Off the Deck

Ok, in my case, maybe I need a gale-force before I consider rethinking the paradigm. And yes, I have been uncharacteristically silent lately. It all connects; here’s how:

Over the past few years my team has under gone a “chipping away” process. Our morning workout has been steadily reduced (from 90 minutes to 75 to the current 60 minutes, and that’s only if the lane ropes are in.) We’ve been forced to swim earlier and earlier until our backs are up against the wall — there is no “earlier” than 5 a.m. at our facility. We haven’t had a head coach for over six months. And, starting January 1, we transitioned to no coaching on Tuesday and Thursday mornings (adding to the already coachless Sundays, a switch made during 2008.)

Despite the obvious downward spiral, it took me until last week to adopt a mercenary swimmer attitude. The tipping point? 1) No head coach means no overall training plan. Although it’s been a delayed response, at least I’ve finally realized that the workouts I have been doing, while effective in their own right, are not “smart training” or good for my body when done on consecutive days. 2) It’s easy to waste time and still not reach a concensus about sets when you have a group of swimmers in the water, all with different goals, sans coach on deck.

So, after much thought, I’m trying something new until summer: mixing it up. On Mondays/Wednesdays/Fridays I’m swimming in the afternoon with math-savant Jeff at a pool that’s close to both of our jobs. On Saturdays, Sundays and the occasional holiday, I’m swimming with my team at the usual pool.

My fears? That I won’t be pushed enough without a big group. That I’ll miss my friends and feel isolated and detached from my team. That I won’t be able to devise my own, effective training program.

My hopes? That I won’t start off my day frustrated, angry and rushed. That I will become stronger via longer workouts at a time when I am fueled, hydrated and awake. That Jeff and I continously throw the gauntlet down to find new ways to challenge ourselves. That I will remain flexible and open to finding good training options — even if it means mixing in regular practices with an age-group team. That I will stablize further and select just one stroke technique expert to work with.

Naturally, I will keep you posted…

Until next time,
Rebecca, swim evangelist

This past weekend I took one more step closer towards meeting one of my 2009 scy season goals — swim more local one-day meets.

If you recall from prior posts, I decided that I need to swim more at “race pace” speed as well as develop a “racing mind-set” well before (i.e. more than “week of” a big meet like States or Nationals). So what better way to accomplish this than swim in some actual meets?

Part of my reluctance to do the local meets in the past has been based on the lack of distance events. But, since I’m in a “rip the band-aid off” (translation: “no more excuses!”) mood this year, I came up with the “work on my middle 400 IM” ploy by doing the 100 back and breast. I also signed up for the 200 IM figuring I could work on stroke transition turns as well.

The results? I definitely was not in my comfort zone, especially since the day kicked off with the need for a backstroke start (let’s just say I don’t have that lovely “arc over the water and enter streamlined” thing down yet) and ended with me being seeded and finishing at least 15 seconds behind everyone in the 100 breast.

But do you know what? I am going to do the same events next month in another local meet. Why? Because the experience was invaluable. Just from three races I learned:

–I need to do off-the-block time-trials at practice regulalry
–My breaststroke is a train wreck. I need stroke improvement STAT!
–I now have “bench mark” swims to track over the season
–”swimming through” (no taper, no massage, less than 20 minutes between events) is a really good exercise to build the “race anytime, anywhere, under any conditions” mind set
–I did see some improvement in my turns, so it’s good to know that a prior training focus is kicking in on automatic now (is there hope for my breast, then?)

Until next time,
Rebecca, swim evangelist

Late last fall, after completing an assignment on Pilates for a fitness company’s website, I was inspired to try mixing this discipline into my dry land regimen.

Thanks to the opportunity to interview experts in the field across the world, I was familiar with some of the touted perks — improved posture, flexibility and grace through movement; development of a lean but defined physique and a stronger, more stable core.

To begin, I took the easiest and cheapest route — free mat classes at my gym. After all, I didn’t want to invest heavily in something I may not like or benefit from.

I immediately liked mat classes and tried to hit at least one, sometimes two a week. After just a few weeks, I started to notice some positive changes, such as improved ability to “coil” and “spring” off the walls at practice.

Through a series of circumstances which I won’t get into here, I ended up taking classes from my mat instructor but on the machines (reformer, spring box, etc.) at her studio by mid-December. Again, it’s just been a few weeks, but I am amazed at the results.

Best of all? I feel “strength in flexibility” now. Although I love the strength/endurance gained from weights, lifting tightens my muscles. Pilates on the other hand, improves my flexibilty while making me stronger.

The new awareness of how my core is working (or formally: “not working”) while swimming is priceless as well. And hey, I’m not going to lie, having people such as my massage therapist offer unsolicited comments on how much more defined I’ve become in just one month is welcomed!

Certainly, I’m not going to abandon weights altogether, but I am thinking about a 2 Pilates/2 weights regimen now…

Until next time,
Rebecca, swim evangelist

This past Sunday we did our traditional “100×100″ workout. A few insights:

–Lady COMSA suggested moving it from New Year’s Day to Sunday to allow for more people to come. (11 a.m. on a Thursday, even if it is a holiday, isn’t the best time for a long workout). As ever, she’s right! We had a terrific turn out — we even had people from other teams attend.

–I really liked how creativity was built into a plan of attack. To prevent a big blob of mind-numbing yardage, we did “blocks” of 5, 10 or 15 100s. Participants created the sets; order was determined by alphabetical order of first name.

–Kathy, our informal “team baker” did not disappoint — she treated everyone to a yummy banana cake, complete with fanciful light blue icing. I’m not sure what impresses me more at this point — that Kathy is so generous with her wide variety of tasty treats or that she always remembers to bring serving utensils as well.

–I was proud to see a lot of “smart swimming.” People came prepared with a supply of energy bars and drinks as well as water. Intervals were soft to prevent over-training. And, fun ruled the day. Formulating silly sets that included a lot of EZ swim had priority over any notion of “training.”

–It felt like more people than ever came with a specific goal in mind. Even better, it seemed like everyone successfully met their target. Therefore, I must conclude with a “well done” to all who swam. See you in 2010!

Until next time,
Rebecca, swim evangelist

Happy New Year Everyone!

What better way to start a new year off than with a swim workout?

Yesterday four us, Danielle, Teri and Ken, met at the pool for an ad hoc workout. (The traditional New Year’s practice, 109×100 this year, is slated for Sunday a.m. to give more people a chance to fit it into their schedule).

Since we didn’t want to do 109×100 twice in one week, Ken made a terrific suggestion (one can see why he’s a coach): after a ten-minute warm up, we’d each suggest a set in the 700-800 range.

I have to say I remain impressed with everyone’s creativity. Here’s what we ended up doing:

Ken: 10×75, odd: IM; even kick/drill/swim free

Danielle: 50 kick, 75 swim build, 100; 50 kick, 75 build, 125; 50 kick, 75 build, 150

Teri: continous 750: prime number laps fly, laps divisible by 2 or 4 back, 3/breaststroke and 5/free.*

Swim Evangelist: 16×25 400 IM order; 16×25 400 IM order, odd kick; even drill**

Until next time,
Rebecca, swim evangelist

*Now, I know you math whizzes out there have already figured out that several laps were “optional” because some numbers are divisible by 2 and 3 or 2 and 5. I however, have discovered that prime numbers beyond 19 throw me (i.e. 23? 27? 29?) and that I need to review my 3s multiplications as my 750 was a little heavy on back because I couldn’t factor some breaststroke 3-options fast enough.

**Yes, I know. I might be creative with words, but sets? Not so much.