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I had a great practice at Canham Natatorium (U of M) on Friday morning. I'm feeling like I've tuned up some of my strokes well with a lighter workload of under 4,000 meters per day. At least one set per practice focuses on variable sprints. I really enjoy these sets. They're typically. 8x50's on the 1:00 and you mix up which parts of the 50 meters you swim all out fast. I typically do 1/3rd Fast, 1/3rd easy and 1/3rd Fast. I'll mix up the strokes every few 50's.

I had a chance to practice with the Ann Arbor Masters this evening at Fuller Pool. We did a 4,000 meter practice with Coach Rodolfo Palma at the helm. It was an IM workout and I'm proud to say I did quite well. My butterfly is feeling great, I'm really excited for my 50 Fly at nationals. I'm really wishing I could also swim a 100 Fly, I may try to time trial it. I finished up practice with a 100 IM from a push and touched in a 1:07 (or lower, not sure).

As I reached the end of my 3,800 meter practice, the last set was:

6 x [50 pace + 50 easy]

There's so much news out there right now about these swim suits it's crazy. Here is the cliff notes version:

I listed the 200 Backstroke as my "6th Event" at nationals in hopes that they would have room for the extra event. After looking at the Psych Sheet, I'm not entered in the 200 Back. I'm more disappointed than I thought I would be. I usually fear that race but with all my training, I feel confident I could achieve a lifetime best in the race.

Psych Sheets Available here:
http://www.usms.org/comp/lcnats09/heats/

All my other entries look good:

After a nap and LOTS of food, I was feeling much better. I headed to the local outdoor Fuller Pool to finish up my 4,700 meter workout I began this morning at U of M. I'm really glad I sent myself home earlier. Somehow I think my body was just low on nutrients. I made the right decision to leave and refuel.

I felt fantastic later in the day, I swam a great 3,500 meters. This workout, combined with my 1,200 this morning topped off my planned 4,700 meter practice.

This mornings practice was at U of M. I got up early, drank some OJ, ate a banana and downed some water on the way to practice. I didn't feel great before I dove in but I figured it was because it was just so early. During warmup I started feeling dizzy and shakey. My vision was a little questionable as well, I was seeing sunspots like I had been looking at the sun for a few seconds, but these wouldn't go away. I did 1200 meters and took a break at the wall. I decided to drink some water while I reflected on my situation.

I've recently lowered my maximum practice distance from 7,000 gradually to 5,000 meters a day. I felt I was getting a little too worn down. I notice we're swimming a little more burst speed work in practice lately now that everybody in the water is tapering for their early August meets.

The other day we did a broken 200 (50+50+100) and I started off really well but that last 100 meters finished me off. I split a :28.2 and a :30.0. My last 100 was a 1:14... ouch.

After a run (in the new sneaks), I arrived at practice a little late and did a quick warmup. I'm proud to say I had a great practice! It doesn't happen very often but I'm proud of my times today. We swam the following main set:

4 Rounds of:

4 x (50 easy + 50 Fast)

Round 1 and 3 was descend fast 50's
Round 2 and 4 was hold great 200 pace

Available on the Video's Page!

Thank you to Dan for videoing on short notice. Due to a registration error, I was placed in the early heats with the little kids. Thankfully it makes it seem like I'm totally dominating the competition. I highly recommend this procedure if you ever need an self esteem boost :)