't mind getting it shipped from canuckistan.

Definitely a smaller size than normal, I think the size guides are good.

Ok, looks like I should get a 28 then, just made an offer on this one. Looks like this guy got the wrong size himself, his loss my gain!!

https://www.ebay.com/...amp;autorefresh=true

That’s a good price if he hasn’t worn it before. Just be aware that tech suits are best the first time you wear them, then they lose a tiny bit with every wearing. Resist the temptation to train in it or “try it out”.

I only wear my good suits at nationals when I’m shaved . All other meets I wear an older suit (I think I have 5 or 6 suits in my closet)

---

Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

Let me know what your reaction is when you go to wear it the first time.

Mine is usually along the lines of “how can I possibly get “this” into “that”?”

---

Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

Curious as to what type of gains you see with these tech suits, in terms of seconds /100m.
I know it is difficult to measure apples to apples as for a meet you are tapered, usually swimming a lot less volume, etc.
Provided this season for triathlon goes well, I'll start competing in my Masters swim meets next winter. Kind of regretting not going this year.

Yesterday was 100s race pace practice.

WU:
400 Easy
300 Kick/Pull/Swim

Prep:
16x50 Reverse IM order @ 1:00

Main:
2x{
8x25 1-4 DPS (so building speed each 25 by trying to reduce the number of strokes taken) @ :35
50 Easy
4x50 Build/Easy/Fast/DPS @ 1:10
100 Easy
2x100 @ 1:40
100 Easy
}

Warm Down:
4x50

Tough workout for me. It felt like fatigue in my legs (maybe all over) was preventing me from being smooth. Generally the back halfs of my 100s were kinda sloppy. Times were a few seconds off my usual pace, but something didn't feel right. As soon as I was going easy (pulling with the buoy), things would even themselves out. Hope it sorts itself out by next practice.

It’s really hard to say, as I always race with a tech suit, even if it’s one of my crappy old ones it’s still faster than a speedo. And I don’t always swim the same events at meets.

But if I had to guess, I’d ballpark about 1s per 100 for a good tech suit over a speedo.

As a reference point, Caeleb Dressel swam heats of the 100 free at the Arena PSS in Des Moines in a brief in 50.4 or so, then went 48 high in the B Final in a tech suit. Evening swims are usually a little quicker than morning swims anyway, so a 1s advantage to the tech suit seems about right.

---

Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

I agree with Jason, tough to say with certainty but I can absolutely *feel* the difference in speed. Warming up in regular jammers and then switching to a race suit and doing another short warmup just before a race, the feeling in the water of the suit is remarkable.

8.2 mi run (70 min!)
825 yd swim

500 w/u
50 kick
100 IM
50 kick
100 swim
25 kick

86/92 on 100/100, will try to re-count my swims later today

---

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

700 swim @ 1:55/100
700 pull @ 1:42/100
700 pb+pads @1:38/100
50ez swim

Swam the 1000 in 13:09, better than the 13:50 I did last year. Won the 60 to 65 age group because the really fast guys swam the 1650. Was aiming to go 13:00 to 13:20, so right in the middle.

Thanks for the ideas and advice on this thread. I only swim with a Masters group one day/week, so value the input I get on this thread.

Next weekend 400IM, 500FR, 200IM. I wish I had top end speed so I could do 50s, but I’m a true “slowtwitch” . That 100 fly start to IM will be an adventure. Please no piano.

Putting the tech suit issue aside, why do you say evening swims are faster than morning swims. I am not a morning person, so I chalk it up to that. I always hated early morning tris....In a half IM, I barely got going till the second half of the bike.....pretty well every one of my 7 am tri swim starts always suck. Since I started swim racing meets mid day or meets spanning the entire day, the afternoon events are great. Next weekend at provincials I have the 400IM and 1500 free Friday afternoon. Saturday AM is 200 fly. I am going to take a touch of my closing 200m on the 1500 free and not go into a massive hole so that the 200 fly the next morning does not feel like death. Last year, I buried myself closing the 1500 free and paid at the 200 fly next morning....I don't think my final time was more than 3-5 seconds faster killing myself in the 1500 free.

Oh, and I am the provincial record holder in the 800IM. I was the first and only one to do it since MSO is recognizing it. At the Nepean Winterlude Long course meet, the 800 free was the final event and I asked the meet manager if they would ref it and could register it as an 800IM which they ended up doing as I wanted to try it before the provincials. Provincials should be better....at that Wnterlude meet, I had doing a 200 IM, 200 fly, 100 free, 100 fly, 100 free relay all in the 1.5 hrs before the 800. It was good to see how my body reacts when everything is packed in tight. At provincials, I'll only have 2 events per day so it will feel a ton better.

But hey, ST converted a triathlete who hated doing everything other than minimal swimming in a wetsuit to get to T1 so I could get Messick's checkmark done into a mometary SWIMMING provincial record holder (all ages).....so you guys can take credit for this silliness. It's going to be obliterated next weekend, but hey, you take whatever wins you can get.

I say they are because they usually were, for me.

Now, that’s not necessarily true for a masters meet which are “timed finals”. I’m talking about meets with prelims in the morning, finals in the evening, and you haven’t been running aroubd all day with job, kids, chores, etc. In those meets you get a dry run to work out any kinks in prelims, you’re a little more awake in the evening, a little more food in you, a little bit shorter session (fewer races) and a little more amped because it’s finals rather than heats. I was always faster in finals sessions than heats.

---

Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

Sunday swim, last workout before travelling tomorrow.

400 SKPS
8x50 kick @ 1:10
100 ez
16x50 d 1-4, (IM order in groups of 4)
100 easy
16x25 (IM order, 4 easy on 45, 4 fast on 30). Second time through added up the 25’s , 1:11 total time (16, 18, 21, 16)
100 easy

There’s something else in there that I’m forgetting. Total 3000m in 1 hour.

Edit, I remember now. About 600 m of technique work and drills with various bits of gear. Yeah, I was “that guy” today with pullbuoy, paddles, board, fins, and snorkel all cluttering up the end of my lane.

---

Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

6 mi bike, 5 mi run (41:14), 1125 yd swim

swim was 10 x 100 on 1:30, then 125 kick c/d

87/93/55

---

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

Swam the 1000 in 13:09, better than the 13:50 I did last year. Won the 60 to 65 age group because the really fast guys swam the 1650. //

That's really a solid swim there dude, you are in national scoring territory! Are you going this year to Mesa? I jumped into a meet today after not sleeping very well last night, and it showed. I ended up just swimming two events, 200 breast and 50 fly, meet was dragging on and I was dreading the Sunday traffic going home. So I scratched the 200IM and called it a day. I did get my NQT for the 200 breast though, 2;48, out in 1;22+ back in 1;26, and won my division(your division) Don't have the exact splits, but a friend said I was 39.5/43 mid/43mid/42 low. It sure did not feel like those splits, 200's really hurt, and it felt like I just died the last 75.


I did pick up a super on sale tech suit for $50, and I can tell you they absolutely work. Even though I wasn't feeling it, I was taking one less stroke per lap. I can see on a shave and taper how much these things can make a difference. And I didn't get the full on one, I can actually put this one on in 45 seconds, so a couple sizes too big I guess..(-;


And a guy in our AG went 18;40 I believe in the 1650, so yes, there are still some grinders over 60 out there...

That’s a nice 2breast time. What about the 50 fly?

---

Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

I cramped on the dive, and then it got worse on the turn, so did not have any rhythm or real kick, but managed a 29.6. About the same as last week on a much worse swim, so the tech suit made up the difference. If I can ever find a sprint rhythm, I think I can manage a low 28 once again, the time I have been swimming for 35 years....

I'm happy with the breast, just a matter of some more conditioning and lopping off a couple seconds a 50. I did my test set this week of 10 on the 1;05, and it about exactly matched my overall time average. So good news for me is that my usrpt 200 set is only 10, and not 30!!! I was looking forward to that 200IM, but it will have to wait a couple weeks now. Just did not want a really bad swim in my brain, I don't have enough time to expunge it before nationals...

Yeah, one of the best skills you can have is a short memory. Last week, yesterday, or even an hour ago doesn’t matter when you get on the blocks.

I fly out at 6 am tomorrow, got no sleep last night and I’m sick as a dog. And I’m flying with 2 small kids, 2 flights. And I can’t fall asleep now.

Tomorrow ought to be fun. At least we’ll be in Bermuda tomorrow afternoon.

---

Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

7.38 mi easy run (65 min), 1875 yd swim

main set:

2 x
2 x 100 on 1:30 easy
50 kick on 1:30
2 x 100 on 1:30 first one fast
50 kick on 1:30
2 x 100 on 1:30 fast
50 kick on 1:30



88/94/56

---

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

Was actually sore today from two measly swims!! Did a longish recovery workout, for me anyway;

10x100s@1;40(1;26 to 1;21)
5x100IM kick@2;00(1;52's)
1000p@14;00(12;55 descending the whole way)
100dolphin(1;59)
8x50 breast@1;00 easy descend(47/46/46/45/45/44/44/43)
200 buoy (2;47)
3200SCY

Ordered my new super fast tech suit today, hope it fits...

We were supposed to be practicing 400m race pace today. It's always interesting playing around with gearing, and forcing yourself to go out slower than you want on 50s, as the goal is to maintain the pace throughout the set x2. That being said, I still struggle with my 400m pace. I feel like I really only have a 200m pace and a 1500m pace, so this was good practice to find that gear in the middle. My splits were consistent, which I'm happy to take away from this workout. Also that butterfly in the prep set did a good job of tiring out my shoulders before I got into the main set, although we had plenty of rest.

WU:
300 Easy
3 x 100 Pull/Kick/Swim

Prep:
16 x 25 Fly @ :40

MS:
2x{
4 x 50 building 1-4 @ 1:00
2 x 100 easy/build @ 2:00
4 x 50 @ 400m pace, pushing off on 1:00 (holding ~:44)
2 x 100 @ 400m pace, pushing off on 2:00 (holding ~1:30)
200m easy
}

CD:
9x50 kick/pull/swim

Total was 3700m, but I seem to be missing something in there.

Up since 3:15 am, and sick. Oh, and it’s raining here and we’re tryung to entertain two small kids

Loaded up on cough med and melotonin, and warned my folks that the kids are going to be sent to my folks room if they wake up at 6, like they usually do

---

Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

Man that sucks Jason, hope you can beat it down enough to actually enjoy your vacation. I got the 3 little ones that are virus sponges, I know your pain. That is why I dont plan anything too far in advance, or if I do, I always have a plan to not go, just in case..But sometimes you just have to go no matter what, do your best there and grab as many good moments as you can...

400 WU

6x50 (15s) @ 0:44
14x100 (15s) @ 1:39
8x25 (15s) @ 0:19

300 CD
--------------
2600 scy

Man, its a lot tougher taking out the 5s or rest compared to the USRPT sets I was doing earlier in the year with 20s rest. Also, starting the set with the 50s really adds to the difficulty factor for the 100s.

RDS: 98/95/59
March: 8/19, 16kscy

6.6 mi run in an hour
1575 yd swim

1000 w/u
50 kick
2 x 100 fast (1:13s)
50 kick
200 swim
75 kick c/d


89/95/57

---

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

Just some drill work today

200 warmup
3x200 KRLS
6x50 Golf @ 1:00
200 easy

Went for a big distance set today, on very short rest too. Pretty happy with how it went, may actually be able to do 400IM's in workout soon:

8x500 as 1 buoy@7;15(7;03)1 IM kick@9;30(9;09)2p@6;45(6;30/6;22)1 breast@8;30(7;58)2p@6;45(6;27/6;27) I IM kick(9;22)
4000SCY in 1;01.37

Super happy with the 500 breast holding 1;35 pace, making some good inroads in that stroke... Also saw that I got the 9th fastest time of the past year in my 200 breast this weekend, so top 10 again baby!!!

You'd think this pool would get pace clock since the main one is out for another two weeks. But whatever.

So, still mainly working on my stroke but since I've gotten some good volume [for me] I decided to put some effort into the meat of the 200m sets. Decided to go a bit slower on the warm up to.

2x50 (1:06, 1:04)
2x100 (2:14, 2:23)
6x200 (4:51, 4:50, 4:47, 4:36, 4:32, 5:12)
1x100 (2:46)
2x50 (1:22, 1:26)

---

Washed up footy player turned Triathlete.

10x100 WU odd - swim/drill, even - pull (no paddles)

12x50 on :55 - 25 stroke/25 free

200 kick/swim combo

200 pull

10x100 on 1:45
1,4,7,10 - free
2,5,8 - IM
3,6,9 - pull free (no paddles)

100 CD

3100 SCY

***

Sad news I hadn't seen anyone post, as Kenneth To died yesterday after practice at 26 years old. He was world class, and a little guy in a sport full of tall men. Rip off a good 100 IM in remembrance next time you're in the pool.

No, not going to Mesa. I’m in New England so the snow is almost melted and I’ll be getting out on the bike when it gets up above 50 degrees and cut back on the swimming a bit. So this weekend wraps my pool racing season.

Sounds like the tech suit is a winner, so may try that next to steal some time.
Congrats on the 200 breast. That’s a fast time on a tough race.

300S/200K/300P
4x50 on 45 hold 36’s

Broken IMs
400IM 10 sec at 100s
300IM 10 sec at 75s
200IM 10 sec at 50s
100IM 10 sec at 25s

6x100 pull on 1:30 (1:12-1:13)
2x50 alt fly/free on 60
4x25 alt fly/free on 30
100 cool down

3100 SCY

I just saw that today. Definitely going to do a fast 100 IM next time I’m not n the pool

---

Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

Endurance day today - 300s edition

WU:
300 Easy
2 x 100 IM
2 x 100 Kick/LA/RA/Swim

Prep set (all back stroke)
12 x 50 drill/kick/swim

MS:
2 x {
Broken 300 (50 easy, 200 @ pace, 50 all out)
3 x 100 @ 1:30 (just barely made these)
300 @ pace
150 easy
}
8 x 1 min of vertical kicking because we were done the main set earlier than expected - brutal

CD:
175 easy

Good practice on the endurance stuff. I had a hard time with the backstroke and vertical kicking, especially after an hour trainer ride this AM.

Hope you're feeling better Jason.

Still sick, pretty sure it’s the flu. I am feeling a little bit better, but no way I’m trying to swim yet. On the bright side, at least I’m losing weight because I’ve barely eaten in 3 daysWeather in Bermuda has sucked since we got here, 3 days of rain. It was hard enough just walking up the hill to my parents house last night. Vacation has mostly been sleep, try to entertain the kids, sleep, entertain kids, sleep.

---

Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

Yesterday. Big set - 4900 SCY

Warm Up
300 easy
4 x 150 split kick/swim (kick on back), progress to 80% by last round; r:20
7 x 50 split kick/swim (front, w/ snorkel), progress to 80%; r:10

5 x {
:30 vertical kick, then straight into 50 swim; r:20
*progress each round toward 80%
}

Main Set
4 x 200 pull, progress 70%-85%; r:25

8 x 100 swim @85%; r:15

2 x 400 pull @70%; r:30

8 x 100 swim @92-95%; r:50

Cool Down
200 easy

Threshold pace testing today
400 warmup (drills, IM)
1000 TT (14:24; 1:26/100)
100 cooldown
About the same as four weeks ago (1 sec per 100 faster)
Not bad for 8 weeks in; I know I will be faster next time.

WU: 600 fins (100 free - 50 back)

Main : 2 x ( 600 free - 600 pull - 100 kb - 2 x (25 scull - 25 free))
2 x (400 p+p - 100kb - 2 x 50 (25 scull - 25 free))

Total of 4600meters

8x100 WU - swim/drill/pull

50 x 50 on :50
> 10 pull free (36.xx)
> 10 25 stroke/25 free
> 10 free (34.xx)
> 10 25 stroke/25 free
> 10 free (34.xx)

waited for the top and did a Kenneth To Memorial 100 IM - 1:13 - very happy with that, my arms were turning to jello

100 CD

3500 scy

Yesterdays lunch swim:

600 WU, 200 kick

3x (300 on 4 mins, 3x150 on 2 mins, 3x100 on 1:20, 6x25 sprint on 30sec ) 60 sec between sets.

200 wd

4600 yards

Wow.. nice. Smokin' intervals.

So...let's see if I can remember to press the interval button instead of start-stop next week. Did it the last couple of intervals..so then I'll have my rest in on this.

1900 Meters today...starting to build up longer intervals, personally I'm a tug boat at the moment and just want to survive lol. But the faster I've been in open water, the longer my intervals were previously. That may be just because I'm untrained, dunno.

SCM
2x50 (0:53, 1:05)
2x100 (2:18, 2:25)
2x200 (4:50, 4:35)
2x400 (9:58, 9:30)
1x200 (5:17)
1x100 (2:32)
2x50 (1:15, 1:17)

---

Washed up footy player turned Triathlete.

Recovery, day. Hit 100 runs in the 100/100 yesterday...With my longest run of the year, 11miles.

WU: 400ez

MS:
8x50 (15s) golf...tried different combinations of rate and length for "best" score
12x100 (10s) moderate using best stroke from above

CD:
4x50 kick,
200 pull/swim by 50

RDS: 100/98/60

Morning swim:

500 wu
100 kick
5x100 IM on 1:40
100 kick
5x100 on 1:25
100 kick
3 x 300 on the 3:45 (3:23, 3:19, 3:13)
300 wd

3000 SCY

Gasp.

Today:
10x100 WU alternate 100 choice/100 pull free

12x50 on :50
> 25 stroke/25 free 3x through IM order

8x75 on 1:20
> 25 free/25 choice/25 free

12x50 on :55
> alternate fly/free, free/free (33-34's)

200 CD

3000 scy

3 x 300 on the 3:45 (3:23, 3:19, 3:13)

100's on the 1;15 base, I almost remember those..(-; Thanks for reminding us what real swimming looks like.

Feeling a little better today, working out of a funk:

5x100s@1;40(1;23 to 1;20)
5x100IM kick@2;00(1;52 to 1;46)
500P@7;00(6;12)
200dolphin(3;58)200buoy(2;43)
4x50 breast@1;00(44/43/43/43)100kick 4x50fly@1;10(38/38/38/39)100kick
500p(6;31)
3000SCY

Bit of a red set today.

MS:
3x{
6 x 50m with dive starts
3 x 100 (25 breast/25 free) 3-1 (i.e. fast to slow)
}

I'm getting better at sprinting, and the one thing I want to work on more is ensuring no breathing from the flags to the wall and then not breathing on the first stroke after the flip turn. Was successful until the the last 3 of the last set.

Total was still 3300SCM.

Next week is taper on run/bike so I'm looking forward to having some more energy to put into my swim sets, although I should still take it easy on those... will see what coach has planned.

You feeling any better yet there Jason? Hopefully your health returns before you flight home..

2/3 of my family came down sick yesterday and today, gonna be a real dodge around here to avoid this bug, ugghhh...

So with that in mind, I'm just going to do super easy stretch out workouts, no high HR's until I know I'm clear, or sick myself:

Hot tub warm up;
4x500p@7;15(6;55/46/41/35)
500IM kick(9;48)
2500SCY. all under 105 HR

800 swim
800 pull
800 pull with pads

Man I suck at turns with pads on! Lap times were all over the place on the last 800. Dropped the buoy, dropped a pad, spun upside down, went cockeyed... You name it.

I’ve been slowly getting better, but I still wouldn’t say I’m good yet. I took the family on a ferry ride over to the Dockyards yesterday, 3 hours walking around in the sun and that pretty much wiped me out. For the first time all week I did manage to go the whole day without a nap. I still have no appetite either, just the thought of various foods turns me right off. My mum did make a really nice chicken soup for me, which was really nice of her.

I’m not going to even try to swim again til I get home. No energy and I don’t want to push it early.

---

Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

Back at my home pool and thus short course, makes me happy. :)

200 choice
200 pull
4 x (
4x25 fast on :40
100 tpace
2x25 non free
50 t pace)
200 pull
200 choice

WU:
400ez

MS:
4 x 3x25 (25s) descend (22, 20, 18)
8x200 (20s) 3:29/26/25/26/28/28/28/27 (1:43-4/100 pace)
100ez
200 kick

CD:
200 swim / pull by 50

2800scy

Those 25s really slow down my 200s. I did 800 straight at 1:41pace on Saturday. I could barely manage the 1:43/pace on 20s rest today, though.

Tom, congrats on your 100/100 (and all the swims). I was in Salt Lake last week on vacation so I only swam M/T (already posted) before I flew out.

today 7.25 mi run in 60:08 w/ 1.25 @ 8:20, couple tenths easy, 5.5 @ 8:13
575 yd swim (500 swim + 75 yd kick)

felt good to be back in the pool.

12 swims for March

---

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

WU: 1000 mix

24 x 75 on 1:20 all sorts of stroke combos

4 x 50 CD

3000 scy

I need to find some creativity. That wasn't it.

Thanks, TC. The jury is still out on how I feel about the 100/100 challenge. I let it take over my training a bit too much. I'm glad I did it, but I definately lost sight of my original objectives for January and February. Swimming, in particular, got sacrificed. I'll just have to see how things go from this point forward to give the 100/100 thing a final grade.

The 100/100 was great for me as I almost always went the requisite 30 minutes, which, with my back issues was just right to get running in and not destroy my already fragile back. The only thing I suffered was bike riding, but with the SoCal weather we've had lately, it wasn't only the 100/100 challenge limiting cycling. My swimming is all ocean and I had a great one Saturday, swimming from Oak Street to Shaw's Cove and back for 5700 yards. Held a 1:26 pace, too! Yesterday was 2500 yards and this morning was a lightweight 2000 yards.

---

Proud member of FISHTWITCH: doing a bit more than fish exercise now.

Wrapped up the winter swim season with a 400 IM yards IM in 5:47, 200 IM in 2:40 and 500 free in 6:25. Happy with the IM, but was aiming for a much faster 500 after a 13:09 1000 free the week before. Just a bad race. First 400 IM in competition in 42 years almost to the day. Definitely the toughest event in swimming. Will now reduce swim training by 30% and increase bike by about the same %. May do some open swim water races this summer given successful indoor swim season. Might give RPT a try too after following some of the swimmers on this thread and need to get some speed to do a decent 500yds/400m free.

400 IM yards IM in 5:47, 200 IM in 2:40 and 500 free in 6:25. ///


Nice job on those races, all solid times. Today I pulled the trigger on going to masters nationals, (last day to register was today). I said to myself, if I don't get sick with all these sick people in my house right now, I will enter the meet. I just know when and if I do get sick, it is always at two week layoff at least, and that would be devastating right now with only about 4 weeks left to go. So I got the 100/200/400 IM, 100/200 fly, and the 200 breast. 200 fly and 400 IM are going to be dicey, may not even get to swim one in a race before I really have to, oh well..


Today was up at the high desert pool, drug dan for his 1st workout in ages. Felt really good to be in a real pool, but uggghhh, it was like 85 degrees..


5x100s@1;40(1;20/20/20/20/19)
3x100IM kick@2;00(1;49/48/46)
5x50back@1;00(41/41/41/41/40) very happy with these times, almost never swim back in the club pool
5x100, odds IM kick@2;30(1;48/48/46) evens IM@2;00(1;20/1;18)
300p(3;38)
200kick(3;48)
2050SCY


Had to shut it down on the 300(supposed to be a 500), was just toooo hot!

That's a very nice time for 400 IM!

We did 100s race pace today.

Prep: 9x100 (50 build/50 easy)
MS: 4 x Broken 100s
{
3 x 25s @ 100s race pace
25 easy
50 @ race pace
50 easy
100 @ race pace
100 easy
}

Also saw a bit of the practice for the varsity team. They were doing 100s IM on 1:20 (SCM). Both hectic and inspiring! My fly is just not even close to being smooth enough for that.

Monty, just back from Masters Provincials...similar event line up to you. 100fly, 200 fly, 200IM, 400IM, 800IM, 1500 free and 100 fly legs in two relays and a 50 free leg. it was great to be around so many high quality swimmers. I had a 19 seconds PB on the 400IM (7:14) and 39 second PB on the 1500m (24:03). Day 2, 200 fly was a disaster at 3:36 (I was toast from the 1500 free late the night before), then later in the day I made amends in the 800IM and had a good race in 15:10. By day three, I had no high end. 200IM was 3:32....I felt I had a 3:22 but had nothing to give. I helped our old guy squad to a gold in the 4x100 medley (I was the youngest guy on an 282 year old team LOL...but the old guys could haul), then had to get out of the pool and get across to the other end to do another 100 fly leg in a mixed medley...that one was kind of fun, but no top end...felt like the end of a 200 fly LOL. After lunch I had my solo 100 fly and was 1:35....my hope was 1:32 based on training, but top end was non existent at that point, but you do whatever you can in the schedule. Closed off the meet with a 50 free leg also in the 280+ team. It was cool to be racing with three guys all above 75 and myself at 54! These guys were total studs. They would likely drop 95% of triathletes out of the chute in an Ironman swim start!!!!

Nice results Dev!

3200 SCM this morning
300 wu
6x50 descend 1-3,4-6
200 pull
5 x 400 as odds descend by 100 with 10s between each, 30s at the end / evens T pace
200 ez
100 all out (1:05)
100 cd

nice hardware and ribbons, Dev!

today 6.6 mi run easy 60:20, 2725 yd swim

20 x 100 on 1:30
725 mixing swim and 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

So, I'm stupid and can't do math in the water. Today was supposed to be a 2100m day...ended up being 2350.

Planned Workout

2x50
2x100
2x200
3x400
1x100
2x50

Actual Workout

2x50 (0:58, 1:05) 15 sec rest
1x150 (3:27) 20 sec rest
1x100 (2:19) 20 sec rest
2x200 (4:53, 5:03) 30 Sec rest
3x400 (10:29, 10:53, 10:14) 1 minute rest
1x200 (5:09) 1 Minute Rest
1x150 (4:07) 30 sec rest
1x50 (1:27)

Also, it sort of felt like this last spring. But does anyone feel like they swim slower when the pool has greater volume?

---

Washed up footy player turned Triathlete.

Lol. Strictly speaking, you're just counting...not doing "math".

If it makes you feel better, I can't count above about 400, and that's pushing it. The good thing about that though seems to be that when I think I'm only at 650, then my watch buzzes telling me I'm at finishing 800.

I don't know that I've ever overshot a 100, though. I can usually count to 2. :-)

Congrats Dev. Super ambitious race schedule and it had to be draining. An 800IM is hard to comprehend. Love the hardware.

Monty good luck at Nationals. You’ve got a big schedule with 400IM and 200 fly. The lesson I learned is I did about 200 to 300 yards/practice of 50 and 25 fly intervals in the month before my 400IM, but the fourth 25 fly in the race was a killer and made the first 50 of the back a recovery swim. If you can, do some 100 flys and figure out optimal pace where you can hold form for 100yds and stay relaxed.

Hey, I am no expert at all this, but I found that I can do the 100 fly in the 400IM a bit harder than the opening 100 fly in the 200 fly....exactly because what you said, you can use the start of the back as a bit of recovery.....however, I think you want to breath every stroke for the last 4 strokes of the fly coming into the wall.....then you can do a hard push off and dolphin way past the flags.....your fly leg may be a touch slower, but the back leg should be much faster. The arms get a longer break while dolphining and then when you emerge, then can pull a bit harder while giving the legs a break.

I swam my 100 fly in the 400IM 4 seconds slower than in the 100 fly open, but the 400IM was my first event of the meet.....the 100 fly standalone was my 8th and I was quite cooked. My 200 fly in the 800IM was 9 seconds slower than my 200 fly open. Again the 200 fly, I was pretty cooked. I barely slept after burying myself in the 1500 free on Friday night and 200 fly was early Sat morning....after the 200 fly, I just went back to my hotel and went back to sleep for 2.5 hours and then came back to the deck 1 hour before my 800IM, woke myself, warmed up and had my best race of the meet....after the 800IM, the rest of the meet was like carrying an 800 lbs gorilla on my back.

Well done at Provincials! that's some good swims on a tough schedule. One thing to keep in mind is that it's almost impossible for us old guys to have really great swims (time wise) at every event in a meet. We just don't recover that fast. I typically just pick one event that I want to do really well at, the rest are just to have fun and swim, no pressure on times.

I'm back in NS, didn't swim once while I was in Bermuda. At least I'm over the flu now, so I can get back in the water tonight.

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Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

Welcome back from the heat and from being sick.

3000 SCM this morning.

300 wu
200 pull
3 x (
4 x 50 IM order
200 IM
100 T-pace
4 x 25 IM order
100 IM
100 ez)
100 cd

How do you come up with a set appropriate to your training schedule? For example to swim sub 1 hour in the Ironman

With the limited time (on average 2 times 1.5 hours a week in a 50 m pool), I end up doing sets similar to todays:

1000 m Warming up @ 1.40-1.50/100m
1000 m Paddles/no kicking @ 1.35-1.40/100m
1000 m Steady pace @ 1.40-1.50/100m
500 m Paddles/no kicking easy pace @ 1.50/100m
500 m Cooling down @ 1.55/100m
0-500 m Kicking

On average in total 4000-4500 m

I understand doing intervals is helpful, but what kind of intervals? and why those?

I understand doing intervals is helpful, but what kind of intervals? and why those? //


Well it looks like you swim about the same pace for most of your workout, and in 1000 increments. Your warm up looks to be the same as your steady pace swim, so in essence you are just doing one long, same pace swim. You can do all kinds of intervals, 50's, 100's 200's, doesn't really matter if you do them correctly. Just make sure you are going a lot faster than that 1;40 to 1;50 pace, maybe 1;30 to 1;35 pace. In the beginning do 50's or 100's on that pace, and take whatever rest you need to hold that time, and as you get better you can drop the rest time and decrease the swim pace..

That is how swimmers get faster. The way you are swimming is just maintaining your steady pace, and you are wasting a lot of your time in the water..

6.7 mi run 60:50
775 yd swim

300 swim, 50 kick
200 swim, 50 kick
100 swim, 75 kick

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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

Just filled out my entry for Provincials.

50 fly and 100 fly. That's enough.....

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Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

Maysel do the 1500 too

or not since it's right in the middle of those two - lol

yea, I'm just not feelin' it. It's a long race if you aren't where you want to be fitness-wise. Maybe in the fall.....

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Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

SO today I did a workout where I felt my hands/arms, feet/legs against the water a lot, and at about 400IM race pace. Felt ok and had a really good set of 200 breast:

5x100s@1;40(1;24 to 1;20)
5x100IM kick@2;00(1;51 to 1;46)
6x200, odds breast@3;30/evens flutter kick@4;30( breast-3;07/3;04/3;03)(kick-3;48/3;39/3;34)
200dolphin(3;57)
5x50back descend@1;10(42/42/41/40/39)
100IM kick(1;54)
5x50 free descend@1;00(40/38/36/35/33)
100IM kick(1;55)
3000SCY in 60 minutes

Worked the kick a bit today

W/u
300 s
200 p
100 k (with an extra 50)
4x50 scull/drill
8x25 sprinters game

Main set
2x{
400pull (middle 200 strong) (with an extra 50 on each)
4x50 kick on 1:20 first 15m all out, then steady
4x25 sprint (work the legs) on :30 (alt fly /free)
}

W/d - only time for a 50 ez

2600 total

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Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

Endurance today. 400 sets.

MS:
6 x 400
i) free (I pulled for most of them) @ 7:30
ii) 4 x 100 IM @ 8:30

Total came out to being 3900 SCM with W/U and prep set. We all agreed to do a an extra 100m to make it an even 4K SCM.
The IM really hurt, my fly remains a work in progress. But I'm off to go demolish a pizza right now.

Grrr....fell back asleep yesterday. No big deal. Slipping a day doesn't really matter M/W/Sa vs. M/Th/Sa

today? pool closed due to plumbing failure. They could have, at least, sent out an email...so I could stay in bed.

Sigh.

Monday, Friday, Saturday...is probably not the most optimal swimming schedule.

Showing up for an early swim and finding a closed pool is very high on my list of infuriating things!

Hey All! My first post on ST :) I have some questions and figured this is the most active swimming thread, but first I will post today's workout (only been back in the pool about a month, but grew up swimming and it's great getting back into it):

Run: 15 min run followed by 15 min walk (trying to do couch to 5k and not get injured, since my run is weak at the moment)

Swim:
WU: 500 (100 free/100 back/100 fr/100 br/100 fr)

Main Set:
400 (4x100 descend on 1:45) (1:17, 1:15, 1:15: 1:12) - definitely needed a bit more warm up before jumping right into this set, maybe do some 50's build prior next time
300 (3x100 kick, drill, swim all free on 2:00)
200 IM (drill/swim)
100 IM fast

300 warm down

1800 SCY total

I am looking to do a triathlon in June with a 300m pool snake swim (up and back in the same lane then flip turn into next lane, etc). I have to enter a self seed time and I have read that others guess times are shaky at best. I am worried about getting stuck behind slower swimmers by entering my accurate time, while theirs was just a guess. Have any of you done a pool swim in a tri before? What were some of the better swim times /100m? I will have 2 more months of training under my belt by then and should be in decent shape for the swim (thinking 1:05-1:10/100m). For reference, the last time that I did a tri it was a 1500m OWS, which I was also in decent shape and finished in 19:11. I would like to enter a time that will put me in the top 1/5 of the swimmers and avoid getting trapped in the middle group- not sure if this is possible. Am I being too optimistic?

Are you able to lookup past results for the race to get an idea of the sort of times people are doing? As for avoiding getting caught up, it's a crap shoot no matter what. All it takes is one yahoo that puts in a fast time and things can get backed up.

Put in what you think will be an accurate time, maybe be optimistic by 10-15 seconds or so but you don't want to be the guy yourself that puts down an unrealistic time and cause your own backlog. At the pace you will be going, if someone is passing you they will be a decent swimmer and you may get run over. :)

Thanks for the idea to check out the prior year results! This is a really small local race that has only been going on for the past 5 years. The fastest time last year for the 300m swim was 4:37 and the fastest in the years prior was 3:55. I am thinking that I will go with a 3:45-4:00 seed time, which is 1:15-1:20 pace that I can maintain currently and should be a little faster on race day with a diving start and adrenaline. This puts my mind a little more at ease since this will be my first tri since 2012 and now I can focus a little more on my cycling and running!

I did one of those last year: snake swim, 300m in a 50m pool. Also a small local race. Decent swim times in that race were low to mid 5m. FOP swimmers were low 4m....I don't recall seeing any sub-4m times.

Rule #1: Everybody lies. Unless you seed yourself #1, you will be behind someone slower.

I seeded myself accurately, last year. I started around 80th out of 300 or so. While standing in line, we watched all those before us start swimming. There were LITERALLY side swimmers and breast strokers (slow, granny style) in the first 20 to hit the water.

We used 1 full lane per length. So, 6 lanes. That made passing pretty easy, even coming up on people 2-abreast you could swim between or around them pretty easy.

The biggest issue I had with that swim was how long we ended up standing around after warmup closed. I think it was 15m from close of warmup to the first swimmer in the water. It was probably another 10-15m before I got wet. The pool area was chilly that day, and I was shivering by the time I got in.

However, that was the warmest I was all day that race. Ugh it was cold...46F, in a tri-suit at speed on the bike was NOT fun.

WU: 10 x 100 on 1:40
drill/swim combinations

12 x 50 on :55
25 stroke/25 free IM order

10 x 150 free on 2:15
odd - pull (1:54-1:58)
even - swim (1:47-1:50)

200 CD

3300 scy

PS: check the start rules. We were not allowed to dive. Feet first only for me last year per rule.

Wow...I feel super embarrassed if that was me, especially because everyone else is still standing on deck watching you swim. Ugh, how is that acceptable? I think that would be like saying that you run a 6 minute mile, then start walking 10 steps into the race.

I will look into the rules about diving and also start to manage my expectations about the swim portion of this race. The race is in June, so I am hoping for warmer weather than you experienced (fingers crossed), especially because I would like to just jump out of the water and throw on shorts over my bathing suit and dry out on the bike/run. I haven't decided if this the best course of action yet, but only time and more training will tell.

That's the only pool swim tri that I've done. But, the guys I was in line next to, said it happens all the time. They actually were betting how far deep the first side-swimmer would be. I was busy shivering, but it was somewhere around 9th...not including the honorary Mayoral entry (1st).

As I said, with the full lane width available it was no big deal to pass people. Touch feet, swim around (or between if 2-wide), go. I think I passed 2-3 people per length.

If your race is anything like mine, I'd check the other splits of the fast swimmers (bike+run). None of the sub-5 guys in my race could ride a bike or run or both AT ALL. So, if you can ride+run you might consider just cruising the swim and have a good bike+run. Just a thought.

Today's session...yes the feel of a pool with lower volume is significantly different. Or I'm just a weirdo.

2300m planned, 2300m executed SCM.

2x50 (0:56, 1:15) 15 Sec rest
2x100 (2:22, 2:12) 20 Sec rest
2x200 (4:51, 4:41) 45 Sec rest
3x400 (10:00, 9:51, 9:43) 45 Sec rest
1x200 (5:13) 25 Sec rest
1x100 (2:39) 25 Sec rest
2x50 (1:21, 1:21) 15 Sec Rest

Felt pretty good. Tried to negative split my intervals, for the meat of the swim I did so, so that's cool. Have a Novice sprint next weekend (400m pool swim) so we'll see how I do there. Not expecting a PR, but it would be nice since this is the best structured swimming I've done consistently with triathlon in my four years in the sport. Overall my shoulder feels really good so that's a huge plus.

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Washed up footy player turned Triathlete.

Nope, you're kinda right. Shallow water, bottom is closer, so it appears that you are going by faster, so you're eyes trick your brain into "feeling" like you're faster. I think as you're more experienced that starts to go away.

Or maybe I'm just a weirdo too.

Definitely feels faster. I was in a long course pool last week that was deep in one end and 3 feet in the other and going from deep to shallow felt like I was going much faster. That said, I think deeper is actually faster. :)