An enjoyable week

I had a great week training.  I had some solid practices, some nice comradery with the team and a few nice conversations with coaches.  We had some very challenging sets this week, unfortunately none of which I excelled in.  We were warned at the beginning of the week that during this "Strength Phase" of weight lifting we would slow down in the pool.  That would explain why my times weren't as fast as usual however, it seemed like I was among the only swimmers that it really affected, others swam just as fast or faster than other weeks.  In the weight room we shifted from longer sets of 8 reps/6 reps/4 reps to three sets of 3 reps.  The last rep being a "Negative Rep".  This is a rep which you pull the weight down (imagine a lat pull down) and you hold it there for a few seconds.  Next you will try to hold it as long as you can while your lifting partner pushes up on the bar, making it harder to hold down.  The whole process on just one rep could take 20+ seconds as you fight your partner to keep the bar where it is.  It's an interesting lifting theory I had never seen before training at CW.  I can't track it's effectiveness but I certainly feel like it multiplies the workload in the weightroom!

This week I had my first kick set where I really didn't excel at all.  It was a set of 100's followed by 50's followed by 25's fast with about :30 rest inbetween along with easy swimming between rounds.  I was among the slowest kickers of the day.  I just felt worn out by Friday, without much left to give.  I kicked a 100y with a board first in a 1:07 and then in a 1:04, neither time was impressive.

On Thursday I had perhaps one of the most meaningful swimming conversations of my career with Womens head coach Jim Richardson.  I'm going to make a new post about that one.

On Saturday we had a race day.  We did a 2,000 yard warmup and a 1,000 yard pre set to move on to two 100y races.  We were directed to treat it exactly like a race, hold nothing back, as much rest and cool down as we needed.  After I watched a sprinter swim a 45.6 with a drag suit on, and another swimmer touch the wall in 50.3 seconds in a 100 fly, I jumped in the water to see what I could do in a 100 Backstroke SCY.  I admit I was trying to pace it, not the best approach to a 100 yard race.  I finished with energy left (felt a lot like my 100 back last weekend at Milan).  I touched in a pathetic 51.80.  The coach told me my stroke rates were 1.3+ which is slow.  My swim wasn't impressive at all and not on the level others were swimming at.  I was a little embarrassed.  To put it in perspective, a swimmer who had JUST gotten blood drawn for drug testing hopped in and swam a 50 breast in 24.4.  That's impressive.  I swam it down, stretched for a few minutes, dried off and got ready to swim another 100 back.  I was tired from the week of training but felt like I could swim faster this time.  My coach approached me and said "I'm just taking a guess here but it looked like you were trying to pace it.  You can't do that in a 100, go for it and hold on".  I agree, my best races were ones where I basically went 95% on that first 50 and just held on and powered through the second 50.  I hopped in and tried to do just that.  I attacked that first 50 with what felt like high stroke rates.  At the 75 I was dead tired but gave it all I had to bring it home.  I died as usual in the last 15 yards but I certainly went for it.  I touched in a 51.00, an improvement but still not where I wanted to be.  The coach was proud of how I swam it.  He mentioned my rates were 1.07 on the first 50 (too fast) and 1.17 on the way home (where I want to be).  Our stroke rates are caclulated based on how long it takes to swim a full arm cycle.  For a 100 back I need to be 1.15 seconds per cycle.  It was a good set and a learning experience.  Although I expected more, I suppose now I'm proud to say I can swim a 51.00 in a 100 back in practice.  Four months ago I shaved and tapered to swim a 51.94 at Masters Nationals in Mesa, AZ.  That's an improvement!