Swam today - felt worse than I did 2 weeks ago.
100 S
200 K
300 scull/pull w/snork&buoy
400 Swim
4x125 pad/buoy desc 1-4
4x100 IM desc 1-4
300 scull pull snork&buoy
4x50 drill/swim
4x25 3/2/1/0 breaths
--
2500 y

Scrapped my plans for more descending after the 100's IM because I felt so bad, spent the rest of the time trying to find my stroke and some flow in the water. Outdoor masters starts the 14th, trying to have some aquatic fitness and water feel before then.

---

I wrote this, you should read it:
https://www.slowtwitch.com/...n_Swimming_6700.html

I'm afraid to ask what your horrible out of shape set of 4x100IM's was, because you know it will just make me feel bad...(-;

10th day in a row in the water for me, might be some kind of recent record. Feel tired getting in and warming up, but once there, things loosen up and feel ok. Tried to get some good fly in, still cannot relax a 100:

20x100 as- 5swim@1;40(1;28/26/24/21/18)5-IM kick@2;00(1;56 to 1;49)5fly@2;10(1;33/32/31/30/26)5-IM kick@2;10(1;54 to 1;49)
500pull@7;00(6;13)
3x(2x50buoy@;50/1;10/50fly@1;30) buoys(37/38's) fly's(36.9/36/35)
150pull(1;44)
3100SCY in 59 minutes

I hope I can do my channel qualification in the coming week.

That would be cool! I hope you're able to.

---

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

BACK AT IT... (kind of)

Speed set today was 75s -- we had not done them in a while and never as a stand alone set.

So it was:
20 x 75 on 1:30 done as 4 rounds of 2 easy 3 sprint max

my buddy eric was at 40 then held 39s the rest of the day. He is a machine.

I managed 46s on round 1 -- body started to loosen up
I held 45s on round 2 -- feeling better but no reserves to dip into
I managed 45s on round 3 -- perhaps a 44 in there with the delay looking at the clock
Then the last round I managed 44s. (we did 3 easy and 2 fast on the last round)

Then a 300 easy

6x 25 max kick w board.... I admittedly only went about 90% for fear of massive leg cramps just coming out of nowhere.

** side note is that on tuesday I rode 254 miles up to vermont and back...so I am ... just a touch tired hahaha!!

Oly Trials Wave 1 (I think) starts today...

daved

---

http://www.theundergroundcoach.com

I had adjust my schedule around meetings today, so I went in the morning. Unfortunately, that was short course yards:
1000 free with 100 kick no board as warmup
500 snorkel as 300 free + 200 free with buoy
10 x 50 @ :50, “race pace.” I wanted to see where I was after 5 weeks out and three days of bling course over the past weekend. Held mostly :32-33.
500 with snorkel and paddles
200 as 25 breaststroke 25 free
4 x 25 “sprint” or what passes as sprint for a 49 year-old guy who has always been a distance athlete
200 warm-down

3000y outdoors under overcast skies

Living in Washington State i finally got out on lake yesterday for a 2 mile swim.

Good to see you back Dave, you got a great base now so hold onto it. Those were not bad at all 75's considering your ultra riding before, you are still front pack material!!

Day 11 in a row for me, hot pool and 103 outside, so doing my best. Did manage to get a 1k PR today for just buoy, and that felt pretty good and descended nicely:

5x100s@1;40(1;28 to 1;19)
1000 tt buoy@14;00(13;20--6;47/6;33)
5x100IM kick@2;00(1;55/54/53/52/50)
5x50 breast@1;00(44/43/42/42/41)
5x100p@1;30(1;15/14/13/12/07)
10x25@;40-fly/back--fly(16/17's)back(18/19's)
4x100p@1;30(1;12/11/10/08)
3400SCY in 60 minutes

Starting to feel a tiny bit better about my 1000 I entered, just need a few more good training swims near that 13 minute mark...

Thanks Monty and NICE WORK on that 1k TT! Those are indeed great splits.

Today felt like unfolding a rusty lawn chair for the first part of warm up and the early quick stuff we do.

Then it started to feel more normal.
Certainly lacking pep at the moment but a nice nap today helped and quite a nice bottle of red open currently. So.. there is that.

Keep up the great swimming. Im jealous of your pool time but with things easing here I should be able to get to my outdoor pool more and more easily and maybe some masters work soon. Would be fun.

My private pool (ha) was not available this week as the fam was traveling so sadly, I only had the one pool swim and no nanny tomorrow means Im full time on the homefront. Cant complain and wouldnt wont. Doing a very popular east coast ride sat called Vermont 6 Gaps...
130miles 11k of climbing (I think)..so this red wine better start working its magic... only kidding.

Already signed up for next thursday so... def more to come!

daved

---

http://www.theundergroundcoach.com

Nice work.

Back in today, felt way better than 2 days ago, had to cut it a bit short though for an appointment.

WU-300 swim/200 kick/ 100 scull/swim w/ snork
Main
3x[200 smooth pull, 2x100 swim neg split, 4x50 descend]
rd 1 free descend to 29, rd 2 back desc to 30, 3 free desc to 28

100 ez kick

2500scy 45 minutes.

Got roped into being the swim leg on an Oly Distance relay in 3 weeks. Going to see how often I can swim between now and then!

---

I wrote this, you should read it:
https://www.slowtwitch.com/...n_Swimming_6700.html

yesterday:

300 easy
8x50 drill
500 pull, paddles and buoy
5x100 cruise
500 pull, paddles and ankle band
5x100 cruise

2700scy

+ 30 minutes strength session

today:

300 easy
8x50 drill
4x50 as 25 sprint/ 25 easy
5x100 IM cruise on 1:40 (1:15ish)
5x100 fast + descend on 1:30 (00.0, 59.4, 58.8, 58.8, 58.1)
2x50 easy
1000 pull threshold effort (10:56)
4x50 easy

3200scy

+35 minutes of running sometime this afternoon

---

-----

Got roped into being the swim leg on an Oly Distance relay in 3 weeks. Going to see how often I can swim between now and then! //

Relays are the bomb, especially when you are the swimmer. You will get to hand off first place to your teammates, then sit back and watch it all unfold. You get to scream and yell for them, and no matter what happens, you were I 1st when you were done!! Even though you are just getting back, you know the improvement curve swimming a lot of days between now and the race is huge. I imagine it is no wetsuit?? Have fun and good luck. Get your 200 speed where you can shake any cling ons and then settle in..

Adding on to my pile of days, 100+ outside again, but only 84 inside, I can deal with that. Was planning a recovery type swim, but got sucked into something a bit harder:

9x300 as-3 swim@5;00 easy descend(4;25/4;16/4;06)IM kick@6;30(5;44)pull@4;30(3;44)swim@1k race pace(3;54)2-pull@4;30(3;42/3;39)IM kick(5;49)
10x50@1;10, odds fly controlled/evens recovery buoy( buoys-36/38's) fly's(39/38/38/37/37) 100IM kick(1;56)
3300SCY in 60 minutes

Still searching for an easy fly stroke, but it is just not there. If I go too slow, stroke falls apart, and when I just glide, it sucks me to sub 40's every single time. I really need a 40 that is smooth and easy, it is my unicorn I suppose...

I"ve been in and out of open water around 6 times in the last 3 weeks. It seems every time I go, the wind is high, the waves are huge, the kite surfers are out, the jet skiers are out and the entire thing feels like running on a gnarly trail with cliffs and 100 ft drops that you could die from with a misstep versus heading to track to just crank out intervals and work on your form and run fast. I am putting up with some of these crappy condition swims just for some form of swimming versus none at all. Our outdoor pools are supposed to open up in 10 days. Then it will be like going to run at the track where the conditions are constant.

I've done my fair share of open water swimming in rough stuff because I had to as a triathlete. I do well relative to my age group peers the crappier the open water conditions get, however, that does not mean that I love it (I actually enjoy it on triathlon race day, because it gives me a bit of an advantage, but for day in day out swimming, I can't wait to get back in a proper pool). We barely got 5 weeks of open pools this year so far. But at least I have open water now.

After last Friday I took a 4 day holiday. Back in on Wednesday and boy was I slow. Did a couple 200 Ims and couldn’t break 3:00. Thursday I did 8 100s as 50 drill/swim and then 2 25s all out. Hit 14/15 on fly and free so I got a little bit of speed. Today I did 4x 100ez/75fast free all on 2:00. Went 48 46 47 47 those time are respectable for me. Sat will be distance maybe 4K and Sunday another speed set I’m thinking maybe some 100s pulling.

Also using my treadmill a couple times 2 or 2.5 miles around 30 minutes. Running is like trying swim breaststroke for me

June 1: (400m+200m+100m+50m+25m)WU + 200m in 3:19 + (25m+50m+100m+200m+400m)CD. Planned a 3:04 attempt, but fatigue dictated a tempo effort instead.
June 2: (400m+200m+100m+50m+25m)WU + 25m in 16.5sec + (25m+50m+100m+200m+400m)CD. A weekly 25m day is fun.
June 3: 800m+800m in 14:56/14:35. Easy swimming. I wanted to try my first ever continuous 1600m with flipturns, but I'm not ready for that just yet.
June 4: (400m+200m+100m+50m+25m+25m)WU + 50m in 33.5sec!!! + (200m+200m+400m)CD. I was allowed to dive-in for the 50m trial. A massive PR. :)

This ended week#4 of flipturn school. I'm getting better, gradually, but longer distances still present a challenge, even at an easy pace. I'm thrilled with the 33.5sec dive-in 50m. The turn wasn't great, so I think I can do 32.? on another day.

---

I only swim.
I used to run. (31:09 10k)
I never did Triathlon.
Sue me.

DAMMIT. I was hoping you could swim at least. Sport is a BITCH sometimes.

---

I only swim.
I used to run. (31:09 10k)
I never did Triathlon.
Sue me.

i've never posted in one of these threads and have never been much of a fish.

i was a swim team kid, growing up, but never a particularly good pool swimmer. but i was also a beach lifeguard, and a surfer, and i navigate and feel the water pretty well. i'd say i've got a fairly strong stroke but a slowish one, and i sink like a rock. when i got my first wetsuit, though, a lightbulb went off in my head! so overall i'd say i underperform in the pool and overperform in open water.

after a long bloody time out of the pool, things have opened up here and i'm finally able to get in the water. my first swim back, two weeks ago, was sort of crap - rushed for time, expensive, and sharing a pool with a bunch of weird 'denizens' to head-up breast stroke, synchro swimming, and so on. and yet - yet! - it felt magic.

i've also managed to jump into the outdoor pool once last week. it was still barely 18 degrees, and after a little over 1000m i had to get out.

but finally, a few nights ago i managed to sneak out after the kids were asleep, and get in a quick late-night session at the local 25m indoor pool.

350 warmup as 50 float/100 kick/100 pull/100 swim
3x200 tempo w/paddles
2x100 tempo pull
4x50 sprint free
100 cool down

it's barely 1000m. and my times in the sprints were depressing. but dammit, the tempo sets still sort of felt OK, and my stroke felt like it was coming together again.

let's never take swimming for granted again!

---

____________________________________
https://lshtm.academia.edu/MikeCallaghan

http://howtobeswiss.blogspot.ch/

Last month it was like that here in Bournemouth and it was horrible that I couldn't swim for more than 1-2 hours in such condition (consistently windy and rainy with 11-12°C water temperature), but since the bank holiday weekend, weather has improved and it's now consistently sunny with some calm days.

I have done my 6-hour qualifier today. Air temperature was 14-18°C, water temperature was about 14-14.5°C, condition was calm at the start building up to near BF 3 at the end.

However, my body was not prepared and I felt crap afterwards. My current endurance level is only 3-4 hours, down from 5-6 in winter before moving to the UK, probably because I couldn't swim a lot during the last month when it was cold and windy. (I'm a weak swimmer who don't last long when put in cold windy sea). I swam more than 2.5 km in my first hour but probably only 1.6 km in the last hour, with the wind and current built up. My feeling is much like my 16 km swim last December.

For pool swimming, here the options are limited. I have found two 25 m indoor pools with good transport connection near my home (10 minutes by express bus for one, 10 minutes by train for another one). However, as COVID restrictions are not fully lifted yet, they are still operating 50-minute slots which are seldom available. The local triathlon club here has moved to sea swimming so I think I should join them!

Dr. Tigerchik wrote:

You're sweet. Thanks. The good news is I think the bone stimulator is working and I hope to be back in the pool on 6/17.

day 8 of rest here :-)

---

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

When you say "rest", do you mean, like, zero dry-land stroke training with bands or weights, or associated abwork? :)

---

I only swim.
I used to run. (31:09 10k)
I never did Triathlon.
Sue me.

Saturday may 29: absolutely complete rest
Sunday may 30: supervised my cousin swimming laps and found a couple seconds per 100 for her. We floated in the warm pool for 15 minutes. I did not get in the lap pool - just the warm pool. I tried my absolute best not to move my foot.
Monday may 31: abs and glute exercises, foam rolled
Tuesday June 1: absolutely complete rest
Wednesday June 2: lat pulldowns, rows, abs and glute exercises, foam rolled
Thursday June 3: absolute complete rest
Friday June 4: abs and glute exercises, foam rolled
today: absolute complete rest

---

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

I should have known! :)

---

I only swim.
I used to run. (31:09 10k)
I never did Triathlon.
Sue me.

So, um, does my 33.5sec 50m dive-in mean that I could be sub30sec 50scy? I know I'm not "a competitive swimmer" but I'd be damned thrilled with a sub30 in the shorter pool.

---

I only swim.
I used to run. (31:09 10k)
I never did Triathlon.
Sue me.

Subtract about 4 seconds to get your yards time so most likely about 29.5

Went 4300 today and did 35 minutes on the treadmill

Main set was IMs on a 1:45 base:

2 100s
200
300
200
2 100s did the set straight through with no extra break.

Did 1200 yds kicking last 400 I used my dmc fins. 8x 100 kick@2:20, 50 fast kick @ 1:00

That looks like a good just get in shape set there T, no doubt you will be back real soon to some great times. I went for my last day of my streak today, heading out to Vegas tomorrow for 5 days. Thanks to the fishes here I got a couple great swims planned there with a group too, in a pool with coolers. That will be fun to have little races.

Thought I would do a set of 10x100 breast and a 3k pull to just get in some yardages, but the lower pool was about 82/83 and the oxygen felt really good, so I set a plethora of workout PB's today(as in last couple years):

6x100 breast@2;00(1;39/36/32/30/29/27) 2x100IM kick@2;15/2;45(1;51/50)
200 breast for time@4;00(2;56+--1;27/1;29) new WO PR
500pull@7;00(5;56)200IM kick@4;30(3;45)
12x100@2;00 as 2 buoy/1 stroke IM order- Buoys(1;18/18/17/16/17/16/17/16)Fly(1;16-37/39 new PR)back(1;21 new PR)breast(1;24 New PR) 100 pull(1;01-30 flat on feet out, New PR)
2900SCY in 58 minutes

Today was a big surprise as to how I felt, been swimming tired for a week. After the 200 breast tt I just kept going, the 500 was supposed to be medium hard recovery and I nearly PR'ed that too. So really feeling good about the swims, and almost got under a minute!! Long fly and IM is starting to shape up..

My first thought is what an animal!!! Second thought is you shouldn’t be able to swim that fast right now. You need to beat up yourself up some more this week and on through early July. Keep it up and maybe get in a fast lane in LV and see what you can do.

I jumped on to post my tech suit purchase. I use metro swims shop. They have some good prices and I bought one of these:

https://metroswimshop.com/product.7050711.htm

They have a 15% off coupon on tech suit purchases good until tomorrow. My suit was $82 w/tax and free shipping. I went down a size and got a 30 my last one was a 32 which is the biggest they sell. The 32 fit ok but I hear they are suppose to be really tight and hard to get on and I could get the 32 on pretty quick. My old suit will be my back up now

I was trying to beat the storm clouds, so I decided to go into a pace set after a short warm-up:

400 free warmup
2 x 100 as 50 kick on back, 50 at pace speed
14 x 100 @ 1:35. Held mostly 1:15-17 until the last two
2 x 100 as 50 kick on back, 50 fast
400 snorkel free
4 x 100 as 50 back, 50 free build (no interval)

(Got out, walked to the 25y pool:)
2 x 25 fly on 49 year-old shoulders

(Got out, went back to 50m pool:)
200 easy

3200 long course meters + 50 yards

Gave it a shot even though my lats and triceps are pretty sore.

8 100s @1:30 last one a 1:12
8 100s 50 kick, 25 swim, 25 dolphin on back 2:00
8 50s on 1:00 with fins. Underwater dolphin kick to 15, second lap misc drills
8 50 alternate fly/bk and brst/fr. last two I did like a broken 100im 35/38
Did a 50 ez and then tried a 200 Im, 2:46 but got tired the second 100, goal here is 2:42 without killing myself
8 100s pulling. 1st 4 @1:45, 2nd 4 @ 2:15 fast went 04 03 03 and 05, last one fell apart but still not too slow. These need to be faster especially when Monty does a 01 haha. I think another week of yardage then some shorter stuff like 25sand 50s to try to get some speed.

Hit the gym for some Ab and leg work about 25-30 minutes

Yesterday first Olympic Tri in over 2 years:

22:15 1628yds on watch.
27.7mile bike 1hr 20. Raining, windy and hilly(1440ft gain) with technical descents.
6.3 mile run: 41:25


Today: 2300yd

800 warm up
100 kick
3 x (100 fast 1:20, 50 ez on 50)
100 kick
5 x 100 pull on 1:15
100 kick
250 wd

Those are some nice LCM splits on your 100s...
115s is not a walk in the park.

Hopeful there will be some LCM action out here at somepoint.

Swam an easy 3k in the outdoor (glorious!!) pool today.
There was nothing special about this swim other than it came on the heels of a nearly 400mile week on the bike last week! So ill front door brag on that for one last time
Did 256 one day up to our ski place and back. 14,500vert
Then did the famous vermont 6 gap ride 130 miles 12,400vert

So the fact that I even considered grabbing a kickboard is a miracle.. ha But I did and it helps a ton. 500 kick w board and it felt awful but after I felt like a million bucks.

Ok, all for now. Speed Sesh thursday again, weather permitting. Not sure what we will do yet. But Ill keep yall posted.

daved

---

http://www.theundergroundcoach.com

I am beyond thrilled in this first session of Week#5 of Flipturn School.

Just last week, 800m seemed to be rather stressful. (There was a 2x800m session when 1x1600m seemed to be out of my grasp.)

Today I decided to swim continuous and easy again, and maybe I'd get to 1000m before needing a break?

I felt great at 800m....and 1000m....and I decided that 1500m would be a new goal. But then 1500m came and went without any stress. 2000m? (I think you know how this ends.)

I did 3000m (55:50) feeling wonderful the whole way, and with mostly decent turns.

This is a huge step for me, and a huge mental block erased. My brain was rewired for a new tasking today.

If I was any happier there would be two of me.

---

I only swim.
I used to run. (31:09 10k)
I never did Triathlon.
Sue me.

Had to stop dinner prep and put on the tv for the kiddos...

I LOVE THIS!! CONGRATS!

5 weeks

5 weeks is nothing and it has changed your swimming forever and your outlook and created this amazing accomplishment.
I love hearing about this stuff.
WELL DONE!

Enjoy! Keep working. But enjoy...

Ok gotta kill the tv before the wife hears it on! haha

daved

---

http://www.theundergroundcoach.com

That’s a substantial breakthrough. Congrats.

Aw, thanks guys.

Hey daved, I see you did 3k easy today also.

Maybe this deserves a different thread, but do many of you Real Swimmers do easy/continuous swims often? We love posting our sexy workouts with fast (for you guys!) 100s etc etc etc, but what about just boring old easy/continuous/zoned/therapeutic swimming?

I think I will do much more of this.

---

I only swim.
I used to run. (31:09 10k)
I never did Triathlon.
Sue me.

Never. T30’s (30 minute swims) or 3000’s for time still give me a cold sweat. Therapeutic swimming is probably up to 1000 (straight) for me. If I just need to hear the bubbles it’ll probably be a long smooth paddles/buoy/snorkel set.

---

I wrote this, you should read it:
https://www.slowtwitch.com/...n_Swimming_6700.html

"hear the bubbles" :) I like that.

(I am also aware that you are a very accomplished swimmer.)

Anyway, thanks everyone. I read all posts here....and hopefully learn.

---

I only swim.
I used to run. (31:09 10k)
I never did Triathlon.
Sue me.

So got to the Muti generational pool complex here in Vegas today, and what a beautiful facility. They have a nice water park with slide right next to the 50m pool(set up in SCY), so dropped off the wife with kids, and I got in a no reservation, no time limit, 81 degree sea level pool!! I got in a bit early and did 1k of super easy stretch out stuff, was way faster than normal. Could be the deep fast pool, or the old, old race suit I found in my bag and put on..A few guys showed up, we each had our own lanes, and the guy calling out the workouts was on some kind of speed. He rattled off a whole bunch of 200's, 150's, 100's, 75's, 50's, and 25's and I lost track after the first few sets. But he would then yell them into the gutter before each swim so that we knew what to do each time.

And good thing too, because I got almost no rest what so ever, we did 4000 of this stuff, slowest interval a 1;20 base, fastest was 1;10, and not one single break in the entire day!! There was a couple of 50's kicking on the minute, I swam them easy to catch my bearings. Of course I had to pull the entire workout, and it was mostly all a blur, but here are some things I remember:

first set was 2100 starting with 200 on the 2;30(2;19) then 100's on the 1;20(1;09/10's) and 75's on the minute(52/53's)We did the last 100 all out on the 1;30(1;02) and I foolishly though we were done. That was the rest between the next set of 1900, doing a 200@2;40/2x100@1;20/4x25@;20/75's@;55/1;25's@1;35/and some 100's@1;15..I did 2;19 to 2;26's on the 200's and 1;10 or so on the 100's, just made the 75's on ;55 and I can't remember the rest.

Needless to say it was a workout I never thought I could do in a million years, and no drafting, but pulling the entire thing. The guy leading I figured had to have been a great swimmer in his day(now 42 years old) but when I asked, he never swam high school or college. He was a frigging synchronized swimmer! And then he tells me that he cannot sprint worth a beans, is now a 10k specialist! And that is after doing a 55 for his fast 100, and holding low minutes for the entire 4k of stuff we did, sheesh!!!

So today I did 5k for a new yardage total record, and 4k of it pulling at an average pace under 1;10 average, on a 1;10 to 1;20 base.. I'm as flogged as I can ever recall, but figure this has to help my 1000 out once I can absorb this. They are doing an IM day on Wednesday, but I will be skipping a lot of swims to keep my pace up, heard they do IM's on the 1;20 base!!

Hammered off into the lake ITU pace as if I was to be ducked.
New goggles failed.
Stopped and adjusted.
All good - upped the pace to ludicrous speed. Form be damned.
Terrible sighting - 15:20 - 2 min faster than last time.
Return trip was controlled bi-lateral.
This time the loon showed up at about mid-lake.
Focused on that extra push at the end of the stroke, until the weeds got so bad I went into survival mode. 14:30 return trip.

---

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

I see what you did there.

---

I only swim.
I used to run. (31:09 10k)
I never did Triathlon.
Sue me.

Ran three miles in the AM yesterday. Evening workout of 3600yds. Main set was:

100
2x 300 4:15
100
3x200 2:40 descend 1-3
100
6x100 1:20 des 1-3, 4-6

Not much luck on the descend but got through it. Entering the pier swim Saturday. Water temp 64

Monty sounds like Vegas is an alternative universe..,make the best of it

Not much luck on the descend but got through it. Entering the pier swim Saturday. Water temp 64

Monty sounds like Vegas is an alternative universe..,make the best of it //

Dan and I are entered in the pier swim on sat too, hope we can both make it. Still waiting for a start time, did you get one yet? Looks like a 3 hour window for the 25 person starts, so could make a big difference when we have to leave here for the 2 hour drive.


Yes the swim here was other worldly. The peer pressure(and my own put on myself) to do this guys set of 4k was high, and just glad I didnt know the entire thing beforehand. My mind would have quit in the middle somewhere for sure, thinking no way I do 1;10 to 1;20 base pulling for that long. It was a lot like running in triathlon in the old days when you are trashed, just focus on the next hill, next corner, and dont even think about the finish line until you can see it. There was something like 3x100@1;15 towards the end where I went 1;16 on the first one, but got mad and caught back up to the interval doing 1;12 on the 2nd, and then made the 3rd, only to then move onto 75's on the minute after. It really was a blur, but I made it. Will take a run day today and then go for stroke day tomorrow, that should be some real fun!!


Maybe catch up at Huntintgon on Saturday... And nice job on your set, a big notch down on the intervals, you must be feeling pretty good..

Good question...

Typically (for the past many years and too many to actually think about and admit) I had fallen into the "how many yards did you do?" kind of thing. with the limited pool time w masters and stuff.
Bc for years (again) I was so inconsistent I just shrugged it off and accepted it as my metric of efficient swimming.

So over the course of that time, rarely did I do any pleasurable easy long swims (like I did yesterday).

Over the past almost 2 years now but more with covid, I have gotten much more specific with super hard stuff. The sexy stuff I share on here. But I have also worked to have a bigger delta between my hard workouts and my easy ones. So, what you see on here is a 3500 yard swim workout where I am sprinting/racing within it. Think of it as a track workout running 1/4s or 1/2s etc... And then yes I compliment that ridic hard swim w ridic easy ones. I try to get 3 swims per week with the occasional 4th. One is my sprint set. One will have some tempo type stuff and the other two are what you saw yesterday. Just getting in, swimming easily. Workin on some kicking and sculling and breath work. But very little stress.

I hope that helps answer your questions.

Coaching at the Olympic Training Center back in the day, this is how we did things. Specific work. Focused. Goal times. Stroke rates, HR, volume etc followed by workouts where they could just swim 3-4k of loosely organized but easy efforts. I often would dive in and swim w them on these days. (made me feel like I could swim in the olympics... until I would jokingly push the pace on something and promptly be put in my place!!)
I also heard on the lance armstrong podcast when he was speaking w ryan hall... that they would run that way. Super hard focused runs that almost killed him followed up by super easy days where he would run 5-7 miles at 7:30 or slower pace.

Ok.. Ill stop now. But there you have it.

daved

---

http://www.theundergroundcoach.com

Monty,

YIKES... that sounds crazy!
Nice job getting it done!

Keep at it, it will pay off for sure.

daved

---

http://www.theundergroundcoach.com

Kits pool open & back in Vanc so first couple of sets since last summer. Felt great due to surfing (duck dive or be hammered :)
But not quite the same so missing some long course punch
9am time block was open. You get about 45 mins.
Today water was boiled up to 79DegF, air is cool at 55 DegF

The pool is a nice change from the (Sproat) lake at 59DegF - I've been just doing 100M off the dock then jumping out. Haven't bothered with using the wetsuit.

---

Training Tweets: https://twitter.com/Jagersport_com
FM Sports: http://fluidmotionsports.com

We should be in the same wave if they keep the old guys together. They are suppose to notify us Thursday by email. I’ve got some feet to hang on now😀

edit surfline has live cams of both north and south side of the pier. you can check out the conditions friday am to see what saturday may look like. Negative tide early am switching to mid day high tide...I hope I'm in an early wave.

Well hopefully they schedule all the like ages at around the same time, so early conditions vs later ones dont make the difference. But hard to know if low tide will be better, usually means more of that sweeping side current they have at the pier. And the waves cold be better at high tide too, so there is that possibility of a free ride. But running out in the shallows is definitely faster than swimming, but that HR spike about 50 yards in after ducking under your 3rd wave can be brutal...

Another easy one today.

3400 total. SCY but outside as the bubble is off and Monty... the water is 84 degrees (we have had 3 super hot days out here and the pool has warmed up from the sun)... So i was thinking of you today as I could feel the heat of the water and sun as I was swimming.

Some small changes to the routine as I have a 100IM (maybe) at Nats....

1000 typical 200fr 50 back, 200fr 50 bk/br , 200free 50 br, 200 free 50IM (1/4 length each stroke)
500 as 75 swim 25 kob
500 as 75 swim 25 scull (really working the scull tho. Fingers slightly apart to increase hand speed)
----
200IM Drill (basically right arm only then left arm only) super easy
4 x 25 of each stroke on :30-- felt pretty good. Fly feels nice. Back is always my shit stroke, I just get my hands stuck at my hips sometimes... the breast took all 4 to feel normal and the free was focused on chest down w constant kick the instant i leave the wall.
400 kick w board
----
300 warm down

maybe thats 3500 I dunno...

daved

---

http://www.theundergroundcoach.com

I start outside next week and can't wait. Though our summer pool is 26.5 meters long... Sometimes that's good though because I have no frame of reference for fitness or fatness.

Today's swim - starting to panic about 1500 meters of openwater, lol.
wu - 4x200 S-K-Sc/P-IM(d/s)
main:
3x200 2:40 descend w/ pad&buoy 2:25/2:20/2:15
6x100 1:30 desc 1-3,4-6 1:12/1:10/1:08, 1:09/1:06/1:03
12x50 0:50 desc 1-4, 5ez 6 fast 35/34/33/31/-/29, 34/33/32/30/-/28

200 k ez wd

2600yds 50 minutes

---

I wrote this, you should read it:
https://www.slowtwitch.com/...n_Swimming_6700.html

Hello, I'm an Adult Onset Swimmer and I have a confession to make.

I have had three swim sessions in the past two weeks and it's been great. Really low volume right as I'm slow as a mofo. Last week started at 39 minutes. This week upped to 35 minutes.

1100m last T/Th. 1200m this past Tuesday.

Basically shutting down pools kept me out of swimming for over a year. Glad to be back and ready to build some endurance through the Summer and then starting putting in hard work in a couple of weeks with time targets.

---

Washed up footy player turned Triathlete.

On outer Cape Cod this week and ocean is 57F, but local lake in the National Seashore a very nice 72F. Did 52 minutes for first OWS of year. Found my self zig zagging a bit and trouble siting landmarks into a setting sun. However not flipping every 25 yards gets me into a nice rhythm. and no pace clock to tell me how slow I’m going. Back to the pool next week.

Took Tuesday off for some rest and got a massage. Today went 3200yds. Main set was 20 50s on a minute except the breast was 1:05. Pretty uneventful. Put fins on and did 12 25s on 30 to end practice.

Possibly the hardest 1500 yards of my life!
A mess of a morning had me running late to the pool and I felt awful bc my swim buddy had to go it alone.
Only had about 35 min after arriving before our window was closed.

Did a 500 warm up
Then a set of 4 x 50 alactate work to try to wake up.
Easy 50
4 x 25 max on :45 (also to try to wake up)
easy 50
Then 2 x 50 OTB and they are on video!!! So if you want to see it, head to my insta account MyMainSet and you can see us both. Then had a 100 warm down. Total shit-show of a morning. OOOOF...

Eric was 23.2 range and I had myself, sadly, around 24.6-.7 (on the first one) second one was a touch slower but I only had about 3 min between them)
certainly hoping for faster but that will come. As we will cont to work on this as I build toward masters nats.

Goal would be 23 low range before heading to the meet.

All for now. Check out the swims if you are on insta.

daved

---

http://www.theundergroundcoach.com

Nice to see your OW is opening up, so fun to just point a direction and just swim. I really think this kind of swimming contributes to overall strength in the water, eliminating the flip turns and just being able to focus continuously on your catch and pull..

Well I had session 2 here in Vegas, but the water park closed for some reason, so I had to get in before the group swim and do my own thing. Which was fine, because I was not looking forward to just making intervals doing IM stuff, really want to focus on gaining speed at this point. With that in mind, got some new PR's in this great pool, even though it inched up in temp a bit..

5x100swim@1;40(1;19/18/16/16/14)5xIM kick@2;00(1;48/46/44/43/1;38 new PR)
8x200 as 1 buoy@3;00(2;40)1 pull@3;30(2;25) 1 IM @4;00(2;41, 95% effort)IM kick@4;30(3;45)buoy@3;00(2;37)pull@3;30(2;24)IM kick@4;30(3;43) IM 98% effort(2;37.9 new PR)
16x50@1;00-4 buoy(39/38's)4 kick(52's)4pull(37/35/33/32)4 broken IM@1;10( 2;19//fly-32/back-38/breast-39/free-30- New PR for broken IM)
2x100p warm down(1;18/1;14)
3600SCY

This is exactly what I needed, a 200IM breakthrough. I was very motivated watching the guys in the lane next to me holding 1;09/10's for their IM 100's on the 1;20. I know I used to be able to do that, but at least a couple decades ago. Push off 32 fly controlled was nice, I may have to do some dive 50's to see if I can go 29 low anymore. Gonna sneak in for one more today before we start the drive home, thinking about some breast and distance free work. Got to take advantage of this fast pool while I can, and set some new standards to hopefully shoot for in the hot/high pool...

35 minutes at lunch.


3x50 @ 1:06
9x100 @ 2:20
2x50 @ 1:12

---

Washed up footy player turned Triathlete.

Hey T, Dan and I got our pier swim start times, 10;15, did you get yours yet? It looks like an old guys heat, but maybe 60+. You are probably in the one just before us. I recognize a few of the names in mine, some old lifeguard competitors that were pretty good in their day, but after 60 who knows?? (-;

Did a last swim before getting on the road in Vegas, swam on my own and set a few more workout PR's:

5x100breast@2;00(1;35/32/31/28/1;23 new PR)5x100IM kick@2;00(1;48/48/48/47/1;35 new PR)
1000buoy for time@14;00(13;07--6;36/6;31 new PR)200IM KICK@4;30(3;50)
12X100(2Xpull@1;30/2;00/stroke@2;30)pulls(1;15/14/14/13/13/12/13/12) 100fly(1;18 died bad last lap)2x50fly(36/36)4x25 fly(16's)4x25 breast(20's/19)
4x50buoy@1;00 descend(38/37/36/34)
3600SCY

Knocked a second off the 100 breast and 13 off the 1000buoy. The big surprise was 3 seconds off the 100IM kick, didnt think that was possible one day later. And my IM kick is flutter, breast, fly,breast. No back as that interrupts my board work..

You're ripping right now!

500 wu
500 strong neg split 200fr/50bk
400 25sc/175 form snork/buoy
400 strong neg split paddles/buoy 150fr/50bk
300 k fins board
300 k fins back
200 im d/s form on swim
200 im d/s strong on swim
4x25 varible sprint
100 warm down

3000yds 47 minutes

most I've swum since last summer 8 days to raceday

---

I wrote this, you should read it:
https://www.slowtwitch.com/...n_Swimming_6700.html

Monty I got a 10am start. Bummer we are not racing in the same wave. There is one uber fast open water guy in my wave to try to keep up with. I did 3600 Thursday evening and surprisingly was pretty fast including a !:15 100IM in the middle of a set. Did a bunch of pace work trying to hold 33 for my 50s but I think that will be too fast. Most likely swim in the 35/36 range.. Also did my abs and weights afterward. Woke up and went and did my friday workout...3100 yards. More pacework trying to figure out what I can hold...i did 8 75s with 4@1:10 and 4@1:05. Most were 53/54s that seems doable. I think I can adjust this on the fly if I need to and thats what I was trying to play around with in my sets...letting my heart rate get a little too high and backing off a bit and keep going with the rest of the set. Treadmill for 30 minutes after my swim.

Saturday I may warmup at my gym pool and then head to the beach since my swim isn't that early. Water temp dropped a little its 61 ugh. Waves form the west and pretty small and mushy cause of high tide. all the surfers were on the north side of the pier this morning not much there to body surf into shore during the race. slight current running opposite of normal probably a nonfactor.

this week's swim days:

Tuesday
300 warmup
8x50 drill
5 rounds:
200 cruise
200 with paddles as 50 kick/ 50 swim
3x100 easy
3000scy

+30 minutes running

something was really wrong with the pool chemical. Smelled and felt like swimming in bleach (slimy/soapy feeling on the bottom of the pool, etc) and tasted bad (don't actually know what bleach tastes like), different from normal pool chlorine. Watching for the suit from this session to fall apart in a week.

Thursday (pool back to normal, as in hot)
300 warmup
8x50 drill
threshold efforts, ~30s rest after each
2x400 (4:37, 35)
2x300 (3:25, 24)
2x200 (2:13's, trying really hard to even split)
4x100 (1:04-04-03-03)
4x50 easy
3100scy

+shortened bike workout, only about 15min. just didn't have any juice for hard efforts.

Friday
300 warmup
8x50 drill
4x50 25 sprint/25 ez
200 near all-out (1:57)
4x50 cruise
2x [100 near all-out, 3x50 cruise] 55.8, 56.5 (feeling the drain..)
3x[50 fast, 2x50 cruise] 26's on the fast ones, should be faster
2300scy

+30ish minutes running easy with strides

---

-----

Week 5 of Flipturn School continued thusly:

June 8: Just 4x500m easy, in a busy pool, feeling tired after My Big 3000m the previous day.
June 9: Another 3000m, this time in 54:15. I just felt like....er...."consolidating my new learning".
June 11: (400m-200m-200m)WU + 1500m in an easy 27:55. I was thinking about a tempo 1500m, but the warmup dictated otherwise.

So this was a strange week, where I just swam easy/distance. I just wanted to get over a major hump regarding flipturns on longer swims.

---

I only swim.
I used to run. (31:09 10k)
I never did Triathlon.
Sue me.

Thanks daved. I know many "real swimmers" have strong opinions about easy/tempo 1500m/3000m swims, but I am convinced that I need them, often.

(And congrats on that recent 50. I'll try to see the vid...)

---

I only swim.
I used to run. (31:09 10k)
I never did Triathlon.
Sue me.

A slight aside perhaps, but what do you folks think the Men's WR 3000m SC could be, if one of the very best 1500m people put their mind to it?

I'm going with right around 29:00.

No, I don't think I'll be attacking that anytime soon. :) But I'm a math geek and I love to do comparisons across the whole distance spectrum with my own very modest swimming. My best score so far is 60% at 50m (dive-in 33.5sec).

Edit: And just to up the swimgeek factor, what do you suppose the Men's WR 25m is? I say 9.4sec.
https://blogs.ugr.es/...eb-dressel-analysis/

---

I only swim.
I used to run. (31:09 10k)
I never did Triathlon.
Sue me.

Well finally got race #1 in the books, been a long time since I was on a starting line. And unfortunately for me and my heat, we had to wait an extra Hal hour because of a local surfer paddle out. Water temp dropped to about 62/63 or so, which I love, just not standing around and getting in and out to try and stay fresh for the start. Got a great start, got on some girls feet who missed her earlier heat, but then made a bad move to leave them once around the pier. It was really mushy surf and almost impossible to catch body surfing, but I thought at least I would get some white water push if I angled over to the main break. No dice, we all swam literally up to the shore, and my ride I abandoned would have netted me about 15 more seconds. Choices and consequences, it is the riddle of OW racing to solve each and every single race, fun!!!

Results here, figure it was about 950 to 1000 long, a real barn burner as far as OW races go;

https://www.huntingtonbeachca.gov/...for%20Web%202021.pdf

Dan bailed today after yesterdays race for him too, so I took his Sunday slot and busted out some stroke stuff:

10x100, odds swim@1;40/evens breast@2;00-swims(1;25/21/18/17/15)breast(1;35/32/30/29/27)
10x100@2;00- odds buoy/evens fly- buoys(1;19/20's) fly's(1;31/30/29/27/25)
3x200p@3;00/2x50bk@1;00- pulls(2;30/2;28/2;21) backs(41/40/41/39) 50 kick
ran out of time- 2950SCY in 53 minutes

Dam it is getting hot up here, and looks like we are in for a real burner all week, going up to over 110 at the peak. Back to my normal hot pool, it did not disappoint once again.)-; Figured I would do some pace work thinking about my 1000.

5x200 as 3swim@3;10(2;46/40/38)1 IM kick@4;00(3;48)1 breast@4;00(3;06--1;03/1;03)
10x100@1;30(9buoy/1 swim)-(1;17/16/15/14/14/14/15/15/14/13.9swim)
2x(300p@4;00/200IM kick@4;30-pulls(3;45/3;41)kicks(3;56/3;48)
4x(50buoy@1;00/2x25fly@;40) buoys(39/38/37/36) flys(16/17's)
3400SCY in 60 minutes

It has been enjoying following the swimming trials over on that swim thread, giving just a bit more motivation when I hit the wall and it is 100+ outside and 85+ under water!!

I feel ya Monty. We hit 100 here is Austin about 2.5weeks earlier than normal (heat index now steadily over 100F in the afternoon). Today the pool was a scorching 88-89F as measured by my watch. I usually think it's too hot when it reads 84-85 (the sensor on the Garmin is slow, so that's an average temp of water and air to some degree, but is usually pretty close to the pool temp). I've got to make it to one of the spring-fed pools downtown this week to get some proper work in; watching Trials makes me want to swim hard and fast.

Wanted to do a hard threshold set of 400 repeats, but one toe in the water told me that was not in the cards today. Even removed my cap after warmup.

300 'warmup'
8x50 drill
3 rounds :
400 pull with paddles and buoy on 5:00
4x100 cruise on 1:30 (slower interval, trying not to overheat)
2x50 easy

3200scy

will get in some running later, but maybe not until the sun goes down.

---

-----

Congrats on whipping your age group!!
Great swimming Monty.

We had to switch up our speed work this week bc of travel and work stuff so we did our shortened speed sesh today.


2 rounds of
4 x 25 max on :45 -- I dont know times but I was generally keeping pace w my buddy.
1 x 50 max -- I was 26high and 26 low on these.
300 easy between rounds

Then we did 2 x 50 dive race off the blocks. You can see them on my insta account at MyMainSet if you want to see video of it.
Eric is OBV faster than I was but in my defense (and here come the excuses) I did do a 10k hard run this am with 4 x 1/2 mile TEMPO efforts within it. My 10k run was 6:49/mile w the 1/2 mile efforts coming in at 6min/mile pace... so i was fighting both fatigue and massive leg cramping. I fended them off for the most part.

Check out my swim on insta, from last week and this week.. lemme know what you think.
Nothing like posting stuff out to the real world to keep me accountable.

All for now.
Off to Lake Placid for some course recon w a client today. Should be a nice ride tomorrow and good weather up there.

daved

---

http://www.theundergroundcoach.com

And I feel you Adrian, 88/89 is another world. I remember swimming in La Quinta in the middle of summer and the lap pool I was at was 92. It is just a whole different kind of experience, and not a good one. I suppose when I think about it, I would have to do the same thing when I ran out there and it was 110+. Just jog some 8 minute miles, thinking it was super easy, and after 4 or 5 miles I was just trashed(was a 6+ minute mile runner back then). I think if I had to swim in your water now, I would just do some 50's on a minute or so, and stand up and try and cool off. But not now, gonna be 110+ in the air tomorrow!!

So just a 100 today and the usual 85, so did some good work and paying for it now:

4x(3x100s@1;40/100IM kick@2;30/100IM hard@2;00) swims(1;23/21/18) buoys(1;19/18/16)pulls(1;12/10/08/13/12/10) IM's(1;19/1;16/1;15/1;16) kicks(1;53 to 1;48)
8x50@1;00, odds buoy/evens IM order- buoys(38/37/37/36) IM(36fly/40back/41breast/32free) 2x100IM kick
2x150p@2;30/50 breast@1;00-(1;52/1;50/42/41)
3300SCY in 60 minutes

Had dan jump in on 2nd IM and race me with his free, so times stepped up pretty quick..

I sent you the link with the swim records. You missed the age group record by 2 seconds!! Any earlier start with the better conditions and I'm sure you would have gotten it. I swam in an earlier wave. I think I was 5th in my age group and a few second behind Monte's time so he gets bragging rights and his condition were probably a little worse than mine as the tide was coming in that morning. Well it was great to get in a race. Monte gave me my line out through the surf and it paid off well I was in a small pack going around the end of the pier at that point there was one guy way out ahead and we were fighting for second. Heading in I left some feet and veered out away for the pier hoping to avoid rip currents and also to catch some waves. This move really backfired as I think i ended up in a pretty strong rip current and no waves hahaha. My arms were gassed half way through the race so i just fought through it to the end as best I could. The racing really got me motivated to practice harder.

Took sunday off and got in 3500 monday AM and did some weights and abs afterward. Main set was 4 x 50s 4X with first two stroke/free and then 2 50 stroke. then 4 200s pulling 150fr/50breast on 3:00 was holding 2:40ish which was pretty strong.

edit link to article with Monte's picture: https://www.ocregister.com/...swim-marks-70-years/

Thanks T!!! Ya that is me in the 2nd photo, but since my allotment has run out for this paper, I only got to see it for a second. Got my wife to load it and we looked at the other pics, and looks like Slowman got his own shot too!! And that spry young girl leaping the big berm there next to me, is the one I ended up drafting off of around the pier. Should have stayed with her for sure, cost be 15 seconds and that coveted record... (-;

Of course after the fact it stings to miss a really old record by 2 seconds, especially when our conditions were not normal to begin with. Suppose I just have to get in good shape again and attack it next year!! I do like that the guy that holds it is now 72 and still ripping this swim, he has probably been doing it for 60 years!!

Couple more swims. Tuesday Pm crowded pool. 3600 couple sets:
4 50s @50
2 100s @ 1:30
2 200s @ 2:45
2 100s @ 1:25
4 50s @45

Then backstroke

4 50s@ 55
3 75s @ 1:25
2 100s went a 1:24 and then rested a minute and sprinted a 1:17

Wednesday AM 12 hours after Tuesday so almost like a double. 3500 breaststroke mostly

4 50s @ 1:05
4 75s @ 1:30
4 100s @ 2, last one took a rest and tried it with my 400IM stroke as fast as I could and was only 1:30 ugh others about 1:34 avg
4 150s with fins, done 100breast with dolfin kick, 50fr ez

Pretty sluggish in warmup due to quick turn around, I'm trying more morning workouts now. Did weights and abs after the swim wednesday upping the leg and calf press weights

We really do need to get together and workout side by side. You are right at the point where your back would pull me along, while I look at your feet, and my breast could move some water for you and give you a rabbit to chase. Let's work on it..

I got completely cooked yesterday, spent all afternoon just loading salt to get my muscles not to twitch. Decided to just do a really easy swim today, but apparently even easy when it is 112 outside is a cooker too. Got through it, but paying again, so gonna just take a complete day off tomorrow and try to regroup. Not much time left to get in some solid swims that actually make me faster before nationals, so gotta keep my eye on that prize:

1000s@15;00(14;28--7;23/7;05)
500IM kick@10;00(9;48)
1000p@13;30(12;53--6;30/6;23)
500IM kick(9;52)
12x50 as(2x50 buoy@;50/1 breast@1;00 steady descend) Buoys(39/40's) breast(46/45/44/43)
3600SCY in 60 minutes


All of this felt really easy today, but sometimes feel is not always what is happening to your body.

Yesterday added 5 minutes to my workout, so I'm at 40 minutes in the crazy Arizona sun. Can't wait for that tan. Honestly need to shed a few more lbs before I drop the trunks and go for the speedo.

3x50 @ 1:06
11x100 @ 2:25
2x50 @ 1:15

Couple of weeks with the plunge I'm sure I'll be at 2k+ meters and loving it. Then workouts start. Probably need to add a third swimming day which I can do in August pretty easily, but working on Sundays kinda hurts that.

---

Washed up footy player turned Triathlete.

Well, despite my best attempts to get this fracture to heal on its own, it is not healing on its own and I am having surgery Tuesday.
My doctor did say I could be in the pool from now until then. I did 3200 yds easy and 30 min water running. I'm not going to write the workout details because I really just sort of went back and forth. I will tell you that I was crying by 300 yards, and that I spent the rest of the time alternating between grinning because it felt so good to swim, and crying because that is what my body wants to do right now.

---

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 on surgery, hopefully that speeds up your recovery and you can get back to normal.

Went in to the office today so I could use the colder pools downtown.
Ran to Deep Eddy pool (1.8mi)

Waited 30+ minutes to get a lane (at least it's free and not forcing circle swim, just 2 to a lane)

Swam (in 72F water, felt so good, but this isn't the fastest pool. It's 100ft with slippery, angled walls, narrow lanes, and in my case an old lane with fins and a kickboard who can't stay on her side. Roughly ~1s /100y slower than a normal pool, maybe more)
400 warmup
8x67 drill
2x400 on 5:20 4:41-36
4x200 on 2:45 2:19-19-15-13
8x100 on 1:30 1:10-08-06-06-04-03-02-02)
5x67 cool down
3600scy

Ran the longer way back to the office (2.4mi)

---

-----

This made me smile :D

thanks for the kind words.

---

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

2+ miles in Long Pond on Mt. Desert Island. The water was 67-70, I obviously didn't wear a wetsuit :-) oh the thrill of cold water. I'm very grateful for the friend who kayaked so I could get some time in island waters. The logistics of getting me in the ocean were too hard to pull together quickly, but this was also AWESOME.

---

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

Really glad for you to be able to swim in a legit cold pool, even if it is a little wonky. I took all day yesterday off to just cool my body down and gain some minerals back, and today had a pretty good one. I dont know why, but my usual hot pool was only 83 degrees today, and in the 108 outside temp it felt cold. First time in quite awhile I can remember not having to slow down too much for heat, just the altitude. New PR in the 200 back, by a lot too. Dan was there and swam the 200's with me and loaded up his free for my back and IM swims. Having that push was a great motivator I guess:

10x200 as(3xswim@3;10/1 IM kick@4;00/ 1 back#5/1 IM #10@3;30) swims(2;46/40/36)pulls(2;29/27/25) Back(2;48--1;21/1;27 new PR) IM(2;45) kicks(3;40/3;44)
8x50@1;00, odds buoy/evens IM order-- Buoys(38/37's) fly(35) back(39)breast(40)free(31) 100 IM kick(1;58)
6x50@1;10. fly/bouy/kick. fly(39/36)
500 steady descend pull(6;20)
3300SCY in 60 minutes

Really surprised at the back, best time before was a 2;58, so 10 second drop. Dan was holding low 2;50's for his swims, but uncorked for this swim and I just kept pace. Really feel better about my back split for 400IM now, need to be in the mid 1;20's for a good race.

Meet 7/11 at mvn It’s long course and capped at 200 entries

More great swimming! well done everyone.

Did friday masters yesterday.

we did 2 sets of 50s.

First set was 20 x 50 on :40
I did 4 free (holding 31s and 32s) focusing on my turns then did fly for the 5th one ... all to help keep count and get some fly in

Second set was 15 x 50 on :40
I did these all free w a fast flip turn focus and an additional flip at the end of the pool. mostly 33s and 34s

Before that set as prep we did something w a "fast" 100 at the end x 2. I pushed a very easy 100 and 59 on those. Felt great. Beautiful outdoor am, with cool water and air. Perfect for some faster swimming. Monty, you will absolutely kill it at sea level and a cool pool at nats.

daved

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http://www.theundergroundcoach.com

I swam 5 sessions during Week 6 of Flipturn School.

In week 1 I slogged a 200m in 3:16.
Week 2 - 3:11.
Week 3 - 3:07.
But in week 6 I am very happy to report a 3:01. So, that's progress.

My open-turn 200m best is 2:54. The 7sec spread between 2:54 and 3:01 is mostly down to fear!! I was just killing myself in that 2:54. But in the 3:01 I was being rather cautious because, gee, I might get tired and screw up the turns. I'm just not very confident yet.

My biggest fear is that, a few months down the road, I'll get to 2:53 with flipturns, yay, then I'll wonder if I can do 2:48 with open-turns. :( ie Will I get to a point when I KNOW that my flipturning is better than my open-turning? How will I know?

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I only swim.
I used to run. (31:09 10k)
I never did Triathlon.
Sue me.

Damn. Sorry to hear that things are not going as hoped.

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I only swim.
I used to run. (31:09 10k)
I never did Triathlon.
Sue me.

Open vs flip - you do a 200 each way and see which is faster! And the answer is you will get to the point where flips are definitely faster.

63 x 100 on 1:40 for me today. I wanted a big workout that was a proxy for a ten Mile classic Maine road race - canceled due to covid this year again, not that I would be there anyway. I feel good about my workout being an offering to the race.

---

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

I guess I swim faster on Thursdays. Not as fast as last Thursday but faster than Tuesday. Also was more consistent with rest at 15 second intervals.

3x50 @ 1:06
11x100 @ 2:23
2x50 @ 1:12

---

Washed up footy player turned Triathlete.

Yeah, after 3 to 6 months I'll do some trials. I feel guilty going back to a bad habit, but I need to make sure that the new good habit is actually working.

Currently my 50m is equal (ie flipturns vs open-turns), my 100m is 2sec difference, my 200m is 7sec difference, and my 400m is 32sec difference. So, the longer the distance, the more I struggle, currently. For me, flipturning IS hypoxic training! :) But I am confident that my brain-body will continue to adjust. This was only week 6. I must keep my eye on the big picture.

Thanks.

---

I only swim.
I used to run. (31:09 10k)
I never did Triathlon.
Sue me.

Meet 7/11 at mvn It’s long course and capped at 200 entries //

Thanks for the heads up, but I think I will pass on long course for now. Not sure it would do anything for me other than a good workout, and perhaps some dive practice. But the blocks are up at my pool and I will start using them to get accustomed again. I recall getting a cramp a couple times from the push off and having to hold my foot weird for a bit before it let up. Maybe some weights as in calf raises? Thinking it was from running through the swim meet, but who knows.


A glorious day at the lower pool today, another 83 degree water day(100+ outside), but lots of O2!!


5x100swim@1;40(1;21/21/19/16/14) 4x100IM kick@2;00(1;53/49/48/47)
300swim for time@1k pace(3;48--1;17/16/15) New PR for effort/ 200IM kick@4;30(3;50)
6x(200pull@3;30/50 hard fly or breast@1;30) pulls(2;27/23/21--2;28/25/20) fly's(34/33/32 New PR) breast(40/39.9/39)
2900SCY in 58 minutes


So goal is to take more rest and swim overall faster times. Happy with the fly and breast, 32 push off must be sub 30 off the blocks now? 1k pacing is coming together, thinking if I back off after first 100, I could go quite a few more at my 1;18 target pace..

An OW marathon swimmer has moved to the area! I was annoyed that I had to split a lane until I realized the fish who'd gotten in with me was a distance swimmer, so I told him I wanted to do 200s or 300s and asked if that were appealing. He took me up on it :-) I hope he stays around the area, as I think this would be productive for both of us once I'm back to normal.

3025 yds + some lifting

550 on 8
5 x 100 on 1:30
50 kick + 25 swim + 50 kick
250 fast-ish
5 x 200 on 3:15 (2:42, 2:43, 2:44, 2:43, 2:42)
50 easy
6 x 100 on 1:45 (1:16, 1:18, 1:20, 1:22, 1:18, 1:16)
25 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

I did 700yds of fly Friday and then took a nap. Nothing more than a 50 at a time. Saturday I did 4 100s IM last one 1:17 and 2 200sIM 2:53/43 second one had to really push to go that fast.

Then did my pulling test of 8 100s last 4 all out on 2min 01 01 01 03. So slight improvement, trying to increase my speed with faster turnover. Saturday was 3800yds

Today I ran 40 min no swim after 6 straight practices. For weights I’m doing leg press calf press and leg curls and some abs. Also triceps. No free weights just machines. Just trying improve my explosiveness off the walls I don’t have time for a complete weight program. I’ve been running pain free on my treadmill at home it’s really motivating me to enter a triathlon later this summer. Maybe Santa Barbara or malibu

Spit in his side of the lane and challenge him to a 3k race

Nice job T on the fly and IM's, and that set of 4x100's is really getting after it. Man we need to get in a lane next to each other soon so we can really drop some times!! Wasn't planning on swimming today, but wife went out of town, so took Dans wife's slot at the nice cooler pool. Just did a kind of grind out set to get in the yards(dan wanted a pacer for 200's), will be off until Tuesday until she gets home.

10x200@3;10 as 5 swim(2;48 to 2;45 easy pacing)3x150swim/50 breast(2;49/48/46)2 buoy(2;42/2;36)
2x150IM kick@3;10(2;50/2;43)
10x100p@1;30 really easy stretch out(1;17's to 1;13)
3300SCY in 57 minutes

Was really are weary on the last pull set, but HR remained super low. Have a day of running tomorrow and then hit it hard again on Tuesday..

Likely the next star for distance on the women's side. More all round ability across all 4 strokes than Ledecky.

 

McIntosh making the FINA cut back in May in the 400. 1:56.19 in the 200 yesterday to officially make the team. She turns 15 Aug 18th. 


Her mom Jill Horstead made the 84 team at 17, 9th in 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)

He was back this morning; it turns out he showed up in the 19 days I was away and made friends WITH THE SPRINTERS. This morning he started swimming with the sprinters before I could snag his company. I think he is actually probably an IMer by trade - his strokes are way better than his distance free. In any event, our paces for distance is such that the ideal thing to do would be like 200s on 3:30 but I do 250 and he does 200 - or some other comparable thing where my job is to lap him and his job is not to be lapped. I've been on both sides of that game and find it fun from either position.

---

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

I watched the mens 1500m last night - OMG that flutter kick... hot stuff.


5525 yd swim, 30 min water running

no real intervals unless marked - I have a fair amount of muscle fatigue from the Wear Myself Out Before Surgery project. So that mission is going well.

500
50 kick
2 x 400
50 kick
3 x [3 x 100 on 1:30] extra :30 after each set
50 kick
4 x 200 on 4 (2:46, 2:43, 2:42, 2:40)
50 kick
5 x 100 on 1:30
50 kick
5 x 100 evens 75 fly kick/25 breast kick
50 kick (I think)
4 x 200 evens breast kick
400 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

our paces for distance is such that the ideal thing to do would be like 200s on 3:30 but I do 250 and he does 200 - or some other comparable thing where my job is to lap him and his job is not to be lapped. I've been on both sides of that game and find it fun from either position. //

This is a game that I think is way underutilized these days. So many of us swim alone, or with just a few at times of differing paces, so it totally makes sense to figure out how to make it challenging for all swimmers of different paces. I do this with dan sometimes, having to lengthen or shorten the swim distance to make it a sprint finish the last lap. My wife also, she does 100's while I do 150's, so more of a sense of a group workout..


But lately I do IM or stroke head up against his free, sometimes give him a rest swim right before(while I kick) so he can load up. And the rivalry is a great motivator, he remembers the last IM time I did and prepares to beat it, and then I just go a little faster to out touch him!! We keep laddering down the times, so it is like we each have a like partner to swim against. Be creative folks and workouts will be a lot more fun and enjoyable.


Now get him out of the sprint lane and make him your rabbit!!!

1:56.19 200 Free - McIntosh...


May be geoblocked

800 is this afternoon.

---

___________________________________________
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)

Great points about making swimming competitive.

I will start doing that a bit w eric and see how it goes. Prob start w the kicking since he is a solid 5 seconds faster on 25s... I will try that this thursday and see how it goes.

Today was 4k easy

1000 warm up as 200sw50back
1000 as 75swim25scull, 75swim25kob
1000 kick alt 100 w board 100 wo board
100 easy
200IM drill
4 x 25 of each stroke IM order of course, on :30 (working breakouts)
100 easy
4 x 50 alactate work on 1:00
200 warm down
-----

Nothing too fancy. Working in some more odd stroke is fun and back to aiming to get over 1k of kicking in during each session


daved

---

http://www.theundergroundcoach.com

I showed up to surgery with goggle marks
I didn't wash my hair (had to dry it though per their instructions, and this took 5 min off my swim time, humph) and I didn't shower because I wanted the chlorine on my skin a little longer. I don't know how to explain needing that but you all probably get it


this set felt very aerobic, damn I am fit


3200 yds, started to cry on the 16th 100 but I had to cut that out because I needed to push off on the next repeat
20 x 100 first 18 on 1:30 last 2 on 1:25
150 kick the odd 50s
2 x (100 fast, 50 kick) 1:14 high, 1:15
2 x (200 fast, 50 kick) 2:36, 2:36
250 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

Hot high pool again, the respite from the hot water is over. Did a bunch of 150's at target 1k race pace, felt good, but hot..


15x150 as- 6swim@2;30(1;57/56's) 4 buoy@2;30(1;56/56/53/51)3 IM kick@3;00(2;52/49/46)2pull@2;10(1;51/48)
4x100IM order@2;10- fly(1;33) back(1;25) breaked here for heat-breast(1;29) free(1;09)
200p(2;32)100kick(1;55)
2950SCY

Hot pool again for me, too.

300 warmup
8x50 drill
5x100 with ankle band
500 hard (5:25)
5x100 cruise
4x50 drill
100 cruise

2500scy

+70 minutes on the bike

---

-----

rest day here, first of many
pretty jealous of you people!
xoxo

---

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 main set today

6 25s fly @40
4 200s @3:30. 25fr 75bk 75br 25 fr. last one 2:51
625s fly @40
4 200s @3:15 50fr 50bk 50br 50fr. Last one 2:41
6 25s fly @ 40

Was holding 15/16s on the fly sprints a couple 14s when I left early. 3600 total then abs and weights

Nice swim T, and I think I will pinch some of those 200's all mixed up. Regular IM gets to be such a grind sometimes that I find myself avoiding it. Mixing up strokes all over the place will help freshen it up. Back at hot pool and did a good set of 50's at the end;

5x100swim@1;40(1;23/21/19/17/13)5x100IM kick@2;00(1;52/49/47/44/39)
4x50fly@1;00(38/38/373/37)200p@3;30(2;36)3x50fly@1;10(37/37/38)200p@3;30(2;28)2x50fly@1;20(36/35)200p@3;30(2;25)50fly(35)
18x50 as(2x50 buoy@1;00/50stroke@1;30) back(39/39)breast(41/41)fly(36/34) buoys-(37/36 to 33.9)
200p(2;29)100IM kick(1;54)
3300SCY

Got 600 fly in today at an average 100 pace of about 1;14. As long as it is 50's, pace can be high, go to 100's and it falls off a cliff!!

Quick update on speed work...

Todays MyMainSet was :

4 x 75 on 1:30 done as: (goal was to carry 25 speed into 50 then 50 into 75 then rest and hit 2 x 100)
25max 50 easy
50max 25 easy
75max
75 easy
2 x 100 on 3min MAX
300 easy

The 75s and the 100s i paid attention to times
the fast 75s were a 43 and a 42 (close to a 41 i felt great on the second one)
The 100s were finally back down. Im giving myself a 57 high on the first 100 as I think i left a tad late and felt great. By the time I looked up I saw58 but it was a long 58 on that clock.
The other 100s were all 58s. Did not have that fall off I usually have.

After that we did our 6 x 25 max kick w board on :50 this time, however, as discussed Monty.. I left 5 seconds in front of eric (who is an amazing kicker) on the even number 25s. so 2-4-6. Which pushed me to hit 17-18s on those and he was finishing right on me doing 13s 14s and he loved it. IT was a great tech to push both of us

FInished w another 50 dive OTB at the end. But after the week of riding and running and strength work I was already cramping. I dont know my time but the video will be on my insta acct if anyone wants to see.
Off the block work is getting more normal now and feeling a bit better, despite the foot and calf cramping.

daved

---

http://www.theundergroundcoach.com

edit because SnappingT answered my question on another thread

---

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 getting in tired everyday and going hard, body seems to be adapting. Dan came up with this set today, he said we could recover on the 400's and then do the 100's all out on the 1;40. Didnt have the heart to tell him this was not a high rest set that lead itself to "lots" of rest, but it sounded fun so we did it(cutting it one short because we were both completely gassed after #4) He did free against my IM.

4x(400swim@6;20/100IM@1;40)swim(5;27)pulls(5;01/4;56/4;56)IM's(1;17/1;16/1;17/1;16) 200IMkick@4;30(3;56)
15x50 as(2 buoy@1;00/1 fly@1;30) buoys-38 to 36's, fly's(37's)
4x25fly@;40(17's)
150pull(1;47)
3200SCY

Had dead arms 15 minutes in, but kept swimming ok. Think endurance is absorbing.

This is the month I get back in the pool for real. I’ve been in the pool three times in the last two years (even before COVID I couldn’t get it together to swim at the pool). I’ve done a little more open water swimming last year, but rarely more than a mile once or twice a week during the short New England summer. Only one open water session this year on my birthday.

I just moved to a new state, and while I was scouting out apartments last month I hooked up with a masters swim team to try them out (those were two of the three aforementioned pool swims). Finally moved this week. Today after a morning of unpacking boxes I went to the pool and did an embarrassing 1800 yards. My “warm-up” 200fr which felt like an easy pace but focusing on a strong flip turn was 2:21. I knocked out another 100fr on a surprising 1:08. This was just trying to get a feel for the water with my arms, barely a 2 beat kick. I tried to do a series of 100s and just had no stamina whatsoever pushing 1:12–1:15. Dropped it down to 50s and still felt like crap holding :34-:37. My shoulders feel like they have no strength or endurance at all.

I’m hopeful that joining the masters team and posting here will hold me accountable and start building my endurance up. Even if I just do three one hour practices to start, that has to be better than the nothing I’m doing now. Right?!

Even if I just do three one hour practices to start, that has to be better than the nothing I’m doing now. Right?! //

I have found if done right, 3x 1 hour swims a week is plenty to get faster and faster. Just cut out most of the bullshit easy stuff, and just go for it after a couple 100 of building into going hard. And you obviously were a pretty decent swimmer if your completely out of shape, and easy warm up focusing on flip turns 200 is 2;21.

Now if you tell us all that was LCM, then were really gonna hate you here... (-; And yes, we can hold you accountable here, times do not lie. And it looks like once you get a month of solid workout under your belt, you will have some good company in your lane, how old are you?? And welcome to the fishes...

Haha, SCY. I don’t know if I’d make it to the other end of a LCM pool right now. I had brief flashes of speed as a kid, top 10 in New England for any free event 400/500 & under between the ages of 11-14. I quit swimming at 14 because I was a stupid kid. I did masters for a few years when I was 30-31. Fastest 100yd free ever was when I was 31 and did 49.55. Nothing like some of the olympic trials swimmers posting here. Got into triathlon, then bike focus due to bad feet. Let the swim lapse and here I am. I’m 41 now.

Thanks for the welcome from such an esteemed forum member!

Welcome you are still fast in my book. Some days my first set is 8 100s on 1:30 and I go 1:11-14s when I feel good. Not much of a warm up just start getting after it.

Today I did a mid day swim in the sun

main set was some broken 200Ims all out

4 50s @ 2:00 IMO
100 fr ez,
twice through on this. 29 33 39 29 then 29high 34 40 29, I was probably about 1/2 sec slower on all the 50s on the second set. Fly was pretty good, backstroke took way too much energy to go that fast I don't think I could do that in 200IM race, breast I have small twinge in my groin I had to mellow out my kick a little to offset probably need to lay off the kick a few days. Overall decent speed and I am right at pre covid levels even though I am 18 months older. only 2700yds today felt good to blast it and get out early

PHEW!!! not LCM haha..
well done
welcome!

Where were you in new england as I am in boston.

Thats a fast 100 time for anyone! 49.5 is very impressive.

Get back to it and like Monty said, we will do nothing but encourage you here. Well, monty might tell you you are stupid, like he did me, before xterra but we can get to that later (Im joking monty, I loved your feedback and perspective.)

Are all still planning on Greensboro in a few weeks??
I am entered but have not booked flight or hotel yet. Need to nail this down.

daved

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http://www.theundergroundcoach.com

Are all still planning on Greensboro in a few weeks??
I am entered but have not booked flight or hotel yet. Need to nail this down. //

I dont think I ever called anyone stupid directly, but I do have a habit of saying what I would do, and why would any sane person not do the same? (-;


I got my flight, car, and hotel for the big meet, and I believe Tony has his stuff all booked too. Not sure what anyone else has done, but like all trips I plan in my life, dozens and dozens all say YA!, and in the end it is me and a couple other adventurous folks that actually pitch up. Used to do a big Baja surf trip every year and had 10 guys all lined up ready to go, and most of the time it would be me and my dog, and maybe one or two others for a short period..


It looks like you are swimming really well, in spite of all the other Tri training you are doing. That is the tough part, you have to thread the needle a bit, try and back off the running at least for awhile, and just mostly swim for the last couple weeks. The other stuff will come back super fast afterwards, and you only have that one shot on the blocks to do great swims, so give them your best shot.


Tony just swam a really great set of broken IM's too, I know he is gunning for a sub 2;20 and it looks like he now at least has the speed for that. I'm inching down some times, but mostly by distance free lately. Gonna do some really hard sprint strokes these next couple weeks and see how that goes. Everyone who will be going should be there by Thursday night at least, so maybe a dinner either that night or Friday, or both??

Oh Im still planning to go!

Just need to dot the Ts and cross the Is (yes I messed that up.. on purpose)

And no you didnt call me stupid. I was only joking.

I will fly down wednesday night I think... I need to revisit but I iwll get it done.

Overdid it the past couple weeks overall. And I am planning to back off the running and leg work (strength) the next couple weeks to add some upper body before resting. I aint doing all this speed work for nothin Monty!!!! haha

DaveD

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http://www.theundergroundcoach.com

I wouldn’t add anything in on the weight program at this point. I’m already planning to start cutting it way back in 7to 10 days. Unless you are just training through the meet anyway then go ahead and hit it. The email I got for thee meet said two sessions for the meet grouped 60 and over and under 59 so Monte is by himself. I am arriving Wednesday evening. Psyche sheets being posted soon maybe Monday we can see our seeding.

So the first two days of distance events, they are mixing up all the age groups and just doing it by event. So you and I will be in the 400IM together, maybe Dave is in the 1000 free??

But after that, yes the sessions are split at 60+ and below. I may try to sneak in and see you guys swim, I. would imagine if you are an actual swimmer, it might not be too hard to get in the other session. Looks like just under 900 swimmers too, so less than half of a normal champs going by the last few meets they held. Our best chance to get top 10!!! We can only race who shows up, probably mostly slower folks sitting out anyway..(-;

I grew up in Plymouth, MA but have been living in Lincoln, near Concord/Lexington. Just sold that place to move down to Greenville, SC.


Thanks! Looking forward to getting back in shape and maybe doing a Masters meet or two to gauge my progress.

Thats funny! Im in wayland.
did you swim at the wayland high masters group?

daved

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http://www.theundergroundcoach.com

Small world! No, my work had a BSC with a pool in the same building, so when I was pool swimming I would do it there by myself.

My lifting is not heavy or crazy but more enhanced maint and activation.

So, a couple weeks of doing some upper body stuff wont hurt me. Ill be well rested and stretched.

Im in for thurs fri and sat... so I will fly in wed afternoon in time to maybe get a loosen up swim and see you guys for dinner??

Thursday I swim the 5 free
Friday I have the 100IM and 100FR
Sat I have to 100fly and 50fr

Ill prob head out sat night if there is a flight late enough as I need to get to Montauk for a wedding... oof.

But those are my events.

daved

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http://www.theundergroundcoach.com

Back in the pool for 3300 SCY
800FR (11:16) 4x50K on 1:15
4x200P on 3:00 (2:34-7) 4x50K on 1:15
8x100 on 1:45 alt IM/Stroke (1:25-1:38)
4x50K on 1:15
8x25FR on 30 (17-18)

This group/thread is getting fast! I’ll be watching you guys peaking for USMS. You all are getting faster as you get older which is awesome and inspirational. Keep it going.

Well, week #7 of Flipturn School is in the books. I did 5 sessions, and I really don't have any sexy new splits to announce. There was a 6:45 400m slog, and on another day I tried a sub 3min 200m, only to stop at 150m, after convincing myself that I was too tired that day, and that I was off 3min pace. My 150m time was 2:12 - DAMMIT.

The best thing that I can say about the last week is that flipturns are beginning to be Not A Thing.

Still, I do get discouraged at times. That 6:45 really was a slog, but my open-turn PR is 6:14. I'm wondering if I can get near 6min right now, if I revert back to open-turns. I'm tempted to sneak in some open-turn stuff next week, just to see where I am at. Is that so wrong? Some might say "It takes 5 years to get good with flip-turns". But my peak swimming years might be the next 5 years. Do I spend those peak years doing this flip-turn experiment?

---

I only swim.
I used to run. (31:09 10k)
I never did Triathlon.
Sue me.

Wait....so people are often in the pool for more than 1 hour? :)

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I only swim.
I used to run. (31:09 10k)
I never did Triathlon.
Sue me.

DO NOT give up on the flip turn!

Okay today was some off the blocks sprints after taking Friday off.

2k of misc swimming then I got my GF to time me.

5 x50s with as much rest as I wanted 3-4 minutes approx

50 fly 28.95
50 fr 28.3
50 fly 28.67
50 fr 27.75
50 bk 34.15

So hit the water for the first 50 and I could tell I was slow but just gave it my best. 3 & 4 were a little faster I think I got warmed up after 1&2 and the backstroke my start was bad or was mistimed. Sent GF home and did 10 more 25s otb. Fly/fr/bk the fly/fr we’re 12/13 and bks we’re 15 or 15 plus which was pretty good and I know it was accurate cause I was looking right at the clock as I pushed

Finished with 6 100s pulling 50fr/50br on 1:50 total about 3400 and then weights and Abs so long practice

I won't ever give up completely. I vow to do flip-turns in all of my WU/CD swimming (which is a big part of my sessions), but from time to time I may allow myself open-turns on certain time-trials, until I become convinced that I am faster with flip-turns, whenever that is.

I really do think I can attack my dream (sig) soon, with open-turns. That might be driving this.

---

I only swim.
I used to run. (31:09 10k)
I never did Triathlon.
Sue me.

You last set of broken IM's got me motivated to do some faster stuff, and Dan obliged me in my sets today. First Saturday morning we have swam at our high/hot pool, nice not to have to drive so far now to get in a weekend swim, even if it is hot..Did a big mix os stuff for my 1k, 400IM, and 200 IM:

5x100s@1;40(1;23/21/19/17/12)100IM kick(1;54)
300swim for time@1k pace effort to start, then descend(3;47--1;17/1;17/1;13) 100IM kick(1;56)
12x100 as(2x buoy or pull@1;40/2;20/stroke IM order@2;00)buoys(1;18/16/16/16) pulls(1;12/1;09/1;15/1;13) fly(1;16-38/38 new PR)back(1;21)breast(1;25)free(1;08)100IM kick/50swim
4x50 IM order on about 3 minutes or so, had Dan time me, all push offs from shallow end--fly(31.04) back(37.06) breast(39.00) free(28.12)
2550SCY

So 100 fly was good splitting, but I was trashed last 6 or so strokes, so could not have gone more at that pace. Back was choppy but breast felt good and 1;25 was solid for this pool. 1;08 I believe is my fastest 100 swim, and was on tired arms doing it. Good training I think for the 400 IM.

The 50's were all pretty good except for the breast, super disjointed trying to turn over fast. Good thing I dont have any races where I have to do that, so will concentrate on the distance stroke more. Today we had a new guy we had never seen at the pool, dan commented that he saw him doing 11 second 25's, which just doesn't happen at this pool. So we introduced ourselves, turns out he swam an local JC 8 years ago and did a 20.9 for 50. I asked him to swim next to me for my last 50 free, honestly was feeling like I would have trouble just breaking 30. Told him to do a 29 flat, but his speed took him to a 26, while I was quite surprised to see a 28 flat from a push. So looks like a dive fly would be 29+ and free around 27 flat, really good speed right now for me..

You are always a step ahead of me.

Today’s set 1-2-3-4-3-2-1 IM on 1:45 base. No breast did double backstroke. 400 was a 5:32 with a 1:13 fly split. Last 100 was a 1:18. Rested two minutes and did a bonus 100 went a 1:11 again no breast. 3600.

Did that set mostly to test my fly looks like it’s good enough. 75 at almost full strength not much problem, 100 I died a little but it’s not going to hurt me

Well - had my race this weekend. I've been swimming 2x per week with masters in our 26.5 meter pool, ~3000 meters per session. Based on how I had been going, I felt pretty confident headed into the race about the first 2 of 3 loops, and hoped to just make it through the last. Come race day, I found out that there was a beach run between loops to go over the timing mat again, and that totally threw me. I totally had a freakout diving back in on the second loop and had to flip to my back to catch my breath again. Got passed by the 2 guys who were sucking my feet on the first loop and never got back up to them again. Water in the mid/upper 70's. I also went back and dug out my old Blue Seventy body suit from 2008 trials, because i thought i rememberd it doing all my kicking for me. Result - 3rd out of the water in my wave 19:59 for 1500 meters, including 2 beach runs and the run to transition.

Here's my painface.

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I wrote this, you should read it:
https://www.slowtwitch.com/...n_Swimming_6700.html

Good one! I know that look while trying to make your body start running instead of swimming. I've got a bunch of pics like that. In fact, here's a video of me getting out of the water at my last Olympic tri, water was barely wetsuit legal, so I'm a little wobbly and moving slow since I'm really warm by the end of 1500m (links to a facebook post from the race):

https://fb.watch/6pIK4mFz37/

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I run out of the water like a drunk sailor at3am. Today just pounded some 100s

4@ 125
4@120
4@115
4@110 pulling

Took a 1:30 break before the 4@115 then went 08 11 12 12
Pulling 04 08 09 10 struggled to finish them but got it done.

Was going to try 4@105 with fins and paddles maybe next time. 3200 total and then weight room

Finally complained enough that the YMCA says they will run the aerators overnight to try and cool the lap pool. It wasn't so bad today but that was probably due to some rain we've had the last two days.

shaved for a sprint tri this past weekend, so a little faster than normal.

300 easy
8x50 drill
600-500-400-300-200-100 get faster through the set. roughly 60s rest, a little less toward the end.
6:52-5:41-4:28-3:17-2:08-1:02
4x50 cool down

3000scy

plan on some weights this afternoon.

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Super swims!! well done..

Surprise speedwork today as the 4th has us doing some travel and my buddy eric made it to the pool

SUPER hot here in boston area. 95 with heat index well into the 100s so we kept the speed work to shorter stuff.
Man i felt amazing today. I even had my usual super hard bike ride/race on tuesday am (we call it the bullet train) and rode well in it, even took the finish sprint.

NO EXCUSES tho, time to work in the pool.

3 rounds of

1 x 50 on 1:30
4 x 25 on :45
1 x 50 on 1:30
300 easy ---

The final round was kick and I did the "monty leave ahead of the fast kid to push him a bit and myself" and it worked. Legs super crampy but managed to keep it together. We also had not done 50 kicks before. its all been 25s. And MAN that was a shock to the system.

My 50s were much more competitive today (Save for the first one that felt great but was slow) at 27low.
The next 3 50s of the set were 25, 25 and 26 low. Right about at erics shoulders which I only lost time in the final 15 yards. So im getting there.

The 25s I have no idea just going for it and trying NOT to hold back bc, lets be honest, you can go fast for a 25 kinda faking it. I did NOT do that.

Ok.. off until next week with anything speed related in the pool.

Keep training hard everyone!!

daved

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http://www.theundergroundcoach.com

Gee, it's been months w/out swimming in a pool now.
Lakes out here in the Okanagan are almost a bit too warm for wetsuits (about 107 degrees air temp) for a few days. The warmer water means I can see just how much slower I am without the wetsuit. Interesting days ahead! Stay cool folks!.

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

You guys are all going really good, keep it up. I had a paddle out funeral the past couple days, so just did some body surfing in really good surf in the South Bay. Something about paddling and hard body surfing, makes me strong, or just feel that way. Today the hot pool was actually manageable at about 83, 100+ outside. Did a set of 200's for dan again:

11x200 @3;10 as-3swim(2;45/37/34)3 buoy(2;35/33/30)3pull(2;25/24/21)2xIM kick(3;53/3;50)
15x50@1;00 as(2x50 buoy/1 fly) buoys(37/36's) fly(35/35/35/35/34)
100 IM for time(1;15--16/35/58/1;15) 50 swim
3100SCY

Had daytime me with pace clock on last IM, did it on tired arms so was happy. Mostly a day for fly and my 1k..

No splits for body surfing? You are letting us down. Psych sheets out for nationals. Highest seed for me was a 7 and the lowest was a 19. The 7 was on the last day it looks like people are not competing sunday so I can get a medal if I swim my entry time.

Well you can also just swim faster than your seed time to get a medal too.. (-;

Looks like my picking the hardest and longest events may have paid off, old dudes just want to sprint the strokes and do free. And looks like David is seated 2nd in his 500 free, good thing he is not 5 or 10 years older!! But hey, you can only race who shows up, that is half the battle with masters. Being fit, uninjured, and making the trips that are long and boring. Then sitting all day for a few minutes of pure torture, its no wonder many of the events are a bit thin.

I'm psyched now though, gonna really have to get after my fly in the next couple weeks, that will be key to me looking for the podium is most my events...

3100 SCY. Pool temp now up to mid 80s F.

500S (7:04), 4x50K, 500P (6:42)
5x100 IM aim 1:45 (1:30-4), 4x50, 5x100P on 1:30 (1:16-9)
10x50 strokes on 60 (41-46)
8x25 on 30 (18s).

The “ hot pool” really unpleasant and seems to add a couple seconds/hundred. Monty, hope you get some benefit from hot pool training when you swim at USMS. Maybe just psychological, as a 1000 yard hard swim in hot pool would be miserable.

Ocean warmed up — a sweltering 64°. So, I ditched the wetsuit. Shocking getting in, but comfy while swimming. No afterdrop shakes, but a couple numb fingers a half-hour afterwards.

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

Tuesday did 3200 mostly 50s and 25s ran 35 minutes in the morning
Today did 3500 main set was 3x 4 100s fly/bk bk/br br/fr fr/fly by 50. last time through I tried it at 400IM Pace as a test and got a 5:06 splits as 1:13, 1:25, 1:19, 109, I used a 2 min interval for that one and wasn't sprinting so maybe thats about what I can expect in a couple weeks . weights and abs after

Nice job Tony, that 1;09 free/fly is moving. Did you get my message about tomorrow's swim? Give me a call...

Today, back in the pool I used to swim in pre-Covid for the first time in >15 months.

300 warmup (3:24, surprised how much faster this pool is than the other hot YMCA pool)
8x50 drill
2 rounds of 3x300 descend on 4:00, 2x50 easy on 1:00
3:21-17-13 (50's: 33s)
3:19-16-11 (50's: 33-32)
200 fast (2:04)
3x100 cruise on 1:30 (1:07-06-07)

3200scy in moving time of 35:43

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That's some fine swimming there Adrian, being in a nice cool pool makes all the difference.

Well I finally made it to Orange County and took Tony(Abergili) up on his offer to swim at his club. Now when I say club, it is not one of those 3 lane pools with no gutters and heated to therapy levels, it was an outdoor 50 meter pool with all the trimmings to be a fast pool. 82+ on the temp felt like heaven to me, and all the O2 I could suck in at sea level. And Tony made me suck in and use every single molecule too, best workout of the year. Tony made up the workout, we are both training for the IM and some fly, so that was the theme of the day. Lots, and lots of 50's fly, which I thought I could hang and do well next to him, but he was just too strong and fast for me. I was lucky to be within a body length or two, and had to sandbag a few to just catch my breath. The entire workout was fast for me, but we did add a little bit of extra rest here and there, one of the wonderful perks of not having a time limit. As far as my addled brain can remember, this is what we did:

6x100@1;30buoy(1;19/18/17/16/12/10) fastest ever warm up swim for me lately
6x100@2;00 as 50 kick/25drill/25 swim, strokes(1;31 to 1;38's) this seemed pretty fast for kicking and drills stroke
4x50 fly@1;00 descend(37/36/35/34). Tony started at 34+ and went to 32
2x100IM@2;00, 2nd one fast(1;19+/1;14) first one was supposed to be 1;24, uh oh!!!
3x50fly@1;00, 2nd fast(43/35/44) had to do kick, kick pull on the easy ones
200IM steady working on breakouts(2;45+)
2x50fly@1;00(43/35) kick, kick pull again on #1
2x100@2;00 50 back/50 breast, 2nd one hard(1;28/1;19 high) very surprised at that last one
1x50fly(35)
200IM strong(2;39+) was pretty much all out for me
100IM for time(1;13) dead arms but put together a decent 100, best time of year
500pull(6;09)
3100SCY in little over an hour, boy are my arms tired!!!!

Thanks Tony!!!

I tried to wear Monty out with some butterfly. Didn't work too well. I was holding mostly 33-34s on the fly 50s. The one swim I predicted a 1:24 for a 50bk/50br and came in at a 1:23 which I thought was pretty good but Monty went 1:19. Toward the end he went under 2:40 and then a 1:13 for a couple final IMs. I was 2:45 and 1:15 I wanted to beat him the last one but fought off a cramp it was some good racing and working out. Talked about taper strategies afterward and I found my ST post from my last taper meet in December 2019. God its been a long time, I will repost it next week

Also June workout totals I swam 25/30 days with about a 3200 avg yardage. Not too tired right now and if I go tomorrow morning it will be 7 straight days and this weekend I am off for 3 days except probably a lake swim I will squeeze in one morning then back to hitting hard one more week.

So day 2 at Tony's pond, and I was still trashed from yesterday's epic fly/IM swims. I got to pick the workout today, so opted for a set of 400's broken up. He seemed fresh and unscathed, and it was apparent I was going to be 2nd wheel after the first couple sets, pretty much straight through on everything:

4x100s@1;30(1;17/18/17/16) one to two body lengths behind
2x200 buoy@3;00(2;36/2;31) narrowing the gap a bit to one length
400pull@6;00 (4;39) sat on the lane line next to him about a body length and a half the entire time, then closed to a photo finish last 50
400IM kick@9;00(7;25) was a bit faster, but not by much
400IM for time@7;00 (5;34) biggest surprise of the year for me, this was close to my actual goal time for nationals. Didnt see any clock, but Tony said he was out in 2;43 or so, I was about 4 seconds back at 2;47 then. Closed that entire gap on the breast, and then did about a 1;16 to finish it off. 19 seconds off my previous best workout swim, and still did one lap of kick, kick pull on the fly.
400pull@6;00(4;58) Tony blasted off and I never saw him again..
200 broken IM, 50's@2;00 (fly(32/back37/breast/38/free/29) 2;16 total time, best by far all season. Tony was a hair ahead in the fly, 3 seconds on the back, clawed a couple back on the breast, and another photo finish for the 29 free.
100 or so easy swim
100IM get out swim(1;12) best in ages, felt peppy all the way through

2800SCY and my arms are tired!!

And a huge thanks to ST'er Tony for hosting me and being my carrot these past two days. I think it netted both of us some great workout times, and should be the last stepping stone to about one more really hard week before taper time...