I swam 2560m today at the PC 32m outdoor pool. It was sunny, hot. The water was 26 C, chilly for anything but brisk swimming (for me that is!)
At 9:15 I swam 1536m
16x 96m (3 laps), focus on high elbow catch, and let SPL naturally descrease.
- #1 was at 25 SPL
- #2-7 were at 24 SPL
- #8-12 were at 23 SPL
- #13-16 were at 23-21 SPL
- then 1x 96m timed at 4th speed effort (came in on 1:25)
At 13:00 I swam 1024m continuous.
The purpose of this set was to fine tune and imprint better vertical forearm. I won’t call it extreme EVF because I know better than to force my body into more extreme positions without carefully, and gradually conditioning them to go there. Since I noticed the chronic problem 8 months ago and started working on it, I don’t drop my right elbow any more on the catch. I can feel the muscles and supporting tissues strengthened aroudn teh shoulders so I can hold the position under fatigue now. I could rotate teh elbow out further but I am concerned how it adds more strain to the shoulder joint. I can always slowly condition for me rotation, but for now I feel I have room to build up more strength with the amount of rotation I have already acheived.
My head is consistently down, with chin tucked – harder to do in the pool than in OW for me.
My hands are consistently, even automatically spearing on Wide Track and stable target, and my hand is not drifting up as I extend forward or turn to air, even as I vary tempo.
I was tuning in more today to my kick and how narrow and within profile I was keeping it. It ‘felt’ tight but in those videos I had taken of myself last week I saw how much I still kick outside the profile at certain moments.
My recovery arm swing pattern is still variable. I am still trying to find the best pattern for various tempo or situations. I can squeeze out a lower SPL when I keep a narrowing returning arm but that comes at the cost of being a bit more tense in the shoulders- ok and perhaps useful for my sprint work, but this will be investigated further this winter back in the pool where I can get real data on it’s effectiveness. Or I can widen it up which is much more restful for long swims and I feel less wear on the tendons that way. Sometimes I hit this nice swing/rotation rhythm like a smoothly articulating universal joint, but I cannot consistently hit it and hold it especially when those walls keep interrupting every things!
I noted in one of Terry’s posts about getting back in the pool after many months of OW work and how it has reduced his speed. I take that to heart. I swam a 1:25 196m today (1:28 100m) just to test where I was at, one a 1500 effort level. I may be able to crank out a 1:24 or better 100m time if I had done some tempo acceleration work instead of long SL work today, but it gives me an idea of where I am at. My tempo was around 1.15 I estimate, while I have been conditioning in OW for .95 so I think I could clip along a bit faster if I warmup for that tempo.
But this winter, back in the pool, I will have to carefully get back into the hard work of sprint training if I want to break my 1:20 100m plateau.
© 2010, Mediterra International, LLC. All rights reserved. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Mediterra International, LLC and Mediterraswim.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
RSS - Posts
