Eau Du Chlorine

300 free warm-up
100 dolphin kick
4x50 on 1:00 (done IM order because Mimi makes me swim IM 80% of the time so I figure I should warm up all of the strokes at least a little)

6x
{
100 IM on 1:45 (replacing breast with fly because I apparently have a bum knee)
150 free on 2:00
}

8x50 kick on 1:100

6x75 on 1:15 swum as follows:
25 fly, 50 free
25 free, 25 fly, 25 free
50 free, 25 fly
50 fly, 25 free
25 free, 50 fly
75 fly

Supplemental:
4x500 (the fact that I have no idea what my interval or pace was is part of a major thorn in my side)
2x100 cool-down

Total yardage: 5150

I don't know why my left knee was hurting. It was bothering me yesterday too. I really think that all of my breaststroke-leg-related issues are due to no strength training on the important bits (most especially my adductors). I've also be fretting about what to do for swimming on days where I work mids since I will be at work during practice and the pool I swim at has extremely limited hours. The base gym is too inconvenient since it is a half-hour away and also has limited hours.

So to solve this problem I went and checked out the Alaska Club. I figured that this would be a good solution since it is a half a mile away from my house and they have a pool that has at least two lanes open for lap swim 17 hours a day. Plus they have all the weight and cardio equipment you would expect at a place like that and lots of classes as well. They also have five other locations in Anchorage that I can use, one of which is open 24 hours. Totally sweet. That definitely solves the shift worker's access problem.

Joining a gym isn't something I really ever expected to do, but I'm really excited about it. There is a huge variety and convenience that has just opened itself up to me. I'm already planning what classes I'm going to hit up tomorrow! Hopefully the "Today's Workout" category will get a lot more interesting soon -- and definitely expect to see double workouts happening.

Posted by Jitterbean Girl at 10:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Za Claw
Apparently some time in the year between quitting year-round swimming and the swimming season of my senior year I picked up this weird thing with my hand where there is this 90^o bend of my wrist. It had always been there in my freestyle recovery, but apparently it was infecting other parts of not only my freestyle, but my butterfly as well! Za Claw, as it was affectionately dubbed by my coach, was on display at the meet last weekend, but it is by no means the first piece of photographic evidence.

An early occurance of Za Claw

This stunning specimen manifested itself at the tender age of 15, and while it is not a fully developed claw, it is certainly a portent of things to come. But I digress.

While it is impossible to deny the allure of having a quirk of yours have a name as cool as Za Claw, I think it may need to go. It's really wreaking havoc in my stroke -- my hands are pointed in every direction but the bottom of the pool. I think that Za Claw is a result of too much tension in my wrist and forearms. I just need to relax because all that tension in my freestyle catch and pull is really messing it up. I notice a marked improvement when I let my arms let go of that tension. That is something I am going to need to think about constantly when I'm swimming. I don't think it's a problem for the recovery -- it's stunningly common -- but it's definitely bad juju in the catch and pull.

Bobble Head
During my lackluster 100 breaststroke in the meet on Friday I realized mid-race that my head was doing Bad Things. It is supposed to remain stationary with respect to my body, but it sure as hell wasn't. My head should not be leading the charge to the breath -- that is the job of the catch, pull, and insweep, not bobbing up and down like something in that Whack-A-Mole game. I also am having issues with kick/pull duality. I can have a good kick and I can have a good pull, but I can't have them both at the same time. They seem to be mutually exclusive. The solution? More drill. More work. More emphasis on the naughtiest-sounding of the strokes.

The Auto-Recovery
Pull width is a chronic problem of mine. I am constantly pulling too wide on freestyle, backstrong, and butterly, but the fly definitely has the best reward for fixing it.

When I get it just right and (later in the pull) my hands touch under my stomach/hips, my hands propel themselves forward like little rockets upon exiting the water. It's great! If I do everything right, then I don't have even try to get my arms over the water -- it just happens like they're being snapped ahead on a rail.

This is very tiring after a while (especially on the traps) so I must continue to work on it. This could be invaluable on the IM.

Posted by Jitterbean Girl at 8:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Felt like crap when my alarm went off at 4:50 yesterday, so I reset the alarm for eight hours later and didn't wake up until I heard the buzz.

This morning:
Long, very miscellaneous warm-up -- at least 600 yards
4x50 on 1:00

2x200 IM on 3:15
2x200 IM on 3:10
2x200 IM on 3:05
2x200 IM on 3:10
2x200 IM on 3:15
2x200 IM on 3:20

I repeated all of them on the 2:50.

6x75 on 1:00 (repeated :54)

Stayed in the pool for a big longer to get some extra yards. They weren't high intensity, but I just needed to get at least another mile under my belt.

100 free easy

4x100 fly on 1:50 (repeated 1:35)
4x100 back on 1:40 (repeated 1:30)
4x100 free on 1:20
4x50 breast pull with paddles and buoy

100 free cool-down

Total yardage: 5250

This was prettymuch a perfectly-swum workout. I repeated the same on the IMs regardless on interval and somehow managed to not puke during the 75s, which was by no means a given -- especially since I was keeping up with Mimi and Jack. I'm trying to keep the intensity, uhm, intense since my swimming schedule is kind of erratic, but if I can go to Nationals or Worlds I want to know that I at least trained my hardest.

Posted by Jitterbean Girl at 8:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Today was the first day back in the pool since the meet. Rather than letting us loosen up after the fast swimming we did this weekend, she instead had us do distance

400-ish free warm-up with paddles
150 breast kick
4x50 free on 1:00

1x400 IM on 6:15
1x400 free on 5:00
1x250 IM on 3:45
1x200 free on 2:30
1x100 free on 1:15

Minute or two of rest....
Looking back at how I made some of the stuff on that set we made some adjustments on the way back up.

1x100 free on 1:15
1x200 free on 2:30
1x225 IM on 3:45
1x375 free on 5:00
1x400 IM on 6:15

4x50 free on 1:00 cool-down

Total yardage: 3600

Bonus: I get to go to practice every day this week! Woohoo!

Posted by Jitterbean Girl at 1:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Swimming the 200 freestyle, 18 February 2006

Today wrapped up this year's meet short course yards meet. I finished it out strong and had a lot of fun! So, without further adieu...

The 200 freestyle was my first event today. I swam it really well, split-wise, meaning that I had the right intensity going on each 50 and that my first 50 was the fastest and my last three 50s were split very evenly. Towards the end you have to do that sprinting thing, and there I could feel my stroke shortening significantly. I was in lane one and had several teammates cheering for me on the side of the pool, which was AWESOME. Overall I came in at 2:12.30. A fun swim, and a faster time than I had anticpated!

The 200 IM came next. I was all psyched up for this one -- I was seeded second, and the first place seed was 17 seconds faster (than my wild-ass-guess entry time). She was 45, so I figured I might have a slight advantage in that arena (though that is by no means a given or a guarantee!). I also remembered swimming against her in the 100 breast the night before, so I knew she probably had a good stroke and hence we would probably swim the IM similarly.

My philosophy on the 200 IM is that you should swim each 50 like it's its own race -- you don't hold anything back even at the beginning because it is so short and the different strokes use completely different parts of your body. I took full advantage of my start, kicked underwater for about 12 yards, and popped up in the lead and stayed there for the rest of the race. I know I gave this one everything I had and pulled myself out of the pool exhausted but with the time of 2:23.90. Totally sweet. Added bonus: I not only won this event in my age group, I won it overall! Huzzah!

Last on the agenda was the 200 breast. I went into this with mixed feelings -- I simply haven't put the time in training for this event and my technique is sadly lacking. I also split this race badly -- I gained a second on each progressive 50. I came in at 2:48.42, which is a far cry from the 2:34.69 I swam to get my first AAA time almost nine years ago. I shouldn't beat myself up too badly though, as I think it is what my time was close to when I started the same season that culminated in that AAA time. Doesn't mean I'm happy with it either, though. I'm looking at this as a great starting point from which to improve (massively)!

The meet wrapped up with an awards ceremony. I had taken first in three events and second in the other three, which proved good enough to tie for the high point award in my age group, which earned me a nifty water bottle that boldly proclaims "ALASKA MASTERS State Swimming Championship High Point Award." (Side note: I hate to sound tacky, but I would have won every event I swam if someone from California hadn't come and swum in our Alaska state championships. I was not terribly pleased about that, especially since those first-place points are points our team could have used.)

So that wraps up the weekend. I'm tired and sore now, but the overwhelming thought running through my head is That was SO worth it. I am beyond ecstatic and thrilled to the nth degree that swimming has regained this focus and this role in my life -- I have missed it so much!

Damn, it feels SO GOOD to be back!

Posted by Jitterbean Girl at 11:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Just got home from the first day of the meet. I'm really pleased with how it's been going so far.

400 IM was first -- oh god, the pain. It didn't hurt as badly as I remembered (I didn't feel like I was carrying 40 pounds of lead in my abdominal cavity), but oh yes, it still hurt. That probably means I could have swum it a bit faster, but I went a 5:08.66! That's only 5 seconds slower than my fastest time nine years ago when I was swimming, oh, what, eight practices a week? I need to look up that old time, because right now I'm thinking there's no effin' way I went only 5 seconds slower. Thing is, I know I went a 5:03.08 at the A/BB Champs meet in late February/early March 1997. See? That meet is burned into my memory.

Maybe some things (like technique, for one) don't matter as much in the 400 IM as, say, pain tolerance. That's the only explanation that I can think of for swimming as fast as I did tonight.

But no complaints on that at all! Fast I like! Especially when it's my first meet in seven years!

(Side note: I creamed The Adversary, but given that she was somewhat injured it doesn't feel like a true victory. We shall see how things pan out in the future.)

The 100 breast followed short on its heels. My worst fear did not come true -- I didn't have to jump back up on the block immediately after struggling to pull my gasping-for-air self out of the pool. I went a 1:17.24, which is faster than I went a couple of weeks ago in practice, but damn, what happened to the days where I could swim it in 1:13? Now I was able to do that when I was just swimming for my high school and was only getting 5 hours a week in the pool. I clearly need to be working harder on breaststroke -- technique and distance.

The 500 free finished off the night for me. Hot damn, I had forgotten how much I like the 500. It's the perfect distance for a freestyle race. I'm not trying to sprint like a crazy woman (and flailing in the process, no doubt!) and it's not so long that the pain is unbearable. My goal tonight was to go 6:00 or faster, and I accomplished that (at 6:00.89)! I think I could have gone faster, but I obviously would have needed more training in that distance to have known exactly how far I could push it.

(Update: splits were posted with the results, and I split that sucker evenly. I held 36's the whole time!

Not too shabby, all in all. I'm in much better shape that I thought, given how quickly I recovered and was able to swim everything when my events were so close together.

God, I've missed swimming -- and competing!. It felt so good to get back up on the block, to chase the person next to me.

More to swim tomorrow! But now: a bit of good ol' rest and relaxation.

Posted by Jitterbean Girl at 11:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This taper has been a trainwreck. Between rapidly shifting body clocks, work, and excessively icy roads, I've gotten in very few workouts. It's been a struggle to get to enough sleep too. My eating habits have been deplorable. It seems like I'm doing everything wrong.

I'm two days out from the meet and exhausted. I got a long nap in today, which was divine, and hopefully that will help and not backfire by preventing good sleep tonight.

Depsite that the shambles that the last week and a half has been (swimming-wise) I'm not letting it dampen my spirits. This will be my first big meet since my senior year of high school! I'm ecstatic about getting to race again! And since it's been so long, I'm not expecting fabulous things out of myself. This will be a great-reacquaintance to competition: it will let me know what I can do and what some reasonable expectations and goals are. And since I am in a sparsely-populated age group, I will still be able to take home some ribbons and earn a lot of points for the team.

The 400 IM is first for me on Friday night. This is good because I will swim my most important event when I am still fresh. After that, all of my events are pure gravy.

Bring it on.

Posted by Jitterbean Girl at 4:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Last practice before taper! I wanted it to be hard, and Mimi delivered:

200 free warm-up
100 swim (50 fly/50 back) warm-up
4x50 free on 1:00

3x200 on 2:45
6x200 on 2:40
3x200 on 2:35

4x125 on 1:45
4x125 on 1:40

4x50 on :45
4x50 on :40

2x50 cool-down

Total yardage: 4400

The way I felt during this practice was reminiscent of, but nowhere near as bad, as the last Saturday practice I went to. Since I never feel like this during the week and I also happened to be shifting my sleep schedule the last time I felt like this kind of ass in the pool, I think that that is probably the culprit.

It was weird. I was swimming fairly fast on the first rep of each set, but I couldn't maintain it, which is very unusual for me. That is typically something I am very good at. I still swam very hard and definitely got a good workout, but I could tell that I was... off somehow.

Now that I'm starting taper, I'm going to have to watch it -- no more circuit training for a couple of weeks and nowhere near as much food. I'll need to do something every day though -- yes, seven days a week. I don't want to gain any weight before the meet, so the food intake will have to come down. This shouldn't be much of a problem since I won't be as active and hence not as hungry, but somehow I have to keep the ice cream cravings at bay, or at least moderate them a lot

I think one reason I've been craving so much junk food that I would not normally crave is because I might not be getting enough protein. I definitely try, but with such elevated activity levels and such decreased intake of beef and chicken I don't think I'm doing my body enough of a favor. I have noticed a huge difference when I get more lean protein in (such as a cup of plain yogurt with some granola), so perhaps I need to start eating one serving of animal a day (preferably fish). This is a lot more than I have been eating recently. Alternately, I could make a couple batches of black bean burgers and freeze them or make some of that 15-bean soup I've bought. Either way, I need to be getting far more protein. I'm doing so much with my body, I need to take good care of it and give it the means to repair itself.

Posted by Jitterbean Girl at 5:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I've been focusing more on technique on my less-oft-swum strokes, which is always a good thing since I'm supposed to be a jack of all trades. IMs will do that to you.

Butterfly:
My hands have been about the right width apart on entry, but as I start my catch and pull I'm too wide. I've been working on narrowing it into a more pronounced keyhole shape so that my hands touch before they exit and recover. This is awesome for my speed and my shoulders but it's kind of throwing off my kick. With the Old Bad Slow stroke, I had a great kick because my whole body was undulating in the water the right way. It's going to take some more work to fix my kick with the Improved Shiny Fast stroke. I think it will be ready by the time it's needed in two weeks though -- my 400 IM is going to count on it. The importance of butterfly must not be underestimated, especially when the Adversary is a butterflier. I know that if I am ahead of her or at least close to it at the end of the first 100, I will win the race.

Backstroke:
This needs some work. My stroke is too flat: I'm not getting enough roll. As a result, my elbows are too far from my body during my pull and at the time that I'm supposed to be throwing the water towards my feet, I have far too little power and the direction is all wrong. I've been bringing my elbows in and I've been able to tell a huge difference. I don't think this will be totally perfected by the time the meet comes around, but it is less critical than the butterfly, breaststroke, and freestyle in the 400 IM. The Adversary has a terrible backstroke, so improving this will just be gravy. It will make my job a whole lot easier in the last 100 though if I am as ahead of her as possible.

Now, if only my adductor would heal....

Posted by Jitterbean Girl at 5:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

200 (?) free warm-up
4x50 free on 1:00

4x200 IM on 3:10 (repeated 2:55)

4x
{
100 fly on 1:50 (repeated ~1:20)
100 back on 1:50 (repeated ~1:25)
}

2x50 free relays

4x25 cool-down

Total yardage: 2200

Not a terribly invigorating workout, though admittedly I wasn't swimming my hardest because I was dead-tired. I'm in the middle of switching to mids, so I slept for about 4 hours, went to practice, then came back and slept some more.

I'm to the point where an hour in the water just isn't enough for me, even if it's a pretty robust workout. Speaking from a cariovascular and strength point of view, I can take a whole lot more. I know Mimi works out on land after swimming, so maybe I can convince her to stay in the water with me for another 30-60 minutes after practice officially ends.

One more practice before we start taper!

Posted by Jitterbean Girl at 2:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)