February 2009

I had a great practice Friday, a full 4,400 Yards. I took off Saturday and Sunday to rest up and recover from life and training. I was back in the water today for 4,200 yards. I don't normally take 2 days off, so it felt good to restore the balance in my schedule after a difficult weekend.

I want to congratulate the Eastern Michigan University Men's Team for their 2009 Mid American Conference victory this weekend! After weathering a very difficult year they swam well across the board and certainly made myself and the other alumni very proud. Great job guys!

I stepped up my underwater drills today to double the amount I typically do.

For weeks now I've committed to doing 16x25's with 15 meters underwater fast. I do these on my back butterfly kick. After I finished my 16 today I did a 300 easy and did another 16 of them fly kick on my front. I've tried other drills to improve my underwaters but I've never felt a noticeable difference in speed or endurance while kicking. I think the combination of doing this drill EVERY DAY will actually make a difference.

I've had two good days of training both days between 3k and 5k, I used my underwater camera for the first time the other day with the help of my friend Sarah. The underwater camera/camcorder will help me analyze my own stroke and learn from it. I'll post some video soon!

I've been adding all my times into my new database, it's gonna be nice to reference every single time I've ever accomplished all in one place!

I set a goal on October 5th 2009 to break every single Lifetime Best Time I had ever achieved in every event I've swum in the last 3 years. This goal covers 23 events and 3 courses (SCY, SCM, LCM). It is a lofty goal and will be very difficult.

I had a fantastic meet! I achieved lifetime best times in 3 out of 4 events!

100 Back:
I used this event as a warmup, It was still a decent swim at 56.43 SCM which converts to a 50.56 SCY. A solid swim for my first performance. This was the fastest 100 Backstroke I've ever swam on my Bday.

50 Free:

Due to a busy day, I had to practice before EMU was open today. I contacted my high school coach Sean Hickman who was chosen to coach the new Mens Team at Ann Arbor Skyline High School. He was nice enough to allow me to join his new team for a Saturday Morning Practice. The new school is transitioning one class of students in per year, so this year is 9th graders only.

Today I swam 4,700 yards all alone and it was a great workout! I chose to do my 16x25's that I've added to my EVERY SINGLE DAY routine directly after my warmup. I found it prepared me for some great underwaters for the rest of practice.

I decided to swim in the Brighton Masters Meet this weekend because it's both on my birthday and it's in my home town. I really enjoy racing on my birthday for some reason. I've swam a 100 Backstroke for the last 4 years on the bday. I'm still working on my event list, here it is so far:

100 Back
50 Free
200 Back

I had a great evening training! My workout was over 3 hours total. I did a full weight routine and set a personal best of 144 lbs x 8 reps of lat pull downs. I don't consider this an impressive number, but it represents a fantastic improvement for me from one year ago when I was just over 100 lbs. It was the first weight set in my life when I noticed I had to focus on staying on the seat! It was enough weight that it would pull my body up off the seat into the air unless I used my legs to keep me stationary! I had to chuckle to myself as I'm sure I looked silly... Ah...