December 2008

I had a chance to swim in the (Former) International Swimming Hall of Fame Pool, now renamed to: "Fort Lauderdale Aquatic Complex". I've been part of 4 swim meets here, one each year I was swimming with Eastern Michigan University. We trained in Fort Lauderdale each holiday break to escape the cold weather and have some semi-vacation time while getting our butts kicked in practice.

After running to practice I got in 4,500 yards today. I'm well on my way to averaging more than 4,000 yards per day this entire week. I did 3,000 yards of kicking, IM and pulling to start things out followed by an Animal Kick set. This is a set from my college days consisting of 10x100's kick on the 1:30. It's a great benchmarking set for me. In college I used to average about 1:21, I'd always start out pretty quick but could never keep the speed for the entire 15 minute set. Today I did the following set on just less than 2 minutes rest after my main set:

1:12
1:16

I took Monday off to rest and catch up on some projects. Today I did dry land and weights as well as ran to practice. Once I got in the pool I was in SLOW MOTION big time. I was watching age groupers pass me left and right, it was pretty sad. I managed to get in 4,200+ yards and I'm glad I went but even happier that not many witnessed that practice!

14 hours after my 100 Fly lifetime best I'm back in the weight room, doing dryland exercises and in the pool to better myself. This weekend showed me that I'm on the right track but I need to do far more to achieve my goal. I have one month before a SCY masters meet at EMU on January 11th 2009. The next month will present quite a few obstacles to my training between the holidays and family events. I need to make sure I maintain a healthy balance, enjoy family and friends while keeping my goal in mind and continue training. I welcome the challenge.

I had a really fast 100 Fly (for me). I swam a 49.93! A full 2 second drop! I never train butterfly at all so being under 50 seconds is really good for me! My 50 fly split was also a lifetime best by 0.06 seconds at 22.58. I feel really great about my swims this weekend! It shows me I'm improving and quickly becoming the fastest swimmer I've ever been in every single event in every course. I'm going to review all three videos tonight and reflect on where I can improve. What a great weekend!

The meet director thinks he can get me in after a 1650 time trial so I have at least another 20 minutes after the events are over but I should have a chance to time trial the 100 Back.

I was really proud of my performance tonight in the 50 Free Time Trial. The meet staff was nice enough to let me do an event after the meet was over. I was all alone in the race due to collegiate regulations. It was a good race overall, the 50 Free is always tough for me because to have a good race, you need to make ZERO errors. One small slip up and it's a very poor time. I did everything quite well tonight, I decided to dolphin kick off the start and turn. I only took one breath at around the 35 yard mark. I could and should have swam it no-breath.

I have to admit I've been a little distracted from swimming. A combination of Cat passing away, life and work has kept me from focusing time and energy on training. This post will be quick due to a shortage of time. I missed the Short Course Nationals meet and got a concerned/mad call from the meet director, I explained the situation and he scratched me from my remaining events. I also couldn't make it to the TYR Grand Prix in Chicago, another meet I had planned on attending.