My Swimming Blog
Nice article in the Detroit Free Press yesterday
A reporter and photographer were in attendance on Friday interviewing swimmers. A nice article followed:
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2012205200550
We celebrated Wu Peng's bday the other day as well. Happy Bday Wu Peng!
Race Pace Saturday ended in a 1:00.00 in the 100 Fly
Saturdays are "race pace" a term indicating we will be swimming at the same speed as I would in a meet. Over the past few days I've realized that warmup at CWelite is the most comprehensive I've ever seen. The only thing I would change is a bit more kicking. Frequently this is our warmup (with notes):
400m Swim (take it slow if you want)
300m Social (this is kick, talking to other swimmers is promoted. Most people kick very slow)
300m IM Kick-Drill-Swim (a 75m of each stroke, great way to mix up muscle warmup)
4 x 100m Free @ 1:30 Orange to Pink (a great set to warm up your stroke and descend your times)
100m Orange (easy swimming)
6 x 50m Dive with 1/2/3 cycles Platinum @ :55 (Warms up your dive and sprint speed, the Platinum is meant to be full race speed)
100m Orange (easy swimming)
Our main set is below. Initially it looked overly complicated like many of our workouts. I'm torn on the issue really. Sometimes I enjoy mixing it up during a workout, other times I would really prefer some structure to a written workout like I had at EMU.
My set ended with a 90m swim from a dive. About half the swimmers simply finished the 100 meters for a time. I chose to do the same. I had done enough backstroke, I flipped over and swam butterfly. I lead my heat of butterfliers which included 2 NCAA swimmers, one of them being the BIG10 champion in the event. I touched first in a 1:00.00. A lifetime best in practice. I'm often amazed how amazing SCY swimmers really aren't LCM swimmers. The summer season lets me make that comparison. I can beat a 44 second butterflier and a 46 second backstroker in LCM swimming. That just makes no sense to me. These guys should be trampling me. Am I really a Long Course Meters swimmer? Based on my slow flipturns and solid speed through the water, something tells me... yes.
To put things in perspective, Wu Peng, our resident Olympian in the 100m fly, took out his 200m Fly in a 56.8 and touched in a 1:59. Reminder: This is practice.
1 x double band from a dive with 3 cycles
1 x 50m Orange
1 x 15m Dive Race
Tween ( 8 x 50's some swim some kick with varying rates)
1 x Full Power rack fast and heavy
1 x 50m Orange
1 x 30m Dive Race
Tween
1 x Power Rack light and slow perfect stroke
1 x 50m Orange
1 x 45m Dive Race
Tween
1 x Run and dive from pool deck to 20m underwater
1 x 50m Orange
1 x 60m Dive Race
Tween
1 x Run and dive from 1m platform to 20m underwater
1 x 50m Orange
1 x 75m Dive Race
Tween
1 x 90m Dive Race
Charlotte Grand Prix Conclusions
I took a day to reflect on my performances at the 2012 Charlotte Grand Prix. I have mixed feelings about my swims. I'll start with my successes. My shaved and tapered times of 2009 in the 50m and 100m courses are now my unshaved/untapered times. This is a great accomplishment and about where I would like to be considering I was a little run down at the beginning of this meet. Some comparisions:
2009 Shaved/Tapered: 50m Back LCM - 26.64
2012 Unshaved/Untapered: 50m Back LCM - 26.73 (as low as 26.64)
2009 Shaved/Tapered: 100m Back LCM - 59.05
2012 Unshaved/Untapered: 100m Back LCM - 59.21 (as low as 58.02)
2009 Shaved/Tapered: 50m Fly LCM - 25.40
2012 Unshaved/Untapered: 50m Fly LCM - 25.24 (as low as 25.04)
2010 Shaved/Tapered: 100m Fly LCM - 59.87
2012 Unshaved/Untapered: 100m Fly LCM - 57.17 (as low as 56.31)
2009 Shaved/Tapered: 50m Free LCM - 23.97
2012 Unshaved/Untapered: 50m Back LCM - 24.15 (as low as 24.10)
I'm very proud of my time drops. They clearly indicate improvements in my training. With a taper, I'm confident I can lower all my lifetime bests in the 50/100 backstroke, 50/100 butterfly and 50/100 freestyle.
These fantastic results still have me yearning for more performance. This was my overall feeling from my swims this weekend:
I reached top 24 ranking twice during the meet. This earned me second swims (in finals) which was a great honor. The two events I placed well in was the 50m backstroke 26.73 and the 50m butterfly 25.24. This meet taught me that I have respectable SPEED. My speed is not off the start at all. In fact looking at the videos, I get smoked off the blocks whether it's backstroke or butterfly. I can't really say my speed is underwater either. I surface behind other swimmers of equal rankings. My speed is through the water. This actually makes me quite proud. Other swimmers can beat me off the blocks and underwater but in a few cases, I end up touching the wall at the same time as those same swimmers. The whole game changes in my 100 meter races. It's beyond frustrating how I can rank 10th place in the 50m backstroke in a high profile Grand Prix meet and then finish a very disapointing 35th place in the 100m race. The same goes for my 50m Fly. I finished 19th in a 50 meter race and 45th in the 100m Fly.
These facts bring me to the conclusion that just like every other time in my life, I have decent SPEED and pathetic endurance. As much as I would love to be a 25 second 50m backstroker, I want to earn a second swim at a Grand Prix infinitely more. On that same topic, I found myself pacing my 50 meter races. Forgive me for this bold statement, but I feel as though I have the speed to be a 25.0 second backstroker. That's a huge stretch considering that in the real world I am a 26.64 second backstroker. Yet I fall apart at the 35 meter mark. I can't maintain my speed for even a 50 meter race. There is something drastically wrong with that situation.
19th place in 50m Fly in Finals
Tonight I had a little better time than the morning, dropping 0.20 seconds from a 25.44 to a 25.24. If I had to do it over again, I would have a better breakout and only take one breath. My sub-par breakout, combined with 2 breaths almost certainly cost me time. I was proud to earn a second swim this evening and also drop time. I was seeded 18th, dropped two tenths and finished 19th... I'll take it.
I'm finished with the meet! Thanks Charlotte, I had a great time!
Decent 50 Free, Bad 100 Back, Good 50 Fly
This morning was a mixed bag of swimming performances. I lead off with a 24.15 in the 50m Free. This seems to be my "non-tapered" average time. I've had this exact time on a few occasions in the past 12 months. Shaved and tapered is typically my only chance for a 23 second swim. The time did not earn me a 2nd swim in the evening, I took 47th place overall. Next up was my 100m backstroke. My hopes were high for a high 57 or low 58 second swim. The race actually felt pretty good but later I would learn that I took out the race in a 28.49. My first 50 was significantly slower than I need to take it out. I should be a low 27 if I have any chance of a 57 second race. I brought it home in a typical 30.72. I was disapointed to see 59.21 on the scoreboard when I finished. That time was not only quite a bit off my goal for the weekend, it was downright embarassing. With a 35th place, I was nowhere near the 24th place it would have taken to make the bonus final. I didn't expect a lifetime best time this weekend or really even a second swim but I did expect a non-embarassing time. I disapointed myself. After a 2.5 hour wait (due to many long events), it was time for the 50m Fly. I was certainly ready to swim after so much rest. Really the only thing I did wrong was take too many breaths, perhaps a total of 4 breaths. I touched in a 25.44, a respectable time. It was good enough for 18th place in prelims and earned me an evening swim.
Tied for 10th place in the 50m Back!
I'm proud to say I finished well in the 50m back tonight! Historically I have a dificult time repeating and especially improving upon my morning swim. Today was different. I held back a bit on my effort during my race during finals since I fell apart so bad in the morning. The strategy worked well and I dropped a tenth off my morning swim time of 26.83 to an improved 26.73. Still a bit off my lifetime best of 26.64. I'm happy with my time today but wishing it had yielded a best time. My event was especially exciting because so many talented swimmers were in my heat. With a 10th place prelims finish, I nearly earned a spot in the Final heat! I was only about a tenth of a second off the top 8 heat. 50 Free, 100 Back and 50 Fly tomorrow!
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