Swimming with Billy

Today one of the very fast (did I say that right - very fast) speedies hopped into (my) lane today. He clearly looks like a swimmer, and swims like a swimmer. I was coming to the end of my practice and was ready for a breather so stopped and said "Hello" and chewed the fat with him for a couple of minutes.

What was nice was that he recognised me as a "regular" and also recognised the fact I was doing something different today ("sprints"). He was doing a quick warmup then some tethered swimming - he and his mate attached to a bunge rope and one towing the other to the end of the pool and the other towing back! Now this is stuff that is both really tiring and things that only "good" swimmers are allowed to do, and "good swimmers" who are part of Stockport Metros (who I think own, or have a serious stake in, the pool).

Anyway when they started tethering (if that's the phrase) it was time for me to get back to my desk. But it was nice to talk with some really fast people.

So what did I do today? Well kind of a similar set to last night, except that I did repeats of 8 x 25 and instead of swimming between them I recovered doing some drills. I did manage to finish with a couple of 14s repeats (slow next to the speedies, but hey quick for me).

Warm Up:
1 x 200 EZ

Main set:
four lots of...
8 x 25 on 0:35 (building to sprint)
1 x 100 (hand lead or single switch drills)

Warm down:
2 x 100 IM

Tonights session was really very tiring indeed. I thought I looked knackered at the end but I saw another swimming look very purple/pink and peaky!!

It was a touch congested. Okay it was very congested in the speedie lane, so I heroecally ducked into the less speedie lane leaving Tim, Carla, Francis and Emily to fight it out. So I ended up sharing a lane with Dave - two to a lane seemed much more pleasant than five in a lane! So I did the speedie set whilst Dave did the "normal" set - which was basically the same thing but with more rest.

Warm Up:
1 x 200 EZ

Main set:
10 x 25 on 0:35 build each 25 to max
1 x 150 EZ
8 x 25 on 0:35 build each 25 to max
1 x 150 EZ
6 x 25 on 0:35 build each 25 to max
1 x 150 EZ
4 x 25 on 0:35 build each 25 to max
1 x 150 EZ
2 x 25 on 0:35 build each 25 to max

Warm down:
1 x 200 EZ

I set off about with Tim and tried to keep pace. Actually because he'd had a very heavy 'fly session last night he was taking the 25M pretty easy. So I decided I'd have my own private "competition" with him. I think by the end we ended up with an honourable draw. Certainly he "won" the last few - when he found out we were "racing", perhaps it was my chanting of 6 - 0, 6 - 0 ... that let him work it out!

Well I guess in some respects it isn't particularly suprising, but Ian Thorpe's announced his retirement from competative swimming at the ripe old age of 24.

For me, and I am sure many others, that's a great shame - because he clearly is the best middle-distance swimmer of his (and possibly future) generation.

It's not that much of a surprise because I guess few athletes really come back either at the same level or with the same enthusiasm after a long (self imposed) lay off, and so it would appear with Thorpe.

For more info about this have a read of:

http://www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/lane9/news/12721.asp
and
http://www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/lane9/news/12768.asp

Today was one of those days where you just know you're coming down with the next dreadful lergie. This time I think it's from herself rather than the kids! Eitherway I am starting to feel just a touch lethagic. So todays swim was a struggle. It started out differently when a mature lady decided to either swim up the middle, or the wrong direction. We sorted that out ammicably - but it didn't seem to stop her swimming down the black line (sigh). I thought I'd have a go a sticking some drilling back into my routine - this is a cop-out in some respects because I know my body can't cope with much else at the moment. But on the otherside I really have neglected the technique side of swimming for far too long. So today I did a bit of both - technique and "speed".

Warm Up:
1 x 500 (Free, back, breast, back, free)

Drills:
1 x 100 hand lead balance (look up)
1 x 100 hand lead balance (look down)
2 x 100 single zipper switch
2 x 100 tripple zipper switch

Main set:
8 x 25 on 45s (all came in on 15s)
4 x 25 on 45s (all came in on 15s)

Warm down:
2 x 100

We had a cool little swim today. It had to be quick because we were late getting there and she had a party this afternoon.

However we had a right good play in the water. She was more splashy today than she's ever been. And then had a right good play on the slide. I started by catching her at the top of the slide, but by the end she was sliding in and being caught in the water! Which is a hige step forward. Still no getting the hair/face wet, but she's getting there

Tomorrow's a big day for her because I have to phone up to see if/when she can have her first set of swimming lessons. This will be a big step forward, because it's something she's really lacking. It's not the mechanics, because she's coming along okay with that sort of thing, but it's the formality. And now that she's at school and into the "do as the teacher tells you" mentality, it's that bit of structure she needs to rid her of her getting splashed "phobia". I can't do it because I'm her dad and I'm just there for playing with.

So we will have to see what tomorrow brings.

Today I did another basic flipper set. I have to say I started knackered (thanks to her who shall be nameless not coming home 'til 4am this morning!!)

Anyway I did pretty much the same set as previously, I think I am going to call it a day with long flipper sessions and get back to some drilling and then flippering. As today's main set was something I used to be able to achieve sans-flippers.

Warm up:
1 x 400 EZ

Main set:
10 x 100 on 1:40 (times dropped from 1:25 to 1:20)
8 x 50 on 1:15 (times dropped from 0:35 to 0:31)
4 x 50 on 1:30 (times all just under 0:30)

Warm down:
2 x 100

Okay they don't, but last night at Tri Nicola was leading our lane. The two speedie young-uns were next leaving me a (long way) behind. As we did a 600, 500, 400... ladder it meant that by the time we got to the 400 I was out of step with Nicola, which meant that I could stand and admire what she does (naturally?) before I set off to chase her tail.

Now on Tuesday in Stockport there was a "grown up" speedie in the pool warming up as I was finishing off, and I watched him for a bit as well. Now I am pretty sure that Nicola isnt really trying on a Wednesday night, I think she uses those nights as a more relaxing muscle stretching activity. So I guess she was swimming with probably the same/similar intensity to the grown up speedie.

So whilst watching Nicola one thing that struck me then was just how similar her recovery, entry and rotation were to this other speedie. Now I know that a lot of good(?) TI based swimmers have a very similar stroke style. But Nicola and I am pretty sure this other speedie "don't do TI" - but they both have a lot of TI in their strokes (does that make sense). Anyway you can clearly see that each effortless, splash free, "languid" stroke they take is full of power.

Where the power comes from, now there's a question with an illusive answer!

Does my stroke look anything like these two?! Er... no

Not much to say really, but haven't written for a bit. The last couple of swims I've done have involved playing about with my Zoomers. Now I don't do much fin-based swimming but thought that "just for a change" I'd have a play.

So I've done a couple of pretty basic practices with them. Two things I was looking for/concentrating on. Firstly not using my legs to kick with (on most/distance sets) and secondly using my legs to kick with (on short sprint sets). Uh? Well I am of the opinion (probably because my kick is !?"!!) that kicking per se is overrated. Actually that's not quite true, because clearly a good number of very good swimmers have a pretty good kick (or better!)

What I mean is that on the longer sets rather than using the kick as an excuse for sloppy swim technique, I've been trying to use them as an anchor point for my core rotation. So when my arm digs into its catch and sets off on its pull I am trying to get my down-beat leg to act as a kind of fulcrum point. This I can do with fins - because of the bigger surface area. The net result is that I seem to swim at about the same pace as "normal" but with some less effort and a lower stroke count.

Now after these longer sets I've been doing some shorter 100M/50M fast sets. And on those I've been taking it faster (but "easy") on the way out and much more aggresively on the way back. Ironically (or perhaps that's what fins do...) I find it easier to kick 6-beat or a 1/3 (4-beat) kick with fins on, so I can do this much more aggresively than my normal kick technique. Sadly the times are not _that_ fast - I guess because of the slower take out.

But I'm prepared to spend another few sessions playing with these. If nothing else its good toning for the bum and thighs.!

Last night was the first time I'd been swimming with any of the swim club since their sorte to the Derbyshire Sprints last week end. And because of the number of triathletes there all the speedies were in "my" lane (rather than spread into two).

We were halfway through the session when Gary said that I was in impressive company because the each of the tree speedies (Frances, Emily and Carla) were placed in their chosen events. And it turned out that they'd all placed 3rd, 2nd or 1st in their age groups.

So it made me feel not quite so bad/slow being hasstled by these speedies - because they are all pretty quick!

Today I did a bit of surfing (as you do) and found their times. For the 100 Open Free Frances came 6th with a 1:05.44 and was placed 5th in the heats. And in the 9-12 50M Free age group Frances came 3rd with 30.38 and Emily 4th with 30.77. Now putting that in context - that's faster than everyone of the triathletes by quite some way!

Last nights session was:

Main set:
1 x 400M Swim
1 x 400M (100 swim, 50 kick...)
1 x 400M (25 technique, 25 *fast*)
1 x 400M Swim
6 x 100M (breathing 3, 5, 3, 7)

Music to my ears this last Sunday. I took Mart to the pool for our third swim/play in about 6-weeks (which must be close to a record). Anyway we played about in the big pool. Again we were lucky in that it wasn't that busy (for that read splashie). So we had a good little play for half an hour or so. With her arm-bands we managed (easily really) several widths.

Then we did some playing in the shallow end with no arm bands, after I got told off for taking her into the deep end. It was one of the life guards I know so there are that awkward silence as he got ready to tell me I was being bad. And I was so there you go.

Then when we got out Mart looked at the nursary pool and said "Can I go down the slide?". My turn for an awkward silence and then a whole hearted "Yes". So off we went. The nursery pool wasn't that busy and we saw one of her school mates in there. Mart got to the top of the slide and gingerly sat down and very slowly moved down the slide. She asked me to hold her, which I did and gently she landed in the water (very pleased with herself).

What was even better for me was that her friend Iona a big girl shot down the slide next and almost (deliberately) emptied the pool. Mart got a bit splashed but didn't panic and got out of the pool (with a little help) and down the slide she went again!

I guess we did half-a-dozen slide rides! Now to put that in context, the last time she went down it about a year ago ended in tears and a pathalogical hatred for it. So, thanks to her being a bit bigger and school it was a real big treat to see her doing this! And wanting to do this! Brilliant

After my last posting, harranging Ebay for being rubbish, I noticed another "Christmas present" just waiting to be bought. This time there wasn't a stupid reserve price and I won! Now here's a note for you Ebay sellers - hidden reserves are a pain in the perverbials so don't do it please. The guy who did, ended up not selling his kit (for want of a couple of pounds). I've now bought (won) the same thing at just a touch under asking price(£53 instead of £56!), that's more than I wanted to pay (somewhere around £35 seemed a good bet). However...

The final salt, rubbed in the wound by Ebay. I've just found the same for £54 on Google! So I've saved a whole pound (just about buys a "half" in celerbration).

Today I did something I've not done before and that's "racing" dives from a set of blocks. This is usually only the stuff that clubs do and being that I swum with the kids tonight and they've got a competition this Sunday (Ponds Forge), so they'd got the blocks out.

On the whole the session wasn't very arduous - they don't want the kids burnt out. I was in a lane with Tim and Jamie neither of whom are racing, so may eb they took it a bit easier as well.

After a warm up and technique set we did 12 x 25 from the blocks. This was fun, because I rarely dive and have never dived off the blocks. That's not surprising because of the insurance repercussions during public swim sessions. I was kind of concerned that my googles might fly off, but they didn't - the strap got well and truly twisted but I put that down to my goggles being near the end of their shelf life (and my dodgy diving style!).

Just for the record I am pretty sure I finished last on each of these 25s. We finished with a couple of IMs, so not only were we diving but also backstroke starts - what's that all about?! I showed myself up good and proper on those legs!!

Still it was all good fun,and something I don't get to do very often.

The whole set was pretty short:

Warm up
1 x 800M

Technique:
10 x 50 (25 drill, 25 swim. Our lane did 3 free, 3 breast, 3 back and 1 free)

Main set:
12 x 25 from the blocks

Warm down:
1 x 200M

Well really IM in a short swim today. I didn't get to the pool until late today (I arrived when I would usually be leaving!). That was because I got drafted (no not like "drafting") into interviewing a prospective employee today and thar ran on until 1:30. I find interviewing quite tiring (because of the concentration aspects) and really needed to get out of the office after that.

Also I wanted to do some more turns, but the pool was busy and though they nicely stuck a lane in, it was instantly occupied by a couple of other swimmers. Any how after my warm up, I really didn't have the energy to do much, and I felt I couldn't stay out of the office for too long, so I decided to do some leisurely IM repeats instead.

I find IM an interesting digression, because I don't spend anywhere near as much time on the other three strokes (for that read almost none). So I don't really have any preconceptions about how "good" I should be swimming this thing. They're also fun because my muscles get a good workout doing different things for change. So that's what I did today. No the IMs weren't quick, but they were done quickly because I was out of the pool in 30 minutes flat!

Warm Up:
1 x 200 EZ

Main set:
10 x 100 IM on 2:00 (all between 1:25 and 1:30)

Warm Down:
1 x 200 EZ

And back to work...

Tonight's tri swum wasn't as hard as I thought it'd be, and when Gary shouted out what he wanted I was worried... I had a plan tonight and that was to concentrate on those turns, trying to get myself into my last stroke on the turn at the correct point (rather than almost full catch up). But this almost went out of the window when I was grouped with Nicola and Tim (two mature super speedies) and Gary said 7 x 200 within 15s of your best and 20s rest... Gulp I went this isn't going to be pretty.

But "luckily" (because I really didn;t have the energy for that) Nicola didn't want to lead so Tim did, and he's just coming back from a bit of an injury. So I ended up trapped in the middle and gaining a lot of benefit from Tim's drag. As I said he wasn't swimming that fast, so I kept up on his tail (in his wake) pretty much all the way. So I finished that set "hardly" breathing hard at all! As for times 2:32 was my first, 2:38 the last and the rest around the 2:40 mark. They could all have been a bit quicker, but I blame Tim.

The benefit of Tim's drag was obvious when on the next set 7 x 100 Tim got out after the first couple and that put me in the lead... Suddenly swimming got a whole lot harder!!

Actually what has interesting was that whilst (in the 200's) my turns we in general better (more correct) than normal with me leading the 100's they reverted to type. Also in the 200's I had an easy goal - to stay on/close to Tim and that meant I could concentrate more on my general swimming, in particular trying to mimick this slightly quicker catch that I'm trying to get to on my turning stroke. Again in the 100's this all went to pot! Just for the record these came in on 1:15 - 1:18, but they were much harder without Tim's help!

So the set was:

Warm up
1 x 250 EZ

Main set
7 x 200 20s rest within 15s of PB
7 x 100 15s rest fast

Warm down
1 x 200 choice (IM)

Today I was a bit knackered, so thought I'd do something a touch different. So I decided that I'd spend my time working mainly on turns. This I did gently for most of my swim, then a couple of real speedies got in so I couldn't really continue my splashing and adopted a gentle 50m approach.

Most of my time (about 30 minutes) I spent just pushing off and taking ever more strokes before turning in open water. I started on one stroke and got up to 5/6 strokes.

The idea being to work on speed of turn, and because I'm not concerned with timing where the wall is/was I could concentrate more on arm placement. This provided a contrast on how I normally turn, because my timing's usually off a bit into the wall (and you get used to that so a bad habit ensues). But with no wall to worry about it allowed me to really instigate my turn with my last arm pull.

I turn a bit different to most I see (though I do see quite a few on TV turning more like I do - but obviously a lot better than I do). My turn is instigated by my final stroke(s) which because I am mainly front quadrant means that they both help the turn process. This is markedly different from a lot of "traditional" tumble turners who seem to end up with both arms by their sides and flat on their front before flipping.

I used to get a bit paranoid that my variation was "wrong" but now I am not so sure, because as I said there seems to be more turning like me these days - perhaps it's a fad thing.

Another good thing about this open water turning is that I can practice turning off either arm, rather than just my prefered side.

Warm Up:
1 x 200 EZ

Main set:
10 x flip on 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 strokes alternating sides
10 minutes 50M swims focus on arm position into the turn and the turn.

Warm down:
1 x 100 EZ

I mentioned a contrast between my drilling and my normal turn at a wall. And that's, because my timing is usually "off", I have a tendency not to start my final stroke(s) into the turn early enough. That is my lead arm is still extended waiting for my recovering arm to reach my "trigger point" for the next stroke, and usually near the wall this is more like a traditional catchup style last stroke. Now in open water my lead arm starts its catch and "turn instigation" much earlier than this - not so early that I am rear quadrant, but early enough to take some strain of the turning process. So something else to remember/work on tomorrow night.

As I said not much swimming as such!

I just can't get to grips with this Ebay thing. Yesterday I won (apparently) a bidding war for a prospective Christmas present. But I lost (in reality) because I didn't make the bloomin' reserve price. So what's the point in winning like that?! It felt a bit like the old "Bullseye" program where I expected Jim Bowen to take my hand and say "Let's just look at what you could have won..."

So now I've got to either (a) wait for someone else to sell this on Ebay, or by it direct from source at some exhorbetent price.

And I only "lost" by a couple of pounds!!?!!"A££"??

Not happy really.

Didn't do much today (starting to get) full of cold. I know it's definitely arriving because when you hit the water for the first time (and the first few seconds after) your body "tingles" as though the nerve endings can't quite cope.

There was a lane today, but I didn't really feel like swimming properly/well, so I just did a pretty short set and hopped out.

Warm up:
1 x 400 (free/back)

Main set:
1 x 400 on 6:00 TT 1:10
2 x 200 on 6:00 total TT 1:10
4 x 100 on 6:00 total TT 1:00
4 x 50 on 1:00 each TT 0:90

Warm down:
1 x 100 back / breast

I still used my tempo trainer on the main set, dropping the time for each set. The 50s came in around 35s, the hundreds 1:18, 200 somewhere around 2:45 and the 400 about 5:50. Not great but there you go.

Now it's time for tea...

Firstly a quick sorry to any of the triathletes I swim with. This isn't meant as a slight, but it might be insightful (well it was for me).

Today after much "illness" I got back into the pool. I've got my daughter's cold arriving fast but hey that's nothing new...

As I mentioned earlier this week Stockport are on half-term, so the pool is usually unbearable. And today was kind of like that. But rather than get harrassed by it I had a cunning plan - do kicking drills. So when I arrived and there's no lane (other than the round-in-a-circle bit) and only a few kids with floats in the main pool, I decide that kicking's the game.

Now I am one of the World's worste/slowest kickers so the practice is "good" for me. I borrowed a kickboard and hopped in. Actually there's loads of drills you can do without a board, but I decided to borrow one and do some basic (non TI-friendly) kicking.

My plan was to use my Tempo Trainer and do a variety of sets at different cadences. Big challenge for me because as I said I am pretty rubbish (no - a lot rubbish) at kicking. And one thing that stood out from last week's swimming with the fast kids is that when Jammie "won" our sprint "race" he clearly kicks an aweful lot better/more than I do. Oh yes and faster.

So that's what I did. I had no idea what pace to start with so I picked a 6-beat on 3.0/1.5s rhythm (i.e. 3 beats every 1.5s). I thought this would be gentle enough to get my bearings. I hadn't budgeted on it being even more of a snails pace than normal. So after 50M I dropped it to 1.1s which is about my normal stroke cycle cadence. This was better but clearly I wasn't setting any records!

So this went on, speeding up every repeat. Occasionally I mixed and matched: 100m with a board and 100m on my back. The back ones were "harder" probably because my feet didn't break the surface.

Finally to end with I decided to swim a couple of 50m repeats but concetrating on my kick cadence. This is something that one of my Marty Hull videos talks about - push off kick at a certain rhythm for a while before starting to stroke. So I picked a couple of tempos and did this to end.

And all I can say was that trying to kick 6-beat and concentrating on that suddenly made my stroke all windmill arms and flat in the water. Admittedly slow widnmill. But just like most of the swimmers in my triathlon group - and nothing like the stroke that I normally swim with, and nothing like the stroke of most of the speedier speedies. It was interesting because the cadendces I picked to end weren't aggressive, and if I'd changed my focus to my hips, or arm entry, or catch then I'd have looked a lot more like me.

So perhaps this explains a lot about why triathletes (and other fitness swimmers) swim like they do. The put a lot of emphasis on their kicking, but not necessarily (okay never) on the "correct" aspects of their kick.

So an unexpected bit of enlightenment there.

!$££!"!!! Goddamit. There I was putting together a now never to be seen entry when Norton popped up to say there's new stuff to download. So I say okay off you go and it does. (Fine).

I type in my blog. (Fine).

Norton finishes and sticks up a popup. I don't read it just click "Finish" which is the only option and... (not fine) "bang" there goes my browser, there goes my typing and it decides (because I told it to) to bloomin' well reboot my machine. Goddamit, goddamit, goddamit, I didn't want to reboot just then.

So I'll have to start again. Okay it wasn;t interesting but it's the principle...

Well I'm not sure if 24/36 hours starvation has "cured" me. All I know is that today I've felt the need to eat, so I have. And because (as herself said) today would be day 5 with this bug, it's time to decide whether I should go and see the good Doctor. So I've eaten properly today...

Okay that's a lie. I had a descent breakfast and a safe lunch and tea (soup and sandwiches). But, damn those trick or treat kids... I bought loads (okay 3) big party packets of mini twix, smarties and kit-kat chunkies. My and herself really like kit-kat chunlies, so they were used sparingly when the ghosts and goulies came to the door. So when I made myself a coffee this morning I just so happend to have (just) one little kit-kat. I mean they're not big. But it took sooooooo long for my coffee to brew, that I had to have another.

Then when sitting back at my desk, I thought I ought to have another. And before I knew it I was surfing e-bay and eating my way through the whole packet. Well not quite the whole packet because we all had a couple last night. But I think I reached double figures!!

So tomorrow it's back to the office and I'd better be well enough to splash in the pool because I can see those little kit-kats taking there revenge. And they look so sweet and innocent too...