PSAC Champs – Day 2 & 3

Max wins 1000 free only 3 days post-Flu. Unfortunately the effort wiped him out for the 500 free where he ended up making it back into the consolation heat (much to his disgust). This is all a learning aspect for him. He has to realize that when you are sick like that it will take time to recover until you are 100%, and you can't blame your mental attitude for everything. Fortunately tonight he felt much better swimming, winning the consolation heat, and would have placed 5^th overall if he had swim that time in the morning. Even so….he still has the 400 IM tomorrow, which is probably his favorite event.

In the meantime I am day 8 in wearing the boot. Foot is getting a lot better, all the swelling seems to be gone. Today did a 25 min run in the hotel pool in the 'deep' end. Better than nothing!

Rest of meet o.k. - Swims one of his worst 500 times of the year. Body is still wiped out from previous nights race and still in flu-recovery mode. Ended up in Consols, finished first there, but still wasn't the outcome he had originally hoped for before he got sick.

400 IM - wins this event by the hair on his chinny-chin-chin, but he can check this off his list also. Then he was given the news that he would be swimming the 4 x 200 relay (free). As lead off leg he finally looked and felt like he wanted to all weekend - swam one of his best times in 1:42.7, and gave his team a much needed lead to end up winning with an NCAA -A cut.

All in all it was a learning lesson for him this week.
a. That the flu takes a lot out of you, and you do need to adjust some of your goals.
b. Needs to change his pre-meet meals because between nerves and the milk - the milk doesn't like the nerves.
c. It ain't over until the fat lady sings.

Another day with no wheels

In other words – no running or riding. We leave today for PSAC (penn state athletic conference) swim meet championships. Max is swimming the 1000, 400 IM and 500 Free. Should be interesting as he had the flu on Fri-Sunday, and returned to practice Monday afternoon (for brief 1500). Haven't heard from the boy since Tuesday morning (said he felt fine in practice), but let's just hope he hasn't tapered down as he has nationals in 3 weeks.

Anyway – swim yesterday and tried a novel approach (novel for me anyway). I actually used my HRM during the swim, and did what my coach said to do in terms of going into specific training zones. Something I probably should have done long ago, but for some reason I sort of poo-poo'd it for swimming. I use it when running, and occasionally wear it for riding, but only occasionally because for some reason it is real work to get to my zones on the bike. Which means I should wear it more. When I get back on the bike.

Swim workout was this:

200 w/u, 10 x 200 at just below LT (about 143-147 bpm), then 10 x 50 at LT (did these backstroke), then 10 x 50 (5 at below LT, and 5 above LT). cool down 100 easy. Had to get to appointment. Otherwise a good swim.

Time to pack and hit the road!

Swim Notes from 2/19/08

Did a nice workout with Ken at the YMCA yesterday where we did:

10 x 50 free swim on 1:00 easy

10 x 50 drill back w/10 SR – Did the I-L-I drill first to focus on getting ready for Freeze Frame. Ken learned that by doing this first it helps to teach the other swimmers to keep that hand leading during the 'L' position, so that when we do Freeze Frame we can really work on the timing of the stroke. Also did some fist closed to get a better feel for the water by setting up the stroking arm better. I must remember to bring fins to Masters swim on Monday for those who could use some short fins for these drills.

Then we did 4 x 500: 100 swim, 100 kick, 100 fast swim, 100 drill, 100 swim fast – focused on good body position. He noticed that when I breath to the right I crunch my body up a bit – so fixed this by keeping the head steady and looking directly to the side or slightly in front of me while breathing on that side.

20 x 25 – odds fast free (counted strokes – averaged 18-19), and then slow count your strokes for the easy – averaged 12-13 strokes.

Then a 600 of 75 pull/25 scull – all with paddles. It was here that Ken came up with the sculling pattern to get ready for fly – a sort of front scull, but you don't work the insweep. You just press down with the chest, and then rotate the hands/paddles with the thumb going down to face the bottom of the pool. This really helped to set up the stroke, improve body position so that the core gets more involved (and less arms) and also helped ME to keep my elbows up – or in a fixed position.

In fact this was the key phrase for me today with freestyle – keep elbows in fixed position during stroke.

So you want to be a Triathlete

Starting in March I am helping to create a competitive Triathlon team for athletes aged 14-22 years.

I hope to be able to set up at least 2-3 practices each week where me and other experienced triathletes can help to teach these young athletes all about the sport, and also how to succeed at it. I know that the Fredericksburg area has a ton of GREAT athletes. Now we just have to coax them to come out and play!

First meeting will be on March 18, location/time to be determined later. All athletes will need to have a bike to train on, bike shoes, helmet, and the ability to swim at least freestyle adequately. This is not going to be a lesson for beginners, but a full out triathlon training program.

More later!

Stressed out!

OK...screwed around with the high school kids and end up with a stress fracture in the 2nd metatarsal of my right foot. Haven't run now for 40 days, and am about to go stir crazy.

The good news is that I have been put into a boot to keep me from doing anything else crazy, and no riding now for 2 weeks. They also gave me a bone stimulator to help with the healing.

5 days later and it is starting to feel way better, and the swelling is going down. Hopefully in another 9 days I will be out riding my bike, and the week after that I get to start running.

I will have only 3 months to prepare for Worlds. Well....at least I won't be burned out by then from training!