October 2008

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Oct
29

4200 Long Course

Posted by Kevin Doak on Wednesday at: 5:15pm (October 29th, 2008)
I made it an early morning and practiced at the same time as EMU. I did a majority of the written practice and it was a great change of pace from my typical self created 3,000yard workouts. It was a good mix of kicking on all four sides, IM drills, pulling and sprints. Tuesday was the first time since I began training a few years ago that it struck me that I should change what I'm doing. I want to be significantly better than what I am now and I can't make improvements if I keep doing what I've done.
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Oct
29

Pulling and better flipturns

Posted by Kevin Doak on Wednesday at: 10:30am (October 29th, 2008)
I took Monday off to get caught up on some work and recover from the meet and the long drive. Tuesday I did my typical 3,000 SCY and focused on some arm workouts. I did quite a few 100's pull (no kicking) with no equipment. I was surprised to see a 1:12 after my first 100 yards. I thought that was pretty quick for me. I tried harder during the 2nd one and went a 1:10. I was taking a 1:40 interval. I could tell it was a good set for me, I was breaking myself down and 30 seconds rest was just enough to recover and do it again.
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Oct
27

Pictures from IUPUI

Posted by Kevin Doak on Monday at: 6:49am (October 27th, 2008)
Here are a few pics a friend took:



Oct
26

Great Meet Overall!

Posted by Kevin Doak on Sunday at: 7:34pm (October 26th, 2008)
I had a great 100 IM! I finished in 59.52 which was about 0.20 seconds under my lifetime best time last December. I didn't get much warm down after my IM and it showed. My 100 Free was fairly slow at a 53.43. It was almost 2 seconds slower than my best at 51.75. I'm writing that one off to not enough rest. Overall it was a great meet. I had hoped to be faster in a few races but I learned a valuable lesson about getting up much earlier and being alert and ready to swim. I achieved two lifetime best times. One in the 50 Fly SCM and one in the 100 IM SCM.
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Oct
26

Lots of work to do

Posted by Kevin Doak on Sunday at: 3:30pm (October 26th, 2008)
I had a mediocre 100 Back SCM. I finished in 56.76. It is a full second slower than my best time last December at a 55.65. I felt like I was still asleep at the blocks, I was yawning and felt lethargic. The race felt decent, nothing I could have improved on other than some faster turns. I have a lot of work to do if I plan on dropping more than a second in the next 11 months. I have the 100 IM up next. Now that I'm warmed up I think I'll swim much better.
Oct
25

Lifetime Best! 50 Fly SCM!

Posted by Kevin Doak on Saturday at: 5:35pm (October 25th, 2008)
After a disapointing 50 Free at 23.8 I was feeling warmed up. I had a good 30 minutes of rest and went a 25.05! I dropped .07 seconds off my best time in the event! I'm slowly achieving my goal of best times in every event. This makes 2 out of 23 events!
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Oct
25

Long way to go

Posted by Kevin Doak on Saturday at: 3:58pm (October 25th, 2008)
I just finished the 50 Back SCM. I felt strong but very sloppy, I had a poor start and a slow turn. I almost missed the wall and just barely got a push off of it. I swam a 25.83. It was almost a full second slower than my target time. I have a chance to time trial it again but I chose not to, I will focus on my overall goal of best times in each event. The 50 Free is next! Goal time is below 23.31. I don't feel polished in the water so I'm not incredibly optimistic but I will give it my all!
Oct
25

Worlds Fastest Pool

Posted by Kevin Doak on Saturday at: 2:48pm (October 25th, 2008)
I'm here! I got a good nights rest and I'm ready to swim. I'm always afraid of sleeping in some strange position and waking up with a sore limb or joint. I got a light breakfast and got checked in, I'm going to do a short warmup and prepare for the 50 Back. I really wish the 50 back wasn't my first event, because it usually takes me one event to clean out the cobwebs. I'm gonna get after it and try to get that 24.xx. Last year I was very close to the world record. Here we go!
Oct
24

Feeling Great!

Posted by Kevin Doak on Friday at: 8:09pm (October 24th, 2008)
I had a chance to get in 1,000 yards of meet warmup at the Jones Natatorium before leaving for Indianapolis. I feel great! I am still sore from those quick pushups the other day but I doubt it will affect my races. I did some fast kicking off the walls and I feel strong and ready to race. Although I could have gotten more sleep last night I feel mostly rested. I'll get a good nights sleep tonight once I arrive in Indy and wake up early for the meet. As of right now I'm confident I can break all my personal records. I feel stronger and more prepared this year.
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Oct
24

Great Coaches and a good 100 Free in Practice

Posted by Kevin Doak on Friday at: 2:40am (October 24th, 2008)
I forgot to mention I met Mike Bottom the other night. Mike is the new head coach of the U of M team. He took over after Bob Bowman left to go back to coach the North Baltimore Aquatic Club. Mike Bottom has coached a handful of great swimmers, I don't know his exact history but I know he's been at the Race Club coaching Gary Hall Jr. and others. I only got to speak with him for 5 minutes, but overall he seemed like a very nice person. I had just gotten out of the pool and he walked right over to where I was standing after talking to EMU's head coach Peter Linn.
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Oct
23

Benchmark Bodyweight Improvement

Posted by Kevin Doak on Thursday at: 3:14am (October 23rd, 2008)
Unfortunately I did this set from home where I can't do pullups or dips, but my situps and pushups improved slightly.

Last week I was 86 Situps in 2:00
This week I was 100 Situps in 2:00
(Issue: I run out of strength)

Last week I was 20 Pushups in 1:00
This week I was 43 Pushups in 1:00
(Issue: I run out of strength)
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Oct
23

After the day off

Posted by Kevin Doak on Thursday at: 2:19am (October 23rd, 2008)
I took Tuesday off to recover a little. I was back in the pool tonight to squeeze in 3,000 yards before the EMU meet. I did some fast 100's and fast 50's. My 100's were all under 1:00 with less than 30 seconds rest. The 50's were around 24-25 seconds. I'm satisfied with my performances but I can't say I really felt rested after a full day off. I'm excited to visit some friends in Indianapolis this weekend and compete in the TYR Grand Prix series meet at IUPUI. I have been practicing some IM drills to prepare myself for the 100 IM SCM I'll do this weekend.
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Oct
21

Busy with EMUswim.com

Posted by Kevin Doak on Tuesday at: 7:27pm (October 21st, 2008)
It's been a few days! I've been in the water every day and done weights twice since my last post. Last night I was sort of running out of steam in the pool. I only did about 1800. I was sore and tired. I'm taking today off to recover while getting some projects done. I can share this news because it's swimming related. I redesigned a website I manage for Eastern Michigan Swimming:

www.emuswim.com
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Oct
16

Short Practice and Lots of Starts

Posted by Kevin Doak on Thursday at: 11:29pm (October 16th, 2008)
Due to a crazy work schedule that put me behind in my day, I was gently pushed out of the pool by the team half way through my 1 hour practice. I decided to finish up by doing lots of starts and 25's in an extra diving lane (generously provided by EMU Diving). I did:

10x25 yard sprints on the 1:00 backstroke from a push.
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Oct
16

Quick 50 Yard Kick and NEW VIDEOS

Posted by Kevin Doak on Thursday at: 3:28am (October 16th, 2008)
I squeezed in a 3300 yard practice today after a long day of work. My chest is sore from the mediocre benchmarking set yesterday. I had a coach time a 50 yard kick from a push. It was done butterfly kick on my back with a flipturn. I clocked a 26.6. I was slightly pleased. I think that's a solid performance. I believe frequent small benchmarking sets keeps my confidence high and motivates me to keep training day after day. One of the few benefits of training alone, anytime I want to benchmark myself, I do.
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Oct
15

Gotta start somewhere

Posted by Kevin Doak on Wednesday at: 2:04am (October 15th, 2008)
Tonight I tried a bodyweight strength benchmarking set we used to do in college. I admit I performed much lower than my expectations. It was bad enough that I considered not even posting my results at all. However, I embrace sub par performances because they motivate me to work harder and improve.

Max Number Situps on 2:00 - 86
Max Number Pushups on 1:00 - 20
Max Number Pull-ups (Palms In and all the way down) - 13

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Oct
13

2008 ConocoPhillips SCY Nationals

Posted by Kevin Doak on Monday at: 10:29pm (October 13th, 2008)
I'm officially registered for the 2008 ConocoPhillips SCY Nationals. This will be the first national meet I've ever been a part of (exlcluding trials). I'm excited to be a swim at this level again! I'm swimming the 100 Back and 50 Freestyle. The meet is in early December in Atlanta.... not a horrible time to be down south!
Oct
13

Taking the day off

Posted by Kevin Doak on Monday at: 7:54pm (October 13th, 2008)
Posting daily keeps me on track with my training. Although I don't feel like I need a day off, I think it would be best to enjoy a day of rest before beginning a challenging training week. Today I will catch up on work and life.
Also, great job to my friends at the masters meet this weekend: Sarah, Skip, Todd, Sally and others.
Oct
13

Progress...

Posted by Kevin Doak on Monday at: 4:36am (October 13th, 2008)
Last week I set a goal of lowering every single best time I have recorded for myself within the next 12 months. This goal encompasses 23 total events from all three courses (SCY, SCM, LCM). Yesterday I dropped my lifetime best time in the 100 IM from a 53.39 to a 52.63. What's crazy is that I dropped 95% of that on the first half of the race. The Fly and Backstroke legs of the race are my best out of all four. I dropped from a 23.59 to a 22.88 split on the first half. I really thought I had maximized that portion of my race.
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Oct
12

Milan Masters Meet Part 2

Posted by Kevin Doak on Sunday at: 6:39pm (October 12th, 2008)
With only ~40 competitors, they were flying through the meet. I had a little more rest before my 50 Back due to the 15 minute intermission. I went a 23.47. Not a horrible time, but a half a second off my best. Due to the "Omega" pads, I didn't get the best start. My 100 Back which was 10 minutes later was a 51.69. By this time I was really quite worn out. I could feel myself swimming slow and not optimizing my distance per stroke. I enjoy doing lots of events, but I think next time I'll just focus on a few and perform better with more rest. It was a great meet overall.
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Oct
12

Milan Master Meet Part 1

Posted by Kevin Doak on Sunday at: 4:01pm (October 12th, 2008)
I just finished the 50 Free. The meet has been going very fast. Literally its been 10 minutes between my races. I had a great 100 IM at a 52.6 which was about a 0.70 second drop! My 50 Fly was a 23.30 which was decent but slower than my best at 22.64. I got a mouth full of water off the start and was choking the whole race. My 50 Free was a 21.47. I'm very tired, luckly there is a 15 minute break right now so I can recover before my 50 Back and 100 Back.

Overall I'm very proud of my 100 IM, it was a great time drop and proves that I'm improving!

Oct
12

Quick practice

Posted by Kevin Doak on Sunday at: 3:40am (October 12th, 2008)
I had a chance to do about 1200 yards today after the big meet at EMU. Since the meet at EMU was a high school meet, I got to see a lot of my former teammates who now coach. It was nice to catch up and exert a little peer pressure to get them to swim masters! I might have actually recruited a few to swim tomorrow morning. I can't say I feel great, but I'm gonna give it my all tomorrow morning in Milan.
Oct
11

New Race Suit!

Posted by Kevin Doak on Saturday at: 7:30pm (October 11th, 2008)
I got a chance to pick up a new race suit today! I got a FS-Pro Jammer. It looks almost identical to my previous race suits but its made out of a different fabric and its all black. It was $178.00... Ouch. Better than a LZR at $550.00 though! A new suit is great for psychological confidence if nothing else.

I'll reference this next part for myself someday since I always remove the tags:
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Oct
11

Short meet warmup swim

Posted by Kevin Doak on Saturday at: 6:25am (October 11th, 2008)
Due to a high school meet I only had time for a 1500 yard practice, I fit in some fast 15m underwaters for good measure. I didn't want to rest for this meet but its looking like I'll be at least a little rested. I feel pretty good in the water. I really wish I could get in on saturday but it probably won't work due to the high school meet. Sunday is the Milan Masters Meet! Should be a good one! I spent some time this evening reviewing my 2008 state meet 100 yard back performance. It was my best 100 back swim since college. I have a feeling I'll beat it on Sunday.
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Oct
9

Great underwaters and starts!

Posted by Kevin Doak on Thursday at: 8:32pm (October 9th, 2008)
Today was the first day in my entire life that I did 6 kicks underwater off of EVERY wall! I'm feeling more and more confident each day. I had a chance to do some starts in preparation for my meet sunday morning. I did a few freestyle starts as well as some 9-10 second 25 yard butterfly sprints (that's hauling for me!). My backstroke starts feel a little shakey since I haven't done any in a few months but I'm sure I'll be fine for this weekend.

I registered for the meet earlier today and I'm swimming:

100 IM
50 Back
50 Fly
50 Free

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Oct
8

100 Yard Kick in 1:04

Posted by Kevin Doak on Wednesday at: 9:13pm (October 8th, 2008)
After a nice 3000 yard practice I took 2 minutes rest and tried my benchmark 100 yard kick again. It was a little ugly since I was worn out but I dropped 2 seconds from a 1:06 earlier this week to a 1:04! I have a long way to go to get my sub 1:00 however it is within reach. Four seconds is nothing! I have an even more ridiculous goal in store for myself once I go under 1 minute.

I did half my practice butterfly kick again today. I did 5 kicks off each wall during warmup and 6-10 kicks off EVERY wall afterwards. I think its a great drill.

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Oct
6

Fastest Practice 100 Back Ever!

Posted by Kevin Doak on Monday at: 6:51pm (October 6th, 2008)
It just keeps getting better! This was day 3 of the "1/2 practice kick routine" I created with inspiration from former teammate John Bartlet.

I finished my 3000 yard workout just in time to ask Assistant Coach Sarah Volpe to grab a watch and get my time in a 100 yard back from a push. I wanted to go all out but it just wasn't there, I was exhausted and only took about 2 minutes rest before the time trial. I busted out a 52.40, well under my fastest practice time ever! I'm really getting pumped up for the fall season of meets!

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Oct
6

Whoa!

Posted by Kevin Doak on Monday at: 4:29am (October 6th, 2008)
Let me preface this with the fact that I put very little faith in time conversion. For those wondering, time conversion is used to determine what a swimmer's time would be if they swam an event in Long Course (50 Meter long pool) and converts it into a Short Course (25 Yard long pool) time. It's NEVER an exact science and in my opinion should only be used to "ballpark" a swimmers time. Most swimmers are much better in either long course or short course so the conversions are usually wrong.
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Oct
6

54 second 100y back and a NEW GOAL

Posted by Kevin Doak on Monday at: 3:15am (October 6th, 2008)
I had a great swim practice today. I did my typical 3k practice and once again did half of it butterfly kick on my back. I think it will really help my walls (underwater kicking off the wall after a flipturn). I can tell that I'm really breaking down my muscles lately, I'm not used to so much kicking. My abs are destroyed but I know I'm getting better! Just yesterday I started counting my kicks off each wall again. I pledged to take 5 kicks off each wall or I would send myself home. Today I stepped it up a little and took 6 on most walls.
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Oct
4

Four Workouts, One Day

Posted by Kevin Doak on Saturday at: 8:11pm (October 4th, 2008)
I have four main groups of exercises:

1. Swimming
2. Running
3. Dryland (bodyweight exercises)
4. Weights

Due to a very busy work week, I might actually do all four today. I normally split up workouts into groups per day and do weights and running and the next day do dryland and swimming. Its never quite that structured but you get the picture.
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Oct
2

Weight Gain and P90X

Posted by Kevin Doak on Thursday at: 2:20am (October 2nd, 2008)
I've been the same weight since I started college in 1999. In the last few months I've gained 8lbs. I've exercised regularly and recently added running into the typical mix of swimming daily, lifting and dryland workouts. I know I'm slightly stronger than a few months ago. After talking to a few swimmers, all of them think it's probably muscle weight. It just seems unlikely to me that I've actually gained 8 lbs of muscle without noticing. I'm going to do some research on the topic.
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