Nothing dorky at all (in my book) of anyone trying to get better at something

I respect it a lot.

Keep at it.
You’ll get there.

Daved

---

http://www.theundergroundcoach.com

Haven't really felt great about my swimming lately. Decided that it had been too long since my last shave so I clipped the Chewbacca suit at the end of March. Need a meet/OW event to spice things up; unfortunately I can't find one closer than 3+hr drive for awhile. Here's my April so far:

4/2:
800 warmup
4x[100 IM, 100 fly kick, 100 paddles + ankle band, 200 swim]


3000scy


+ 40 min strength


4/4:
regular 800 warmup
500 build (5:40) on 6:45
10x100 threshold effort on 1:30
started at 1:06, ended around 1:04
4x50 easy


2500scy


4/5:

2x[200 swim, 4x50 drill]
4x50 25 sprint/25 easy
4x200 as 50 fast hands, 100 smooth, 50 build (on 2:45, held ~2:12)
4x50 easy

+ 6 mi run

4/7:
'Olympic' Aquathlon
Swim was only 920y according to watch, split in 12:33 (that's slow)
Course was a 2-looper that was supposed to be triangular but was really a straight line.
So of course on the return in the first loop I got a head-on collision with someone who was 25 yards off course and swimming at a 45 degree angle to get back.
6.25mi run on a a hilly, lumpy grass course in 39:35

4/11:
2x[300 swim, 4x50 drill]
2x[5x200 descend on 2:45, 100 easy]
Rd1: 2:17-16-13-12-09
Rd2: 2:15-15-13-11-08
3x200 pull strong on 2:30. 2 blue paddles, 1 red: 2:04-05-03

4000scy

4/12:
2x[200 swim, 4x50 drill]
5x100 ankle band
8x50 25 Sprint/25 easy. 3 free, 1 fly
1000 pull, negative split. Blue paddles (5:31-5:25)
2x500 pull, red paddles, faster than 1000 (5:20-5:19)
4x50 Cruise
3x[100 fast, 100 easy]. 58's on the fast ones. had planned to do 5 rounds but I was spent at 3.

4500 scy

+ 5mi run
3x200 pull strong. 2 blue paddles, 1 red
4x50 easy

Heater was broken in the pool this week, so it was a fantastic 77F, made these last two hard sessions easier.

---

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Yeah. Thanks.

Most of my sessions are around 1600m average. I rarely do 3000m+. Around here 3000m is on the short side, eh? 😂

Of course I'm not a Triathlete. Sometimes I convince myself that I am a "sprinter" (quotation marks required).

---

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

Cranking when the paddles go on...


OW courses set up with the chance for a collision are a real hassle. best shape is wide rectangle (not the tall rectangle) or diamond, rather than the skinny rectangle

Hope some OW events coming up now into spring and summer for you guys. I've got only one or two left in me for the season

I'm with you Adrian needing some races sitting out there to stay motivated. I mean training is good and all, would do it with no racing, but that is the icing on the cake so to speak to test yourself once in awhile..

Did a shorter rest set today, HR was high and stayed there in the hotter water at high pool:

4x(4x100buoy or pull@1;30/100frog@2;10/100IM@1;50)buoys(1;24/23's)pulls(1;16's)frogs(1;53/51/48/48)IM's(1;27/24/24/23)
3x(100frog@2;00/100p@1;50/50fly or back@1;00)frogs(1;51/50/50)pulls(1;18/17/16)fly's(38/38)bk(41)
150 dolphin/frog(3;02)
3300SCY in 58 minutes

Looking at a pentathlon 1st week of may, but can choose, sprint, middle, or long distance, thinking maybe middle for a change..

Had a race today and managed to get a win. 34 minute finishing time. Got a slow start off the beach but slowly reeled in leaders and then put in a surge with my friend drafting, then I drafted her for a bit. We managed to break away.

From about halfway we just did our own thing and took slightly different lines - I took the slightly better line so ended up with a slight lead and just finished as best I could. By then it was much flatter so could push much harder

Really hard swimming out today right into head on chop. Any tips on how to do this? Also with the big tail chop? I couldn’t really get into my higher rhythm I get when it’s flatter. Just a practice thing to swim with a high rating in the water when it’s moving around like that?

I often find that when it’s rough like that the speed I can swim isn’t really that fast but it’s just having good strength to keep arms going over at the moderate level

All the fast crew were at surf nationals leaving the part timers to have a shot. Ocean around 21 degrees. Perfect.

Your post and your handle match perfectly! 😂 Congrats.

Meanwhile, I'm happy to report a fiver. (ie 5 swim sessions over the last week - Mon to Sun.)

Sexy bits included 25m in 17.5, 50m in 38.0, 100m in 1:24.0, and 400m in 6:37.5. These are not "fast" for me, but I'm inching my way back to form.

---

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

I read someone write work on your 5000m and your 50m bests - the rest in the middle will take care of itself. That’s what you are doing!

Great job on the race win, and your lady friend must be one hell of an open water swimmer. With the workouts you post up here, doubt she is beating you in the pool? Unless your friend is Lani Pallister, suppose she could take you in the pool too... (-;

I had a rare Sunday swim today, was at a sea level and cooler pool and went in feeling marginal. But man once again I'm flabbergasted at how much better I can swim in a normal pool with full O2. Starting with warm up and ending with last 50, just all feels and is faster, even feeling shity:

2x(4x100buoy@1;40/100frog@2;00)buoys(1;24/23/22/19/19/19/18/16)frogs(1;51/47)
3x(300p@4;30/100frog@2;00/2x50swim@1;00) pulls(3;49/3;43/3;42)frogs(1;51/48/45)swims(37/36/36/34/35/34)
2x(3x100IM kick@2;10/4x50buoy@1;00)kicks(1;56 to 1;52's)buoys(40 to 36's)
5x100p@1;40(1;17 to 1;10)5x50buoy@1;00(40/39/37/36/34)
4250SCY in 78 minutes

Had to swim mostly free since only 4 lanes open and had to share the entire swim. Would have been fun to do IM, but not cool to my lane mate.

My friend carves it up in the ocean. Once she gets on her pace she just goes and rough water doesn’t bother her one bit. Had some fun days swimming in rough and cold water during storms. Not that crazy nz conditions you sent that time though lol but still great fun. Swimming with those swells chopped off about 5-7 seconds per 100 a few years ago

I can keep her honest in the pool but I only got lucky on the weekend coming on a better line and I thought now is my chance so went for broke. May not come again.

Nice getting a cool Sunday swim in. When it gets really choppy and rough do you try to swim deeper in the water? Or just try to stay on top of rhythm and keep up the effort? Most people I know just say in the ocean get as high as possible and swim straight

All scy. Just to say I tried a workout advertised but not as quite advertised:

50s on 1
75s on 1:30
100s on 1:45


And a couple of fitness tests:
10x50s on :50. Could I have done 20? I think so.
6X50s on :45. Could I have done 7? Haha. No.


About a month of coming back in the books. Not as dire as it seemed in week 1.

Yes!!!

I seem to be addicted/OCD about trying to do "well" at everything from 5000m to the 15m challenge (which is a thing!!), with my favourite (400m) right near the middle. I seem to crave Epic Variety in swimming, but I believe that the middle of this gigantic spectrum benefits from it all. Some might say aiming specifically at 400m instead of spraying bullets in all directions would be better for my beloved 400m, but I'd get bored with narrower training.

It is indeed 5000m o'clock in my monthly sequence! 😂

---

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

When it gets really choppy and rough do you try to swim deeper in the water? Or just try to stay on top of rhythm and keep up the effort? Most people I know just say in the ocean get as high as possible and swim straight //

Its a hard thing for me to explain, as it is ingrained into my hard drive. I certainly have the 10,000+ ocean swims in to have perfected it, many from when I was just a nipper of 8 swimming in to get my lost board from back in the no surf leash days..Flat water is easy, like you said just swim straight and like in a pool. But when it gets really bumpy, that is where the magic is. Sometimes you ride high, but others you plow through, like doing an underwater. It is a feel for what is coming as you really cannot see it, but the ocean has a rhythm you can deduce. Going into heavy chop I bury my head a lot, sometimes skip a breath too to keep timing of the current stroke. Coming in or running with a swell, you use your kick a lot more to ride the railroads as we put it, and then back down in the trough to recover from the micro bursts.


Think of that dynamic as being on a flat escalator. If it moves and you move with it, your distance is more than actual output. Same for a swellcoming underneath you(not a wave, different story there). So if you pick up your pace very quickly right when it hits you, it is like swimming on that escalator, and you get some free distance. So the faster you go, the more free distance you get..And over time you learn to time those before they even hit you, there is a pull back or heaviness to your stroke just before you get the push, and you can accelerate just in front of it hitting you.


Anyway long answer to a short question, not sure if it helps or not. But being the swimmer you are I think you can visualize what I'm trying to describe..


Back in the high and HOT pool today, it really does test my fortitude sometimes. I'm really a self motivated swimmer and love it, even by myself day in and day out, but this hot water does try my patience sometimes. Pretty stark from yesterdays sea level cool swim on how much it makes a difference too:


4x(3x100bouy or pull@1;40/100back@2;00/100frog@2;00)buoys(1;27/26/24/23/23/23/22/20)pulls(1;17/15/15/13/14/14/13/13)backs(1;30/1;26+/1;25/1;24)frogs(1;52 to 1;46)
4x(100p@1;50 easy/50 fly or back@1;00/100frog easy@2;10)pulls(1;20/19/18/17)frogs(1;50's) fly(36/36+/36)back(39)
2x100p(1;19/1;10)
3200SCY in 59 minutes

Thank you - that is really well put. Not been explained to me before - but that does make sense.

Got to feel the shifts from the moving water and then give higher bursts in energy and effort at different times... great post monty.

A master class in open water tech and thinking!

Well said Monty.

Back at it today. Nothing fancy at all tho. Only still getting two swims in a week and with kids home all week w April vaca... this week will be the same.

MyMainSet:
3x
300 on 4 -- 329, 326, 321
4 x 75 on 1 -- all 50s and 51s (last set I had some cramping legs)
4 x 25s on :30 -- just racing my training mate to the mid of the pool
50 easy
4050. total

So, nothing fancy but happy to get it in

daved

---

http://www.theundergroundcoach.com

My xray results are in.

I put them as an image in my profile! 😂 (Idk how you post images here.) 🤷🏼‍♂️

My first reaction: "Jesus Christ! I'm getting fucking old." (Are you allowed to say "Jesus Christ" here?)

After some discussion with the Doc we agreed that disc surgery is the last resort. That option can be explored if things remain shit. (Things are improving by about 1-2% most days.)

3 ideas:

1. Core.
2. Core.
3. See 1 and 2 above.

Even when I was a good runner, my core was kind of shyte. I've been doing daily superman and plank lately. Now I'm really motivated!!

Sigh....

I'll swim a 3000m now......

---

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

Toady I decided would be fly day, so more rest and harder swims. Got in 800 of fly at a 1;16 per 100 average, mostly 50's with a few 25's. Will have to go up in distance it get that flowing stroke, this one is all work..

2x(3x100buoy@1;40/2x100frog@2;00)buoys(1;28 to 1;19)frogs(1;54 to 1;48)
10x50 fly, odds hard @1;10/ evens recovery@1;20) Hards(38/38/38/37+/37) recovery(43/43/43/42/41)
4x(3x50frog@1;10/50fly@1;30)frogs(all 53/52's)fly(36+/36/36/36)
2x100p@1;50(1;17/15)2x25 fly@;40(16/16)100p(1;15)2x25fly(16/15+/
2700SCY in 59 minutes

A gentle, happy 3000m (56:31) tonight. 😀

I think the abwork that I recently started doing is really helping. I feel better in the water now.

---

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

I am also lacking the strength and mobility to do a lot without pain. A storm- April 5/6 I think- shoveling and cleaning car a bunch had me in a lot of pain, which is why I disappeared.

20 x 50 on 1 this AM, felt so good to be back, hope pain doesn’t set in later. 3 mi walk after and all my PT stuff

---

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

someone on here - Murphy'sLaw? - used to have a sig line to the effect of "speed is icing on a cake and you don't have a cake". I wish I could remember it.

I live far more for the day in day out training bc it makes me feel good over racing.

month for my purposes
M Apr 1- 2000 free, 3300 yd kick
T Apr 2 - 3250 free, 150 kick
W Apr 3 - 2900 free, 400 kick
F Apr 5 - 1800 free
W Apr 17 - 1000 free

---

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

😀

Welcome back! Fingers crossed.

---

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

Yeah - for decades track races organized my training. And early in my swimming some Masters meets did the same. I trained to race!

But now I think I'm easing into "training to train", and my own personal monthly "decathlon". (15m, 25m, 50m, 100m, 200m, 400m, 800m, 1500m, 3000m, 5000m.)

I have very mixed feelings about letting go of the former mindset. But I am genuinely happy with the latter.

---

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

Anyone have any Ctretchcordz workouts they'd recommend? For days I don't get to the pool, it would be good to get some training in.

---

the world's still turning? >>>>>>> the world's still turning

I can tell you some good rotator cuff strength exercises w resistance bands. Is that what you're after, or something that's like swimming on dry land?

---

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