04/17/09

300 choice kick - nothing too hard just loosen and warm up your legs - you will need them later on. (insert evil laugh)

6 X 50 choice 25 drill/25 swim rest :15

200 25 build/25 easy

8 X 25 choice fast @ :40

12 X 150
{
#1 - 4 @ 2:40 50 hard kick + 100 swim 1 of each stroke IM order - Kick hard enough so heart is up for the 100 swim
(fly - 43/1:14, bk 43/1:13, br 47/1:21, fr 43/1:10)

#5 - 8 @ 2:20 swim 1 each stroke IM order
(fly - 1:52, bk - 1:50, br - 2:04, fr - 1:46)

#9 - 12 @ 2:50 same as #1 - 4
(fly - 45/1:15, bk 43/1:14, br 48/1:24, fr 43/1:09)
}
200 ez

3 X 300 @ 4:20 work last 100 of each 300
(did these with inner tube around ankles to work on body pos'n)
#1 buoy and paddles
#2 buoy only
#3 paddles only -- not being able to kick b/c of the inner tube, my legs were like a sack of hammers.

6 X 75 @ 1:15 work the turns good streamlines etc.
50 fly/25back
50 back/25 breast
50 breast/25 free

200 warm down

My breaststroke was a lil off at the end of the 150s. I tried, on the last 100, to go for a big kick and I think that came at the expense of stroke rhythm. I was pulling up too much, not forward enough and trying to dive into the kick too hard. Breaststroke works much better for me if I establish rhtyhm first and then try to work the kick once my stroke rhythm is set up.

I was working the backstroke a little more today, too. I really felt like I was able to get a good flow to the stroke today and was able to swim it closer to how I'd like to swim it during the IM.

Also, my butterfly yardage has increased significantly these last couple of weeks. In addition to the percentage of high intensity -- which is important and has been up also -- I've been doing a much higher percentage of yardage butterfly. I'll call it YOB (yards of butterfly). I'm getting to the point with it now that 100 yards of it isn't causing fatigue to the point where my stroke gets too short because my scapular stabilizer muscles are fried. It still raises my HR more than just about anything (except my cut fins), but my stroke isn't breaking down like it did when my YOB was <1% of total yardage. I'd guesstimate my YOB to be closer to 15-20% now, depending on the day. This will make a difference in the 400 IM (as long as I just try to go out long and smooth on the fly and don't just dive in and start sprinting my ass off).

4 days until taper.