The days of taking it easy are over. Coach Durant started the night off by telling us his new plan to give us lane assignments. I got placed in the lane with Dagon and one of the new guys (I’m terrible with names). They were both extremely fast.

I watched myself on my flipturns tonight. I think I flipped over straight every time, then pushed off upside-down, and flipped back over after pushing off the wall. I’ve really improved that part of my turn. I’m still having a problem with breathing off the wall. I keep taking a breath before taking a stroke and tonight I realized just how much of a difference that makes. Sabrina was in the lane next to me and we were head-to-head coming into the wall on several occasions, but she always came off the wall much faster than I did. I’ll work on breathing now that I’m feeling better about my rotation.

Warm-Up (1300):
1 x 400 Free
4 x 75 (25 free, 25 back, 25 free) on 0:10 rest
6 x 100 Free (2 white, 2 pink, 2 red) on 1:40

Main Set (2150):
4 x 150 (100 free, 50 back) on 3:00
4 x 25 backstroke drill choice on 0:30
4 x 150 (100 free, 50 back) on 2:50
4 x 25 backstroke drill (kicking on our side) on 0:30
5 x 150 free on 2:45

Drills:
3 x Power Turns

We had 15 people tonight. I can’t keep up with all the names, but it’s great to see so many people enjoying swimming. I spent most the night in a lane (not the Axe Grinder!) with Dagon, Sabrina, and Jeff. We were just doing drills, but we really pushed ourselves. At one point we were more than 100 ahead of the other lanes.

We learned a new backstroke drill tonight called Vertical Ice. I’m not sure I can explain it very well, but here’s my attempt. You take 3 full strokes and then freeze when you have one arm fully extended above your head, the other arm sticking straight up, perpendicular to your body, and you kick 7 times, then repeat. This helps you with your rotation, as you’re supposed to be completely rotated when you freeze. Luckily we did it with fins.

We finished up the practice with some Hammer-Downs without fins, which was a lot of fun. We started at the back wall and pushed off under water, kicking half-way across the pool without coming up. At mid-pool, we began treading water with our arms fully extended above our heads. This is a challenge, especially while trying to catch your breath from kicking your way out there without coming up for air. After treading water for 10 seconds, you put the “hammer down” and sprint at full speed back to the wall. We did that 6 times on 1:30.

I noticed that my “swimmer’s elbow” started to come back after those, and I think it’s related to pushing it as hard as I can on the sprint portion. I’m not in pain or anything, but I can tell my elbow isn’t 100%. I guess it’s good to narrow down the times when it happens so I can figure out what I’m doing wrong that causes it.

Warm-Up:
1 x 400 Free

Drills:
20 x Backstroke flip-turn work
2 x 300 Drill ( 2 x (50 Free, 50 Vertical Ice, 50 Free) )
2 x 200 Drill ( 50 Free, 50 Vertical Ice, 50 Fly drill, 50 Free )
3 x 100 Drill ( 25 Free, 25 Vertical Ice, 25 Fly (full), 25 Free )
6 x Hammer Down ( 12.5 underwater kick, 10 seconds tread, 12.5 sprint freestyle )

Warm-Down:
1 x 75 Free easy

Even without Wade and his son, we still had 14 people tonight. That’s a good group. We even had a full spectrum of skill levels. The drawback to having such a large group is that I can’t tell you all the people that were there tonight. I doubt I even saw all of them. But I can tell you that one of my neighbors showed up. We may even wind up car pooling with him at some point.

For most the night, I was in the Axe Grinder lane with Andrea, Chelsea, and Sabrina. We were doing backstroke drills and I want to point out that the Axe Grinder is not the best lane for that type of activity. Several drills required us to circle clockwise (swimmers usually circle counter-clockwise), which put us going down against the wall, then trying to push off the back wall without hitting the ladder, which is next to the lane-line. This usually meant someone would push off from about the middle while those coming down were trying to avoid grinding their fingers off against the wall (also coming down the middle)… it wasn’t pretty. I saw Andrea and Chelsea collide, and I smacked into Andrea, and I hit someone (still not sure who) when I pushed off once. But we managed to survive.

Warm-Up (600):
3 x ( 4 x 50 sculling and pulling (1/4, 1/2, 3/4, all sculling) )

Main Set (1800):
4 x 50 backstroke kicking one-arm streamline on 1:20 with fins
4 x 50 double-arm backstroke on 1:20 with fins
4 x 50 backstroke “swim the rope” (use the lane-line to pull faster) on 1:20 with fins
4 x 25 full-stroke backstroke on 0:30 with fins
4 x 50 backstroke kicking one-arm streamline on 1:00 with fins
4 x 50 double-arm backstroke on 1:00 with fins
4 x 50 backstroke “swim the rope” on 1:00 with fins
4 x 25 full-stroke backstroke on 0:30 with fins
16 x 25 freestyle kick on 0:45 (no fins)

Every couple months we subject ourselves to a 30 minute time trial. The goal is just to swim as far as you can in 30 minutes. Coach Durant was hoping for a good turnout for the time trials, and he got what he wanted tonight. I believe our final count was 13. We had 3 new people. One of them was a 16-year-old kid that warmed up in the Axe Grinder lane with me and Jeff, but then he moved over with the 2 new girls for the time trial.

I really wanted to know my time at the 400, 800, and 1650 marks. I remember that I looked up at the clock to see my times at each of those intervals. I even remember that I was happy with my times, but I don’t remember what the clock said at 400 and 800, but my 1650 time was 20:48. I guess it’s possible that I was off by 50 (making it a 1600), but I was still happy.

Jeff was in my lane and he was clicking the lap button on his stopwatch each 50. He ended up with 36 laps and I passed him 4 or 5 times. Andrea and Chelsea were in the lane next to us and they were really doing well. I think I only passed Andrea 3 times, and she stayed right with me the last 200 or 300. It was all I could do to pull away as the clock ran down. You couldn’t ask for a better group to swim with!

Warm-Up (2000):
8 x 100 pull (75 free, 25 sculling)
1 x 200 easy
4 x ( 4 x 25 (free, scull, free, back) on 0:40 )
6 x 100 free on 2:00 (2 x white, 2 x pink, 2 x white)

Main Set (2200):
1 x 2100 on 30:00 (time trial)
1 x 100 easy

Tonight was the smallest group we’ve had yet. Everyone had their own lane! It was just me, Charmaine, Justin, Jeff, and Steve.

I’ve been fighting what I think is tennis-elbow or a mild tendonitis in my right elbow for a couple weeks now. The last few times I’ve swam it has flared up a bit, but tonight was the worst yet. My arm was completely useless by the end of practice and I could barely drive home using my left arm. Even now I can’t find a comfortable position for my right elbow. I’m going to have to really take it easy when I’m out of the pool if I want to be able to swim. I’m also trying to improve my stroke technique to help my elbow as well. I’ve got a lot of improving to do!

We discovered that we’re all breathing incorrectly. Some of us are holding our breath from when we breathe in until it’s time to breathe in again, then quickly exhaling, other are pausing while they inhale, and still others are exhaling too long. Any and/or all of these are fairly serious problems that can lead to ataxia (not enough oxygen in the brain) which makes you run out of steam extremely quickly. Breathing is about relaxing. Swimming is about who can stay relaxed the longest. If you’re breathing is slowly causing your brain to lose oxygen, you won’t be relaxed very long. We spent a few minutes at the end of practice working on some breathing exercises to help us see what we’re doing wrong.

Warm-Up (800):
400 free
200 free Pulling
200 fly kick on our backs with fins

Main Set (2200):
12 x 50 free on 1:00
10 x 50 fly on 1:10 with fins (25 fly drill, 25 full stroke)
8 x 100 free on 1:45 (4 white, 2 pink, 2 red)
12 x 25 underwater fly kick on 0:40 with fins (come up after mid-pool)

Warm-Down (275):
4 x 50 shooters with fins (25 underwater, 25 easy)
1 x 75 easy

Tonight we learned how to race. Go out hard, bring it back a little easier, build with the legs, and then bring it home. When you break down a 200, for example, the first 50 should be the fastest; the second 50 should be the least fast (but not slow); you need to really build with the legs on the third 50, or you’ll lose the race; and you give everything you have left on the last 50.

It was the smallest group we’ve had since I’ve been going. There were just 6 of us. I was, once again, in the Ave Grinder lane. Jeff was with me. He did really well for the first half of the workout, but then trailed off at the end. In the next lane were Wade and Charmaine, who did the big set with fins… and the final lane were Sabrina and Andrea. I think we all pushed pretty hard tonight. I managed to stay ahead of Sabrina every time, but Wade was killing me with his fins.

Warm-Up (1300):
400 Free
200 Back
4 x 50 Fly drill on 10 seconds rest (1 left, 1 full, 1 right, 1 full)
10 x 50 kick on 0:50 with fins (50 free, 50 choice)

Main Set (1900):
4 x (

4 x 75 drill (50 swim, 25 sculling)

Coach Durant is out of town for the state championship swim meet this weekend. Filling in for him was a friend of his that used to swim fro BYU. She did a good job and I think we all worked pretty hard, so as to not let down our real coach.

I was in the Axe Grinder lane again tonight with Jeff and Andrea. Somehow I managed to stay away from the wall. Maybe I’ll become friends with this lane after all. In the next lane over was Steve. He was really working hard tonight. It was all I could do to stay ahead of him on the 9 x 50s we did at the end of our warm-up.

Coach Durant left instructions for us to do the main set without fins unless we couldn’t make the interval. I thought that was a great excuse to just use fins, but Andrea talked me out of it. We only managed to do the first 3 without fins, then finished up with our fins on. Steve did the whole thing without fins. Wow. Between Andrea and Steve challenging me, it’s amazing that I found an excuse to take it easy for the second set of 3 x 200 (I even went last after Jeff and Andrea). I felt bad about that and moved up to second for the last set and then took the very last one as hard as I could. So at least it wasn’t a total slack job. It’s great to have people like Andrea and Steve there to push me so hard.

Warm-Up (1050):
1 x 600 (200 Free, 200 Back, 200 Free-Back: rotating every 5 strokes)
9 x 50 Free on 1:00 (3 x (1 x “smooth”, 1 x medium, 1 x “strong”) )

Main Set (2200):
3 x 200 Free on 3:30 no fins
1 x 100 Easy
3 x 200 Free on 3:30 with fins (i went last and took these a little too easy)
1 x 100 Easy
3 x 200 Free on 3:30 with fins (i went second, second, and then first and pushed it)
1 x 200 Easy

The night started with coach Durant telling me he thinks I should train to compete in the 1650 (1 mile) event at some future masters swim meet. I told him I used to be a sprinter and that I doubt I’d be very competitive in the mile, but he thinks I may. Who knows? I have been feeling pretty good when we swim longer distances.

I swam in lane 1 tonight. I’ve decided to start calling it the Axe Grinder, because when I swim on my back I inevitably wind up grinding my left hand against the wall at some point. Jeff and Chelsea were also in the Axe Grinder lane, but they didn’t have quite as much trouble as I did. Actually, one of them did complain about hitting their hand on the ladder in the middle of the pool. I think that counts. But hey, at least we didn’t have to fight with the SCUBA team.

There were 4 people in lane 2. Leading that lane was Sabrina. She’s only 20 years old and still really fast. She killed me on the kicking sets, but I stayed ahead of her on the fly sets. We both knew the other was trying to win, so we wound up pushing a little bit harder than we would have otherwise. That’s what it’s all about.

Warm-Up (1000):
400 free
300 kick choice with fins
200 free pull
100 back

Main Set (1650):
6 x 50 fly kick on our back, hands down on 0:45 with fins
5 x 100 free on 1:40 (2 white, 2 pink, 1 red)
6 x 25 on 0:30 drill choice
6 x 25 fly drill on 0:40 (3 kicks underwater, 1 full stroke) with fins
6 x 25 fly drill on 0:45 (1 left, 1 full, 1 right, 1 full) with fins

We worked on open turns for about 15 minutes

4 x 25 hammer-down drill (12.5 race-pace, 10 seconds vertical kicking with arms raised high, 12.5 race-pace)
4 x 25 hammer-down drill with fins
2 x 100 (75 pull, 25 scull)

We have been told that Chocolate Milk is the best recovery drink after a workout. Even the top Olympic athletes drink it. Our coach brought chocolate milk and strudel to our workout tonight. He even admitted what many of us were thinking… that we really didn’t work hard enough in our last practice to earn donuts. I think we ended up earning them last night.

Charmaine was sick and didn’t go to practice, so I brought a few “extra” strudels home to her. We had a pretty good group though. I was in lane 1 all night, with people doing SCUBA training underneath me. Actually, if the SCUBA people had stayed underneath us, it would have been fine, but they kept coming up on the ladder in the middle of our lane. Their equipment was huge and blocked most the lane, which isn’t a good thing when you have multiple people swimming butterfly in the same lane. It suddenly became clear why Chelsea said she didn’t want to swim in the same lane as “SCUBA Steve” again… at the time I thought she was making reference to one of the guys on the team and couldn’t figure out why she was upset with him. LOL.

Warm-Up (1800):
3 x 300 free with 20 seconds rest
2 x 300 kicking choice on 6:00 with fins
2 x 150 kicking choice on 3:00 with fins

Main Set (1950):
12 x 50 (25 fly, 25 free) on 1:10 with fins (coming in under 0:35)
6 x 25 stroke drill choice on 0:30
8 x 150 free pulling on 10 seconds rest

I must have pushed really hard tonight, because I’m having a really hard time remembering what we did. I know there was a lot of fly and a lot of fly kicking, but I’m struggling to pull it out of my head right now. I think I’m pretty close, but feel free to correct me.

Coach Durant made me and Jeff do full-stroke fly when others were doing fly drill. He even made sure I didn’t breathe every stroke. It was tough.

At the end of practice he challenged the whole team to swim a 25 underwater without fins for donuts. He then added that if I could swim a 62.5 under water without fins, that he’d bring chocolate milk and donuts on Thursday. I checked my pulse. 120. I knew I wouldn’t make it, but at least I made the 25. Everyone else made the 25 as well, and some guys made it another half length, which convinced Coach Durant to bring chocolate milk anyway (even though I didn’t make my 2.5 lengths underwater). I guess I should practice that sometime.

Warm-Up (800):
300 Streamline Freestyle kicking on our sides
2 x 50 one-arm fly
16 x 25 (3 x free, free, fly; 1 x free) with fins on 0:40

Main Set (2100):
10 x 50 fly kick 360 (left-side, stomach, right-side, back, repeat) with fins on 1:00
1 x 200 easy
8 x 100 fly kick on our backs (hands down) with fins on 2:00 (coming in under 1:30)
12 x 75 (4 x free-fly-free, 4 x fly-free-fly, 4 x free-fly-free) with fins on 1:30
1 x 200 easy

Bonus:
1 x 25 underwater without fins