It's amazing how much my mental swimming game has changed since highschool. Back then, I was more or less equally opportunistic regarding all four strokes, although I liked swimming back the most in practice, followed closely by fly. Free was just something I did a lot of--didn't have feelings for it either way. And breast, well, it was just there.
Fast forward to the present, six and a half years later. Back is still my favorite stroke to swim in practice, but I've come to really NOT like swimming a lot of free. I know a big part of my anti-free attitude is because I'm in a pretty rough transition period regarding my technique, but my patience for swimming it doesn't extend much past a 200 at a time.
My appetite for fly has increased, as well. While I used to enjoy swimming fly, and thought that long/big fly sets were no biggie, I never truly just enjoyed swimming it. That's changing. As I'm forcing myself swim more fly in practice (see my previous post for the reason why), I'm coming to enjoy swimming it in practice. Admittedly, in the week since I started swimming more fly at practice, I have yet to do more than several fly 50s back to back. For instance, last night's practice had a main set that was several rounds of a set of 25s, 50s, and 75s. I did most of the 25s fly, the 50s fly/back, and the 75s fly/back/fly. While I don't have near the endurance in fly that I do in back or free yet, I've come to enjoy swimming fly more than free. And in practice, at least, my fly speed when I do short sprints isn't too far off my free speed. I just feel more relaxed when I do fly (shoulder endurance notwithstanding) at this point than when I do free. Fly is also quite a bit less of a mental effort than free, since the fly technique feels quite natural at this point, versus the free technique that still requires a fair amount of active thinking. Quite peculiar.
While I don't yet have the mental fortitude to be blase about doing long distances fly, I am inching and squinching my way there. Just a month or two ago, my shoulders would hurt after doing more than a few 25s fly and I kinda dreaded doing those distances. Now I look forward to the short distances and don't have any shoulder fatigue unless I'm doing either longer distances or a bunch of short distance sprints. By the time the next meet rolls around on January 15th in Annapolis, I should be at the point where a 100 fly is a piece of cake, and by the first meet in February (Feb. 11-12 in Richmond), the 200 should also be a welcome event.
If this continues, it bodes well for my becoming a full time flyer and part time backstroker!
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Almost halfway through the shortcourse season...time to focus!
With the current season (we've got three seasons--"long course" in the summer, then two short course seasons, one in the fall and one in the spring) ending on Friday, I'm starting to map out what I will focus on for the next season, which starts on January 2nd.
Over the past couple of months, I've gotten comfortable in the water again, but haven't really focused on any one or two things to concentrate on. I'm picking that now, so I'll have January-April to focus on the areas I pick, so by the time Nats rolls around at the end of April, I should be doing quite well in those things.
The #1 thing I'm focusing on (started last week) is butterfly. Of all four strokes, it by far feels the best. Besides trying to get Nats cuts in it, I've got another, personal, goal. By the time April rolls around, I want to have done one practice all fly. In highschool, I had a bet (no clue what the bet was about) with one of my coaches about doing a 2.5 hour Saturday practice all fly, admittedly with fins. I did do the whole thing fly, so I figure if I was able to do somewhere around a 9000 then, give or take, I should be able to get myself in shape to do roughly a 3500 or so by April.
So, towards that goal, I've set myself a training regimen. At each practice, I'm aiming to do at least a 400 fly throughout the practice. And at one practice a week, I'll do an extra 175 yards. That will build each week, so week one (this week) will have one practice where I'll do a total of 575 yards fly. Week two (first week in January) will have one practice where I'll do a total of 750 yards fly. So on and so forth. In addition, every two weeks I'll increase the base fly amount. So the first two weeks will have a 400 fly as the base amount at practice, the next two will have a 500, then 600, and on and on. By the end of April, that will be a 2800 fly during that one practice and a base amount of an 1100 fly (if my math is correct). I should have a high enough fly endurance at that point that fitting in another 500-700 or so shouldn't be an issue for the all-fly practice.
The #2 thing I'm focusing on is backstroke, getting my technique down. As I mentioned in my post on the video session a week and a half ago, I've got some technique issues I need to iron out. I'm trying to get back to being a flyer and backstroker, something I was the last year and a half or so in highschool.
The #3 thing I'm focusing on is my breaststroke. I know, I know, I'm not a breaststroker by a long shot! That being said, I would like to get back into the IM scene, and that has historically been by far my weakest leg of the IM. All I'm working on is breast technique, so it's quite a bit less of a time consuming issue than my fly or back.
Anyways, with the first foci, I should be able to greatly improve my fly, hopefully surpassing the progress I made in it in highschool. With backstroke, I just want to get back to where I had been, or at least in the general vicinity. And with breast, I just want it to not suck as terribly as it currently does.
Over the past couple of months, I've gotten comfortable in the water again, but haven't really focused on any one or two things to concentrate on. I'm picking that now, so I'll have January-April to focus on the areas I pick, so by the time Nats rolls around at the end of April, I should be doing quite well in those things.
The #1 thing I'm focusing on (started last week) is butterfly. Of all four strokes, it by far feels the best. Besides trying to get Nats cuts in it, I've got another, personal, goal. By the time April rolls around, I want to have done one practice all fly. In highschool, I had a bet (no clue what the bet was about) with one of my coaches about doing a 2.5 hour Saturday practice all fly, admittedly with fins. I did do the whole thing fly, so I figure if I was able to do somewhere around a 9000 then, give or take, I should be able to get myself in shape to do roughly a 3500 or so by April.
So, towards that goal, I've set myself a training regimen. At each practice, I'm aiming to do at least a 400 fly throughout the practice. And at one practice a week, I'll do an extra 175 yards. That will build each week, so week one (this week) will have one practice where I'll do a total of 575 yards fly. Week two (first week in January) will have one practice where I'll do a total of 750 yards fly. So on and so forth. In addition, every two weeks I'll increase the base fly amount. So the first two weeks will have a 400 fly as the base amount at practice, the next two will have a 500, then 600, and on and on. By the end of April, that will be a 2800 fly during that one practice and a base amount of an 1100 fly (if my math is correct). I should have a high enough fly endurance at that point that fitting in another 500-700 or so shouldn't be an issue for the all-fly practice.
The #2 thing I'm focusing on is backstroke, getting my technique down. As I mentioned in my post on the video session a week and a half ago, I've got some technique issues I need to iron out. I'm trying to get back to being a flyer and backstroker, something I was the last year and a half or so in highschool.
The #3 thing I'm focusing on is my breaststroke. I know, I know, I'm not a breaststroker by a long shot! That being said, I would like to get back into the IM scene, and that has historically been by far my weakest leg of the IM. All I'm working on is breast technique, so it's quite a bit less of a time consuming issue than my fly or back.
Anyways, with the first foci, I should be able to greatly improve my fly, hopefully surpassing the progress I made in it in highschool. With backstroke, I just want to get back to where I had been, or at least in the general vicinity. And with breast, I just want it to not suck as terribly as it currently does.
Monday, December 12, 2011
Results of underwater camera session
This past Saturday at practice, we had an underwater video session. Due to the large number of us doing it, we didn't get to do any turns, though. We ended up doing 6x25s, four IM order and then two choice. The first four were filmed from the side of the pool and the last two were filmed head on from the end of the lane. Unfortunately, I didn't think to swim fast during them. Pretty big mistake on my part, since my fast swim is quite different than my practice pace swim for free, and to a lesser extent, fly. I think my back and breast are more or less the same no matter what speed I swim.
Anyways, I'd been looking forward to this for quite a while, since the last time I had been filmed was in 2004 or 2005, and I know my strokes have changed since then.
Fly (from the side): Overall, it looked pretty good, although the coach (Drew, the head coach) said I was pressing down a bit too much with my head and chest. I disagree with that assessment, but everything else about the stroke was good.
Back (from the side): Drew said it was overall pretty good, although there are two areas to work on. The first is my hand position when I'm pulling--I bend my wrist forward, like I'm trying to really scoop the water. I should keep my hand in a flat plane with my wrist, not bending it at nearly a 90 degree angle. The other issue is the end of the pull and beginning of the over-water recovery. Drew wants me to pop my arm out of the water much quicker than I do already. When I swim at a race pace, my arms move quite a bit faster than at practice pace, so that might mitigate that issue. However, my arm speed has always been one of my problem areas with backstroke--I can remember Scott and Mike harping on me to spin them faster.
Breast (from the side): Ooh boy, this one was messy. Breaststroke has been just about at the bottom of my priority list for swimming technique for years (at least since the early 2000s), so it was no surprise when Drew basically tore it apart. Mike and Scott, in highschool, had worked on me pressing my chest down into the water in order to raise my hips and legs closer to the surface. I had a terrible body position in highschool when swimming breast, and always swam at an angle in the water, leading to breast being a much more physically taxing stroke than it needed to be. Well, driving my chest down is no longer something I need to work on...now I go to almost the opposite extreme. Now I push down too far with my chest and arms, diving my arms down a bit at full extension. On the plus side, my hips and legs are up towards the surface, right where they're supposed to be. I also don't sweep my arms out wide enough on the pull, and lead a bit with my elbows as I sweep them in before extending. I have no idea if my technique changes any when I swim fast. Sigh. ...And breast goes right back to the bottom of my technique priority list!
Free (from the side): Ooh boy, this was another fun one, and was the one I most wanted feedback from. Up through highschool, I had horrendous free technique. On the recovery of the stroke, my arms were mostly straight, they'd cross over the center line of my body when I'd pull underneath, and I led with my elbows. About the only thing I had going for me was that I had great body rotation and kept my ear on my shoulder when I would take a breath. Mike and Scott started to really work on my free technique a few months before I stopped swimming in 2005, but that wasn't enough to erase 13 years of bad technique. Starting to swim again this year, my mind remembered the technique I was supposed to be utilizing, but my mind constantly fights a (more or less losing) battle with muscle memory that wants to go right back to what I used to do. Anyways, there were some good signs from the video. You couldn't see it underwater, but I now have a high elbow recovery, which helps with my hand placement when my hands enter the water. My hands don't cross over the center line and I mostly don't lead with my elbows anymore, although from time to time muscle memory wins the mental struggle and I have a bad pull.
All that stuff being great to see, the biggest bone that Drew picked with my free is also the one that is a total nonissue when I swim fast. At slower speeds, I over rotate and spend too much time on my side on each stroke, pausing a split second before I start the pull. I also don't pop my hands out of the water at the end of the pull. Neither is an issue at race speed. I really wish I'd swum at race speed so that I could've gotten an analysis of the technique that actually matters.
Back (head on): Same issues from above, but the hand/wrist thing was more evident. In addition, since we didn't have flags over the part of the pool we were swimming in, I tilted my head back to see how close I was to the wall. For some reason, everyone in the reviewing room thought that was hilarious and said there are easier ways to see where the wall is. No idea what that would be, since I've done the head tilt thing as long as I can remember.
Free (head on): Same as above.
Underwater work off walls: I got great marks for my underwater work when I pushed off the walls, being held up as the example for how to do proper dolphin kicks and the breastroke pullout.
Overall, the video session was of mixed utility, although it was quite nice to see how my strokes have changed in the last six years!
Anyways, I'd been looking forward to this for quite a while, since the last time I had been filmed was in 2004 or 2005, and I know my strokes have changed since then.
Fly (from the side): Overall, it looked pretty good, although the coach (Drew, the head coach) said I was pressing down a bit too much with my head and chest. I disagree with that assessment, but everything else about the stroke was good.
Back (from the side): Drew said it was overall pretty good, although there are two areas to work on. The first is my hand position when I'm pulling--I bend my wrist forward, like I'm trying to really scoop the water. I should keep my hand in a flat plane with my wrist, not bending it at nearly a 90 degree angle. The other issue is the end of the pull and beginning of the over-water recovery. Drew wants me to pop my arm out of the water much quicker than I do already. When I swim at a race pace, my arms move quite a bit faster than at practice pace, so that might mitigate that issue. However, my arm speed has always been one of my problem areas with backstroke--I can remember Scott and Mike harping on me to spin them faster.
Breast (from the side): Ooh boy, this one was messy. Breaststroke has been just about at the bottom of my priority list for swimming technique for years (at least since the early 2000s), so it was no surprise when Drew basically tore it apart. Mike and Scott, in highschool, had worked on me pressing my chest down into the water in order to raise my hips and legs closer to the surface. I had a terrible body position in highschool when swimming breast, and always swam at an angle in the water, leading to breast being a much more physically taxing stroke than it needed to be. Well, driving my chest down is no longer something I need to work on...now I go to almost the opposite extreme. Now I push down too far with my chest and arms, diving my arms down a bit at full extension. On the plus side, my hips and legs are up towards the surface, right where they're supposed to be. I also don't sweep my arms out wide enough on the pull, and lead a bit with my elbows as I sweep them in before extending. I have no idea if my technique changes any when I swim fast. Sigh. ...And breast goes right back to the bottom of my technique priority list!
Free (from the side): Ooh boy, this was another fun one, and was the one I most wanted feedback from. Up through highschool, I had horrendous free technique. On the recovery of the stroke, my arms were mostly straight, they'd cross over the center line of my body when I'd pull underneath, and I led with my elbows. About the only thing I had going for me was that I had great body rotation and kept my ear on my shoulder when I would take a breath. Mike and Scott started to really work on my free technique a few months before I stopped swimming in 2005, but that wasn't enough to erase 13 years of bad technique. Starting to swim again this year, my mind remembered the technique I was supposed to be utilizing, but my mind constantly fights a (more or less losing) battle with muscle memory that wants to go right back to what I used to do. Anyways, there were some good signs from the video. You couldn't see it underwater, but I now have a high elbow recovery, which helps with my hand placement when my hands enter the water. My hands don't cross over the center line and I mostly don't lead with my elbows anymore, although from time to time muscle memory wins the mental struggle and I have a bad pull.
All that stuff being great to see, the biggest bone that Drew picked with my free is also the one that is a total nonissue when I swim fast. At slower speeds, I over rotate and spend too much time on my side on each stroke, pausing a split second before I start the pull. I also don't pop my hands out of the water at the end of the pull. Neither is an issue at race speed. I really wish I'd swum at race speed so that I could've gotten an analysis of the technique that actually matters.
Back (head on): Same issues from above, but the hand/wrist thing was more evident. In addition, since we didn't have flags over the part of the pool we were swimming in, I tilted my head back to see how close I was to the wall. For some reason, everyone in the reviewing room thought that was hilarious and said there are easier ways to see where the wall is. No idea what that would be, since I've done the head tilt thing as long as I can remember.
Free (head on): Same as above.
Underwater work off walls: I got great marks for my underwater work when I pushed off the walls, being held up as the example for how to do proper dolphin kicks and the breastroke pullout.
Overall, the video session was of mixed utility, although it was quite nice to see how my strokes have changed in the last six years!
Thursday, December 8, 2011
The long and tortuous road to Nationals
First off, let me clarify the Nationals I'm talking about--these are Masters (USMS) Nationals, not USA Swimming Nationals. Muuuuuch different qualification standards. Off the top of my head, I'd say the Nationals cuts are roughly equivalent to A or B State cuts for USA Swimming. I'd have to check the other cuts to make sure, but they sound about right...at least for how those cuts were back in 2005.
Anyways, my goal is to make several Nats cuts this season. The eligibility period goes through mid April, and Nationals is April 26-29th.
That gives me seven more meets to try and get cuts between now and then. I've got two meets a month I can go to January-March, and then one meet in April before Nats. Should be plenty of time to get a few cuts.
Based on my swimming performance at the two meets I've swum at so far, butterfly seems to be my best shot. I age up into the next age group (25-29) a few weeks before Nats, so I gotta try and get those cuts rather than the ones in my current 19-24 age group, which are slower. Anyways, here are the cuts for the two age groups for the events I have even a passing interest in, and my current times. I've highlighted the cuts I think I have a decent chance of making by April:
Here's my breakdown of each of the highlighted events:
To get these cuts, I've got three big areas of focus/concern.
1) My starts need some work. We've only done starts once in practice (at least of the practices I've been to), so I really only get to try them in warmup at meets. Given how long it's been since I was competing and swimming at a high level, about six and a half years, my starts aren't very good. My reaction time is slow, and my form on dives isn't very good. My backstroke start is just bleh.
2) Stroke endurance. As I mentioned above, we generally don't do more than a 100 stroke at a time in practice. Well, we might do some choice work during warmup or something, but we normally don't do much distance stroke speed work. I've gotta figure out a way to increase my stroke content in practice, otherwise I'm afraid I'll never build up the endurance I need for the 200 fly and 200 back.
3) Practice intensity. Lately I've been swimming in the fast lane at practice. Most of the time I swim last in the lane, or second to last or something, but it's been great for getting me to push myself. I've seen a big improvements in the intervals I can hold in practice from doing so, at least in freestyle. If I can continue to stay in those lanes, push myself, and keep up the high number of practices, I should continue to notch big improvements in my times from meet to meet.
I've got five weeks till the next meet (and then two more weeks till the meet after that), so time to get cracking!
Anyways, my goal is to make several Nats cuts this season. The eligibility period goes through mid April, and Nationals is April 26-29th.
That gives me seven more meets to try and get cuts between now and then. I've got two meets a month I can go to January-March, and then one meet in April before Nats. Should be plenty of time to get a few cuts.
Based on my swimming performance at the two meets I've swum at so far, butterfly seems to be my best shot. I age up into the next age group (25-29) a few weeks before Nats, so I gotta try and get those cuts rather than the ones in my current 19-24 age group, which are slower. Anyways, here are the cuts for the two age groups for the events I have even a passing interest in, and my current times. I've highlighted the cuts I think I have a decent chance of making by April:
Event | 19-24 Cut | 25-29 Cut | Current Times |
50 Free | 24.79 | 24.33 | Low 26 |
100 Free | 54.90 | 53.83 | NT |
200 Free | 1:58.58 | 1:56.06 | NT |
50 Back | 29.03 | 28.22 | 31.62 |
100 Back | 1:03.12 | 1:01.53 | 1:07.14 |
200 Back | 2:15.87 | 2:11.39 | NT |
50 Breast | 32.23 | 31.04 | NT |
100 Breast | 1:11.09 | 1:07.53 | NT |
200 Breast | 2:36.42 | 2:26.59 | NT |
50 Fly | 27.02 | 26.78 | 28.03 |
100 Fly | 1:00.28 | 59.09 | 1:08.69 |
200 Fly | 2:21.06 | 2:12.19 | NT |
100 IM | 1:02.89 | 1:00.77 | 1:10.21 |
200 IM | 2:15.88 | 2:11.51 | NT |
400 IM | 5:08.98 | 4:51.49 | NT |
Here's my breakdown of each of the highlighted events:
- 50 free: Freestyle is decidedly not my stroke, but this is about a third of a second slower than my old time, so it is conceivably achievable. Didn't have a very good race at the one meet I've swum the 50 at, so I don't know how realistic that goal is at this point.
- 100 free: This one is a pretty lofty goal--my best time in the 100 free was a 52.80, and I think that was a fluke, as I never went below a mid 53 besides that time, with the majority of my times being low 54s. One of the coaches is working with me on my free technique, so who knows where that will take me. It's already a good bit different than it was in highschool.
- 50 back: I'm a bit put off by my back. The technique feels decent, although I don't have quite the leg endurance that I used to, but my times just aren't there so far (and neither 50 back I've swum so far was a very good swim). If I can get back to my old speed by April, this should be a piece of cake.
- 100 back: Same as the 50. Not sure what's going on with my back, and I haven't had great races the two times I've swum it, issues with the turns and start.
- 200 back: Kick endurance is a bigger deal for this. At this point, since I haven't swum it in a meet yet, I have no idea where I stand with it. I'd say this is probably a lofty goal to achieve by April, at least with how everything stands now.
- 50 fly: So far, fly has been the most impressive success for me. It was the stroke I was improving the most in when I stopped swimming in 2005, and it appears that I still have the technique and form. I dropped 1.3 seconds in the 50 at this past meet from the one the month before, so this should be a cakewalk to get the cut by April.
- 100 fly: Only swum it once so far and had a terrible race strategy that time, in addition to not being smart about warming up beforehand. This should be pretty easy to get by April.
- 200 fly: Haven't swum it yet. My big concern is that we rarely do more than a 100 or so of stroke at a time in practice, so I'm going to really have to work to get my fly endurance up. At this point, it's a lofty goal.
- 400 IM: IF I can get my stroke endurances up, this should be achievable. My old time was somewhere around 15-20 seconds faster than this, so if I can get my fly and back times down to around there, I should be good for this one.
To get these cuts, I've got three big areas of focus/concern.
1) My starts need some work. We've only done starts once in practice (at least of the practices I've been to), so I really only get to try them in warmup at meets. Given how long it's been since I was competing and swimming at a high level, about six and a half years, my starts aren't very good. My reaction time is slow, and my form on dives isn't very good. My backstroke start is just bleh.
2) Stroke endurance. As I mentioned above, we generally don't do more than a 100 stroke at a time in practice. Well, we might do some choice work during warmup or something, but we normally don't do much distance stroke speed work. I've gotta figure out a way to increase my stroke content in practice, otherwise I'm afraid I'll never build up the endurance I need for the 200 fly and 200 back.
3) Practice intensity. Lately I've been swimming in the fast lane at practice. Most of the time I swim last in the lane, or second to last or something, but it's been great for getting me to push myself. I've seen a big improvements in the intervals I can hold in practice from doing so, at least in freestyle. If I can continue to stay in those lanes, push myself, and keep up the high number of practices, I should continue to notch big improvements in my times from meet to meet.
I've got five weeks till the next meet (and then two more weeks till the meet after that), so time to get cracking!
Monday, December 5, 2011
The aftermath
Had a great meet yesterday!
The meet was off to a very slow start--10 minutes before the meet began, they discovered the bulkhead was set in the wrong position...and that the starter left the starting equipment at home, so he had to go back and get it...and they didn't print enough heat sheets for everyone...
So, the meet finally kicked off an hour and a half late.
In order, I swam the 50 fly, 100 back, 100 fly, and 50 back. I had about an hour and twenty minute break between the 100 back and 100 fly.
50 fly: My entered time was a short course meters conversion of my time at the last meet, which was a short course yards meet. I was entered as a 32.70 and went a 31.28. That converts to right around a 28.00 in yards, I think. I had a terrrrrrible start--blanked out at the beep and froze for split second, then pretty much just fell off the block. Not my best start ever. And I was a bit less than half a pull too far from the wall at the turn, so it ended up a longer turn than I'd have liked. If I'd nailed the start and turn, I might have been able to hit around a 30.2. Still, not half bad at all! That's my goal (at least, that time converted to SCY) for the next meet, in January!
100 back: Relatively decent start (back starts have never been my strong suit), but my turns at the 25 and 75 (the bulkhead end of the pool) were long. Entered as a 1.17.99 and went a 1.14.97. That would convert to a 1.07.17 in SCY. Still QUITE a bit off my old time, but substantially better than my time at the last meet. My splits for the two 50s were only 4 seconds apart, so my pacing was pretty good. However, I still gotta get my overall backstroke speed up, since I should be a good deal faster.
100 fly: I messed this one up pretty badly. I had almost an hour and a half between the 100 back and this one, but didn't think to warm up beforehand, so my shoulders and back were pretty tight by the time I dove in. Anyways, I took the first 50 out in waaaaay too slow of a pace (more like a steady 200 fly pace rather than 100 fly sprint pace) and then my lats and back tightened up pretty badly when I tried to sprint the second 50 to correct for the first lackadaisical 50. Needless to say, it was not my most stellar 100 fly I've swum... :-) On the plus side, I had a pretty good start and nailed all my turns, although I glided into the finish. My splits were 7 seconds apart, so my pacing wasn't very good. Took it out about two and a half seconds slower than I should have and then locked up. I think this is the first time I've swum a 100 fly without doing drill as a Masters swimmer. I did a 1:16.69, which translates to around a 1:08.7 SCY. Not terribly shabby for a first swim, but definitely gives me a goal to improve upon! In addition, with how tight my lats were for this swim, I think I'm going to have to dive back into my pullup/chinup/pushup routine, which I've neglected since the spring. Those exercises will bulk up my lats and the fronts of my shoulders, so that should help out a bit.
50 back: This was only 12 minutes after the 100 fly and I had a pretty significant lactic acid buildup by this point, due to not being able to warm down as much as I'd have liked. Decent start (didn't have any issues with slipping on the pads in either back start this time, as opposed to the last meet), but went a bit deep. Good turn, but misjudged the finish, so I glided a bit. Went a 35.29, which was faster than my entered time of 35.39, but it was only about half a second faster than the first 50 in my 100 back. Not as fast as it could have been, but better than last time.
Takeaways: My backstroke still needs work. I'm getting my pacing down a bit better, but my overall speed needs work--I'm further off my old speed in backstroke than I am in fly or free. We used to get filmed with an underwater camera from time to time back in highschool, so I know how my backstroke looked back then. We've got and underwater filming session this coming Saturday at practice, so I'll compare my backstroke now to how it had been, to see if my stroke is the culprit, or if I just am not a backstroker anymore. My 50 fly was pretty darn good, turn and start aside. Since we rarely do more than a 50 or 75 of fly at a time in practice, I'll have to figure out how to get in more endurance work on fly, since my 100 wasn't all that hot. On a side note, either my Aquablade jammers stretched out (in length) since the last time I wore them, or my thighs have shrunk in length. I don't remember having to adjust the length of them that much when I used to wear them in highschool.
Overall, I had a blast at the meet!
Edit: I just looked up the USMS National Qualifying Times. The meet is in late April (after my birthday), so I'll be aging up then and swimming in the 25-29 age group (if I make any cuts, of course). Per the cuts for that age group, going by my converted times from this meet, I'm 3.49 seconds off in the 50 back, 5.64 seconds off the 100 back, 9.6 seconds off the 100 fly, and 1.25 seconds off the 50 fly.
If I were to go by the 18-24 age group cuts, I'd be 2.59 seconds off the 50 back, 4.05 seconds off the 100 back, 8.41 seconds off the 100 fly, and 1.01 seconds off the 50 fly.
Of these times, I think the fly times are the most achievable. Should be able to get the 50 fly, and if I can get my pacing for the 100 fly down, should be able to get that too. The jury's out on my backstroke.
If my understanding of the rules is correct, if I make a Nationals cut, I can swim up to three events I don't have a cut for, in addition to whatever I have a cut in.
The meet was off to a very slow start--10 minutes before the meet began, they discovered the bulkhead was set in the wrong position...and that the starter left the starting equipment at home, so he had to go back and get it...and they didn't print enough heat sheets for everyone...
So, the meet finally kicked off an hour and a half late.
In order, I swam the 50 fly, 100 back, 100 fly, and 50 back. I had about an hour and twenty minute break between the 100 back and 100 fly.
50 fly: My entered time was a short course meters conversion of my time at the last meet, which was a short course yards meet. I was entered as a 32.70 and went a 31.28. That converts to right around a 28.00 in yards, I think. I had a terrrrrrible start--blanked out at the beep and froze for split second, then pretty much just fell off the block. Not my best start ever. And I was a bit less than half a pull too far from the wall at the turn, so it ended up a longer turn than I'd have liked. If I'd nailed the start and turn, I might have been able to hit around a 30.2. Still, not half bad at all! That's my goal (at least, that time converted to SCY) for the next meet, in January!
100 back: Relatively decent start (back starts have never been my strong suit), but my turns at the 25 and 75 (the bulkhead end of the pool) were long. Entered as a 1.17.99 and went a 1.14.97. That would convert to a 1.07.17 in SCY. Still QUITE a bit off my old time, but substantially better than my time at the last meet. My splits for the two 50s were only 4 seconds apart, so my pacing was pretty good. However, I still gotta get my overall backstroke speed up, since I should be a good deal faster.
100 fly: I messed this one up pretty badly. I had almost an hour and a half between the 100 back and this one, but didn't think to warm up beforehand, so my shoulders and back were pretty tight by the time I dove in. Anyways, I took the first 50 out in waaaaay too slow of a pace (more like a steady 200 fly pace rather than 100 fly sprint pace) and then my lats and back tightened up pretty badly when I tried to sprint the second 50 to correct for the first lackadaisical 50. Needless to say, it was not my most stellar 100 fly I've swum... :-) On the plus side, I had a pretty good start and nailed all my turns, although I glided into the finish. My splits were 7 seconds apart, so my pacing wasn't very good. Took it out about two and a half seconds slower than I should have and then locked up. I think this is the first time I've swum a 100 fly without doing drill as a Masters swimmer. I did a 1:16.69, which translates to around a 1:08.7 SCY. Not terribly shabby for a first swim, but definitely gives me a goal to improve upon! In addition, with how tight my lats were for this swim, I think I'm going to have to dive back into my pullup/chinup/pushup routine, which I've neglected since the spring. Those exercises will bulk up my lats and the fronts of my shoulders, so that should help out a bit.
50 back: This was only 12 minutes after the 100 fly and I had a pretty significant lactic acid buildup by this point, due to not being able to warm down as much as I'd have liked. Decent start (didn't have any issues with slipping on the pads in either back start this time, as opposed to the last meet), but went a bit deep. Good turn, but misjudged the finish, so I glided a bit. Went a 35.29, which was faster than my entered time of 35.39, but it was only about half a second faster than the first 50 in my 100 back. Not as fast as it could have been, but better than last time.
Takeaways: My backstroke still needs work. I'm getting my pacing down a bit better, but my overall speed needs work--I'm further off my old speed in backstroke than I am in fly or free. We used to get filmed with an underwater camera from time to time back in highschool, so I know how my backstroke looked back then. We've got and underwater filming session this coming Saturday at practice, so I'll compare my backstroke now to how it had been, to see if my stroke is the culprit, or if I just am not a backstroker anymore. My 50 fly was pretty darn good, turn and start aside. Since we rarely do more than a 50 or 75 of fly at a time in practice, I'll have to figure out how to get in more endurance work on fly, since my 100 wasn't all that hot. On a side note, either my Aquablade jammers stretched out (in length) since the last time I wore them, or my thighs have shrunk in length. I don't remember having to adjust the length of them that much when I used to wear them in highschool.
Overall, I had a blast at the meet!
Edit: I just looked up the USMS National Qualifying Times. The meet is in late April (after my birthday), so I'll be aging up then and swimming in the 25-29 age group (if I make any cuts, of course). Per the cuts for that age group, going by my converted times from this meet, I'm 3.49 seconds off in the 50 back, 5.64 seconds off the 100 back, 9.6 seconds off the 100 fly, and 1.25 seconds off the 50 fly.
If I were to go by the 18-24 age group cuts, I'd be 2.59 seconds off the 50 back, 4.05 seconds off the 100 back, 8.41 seconds off the 100 fly, and 1.01 seconds off the 50 fly.
Of these times, I think the fly times are the most achievable. Should be able to get the 50 fly, and if I can get my pacing for the 100 fly down, should be able to get that too. The jury's out on my backstroke.
If my understanding of the rules is correct, if I make a Nationals cut, I can swim up to three events I don't have a cut for, in addition to whatever I have a cut in.
Thursday, December 1, 2011
Swimming progress...slowly and painfully improving!
In general (excepting last week, what with vacation around Thanksgiving), I've been doing much better at practices. I've been averaging from a minimum of 4 practices a week up to 9 practices in a week. I'm hoping to hit my stride around 7-9 practices a week (there are 12 I can possibly make in any given week).
I'm generally improving a fair amount in practices, although sometimes it feels like I'm going backwards. In our larger practices, there are five lanes of swimmers: fast lane, either another fast lane or a slightly slower lane (depending on how many are at practice), a medium lane, and then two consecutively slower lanes. When I started out a few months ago, I stuck solely to the middle lane, and it was fairly challenging at times. Now I stick to either the second fastest lane or one of the fast lanes in the big practices. That is, when I'm only doing one practice at a session. On the days when I do the back to back practices, I'll swim in one of the faster lanes for the first session and then move down a lane for the second session, since I still don't have the endurance to make the intervals in a fast lane for a 2 hour practice.
We don't do much stroke work on intervals that really matter--that is, when we do stroke/IM work, we often do sprints on really easy intervals, so I can't guage how much I've improved in those strokes.
However, my freestyle speed has improved in practice pretty substantially. When I first started out, quite embarrasingly, a 1:30 pace for multiple 100s free was a chore if we were doing it towards the end of practice. Lately, though, I've been able to do 1:20 intervals pretty easily, although some practices kick me hard enough in the butt to make me struggle a bit towards the end of practice to make that pace for more than a 100 or two. Still a far cry from my previous swimming days, but hey, I'll take what I can get!
I have no clue how my backstroke is--it never felt out of whack, and doesn't feel much different now than it did a month or two ago. Don't swim much breastroke and have no interest in it, so I don't pay attention at all to how I do in that stroke.
Butterfly is quite interesting. Apparently I'm a MUCH more efficient butterflier when I swim at speed than when I swim at my normal semi-loafing practice pace. Two weeks ago we did a big IM set that involved a bunch of 200 IMs, the first round just making the easy interval, the next round sprinting. We did that twice through. By the end of the first, easy round, my shoulders were killing me on fly. But when we switched to sprinting, I had no shoulder fatigue at all. Given, after four sprinted 200 IMs, I was pretty darn tired anyways, but I thought it was interesting that I went from struggling to do a 50 fly at an easy pace to more or less effortlessly sprinting a 50 fly within the space of about 3 minutes.
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I've got my second swim meet this Sunday. With the exception of Thanksgiving week, I've had almost a month of pretty regular practices to prepare for the meet, so I'm expecting a much better performance than the last meet.
I was only allowed to enter in four events, so I entered in the 50/100 back and 50/100 fly. This is a 25M meet, rather than 25Y, so it should be interesting to see how my times compare with the last meet (I swam the 50/100 back and 50 fly in that meet). Given how terrible my backstroke times were at that meet, it is possible that, if my backstroke has improved due to my increased practicing, I could potentially go around the same times in the two back events this time.
After this meet, I've got two meets in January to train for. Should be a fun two months of swimming!
I'm generally improving a fair amount in practices, although sometimes it feels like I'm going backwards. In our larger practices, there are five lanes of swimmers: fast lane, either another fast lane or a slightly slower lane (depending on how many are at practice), a medium lane, and then two consecutively slower lanes. When I started out a few months ago, I stuck solely to the middle lane, and it was fairly challenging at times. Now I stick to either the second fastest lane or one of the fast lanes in the big practices. That is, when I'm only doing one practice at a session. On the days when I do the back to back practices, I'll swim in one of the faster lanes for the first session and then move down a lane for the second session, since I still don't have the endurance to make the intervals in a fast lane for a 2 hour practice.
We don't do much stroke work on intervals that really matter--that is, when we do stroke/IM work, we often do sprints on really easy intervals, so I can't guage how much I've improved in those strokes.
However, my freestyle speed has improved in practice pretty substantially. When I first started out, quite embarrasingly, a 1:30 pace for multiple 100s free was a chore if we were doing it towards the end of practice. Lately, though, I've been able to do 1:20 intervals pretty easily, although some practices kick me hard enough in the butt to make me struggle a bit towards the end of practice to make that pace for more than a 100 or two. Still a far cry from my previous swimming days, but hey, I'll take what I can get!
I have no clue how my backstroke is--it never felt out of whack, and doesn't feel much different now than it did a month or two ago. Don't swim much breastroke and have no interest in it, so I don't pay attention at all to how I do in that stroke.
Butterfly is quite interesting. Apparently I'm a MUCH more efficient butterflier when I swim at speed than when I swim at my normal semi-loafing practice pace. Two weeks ago we did a big IM set that involved a bunch of 200 IMs, the first round just making the easy interval, the next round sprinting. We did that twice through. By the end of the first, easy round, my shoulders were killing me on fly. But when we switched to sprinting, I had no shoulder fatigue at all. Given, after four sprinted 200 IMs, I was pretty darn tired anyways, but I thought it was interesting that I went from struggling to do a 50 fly at an easy pace to more or less effortlessly sprinting a 50 fly within the space of about 3 minutes.
________________________________________________________________________
I've got my second swim meet this Sunday. With the exception of Thanksgiving week, I've had almost a month of pretty regular practices to prepare for the meet, so I'm expecting a much better performance than the last meet.
I was only allowed to enter in four events, so I entered in the 50/100 back and 50/100 fly. This is a 25M meet, rather than 25Y, so it should be interesting to see how my times compare with the last meet (I swam the 50/100 back and 50 fly in that meet). Given how terrible my backstroke times were at that meet, it is possible that, if my backstroke has improved due to my increased practicing, I could potentially go around the same times in the two back events this time.
After this meet, I've got two meets in January to train for. Should be a fun two months of swimming!
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