04/16/09

200 swim
200 K
100 fly - bend/arch drill
100 br w/snorkel, working on breathing timing
100 bk drill, hands @sides, working rotation
2 x 100 fr swim mod

3 x 200 back @2:45
1.) 100 free (~1:11), 100 back fast
2.) w/fins
3.) w/fins

200 back for time (2:28 mid)

3 x 200 br @2:55 - same as bk

200 breast for time (1:19/1:23)

2 x 400 IM swim, working fr, @1:00
1.)(1:16.97, 1:20.30, 1:25.84, 35.33, 35.40) - 5:13.84
2.)(1:15.44, 1:22.50, 1:27.99, 34.57, 34.93) - 5:15.43

My watch band kept coming undone during the back and breast on #2 and I had to fiddle with it a few times there.

400 IM for time w/fins (1:09.32, 36.56, 38.39, 1:17.78, 1:03.54) - 4:45.74

200 ez

2 x 50 bk fast, 50 recovery. went 33, 32.31

w/d

My backstroke was not peppy today. Everything else felt pretty good. Especially my free... I've been working on closing my IM swims with a good effort on the free and I'm starting to feel stronger at the end of those 400s.

Like a dumdum, I didn't do any build or sprint before the main set, so I started out on the backstroke portion with pretty low turnover. I need to make sure to throw in some build swims or quicker swims to get my limbs moving faster before I hit the main set. It really helps. Duh, me.

Anyway, backstroke. I'm still rebuilding it a bit so I have several things to think about while I'm swimming it -- head back and straight, hips up, arms finishing close to body, throwing my arms over my head, kick toward the sides of the pool on the rotation, good rotation, swim in the middle of the lane. That and I've been riding my bike a lot and working my legs. Backstroke responds well to rested legs :). I'm not really worried about it because it'll be there when it comes time to race and not think about it. Still, I kind of want to work on picking up my back split in the 400 IM to get a better sense of how I'll actually swim it in the race.

My lats and back muscles are getting pretty tired.

I'm doing a lot of IM volume, instead of doing most of my volume in freestyle. It's a little tougher but I like it more. Too much freestyle gets boring. That, and I can get my HR up to A/T threshold (160/170 for me these days) easier doing IM sets. With free, I can get stuck in aerobic mode (140/150).