in a way, it's kind of awesome the endless pool isn't fast enough for you

Sat - 6.38 mi run
Sun - 9.8 mi run
Mon - off
Tues - 8.6 mi run
today - 3150 yd free and probably 1000 kick/ goofing off

super easy intervals, really just working on pain free swimming with good technique. I gave myself an hour as am trying not to overdo it; took a tiny bit more than that but my rule is you can start a repeat that will put you over the hour mark (started the last 150 with 1:30 to go or something)

12 x 50 on :55
50 kick
12 x 100 on 1:50
50 kick
3 x 150 on 2:30
aforementioned kicking and goofing off

---

maybe she's born with it, maybe it's chlorine
If you're injured and need some sympathy, PM me and I'm very happy to write back.
disclaimer: PhD not MD

I'm catching up on posts - nice workout, dev!

---

maybe she's born with it, maybe it's chlorine
If you're injured and need some sympathy, PM me and I'm very happy to write back.
disclaimer: PhD not MD

Managed to get in a nice one in the low desert today, let the kids stay in the RV and play games to keep them busy. Still just connecting off days until the 1st week of Jan when my pool opens and all the vacations are done, so far so good:

39x100 as 15 buoy@1;30(1;25 to 1;23's)15pull@1;20(1;16/17's)
8-odds frog@2;00/evens back@1;50) frogs(1;49/48's)back(1;36/35/34/32)150 buoy
3950SCY in 60 minutes.

100's pull on 1;20 were ok, but not comfortable enough to imagine doing more than 50 of them. Time to hit the weights again, and of course get more yardages in the pool when the time comes to attempt a Bday set..

Touched some medley today and yesterday. Medley fitness lacking but free fitness and freestyle stroke been priorities

Today
3 rounds desc by round 400 back 2x200 free 4x100 IM Last round did 2x200 IMs (last round time cycles, 6,250,3)
4x500 d 1-3 as 705,655,645,630
Cool down to make up 7km

3 x 10 arm raises with 5kg and 5x30 seconds hanging

What goggles do you all wear? I’m going arena cobra ultra in black and blue atm

TYR something or other, they look like their version of the speedo Vanquisher. My dad found piles of 'em on sale at a surplus store for $3-$5 a pair and very sweetly bought me a whole bunch of pairs

---

maybe she's born with it, maybe it's chlorine
If you're injured and need some sympathy, PM me and I'm very happy to write back.
disclaimer: PhD not MD

Didn't end up using the endless pool, it was low on water and set to 86F so it would have been more like a bath. There have got to be better endless pools/swim spas out there, some good swimming pro triathletes have them and like them.

Managed to swim in two different Nashville-area YMCA pools. Both 82-84F, narrow lanes, shallow, jets blasting you off the wall, no gutters just tiled sides so kinda sloshy.

12/23: 3600scy
2x[200 swim, 4x50 drill]
7x[ 100 cruise on 1:30, 100 threshold on 1:15, 4x25 fast on :30]
5x100 paddles + ankle band
2x50 easy


12/26: 2300scy (had to share small lane and swim next to the wall, so just getting in some yards)

2x[200 swim, 4x50 drill]
5x100 kick w/board
5x100 paddles and ankle band
2x100 strong
4x50 25 sprint/25 easy
2x50 easy

Back home now, so maybe something stupid long tomorrow at my regular pool.

---

-----

QUESTION:
Should I try to swim an OK 400 IM on February 3rd?
What should my training look like?

BACKGROUND:

One months ago I attempted a 400 IM SCM.

My training leading up to this was:
1) All long, slow swimming for IMWC in Nice
51:XX
2) 1 month off
3) 3 weeks of:
3 swims per week - 3000 easy free, 15 x 50s fly, back, breast, 5 x 50s kick

Result: 6:02
Splits: 1:15, 1:26, 1:53, 1:27

Hilarious!!!

My highschool era PR 4:42 LCM 1990.
I didn't get to swim this event in college.

Current training:
3 weeks of 4 times/week
A) 3000 easy free, 8 x 50 Hard/Easy Fly/back, 6 x 50 HE back/breast, 6 x 50 HE breast/free
5 x 50 kick
B) 3000 easy free, 10 x 150 fly/back/breast (moderately hard, 5 x 50 kick
C) 3000 easy free, 7 x 50 fly, 7 x 50 back, 7 x 50 breast
D) 1000 easy 5 x 100 IM


CONCERNS:
1) I don't have enough time to not suck!
(Only 5 weeks).
"Okay" would represent at least 20 seconds faster than my first attempt.
2) This is fun and all, but running is still my principle weakness. And this project will necessarily take away recovery ability from running.

Completed our annual 100 100s this morning. Fitness was there but made a rookie mistake and ate chili last night. I took a gel at 5K and and immediately started gut cramping. The last 5K was a clincher if you know what I mean. Fortunately I finished without being banned for life from the pool😅

I’m guessing you are the one to the far left?

HRT?

No, that's a good friend who I've shared many endurance races/adventures with. I'm the old "has been" in the middle.

Result: 6:02
Splits: 1:15, 1:26, 1:53, 1:27//

Man that was a really front loaded 400IM, and it must have hurt to swim it that way. I say go for it, but with the extra training in the strokes, perhaps a better attack plan for the actual race. You need to swim the fly leg in a manner that lets you at least be close to your come home free leg, preferable the free should be faster. And that breast leg, ouch!!! Maybe something like a 1;17/1;27/1;45/1;17..

You will feel a lot better in the race, and not a survival swim from the 200 to the finish. Have fun most of all, and for sure do it!! It wont take anything from your running, in fact all that extra stroke kicking will help it...

Got in 2nd day in a row here, rare for this 3 week holiday break. Felt tired from yesterday, but did 40x100's. Trying to get used to lots of 100's pulling and getting ready for my Bday set in the next couple months. Maybe even drive a bit and jump into one of the weekend end of year big workouts if I can find one..


40x100 as 5s@1;40 easy(1;28/26's)
4x(2p@1;30/2p@1;25/2p@1;20)1;20 to 1;17's, and 1;14/13's for the 1;20 base ones)
6x100p@1;30 descend(1;21/20/19/17/15/13)
5x100frog@2;00(1;55/55/53/53/52)2x50buoy(45/43)
4100SCY in 64 minutes

nice job on the 100 x 100!

yesterday 9.48 mi run as 0.35 mi w/u, 8.75 mi @ 5.6 mph, then the last four minutes picked up the pace 5.7-6.5 mph
today 2800 yds free and 1200+ kicking/goofing off. Focus is still nailing the technique

12 x 50 on :55
50 kick
12 x 100 on 1:50
50 kick
5 x (200 swim, 50 kick) these were 2:59-2:57 though I only looked at the clock here, and not on the 50s or 100s, as I was curious what pace I was swimming.
aforementioned kicking and goofing off

---

maybe she's born with it, maybe it's chlorine
If you're injured and need some sympathy, PM me and I'm very happy to write back.
disclaimer: PhD not MD

Serious pace ! In terms of nutrition I use a bottle of gatorade with a teaspoon of salt for first 6600m and then last 3400m, I am on a bottle of coke. I drink every 1000m or so depending on lane mates (if there are others).

Result 6:02
Splits 1:15, 1:26,1:53, 1:27

The fly portion was bad. But not as bad as I thought it might be.

But...

I hadn't done backstroke competitively since the 80s.
And I only did breastroke (even in the 80s) as a part of an IM.


So...

The fly killed me. (I anticipated that).
I couldn't recover on the back. The oxygen debt got worse.
The breast felt like-
The last 100 of a 400 fly, where you sprinted the first 200.

And the freestyle...
Ha, ha!

That's a lot slower than open water IM pace for me.

I started the breast 10 seconds ahead of a overweight 30s something woman.
I finished the breast 5 seconds behind.
And the gap GREW on the free.

Would have been pointless without the description. Whew.

Just out of curiosity do you breath every stroke fly and also on backstroke do you breath every hand entry or every second hand entry. I am trying to figure out how to breath on every hand entry on back, but it is literally like my diaphragm is pre programmed to breath like it does on free (every second hand entry). My theory is if I breath every stroke on fly and every hand entry on back, the 100 breast during the 400IM won't feel like imminent death!!!!

After last week's 50x200IM LCM given that it has been pissing rain here (which means zero XC skiing) and mainly swimming and running during the holidays, I joined one of the local clubs for 100x100 and went with the 2:05 send off crew, which meant I could go at a relaxed pace and do 1 or two lengths of 100 using fly, back of breast and not get in anyone's way.

As things go, the girl leading out lane takes things out sub 1:30 and then we spend 35 seconds standing around doing nothing. She is a pretty strong swimmer, but she is not that strong, so I remined her we need to do 100 of these. Eventually it calmed down to the 1:40 to 1:45 range. I was leading off each 100 with fly and then throwing a second 25 of back or breast and was not slowing anyone down (actually getting sucked into the draft). The pace was relaxed enough that I could do several 25's kick on back too. It was actually really nice to mix it up and not feel like I was on the verge of total blowup as when I have done 10,000's previously.

At 5000m, my group too a 4 min break to eat and go the bathroom, so I just kept going and did a 200IM, then at 7500m, they took another break (and I just kept going) and then another one at 9000m (and I just kept going), so I got done in the target 3:27 elapsed time. It was nice to have lane mates and doing it at a pace that was not at the edge of my performance envelope. In the end I got 2500m fly in, 750m back stroke, 250 breast, some random kicking but the roughly 6500m of free that I did was the most free I have done this year by a lot. After I was done, I went to another lane where one of the guys was bonking a bit and I paced him for another couple 100m doing breast stroke (easiest on shoulders).

The only other time I do that much free is in a 70.3 (1900m) or 2000m out of a 5000m training session. Other than that, I have been trying to do the other strokes and kick. In the last 3000m, I found myself doing more and more stroke as my lats and shoulders were getting tired from so much free that I am not used to doing!!!

Anyway, two 10,000m swims in 8 days is something new for me. I was a bit unsure how it would go, but picking a relaxed pace was a smart move. Early in it, I was thinking I should have gone with the 1:50 send off group, but 2:05 was the good call today.

Buddha mate that drop off is not zen like. Too much drop off

Take it out more zen like and at least finish the free at or faster than fly.

I’d just do alternating free and medley sets or build up to 500 or 600 medley for over distance. Medley transitions also fatiguing muscularly so need to meditate and practice on those

Medley splits are good as shows clearly where you need to improve.


Re Dev and breathing, I breathe every stroke on fly and sometimes also skip the pull out on breastroke. If I was racing a 400 I would do 2 fly kicks for back stroke off walls, 1 fly kick off wall for fly, old school and no fly kick pull out for breastroke and no fly kick off wall for free. I breathe every two strokes on back, like frestyle. Dreaming of sub 220 in a 200 medley
Scm one day. Best is 222

had my last swim of the year today. Lots of aquatic activity going on at the moment. Loving it

Long course
200 back stroke
8 8 4 4 4 4 3 3 3 3 all these on 130 holding 128s down to 125s on 300s right into 2 2 2 2 on 120 cycle hold 233-235 right into 1 1 on 120 hold 16-17s.
400 easy

3x10 arm raises 5kg 6x30 seconds hanging and 300 units of band motions for the dear old cuffs and shoulders.

Reflections on the year. Trained more than ever in the pool. Missed my meet I wanted to race hard in the 400 medley. Oh well back again next year I hope. Four beat kick and three beat kick bedded down. Really wanted to be able to finish main sets with fast efforts and seem to have improved on that. Technique still pretty ugly but faster.

Able to finish sets with 1-2k worth of 120 base swimming not fins or pull so fitness improved a lot. Got pumped 12 months ago doing 5x2 on 120 base and someone said oh I thought that would be easy for you… pretty embarrassing.

Next year goal of 800 sub 10 lcm as pace can hold in hard efforts in training at end of sets. Can probably do that when in good shape now but too much red zone and sick feeling doing it. Want to talk to some of the legend OWS swimmers around here and ask them about how they kill ows but pool times not so crash hot.

Or sub 12 for 1km in scm (112 pace).

What is the ows secret. Just naturally good endurance and high floatation and rating? Or always leave a bit in the tanks during swim sets in the pool. Or actually really knowing how to red line in the ows versus the pool where turns and stroke counts give you a sense of your speed. It’s so cool people in the 40-50-60s can trash younger swimmers in the ows - makes it slightly intimidating to race but got to harden up and get out there

Another thing w OW is getting out quick and finding the right line (I do that beforehand)
people who are good in OW and not so great in the pool I would wonder about their turns (I don't have superb turns; I consider myself fairly good, when not injured, in both formats but my claims to fame are all OW fastest female swim splits, one in a really big race when I was in college - timberman half iron - and some overall wins at OW races. Of course winning is based on who shows up. But I feel more competitive in OW than I do the pool)

Yesterday 9 mi run
Today 3100 free and enough kick to get to at least 4000. I have a cold, feel better than yesterday afternoon (when I really thought I might have an unplanned rest day today) but not 100 percent

12 x 50 on 55
50 kick
10 x 100 on 145
50 kick
8 x 150 on 230
50 kick
Kicked for a bit under half an hour

---

maybe she's born with it, maybe it's chlorine
If you're injured and need some sympathy, PM me and I'm very happy to write back.
disclaimer: PhD not MD

Was consistent for the month averaging 3 swims per week and 2k yards each session.

Mondays are long race pace intervals (400 to 500 yds)

Wednesday’s are tempo above race pace intervals (200 to 300 yds)

Fridays are fast 50s

Pool temps are 90 degrees at my local 25 yd pool, so not ideal and this past week I was swimming in Denver at 5.5k ft altitude so took longer recovery.

On to 2024!

Thanks! I was in the 1:45 lane and started out getting 20 sec rest but ended with less than 10. Two of the girls were doing them on 1:40 and average ~1:15: FAST.

I've tolerated gels in the past but something wasn't right with my gut that morning. It actually carried on for a day or two so maybe I had a bit of a bug.

Strava says I ended the year with 586,766 yds and probably 99.8% of that was freestyle. I've got a New Years resolution to do one day a week of IM and kick in '24 (at least till race season).

Happy New Year TC! I finished 2023 swimming 356/365 days, a little over 665,000 yards. Between sprint tris and 5k’s I raced 42 times, which MIGHT be a little bit much.😊
Always enjoy this thread and seeing what real swimmers are doing. Have a great 2024!

Wow! Thats a lot of racing. Almost every weekend. I couldn't afford the race fees :)