Sunday Funday - Solo Style

This week was supposed to be the launch of my triathlon club's new Sunday Funday weekly swim session.  Unfortunately, our local community center had other plans for us.  The lap swimming pool was closed due to chlorine levels.  The center has a leisure pool with 2-3 lanes in it but it was overwhelmed with families and playing kiddos.

Lucky for me, I have a corporate gym facility with pool options.  I headed over to my gym to get my swim on but it wasn't the same without the rest of my training buddies.

Here's the workout that I did...keep it simple and fun!

Warm up - 1000 m
400 - free
300 - drills as 4 x 75 swimming in IM order, drill, free, drill
200 - pull
100 - kick

Main set - 1000 m
400 as 4 x 100 with 10 sec rest interval
300 as surging 75's - swim continuous and every 3rd length of short course pool swim as a surge
200 as 4 x 50 sprint/cruise swimming back stroke on the cruise length
100 as 4 x 25 swim from the middle of pool as a sprint into the wall and coming off the wall back into sprint with breath control

Cool down - 200 m incorporating stroke work

This incorporated my favorite warm up ladder and then utilized the same ladder concept to build a set with some variety.  It was good to get back into the pool after taking a little time off to rest after my TriFest for MS race weekend.  Going into that race, my hip was feeling tight and it just felt like I needed to take a little rest break.  I took two weeks off and my body and mind are ready to get back into training now.

Up next...laying out my Fall and Winter race plans.

Winter Skin and the Swimmer

Disclosure:  I am a SBR Sports Ambassador and receive product samples of TriSwim products.  All opinions are based on my personal experience with TriSwim products and I was not required to make this post or statements.

Earlier this week a Facebook friend commented on her wall that she was swimming more and noticed that her skin was getting dry and itchy.  I find that this is a common winter problem for the swimmer.
Chlorine is used to treat our pools and the effect that it has on the skin is that it removes the skin's natural oils causing dryness to occur.  It's really important to remove the chlorine from your skin following swims and I turn to TriSwim products for that purpose.  Lots of the feedback that she got on her post were on what types of lotions she should use but if you aren't neutralizing the chlorine the lotion can't do it's job!

TriSwim is a line up of products that includes shampoo, conditioner, body wash, and body lotion.  They all contain ingredients to neutralize the chlorine and also return moisture back to your skin or hair.  I have been using TriSwim for several years and some days it is my favorite part of my swims! The products have a light, citrus scent and feel wonderful.   The greatest thing about TriSwim is that it doesn't mask the chemical scent that you normally have after a swim in a chlorinated pool.  Instead, the formulas remove that scent entirely.

Winter is tough on your skin no matter what type of athlete you are but swimmers have to
think about chlorine in the mix too.  My routine use of TriSwim after all of my swims keeps my skin from getting dry and keeps me from smelling like the pool when I return to the office after lunch swims.  I'm not a big fan of lotions until after swimming...slippery pool buoys! After my swim I make sure to use lotion to return moisture to my skin and the TriSwim lotion is very light and non-greasy.

Don't let the winter air and the chlorine stop you from swimming.  Invest in a quality body wash and shampoo and keep your swim training in tip-top shape!

Here's the workout that we did on Monday to give you some swim inspiration to go with you new TriSwim products!

Warm Up - swim 400 - 850 (choice of stroke, kick, drills, etc.)
Set 1 - 500 yd ladder
25 - free on the :30
50 - free/back on the 1:00
75 - free, free, breast on the 1:20 - 1:30
100 - free on the 1:50
100 - free on the 1:50
75 - free, free, breast on the 1:20 - 1:30
50 - free/back on the 1:00
25 free on the :30

Set 2 - 8 x 75 on the 1:20

Set 3 - 6 x 50 on the 1:00

Cool down - 50
Total - about 1900 - 2300 depending on your warm up choice


You can find TriSwim at several online retailers and at SBR Sports web site.  Even better follow TriSwim on Facebook and Instagram to stay up-to-date on any specials that they are running.  

12 Days of 25's Christmas Swim

It's December 22nd and I can't help but look for some ways to incorporate the holidays into my workouts.  Today was a lunch time swim.  I arrived at the pool before any of my friends and dug into my gear bag for a copy of an old 12 days of Christmas swim.

The swim totaled 1950 yards which was the perfect distance for a lunch swim.  I went ahead and got started and then my friends joined in later when they arrived. The workout works down a ladder in increments of 25 yards based on whatever day you are on...12 to 1.

12 x 25 = 300 yard warm up swim
11 x 25 = 275 done as 3 x 75 with stroke in the middle, plus 1 x 50 free/stroke
10 x 25 = 250 done as 5 x 50 fast with 10-15 sec recovery
9 x 25 = 225 done as 3 x 75 with stroke in the middle
8 x 25 = 200 done as 200 pull
7 x 25 = 175 done as drill/kick/swim/drill/kick/swim/drill
6 x 25 = 150 done as 3 x 50 on min
5 x 25 = 125 done as a build within getting faster each 25
4 x 25 = 100 done as 100IM
3 x 25 = 75 done with stroke in the middle
2 x 25 = 50 done fast
1 x 25 = 25

There's a lot of variety in this workout and you can easily modify it if you don't like to incorporate strokes into your swim sets.

My favorite swim gear company SBR Sports is offering a fun giveaway this holiday season.  It's a countdown to 2015 and every day they are giving away an awesome prize including great product like TriSwim and TriSlide.  You can follow along via the SBR Sports Instagram feed and enter at the link given each day.

http://instagram.com/sbrsportsinc/

http://sbrsportsinc.com/sbrcontestentry.html

Fitting in a Lunch Workout

Disclosure:  I am a sponsored athlete for SBR Sports makers of TriSwim.  I am provided free products for my use however all opinions regarding their products are my own based on my personal experience with the products.

As a full-time professional fitting in the training for triathlon would not work if I didn't include lunch time workouts in my schedule.  Generally I complete my swim workouts during the lunch time but I have done other workouts on occasion.  Today I realized that many people probably find it to be a challenge to fit a workout in during your lunch break.  Here are my tips!

1) Be efficient - plan your locker room usage so that you are most efficient.  If the mirrors are between the showers and your locker, then complete your tasks at the mirrors before moving on to your locker.  At my gym, the showers are closest to the pool doors.  This means that I take all of my shower gear into the pool area so that when I am finished I can walk to the showers and not walk past the showers to my locker and then back to the showers.  Walking back and forth through out the locker room adds unnecessary time that you don't have! 

2) Use quality products - look for products that allow you to multitask. I don't hide my love of TriSwim products.  I utilize the shampoo and body wash whenever I swim.  On days when I'm really rushed I will just use the shampoo lather to wash both my hair and body!  

3) Find a go-to style - how can you style your hair quickly and professionally.  In other words, don't style your hair in the most complex style possible on days you are working out at lunch!  Whether I have a short style or a little longer style, I simply dry my hair straight.  It's simple and quick and works for my style.  If I have big meetings later in the day then I might break out my straightener and redo my morning style.  

4) Use multiple tools - there is no reason you can't use the hand dryer and your blow dryer at the same time to speed up drying your hair! Make sure if you are using styling tools that you plug them in when you start drying your hair so that they are nice and hot when you are ready for them.  

5) Consider applying makeup back at your office.  I'm usually still sweating as I finish up in the locker room and in the summer I continue to sweat in the hot car for my drive back to the office.  That means it makes more sense to apply makeup back at my office after I've had a chance to cool off a little! 

Most days I can get into the gym, swim a 2000 yd workout, and then get ready within an hour to just over an hour.  It really all depends on how social the swim workout is not on my getting ready process!  I keep my time in the locker room as efficient as possible so that the majority of my time at the gym is spent on working out.  Hope this helps inspire you to give lunch workouts a try! 

A Swimmer's Facial Needs

One of the less than pleasant aspects of being a triathlete is that sometimes it can wreak havoc on your skin.  Swimming is especially tough on my skin and dries out my face.  There are many days when I return from the pool at lunch with a face of scaly skin.  

One of my Black Friday shopping finds this year was a trial package of the Garnier Skin Renew Tissue Mask.  This was a special at one of the drugstore chains and it was a last minute addition to my basket as I waited for the person ahead of me in line to finish checking out.  

Garnier Skin Renew Dark Spot Treatment Mask is a thin, flexible fabric mask that you place onto your face.  The mask is soaked in a hydrating Vitamin C serum formula that hydrates your face.  

I really enjoyed my sample purchase and decided to purchase the full size box which comes with six treatment masks.  The directions call for usage three times per week or for a single one time use for 24 hour hydration.  I have elected to do the mask once per week to help re-hydrate my skin after the effects of swimming each week.  

The mask comes out of the package folded up onto itself.  It can be a little tricky to get it unfolded but once it is unfolded it is very easy to apply to your face.  The mask goes on and is very cool and refreshing feeling while on your face.  The mask sits on your face for about 10 minutes and then when you remove it you gently massage any remaining product into your skin.  

I can definitely feel a difference on my face after using the mask.  My skin feels dewy and fresh! I'm not into a lot of skin care routines but this is something that makes me feel like I'm giving back to my skin for the harsh conditions it survives in the pool! 

You can find this product in the beauty section near the other Garnier products of most major retailers with a beauty section.  

Disclosure: I purchased and tried these products with my own funds.  All opinions are based on my personal experience with the product.  

Open Water Swimming in the Off-Season

There is something unique to open water swimming and many people think that you just can't replicate it in the pool.  Well, today I think I figured out how to do it.  Here are my simple steps:

1) Find a swimmer who is faster than you.
2) Split a lane with said swimmer.
3) Ask said swimmer to swim butterfly with a 5 sec. lead-off from you.
4) Watch the wake form and get into it!

See...it's simple.

I came up with this strategy by accident today.  The pool was busy so my swimming partner and I had to share a lane for our workout.  He's faster than me and can swim a lot more of stroke during the workout.  Even with a 5 second lead-off, I still felt like I was struggling in his wake a few times during the workout.  Though I apparently paid that back to him a few times when we would have the timing off for our flip turns.  As I was going into mine, he was coming out of his which meant he got to deal with my wake for a chance.

For our workout we did the following:

Warm up swim - 600 yds
Set 1 - 500 yd Ladder
His version: 25 fly, 50 back, 75 fly,back,breast, 100 IM, 100 free, 75 fly,back,breast, 50 back, 25 fly
My version: 25 free, 50 free/back, 75 free,free,breast, 100 pull, 100 pull, 75 free,free,breast, 50 free,back, 25 free
Set 2 - Pull 250yd to 300yd
Set 3 - 6 x 50 yds 3 on 60 sec and 3 on 55 sec
Cooldown swim - 100 yds

This year has been a great swimming year for me.  I did have a few months where I swam less than I would have liked as I adjusted to a new work position but I think that I've got that balanced back out now.  I'm looking forward to another great year for swimming in 2014.  As 2013 comes to a close, I have to thank one of my sponsors, TriSwim products, for the awesome support this year.  My hair and skin has felt great all year and I have TriSwim to thank for that.  No green hair for this girl...TriSwim gets the chlorine out and keeps my skin itch-free!

A Swimmer's Weather Dilemma

I love my lunch time swim workouts but every so often I encounter the swimmer's dilemma...rain.  I'm very lucky to have outdoor and indoor swim options during the summer.  I usually spend all but a few days doing outdoor swims because there is nothing better than getting a little sun and a good workout in.  

This week there were two days where rain played a factor in deciding what to do for my lunch workout.  The first was on Monday...it was storming hard and for the life of me I couldn't fathom heading out into the storm to get soaking wet and then jump into the pool.  I know that seems silly but silly I am! 

No matter how great your umbrella is you are bound to get wet in the rain when it is storming hard enough.  I headed to grab lunch from the cafeteria and got a chuckle when I looked around and saw that one of my normal swimming workout partners had also chosen to take a rain check on the lunch swim.  

On Thursday, we were all swimming outside and we discussed the forecast for Friday.  The meteorologists were calling for an 80% chance of rain all day.  No fun! We all decided that we would swim indoors if there was rain.  

Sure enough on Friday it was raining and it seemed like the rain fell even harder right as it was time for my lunch workout.  I got to the gym and got lucky to score a close by parking spot.  Our gym gets super crowded for lunch workouts and I was very thankful. Unfortunately, my parking spot was in an area with horrible drainage.  I swear the water was an inch deep and running fast through the parking lot.  My shoes were platform sandals and my feet and jeans still managed to get wet.  

I jumped into the pool after a quick hello to a friend and began my warmup.  I knew what workout I wanted to do and it was a set of 50's that would hit 800 yds.  I knew my total distance that I wanted for the day so I came up with a warmup and early set to help me hit my goal.  Warmup was 400 yd easy swim followed by 4 x 50 yd of drill/swim in IM order.  

Set one - 500 yd ladder.  25 yd on 30 sec.  50 yd (free/back) on 1:00, 75 yd (50 free/25 breast) on 1:30, 100 pull on 1:50 and then go back down with same.  

As I was finishing up my 500 yd ladder one of my workout buddies showed up.  He had given the rain a little time to let up.  I offered him a 200 warmup because I was ready to hit my 50's.  While he did his warmup I swam a 200 pull.  

Set two - 4 x 50 x 4.  The first set of 4 x 50 are free/stroke on the 1:00.  The second set are all free on 50 sec.  The third set are pull on 55 sec and the final fourth set are free on the 45 sec.  You get a little rest by changing the interval times so that it isn't a complete descend from 1:00 down to 45 sec.  I'm still struggling to hit the 45 second intervals.  I come in right on the 45 seconds so it's just touch and go.  I end up finishing the set of 4 about 3-4 seconds slow which is a bummer but I'll get there.  

A second workout buddy joined us doing the workout during the 50's.  The two of them decided to take the 50's even faster and do a set of 4 on the 40 second interval.  I swam a 150 pull while they did that.  I ended the workout with a 150 yd cooldown to hit 2400 yds for the day.  That's a little more than I would normally swim during a lunch workout but after surviving the monsoon I wanted to get my money's worth in the workout! 

My jeans were still a little damp from the puddles when I got cleaned up and headed back to work.  Thankfully though the rain had let up and it was barely a drizzle as I left the gym.  I was able to avoid any torrential puddles and so my shoes were much drier when I returned to work.  Apparently though one of the lunch crew decided to swim outdoors after all.  

Here's a quick list of some of my swim tips:

1) Variety - it's your friend.  Swim different strokes, swim different distances.  Don't just swim the same thing every time you get in the pool.  

2) Drills and Kick work will make you stronger.  Research different drills and try out new ones every so often.  

3) If there is torrential rain...roll up your pants! (oh wait, that's not a swim tip!)

4) TriSwim Shampoo and Conditioner is your friend...it will keep your hair looking and smelling great.  No green hair here! 

5) Push yourself - you'll never hit a faster interval if you don't try to.  Some days it might work and some days you might fall short but you've got to go for it or you will never succeed.  

Swim Fun ~ User's choice

Most days our workout crew makes up our swim workouts on the spot as a collaboration of whoever is working out that day.  We end up with a lot of variety from day to day and it always keeps you guessing.

One of the signatures of our workouts are doing ladders.  It's an easy workout to fall back on and it is easy to keep the group together.  But every so often we end up with a day that includes a large number of repeats of the same distance.  In those instances, it's fun to make the repeats into a game of user's choice.  Usually you can make it divisible by the number of people that you have so that each person gets to select how to swim 1 or more of the intervals in your set.

Here's an example:  we had 3 of us doing the workout and needed to complete 12 x 50.  We split that up as 3 sets of 4 and each of was in charge for a set.  For my set, I went with drill/swim for each 50.  Swim the first 25 as drill and then the second 25 as swim in IM order.  One of the guys went with the option of pass the rabbit where the slowest in your group is the rabbit.  For that, the group swims the first 25 at the rabbit's pace and then sprints to pass the rabbit and finish.

While those are basic options you sometimes end up with a set full of goofiness.  Here are some ideas that one of the guys had us do for his set in the workout.
- Water Polo - swim head up, water polo style
- Sculling - several options you can do with this one.
- Somersaults - swim 7 strokes, execute a complete flip turn somersault and continue swim 7/flip, swim 7/flip down the length of the pool
- Corkscrews - swim alternating between freestyle and backstroke.

These are fun drills that you can incorporate into your workout to keep the fun in your fitness.

Rocking the Workout Ladder

This week has been extra hectic and I barely had any time to get to the pool.  Fast forward to today and I had only swam twice this week.  That just wouldn't do so I headed to the gym after work for a swim.  I haven't been swimming inside since the outdoor pool has been open so it was a little funny to be walking into the gym again.

I had a new swimsuit to wear today. I ordered this suit last week and was really surprised to see all the skulls on it when it arrived.  I still like the design because it's a perfect combo of black and pink! With a suit like this I knew I could handle a tough after work swim.



I got into the water and the shock of the cool temps was initially surprising.  The outdoor pool is definitely warmer than this!  I got started with my favorite warmup.  It's a 1000 yd ladder that starts with a 400 yd easy swim.  Next is a 300 yd drills section.  I swim the drills section as 25 drill, 25 free, 25 drill x 4 covering each of the four strokes.  For the 200 yd section I will break out my pull buoy and do some pull.  I finish with 100 yd kick set.  I don't worry about the time during any of the warmup.  My goal is just to swim relaxed and focus on doing flip turns throughout the warmup.

Today for my main set I decided to do another ladder.  I wanted to get in around 1000 yds so that I would end up over 2000 yds for the day.  Here's what I came up with:

1 x 200 yd Free
2 x 150 yd Pull
3 x 100 yd (Swim stroke for the interval ie 1st = 25 fly, 75 free, 2nd = 25 free, 25 back, 50 free, 3rd = 50 free, 25 breast, 25 free)
4 x 50 yd (Free/Back)
6 x 25 yd Free

Since I had been out of the pool so much this week I was very generous with the rest times.  I especially gave myself plenty of time on the 25's to recover and it helped so that my final sprints were my fastest.  I ended with another 150 yds for cool down to finish at 2300 yds.

I enjoy doing ladder workouts because I'm able to increase my intensity over the course of the workout.  While the effort increases, the distance is decreasing on each rep so somehow it doesn't feel quite as daunting.  The variety is also fun and it's easy to track my distance.

What do you think about workout ladders?

Cinco no Sinko!

Today is Cinco de Mayo and in the midst of my swim warmup I decided it was important to come up with a holiday themed workout.  Now we all know that once you have started a workout, math becomes challenging.  I jumped out of the pool to quickly sketch out some workout ideas on the pool whiteboard.  My idea was simple...5 sets of 5 intervals! But we needed a workout that would hit our goal distance for the workout but also was something we could complete in 45 minutes.  Our Sunday Funday swims have just one  requirement...they must finish at 5:00 so we can have maximum hot tub time before the pool closes at 5:30!

Without any further delay here is the Cinco no Sinko workout...and I'm happy to report that no one sunk during the workout so our mission was accomplished!

#1 - 5 x 100 on the 1:50
#2 - 5 x 75 on the 1:20
#3 - 5 x 100 on the 1:45
#4 - 5 x 75 on the 1:20
#5 - 5 x 50 on the 1:00

My workout partner and I swam differently during each set based on our abilities.  Brent is faster than I am so he did more IM work where I spent most of the workout swimming free and adding in some pull as well.  We ended with a slower interval on the 50's so that I could swim stroke and still have recovery time.

During the 50's set I realized that outdoor swimming is just around the corner.  Our pool is set up as long course during our lap swim hours which means that I need to get to work on swimming 50's of each stroke.  Normally I just do stroke/free in order to stay on the same interval as my faster friends.  Today I did the first 4 in that manner as back/free and then on the final 50 I did it all back.  It was pretty painful towards the end so I will definitely need to work on that over the next few weeks.

This week was light on swimming for me since I have accepted a new position in my department.  The transition is going well but on three days this past week I missed my lunch swim due to meetings.  I really hope this week will be better.

This Cinco no Sinko workout was followed up with a hot tub and then the awesome TriSwim products to get the chlorine out of my hair and skin.  I'm so grateful to be sponsored by TriSwim because it keeps my hair soft and healthy even though I swim 4-5 days a week.

Updating a Swim Workout with a Twist

Congratulations to Angela...winner of my Three Year Blog-iversary giveaway!

Our swim bunch always does workouts on Friday's that focus on 50 yd repeats.  We make changes to the workout each week but you know that if it's Friday then we are swimming 50's.  We even call it Fifties Friday! 

This Friday there were just a couple of us for the workout.  I had been thinking about a twist to our repeats for the last few weeks so I brought it up as an option.  One of our standard workouts is to do a set number of 50's like 4 on a descending time interval.  For example, 4 on the minute, 4 on 55 seconds, 4 on 50 seconds, and 4 on 45 seconds.  My idea was to make the descend but do it a little mixed up. 

In the new version, we would start on one minute, then go to 50 seconds, then back up to 55 seconds, and then down to 45 seconds.  The theory that I had was that by alternating between the ladder I would go into the 45 second set with a little more rest and thus be more successful at achieving the interval. 

The normal swims that we do for each interval is as follows:
1 minute = 50 stroke depending on your ability this could also be swam stroke/free.
55 second = Stroke/free (sometimes I do pull)
50 second = all free
45 second = all free

So our workout looked like this...
Warm up
4 x 50 on 1 minute (stroke/free)
4 x 50 on 50 seconds (free)
4 x 50 on 55 seconds (pull)
4 x 50 on 45 seconds (free)
Cool down

It would have been fun to take the ladder back up by adding on 4 x 50 on 55seconds, 4 x 50 on 50 seconds, 4 x 50 on 1 minute.  But instead we hit up the hot tub! It was a short workout for me since I got to the pool a little later than normal but I was pretty happy to finally stay on the interval for the 45 seconds.  I was touch and go for them but at least I made it.  In the end I think my theory worked out pretty well.  The variety between each mini-set was nice too compared to the straight descend that we normally do. 

I owe my training partners a ton of credit because without them I wouldn't be trying to hit 45 second intervals.  Over the past year, I have made a ton of improvement in my swim times.  Swimming more consistently during the week and swimming with fast friends has made a big difference for me.  If you have the chance...push yourself and try to swim with the faster swimmers.  Maybe sometimes you'll have to take a breather break but maybe sometimes you'll surprise yourself and hit times that you didn't realize that you could. 

There's a Little Swimmer in Mona Lisa

Tonight I attended the Studio Social art class at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art.  I have been a member of the museum since it opened and attended various events over the past year and a half.

The Studio Social art series kicked off with a class on collage making.   The museum is so peaceful and it didn't disappoint tonight!

 The inspiration for tonight's session was the contemporary artist Devorah Sperber.  She is best known for using common objects like spools of thread to create art works.  The museum owns several of her pieces including American Gothic and The Last Supper.  Here's a short video introduction to her work.

For our class, we were offered two choices for art inspiration pieces.  Starry Night and The Mona Lisa.  I selected to work with The Mona Lisa for my collage.  We began by creating our pixels or the grid to work from.  I measured my sample artwork piece and then drew a grid over it.  I drew a similar grid onto my collage paper.

We were given lots of choices for elements to work with including yarn, art paper, tissue paper, buttons, rhinestones, and magazines.  I had not realized that the class was going to be a collage around a specific piece of artwork so I had packed some of my training magazines.  I was hoping to create a triathlon inspired collage to provide me with motivation this race season.  I got on board with the new direction though and found that I needed a lot of black to work on Mona Lisa.


Wouldn't you know that a copy of Swimmer magazine had almost an entire back cover in the color black.

I ended up using several photos and elements from the Swimmer magazine to incorporate into my collage.  There are some swimmer arms in the collage, a green Nike swimsuit, elements of a Chocolate Milk My After ad, and even the stubbly facial hair of a swimmer in an ad!  There are even some pictures of water in the background.  Bet you didn't know there was a pool in the original painting!  Maybe I took a little creative license with that!

The face wasn't working out and I realized that there was just too much neck.
A minor adjustment and I was back on track. 

Taking the overhead photo above helped me see that the neck was still not working the best so I quickly touched it up.

My finished collage! 

So with this collage I have definitively proven that Mona Lisa had a little Swimmer in her!  I love how Devorah talks about the work that our brains do to fill in the details in her video clip.  In her version of the Mona Lisa with spools of thread, there are no actual elements on the face like the eyes but because we are all so familiar with the painting we see them there.  Pretty cool and the more I see my collage I see a better resemblance to the painting.

This was a fun way to spend a few hours relaxing over art work and creating something.  I look forward to future art classes at the museum.

For those wanting a swim workout, here's one that would earn that cheeky little smile that Mona Lisa loves to give.
Warm up - 500 yds
MS - 5 x 100 yds free on 1:50
6 x 75 yds on 1:30 swim free, stroke, free within each 75.
7 x 50 yds pull on 1:00 for 1st 3 then 55sec for last 4
8 x 25 yds free on :30
Cool down - 100 yds

The times could easily be adjusted up or down as needed.  The number of reps increases for each decrease in distance.  The total is approx. 2100 yds which is perfect for a lunch time swim.  Enjoy!

Don't forget to enter My Three Year Blog-iversary Giveaway!!!!

Swim Training with The Worm

Do you remember The Worm?  If you grew up in the 80's like I did then I'm sure you saw The Worm in music videos and on the dance shows that still were around then.  It involves lying on your stomach and then moving your upper and lower body in a wave like fashion...but you all already knew that I'm sure!

So yesterday after spending the afternoon visiting dog shelters with my brother in law and niece we were hanging out at my sister's house.  They have a rug in their front hallway that is the official dancing rug.  I don't know why but it is the perfect spot to get your dance on.  And for some reason yesterday I thought that I could do the worm.  I should have watched the video above because now it looks so easy.  My brother in law Scott proceeded to die of laughter and tried to get me to do it again on video.  I'm smart enough to say no to that one since my version of the Worm had no wave in it whatsoever!

Well it all connected today when I headed to the pool to get my swim on.  The workout that I had planned had lots of variety in distances and so I planned to mix in stroke when I could.  I have been trying to work on my butterfly for the last few months and I'm just not making progress.  Tonya was on deck for an indoor triathlon the fitness center was sponsoring so I talked her into filming my butterfly.  She is a certified coach and has given me tips before on butterfly. 

Clearly from the video...I don't have the right body rhythm and kick going on.  My sad attempt at The Worm is a perfect demonstration that I need to work on the wave rhythm to improve at this stroke.  I think I need to try and slow down too and get more of a glide.  I feel like I sink myself when I take a breath so my solution has been to take fewer breaths. 

It takes time to learn a new skill and that's what this will entail for me.  I'm determined to improve at butterfly and now I know that for my dry land training I just need to turn on the music and work on The Worm!

In other swimming news, I'm super excited to announce that I will be working with SBR Sports in 2013 as a sponsored athlete.  I love the entire line of products...TriSwim is always in my swim bag, TriSlide is always in my race bag, and Foggle isn't just the way I feel after a hard swim - it's what I use to keep my goggles clean!

A Funday Swim Workout

It's been awhile since I shared a good swim workout with everyone.  I swim with a good group of friends during lunch on workdays.  We tend to do pretty simple workouts during the week since we're on the lunch clock.  On the weekends though, the time limit gets thrown out the window and we swim longer and with more variety. 

Here's a fun option to try out for a workout.   This workout flew by and was challenging yet fun. 

Warm-up
2 x 150 as 100 swim, 50 stroke
200 kick

Main Set
4 x 100 descending
4 x 75
4 x 50 stroke/free
4 x 25 stroke in IM order
3 x 100
3 x 75 descending
3 x 50 stroke/free
3 x 25 stroke

Cool down
4 x 50 over/under
200 swim

I don't recall the exact mixture of free and stroke swimming that we did.  I swam off the workout group a little bit because my foot was bothering me so much so I had to just pull for some portions of the workout.  I was able to stay within the time intervals that the group was doing so that made me happy.  On a side note...I think it would be fun to finish going down the repeats ladder with 2 of each distance and then 1 of each distance.  It would be a long workout but manageable I think. 

I would challenge you if you are a triathlete like me to try swimming some stroke during the shorter sections of the workout.  A 25 yard swim of butterfly, breast, or backstroke is a nice and easy way to start incorporating more stroke into your workouts.  I got in a couple backstroke sprint intervals during this workout. 

It's Ladder Monday!

Tonight was a great night for Rush Hour with temps finally lowering to a much more pleasant level than it has been since Spring.  I was surprised that there wasn't a huge crowd out at the track tonight but those that were there got in a great workout. 

I was running late getting out of work and felt very stressed as I headed out to the track.  I stopped off to change into workout clothes and was excited to get to wear a short sleeve shirt instead of a tank.  Yes, it was as if a cold front had come in...short sleeves! I got stuck in traffic for soccer practice and that increased my stress.  I like to get in a long warm up of 1 1/2 - 2 miles and I knew that I wouldn't have the time for that tonight. 

I got started on my warmup and said hi to all the regulars.  The mood on the track was light and you could tell that people were enjoying the cooler temps and overcast sky.  After a 5 lap warmup, Mike called the group in for the workout description.  Anytime the weather turns cooler, he rewards us with a tough workout.  Tonight was no exception!

Tonight we got to do a ladder and we went up then down the ladder. 
400 m at current 5K race pace
800 m at current 5K race pace
800 m at current 5K race pace
1000 m All Out pace
800 m at current 5K pace
800 m at current 5K pace
400 m at current 5K pace

The rest interval was 60 seconds following all of the intervals except for the rest after the 1000m...we got a whopping 3 minutes rest after that one.  And I enjoyed every second of the rest tonight.  The interval distances weren't all that tough but the combination of effort added up as the workout progressed.  After the 1000 m interval, my times picked up a little bit since my legs knew the faster pace that they had just done on the 1000 m.  That final 400 m included some bits with a super quick pace and left me feeling very proud of the workout.

I finished up the night with a couple cool down laps to end at 5 miles for the night.  I was super excited to see my average pace for the 5 miles was around 9:36 per mile including my warm up and cool down distances at a slower pace.  I'll take the cooler weather any day if it keeps helping my pace like it did tonight.  Don't get me wrong, I finished up the workout covered in sweat and worn out from a tough workout. 

I guess it was Ladder Monday since my lunch time swim also was a ladder.  Today we did a 500 m ladder as part of our main set.  This is a fast ladder that is a great workout.  It involves the following: 25 fly, 50 back, 75 fly/back/breast, 100 IM, 100 free, 75 fly/back/breast, 50 back, 25 fly.  I make some modifications since I'm still working on building strength and capability to swim strokes.  For example today I did: 25 fly, 50 free/back, 75 free/free/breast, 100 IM, 100 free, 75 free/free/breast, 50 free/back, 25 fly.  This lets me do 25 of each stroke before the 100 IM and then get some recovery after the IM.  This was just a part of our workout main set.  We followed it up with some 100's and I got in 1800 m total for my lunch swim. 

Overall, today was a good day for Monday ladders!

The last days of outdoor swimming

The last week has been a sad week as the outdoor pool winds down to close for the season.  Every year we have to beg and plead for the city to keep the pool open for lap swimming after school starts up in mid-August.  Many of the lifeguards are high school and college kids so once they return to school there aren't many guards available to work.  One thing that we can usually negotiate is swim time when the school PE classes are at the pool. 

It's pretty funny to share the pool with the gym classes.  One of the first days that we arrived we found out that the pool was having a chlorine problem and we could only swim in the diving well.  Luckily that day we swam in between classes otherwise it wouldn't have worked.   The diving well is a very odd length and contains no lap lanes or lines.  We had a group of 7 in the well and I managed to swim into people a couple times.  We did a lot of different types of intervals since we were working in such an odd pool.  Sadly, that day the guard had to help out 2 kids within one minute of each other in one of the gym classes.  I think it is so important that kids learn how to swim...these are jr high aged kids that don't know how to swim.  That just seems crazy to me.

I took a few days to swim indoors because the locker room with all the jr high kids is a little hectic.  As the week was winding down, I realized that Thursday was going to be one of the last chances to swim outdoor lunch laps.  I met up with the crew and we had a great final workout.  We did 300yd sets so 3 x 100 yds, 4 x 75 yds, 6 x 50 yds, and 12 x 25 yds.  Each set was different but totaled up to 300 yds.  It is a fun way to get some distance in and have the workout go by quickly. 

I got out of the pool just as a class was getting there.  Luckily most of the class had already exited the locker room so it wasn't too crazy.  I really won't miss the bare bones locker rooms at our outdoor pool! 

Obviously designed by a male since there are no outlets by the mirrors!

Stuff everywhere! Not a normal sight just what it looks like during gym class.

This last picture made me remember back when I was in high school and had to take swimming class.  I grew up in West Des Moines, Iowa which is right at the intersection of I-80 and I-35.  Our pool had a separate locker room that was located right next to an exterior door to one of the parking lots.  As you can see from the pic, the school is right off an interchange on the highway. 

Good ole Valley High School...bet you didn't know I'm a Valley Girl!

 

Our gym teacher would always tell us a story to encourage us to properly lock up our clothes and things in the locker room.  He would remind us that our school was just a quick detour off the highway and that the gangs of Chicago knew what a gold mine of stuff there was in our locker room.  So you had better lock up your stuff or else it would disappear to the Interstate travelling gangs of Chicago.  Don't forget that it was a several hours drive to Chicago! Either way I can't remember how many times I heard this story but it was told every quarter before any swim rotation in gym class and usually multiple times in a quarter.  I thought of this story as I got ready surrounded by the mess of the jr high girls' things. 

This year I got in a lot more outdoor swim workouts than ever before.  It was so easy to drive across the street with my new job location compared to last year and I took advantage of that and got lots of lunch time laps in with the Arkansas Masters Swimming crew.  It will be sad to see everyone return to their respective pools since some of the crew are people I only get to swim with during the summer.  Until next year!!!

Swim Workouts in a Pinch

Sometimes it is hard to come up with a workout set when I'm swimming...either I'm swimming alone or don't want to swim the workout the group is doing.  When I'm not feeling it I usually break my main set into a workout with a lot of variety to keep me motivated.  Today was one of those days...I was the only girl in the pool and felt intimidated by my male swimming friends.  The set that they were doing was 10 x 100m on descending interval times.  The starting point was not one that I could maintain and then drop down from and it just intimidated me from the initial discussion. 

I decided rather quickly to swim my own set instead.  I started out without a clear plan in place and worked up the plan as I swam the first part of my set.  I ended up deciding to do a 4 x 300m main set.  I broke it down by 300 and did each 300 as something different.  This is also something that I do to make it easier to keep track of my distance especially when we switch back to short course swimming!  Overall the workout looked like this:

Warmup - 500m swim
Main set -
   300m pull
   2 x 150m Hannah's (middle 50 breast stroke)
   3 x 100m free
   6 x 50m free (easy/sprint)
Cooldown - 200m swim

It wasn't the greatest set ever but there was another variety to keep me going for a total of 1900m. 

If you get into a rut and need some ideas here are some great places to look for workout ideas. 

Effortless Swimming on Facebook.

Andy Potts Workout of the Day

Swim Planner app - you supply the workout distance and your 100 time trial pace and it gives you workouts specific to your pace.

My other tip would be to ask others what workout they are doing! This has helped me to really improve my swim times through trying out other people's workouts.  You have to make sure to maintain balance in your workouts.  Every swim can't be a sprint session but try to keep some variety and hopefully that variety will translate into improved fitness for you!

10 Seconds

Last week was a good swimming week for me since I managed to get in almost 5 miles of swimming! It worked out really well and two workouts really stood out for me.  In between these two lunch time swims I read a recent blog post by pro triathlete Jesse Thomas on the Triathlete site.  Titled, What's the Deal with the Old guy Jesse writes about joining the local high school team to improve his swim technique and speed.  His nemesis...a high school girl! The overall moral of the story is that single sport athletes are always going to be stronger in their chosen sport than those of us that are multi-sporters. 

Back to the workouts...on Monday the lunch swim group had a main set with 100m repeats done on a 2 min interval.  In swim, the interval time includes your rest so that meant we were starting a 100m interval every 2 minutes.  It was tough and I think I made it through 5 or so before I had to drop out of the workout and just swim easy to finish my distance. 

Fast forward to Thursday and we had a set with 100m repeats on a 2:10 interval.  It was amazing how much of a difference that extra 10 seconds made.  I stayed in the whole workout and felt really great. 

These workouts were fresh in my head last week when I started to read my August issue of Triathlete. In the Swim Training Tips section, Sara McLarty provides a quick comparison for switching between long course meters and short course yards times. I knew that 50m did not equal 50 yd but I just didn't think about it that much. I just trust my friends to come up with interval times and then I try to hang on! Little did I know!!! Turns out the normal intervals that I use for short course 100yds of (1:50-2:00) would equate to almost a 2:15 interval for long course. The 2:00 min interval for long course 100m that we have been doing is equivalent to a 1:45 on short course. Whoo...it pumped me up to figure this out. Sara's calculation is SCY time * 1.11 + 1.6 sec. 

Now I know why I'm always scared to hear the interval times from my swimmer friends...the majority of whom are single sporters.  They start at 2 min intervals normally and then work their way faster.  It has been overwhelming but also really powerful to realize that I can hang with them on a faster interval if I just shut my brain up and swim.  While I can't always last the whole workout at their intervals...I can last further than in the past.  It has paid off in races too since I have noticed improvement in my swim times at races and also at our long course swim meet in June.   I consider my swimming friends all my free coaches and am certain that they push me harder than I would on my own. 

Needless to say, I definitely side with Jesse and have for quite a long time.  If you want to be a better swimmer...swim with swimmers! Even if you swim freestyle only during the workout you will see improvement.  I've been so lucky to have so many swimmer friends that let me swim with them.  It's taken four years but I finally feel like I can keep up with the workouts. 

Sunday Funday

Today there were just two of us at the pool for our regular Sunday Funday swim.  That's not surprising since it is Mother's Day after all.  I started off with my favorite warm up which is a 1000 yd ladder.  The ladder starts with a 400 yd swim, nothing special just continuous swim. 

Next is 300 yds of drills which is done 75 yds per stroke.  I usually do one armed butterfly with a 25 free in the middle since my stamina for butterfly isn't that great.  After that I move on to backstroke with a six count drill and also a drill to focus on leading with my pinky.  I don't really know the name for these drills but for the first I kick for a count of 6 and then do 3 arm strokes and return to the six count kick.  For the second, I bring my hand out of the water thumb first until it is perpendicular to the water and then I switch to pinky first as I finish the rotation and enter the water.  For breast stroke drills, there is the double kick and another where I try to cup the water as I bring my hands out of the water to start the stroke.  Again, don't know the names for these! Lastly for freestyle I have been doing this drill a lot lately which is 25yds single arm swimming and then the final 25 yds is catch up drill where I keep my hand in front until the opposite hand enters the water. 

After drills, I move onto 200yds of kick.  I usually try to do this as 4 x 50yds descending and I alternate between breaststroke and free kick. To finish off the 1000yd ladder I do a 100 yd pull. 

After finishing up the warmup, Jen and I decided on our first set.  We have different paces so we elected to do a set limit of time and see how many reps that we could get in during that time.  We selected a 5 minute time and a set of 50's with 25 backstroke fast, 25 free recover.  I managed 5 in our time limit.  Next up was a 150 pull just to have a little recovery time.  I don't know why but backstroke always burns out my legs.  Then we moved on to doing 75's...just freestyle.  I did 6 on a 1:30 interval and usually got 15 seconds rest within that interval.  We went back to 50's doing this set as breaststroke for 25 and free recover.  I did 6 of these but the last one was just all freestyle.  I finished up with 6 x 25 sprints except my sprints weren't that fast. 

All told with cooldown I got 2650 yds in for the day.  This got my total up to around 61 miles for the year which is over 41% towards my goal for the year.  I am about 5-7 miles ahead of where I should be to be on track for the goal so I'm pretty happy with that.

50 Miles!!!

Today I updated my USMS Master's Swimming online fitness log for my progress on the Nike Go the Distance challenge.  I set my goal for this year to swim 150 miles in 2012! 

Today I made it past the 50 mile mark which means I am on track to make it to my goal this year.  Yeah!!! Today's Sunday Funday swim was a full group with all of Team Tininenko in attendance (Brent, Lauren, and Alexa) as well as myself and Carie.  Carie's friend Hannah also came but did her own workout. 

For the workout: we started with a 1000yd warmup ladder.  The ladder breaks down as 400yd swim, 300yd drills (75 per stroke), 200yd kick, 100yd IM or pull.  My friend Kyla and her son Karsten showed up during the drills portion of the warmup.  She normally swims with us for Sunday Funday but she was on baby duty today.  I had her watch some of my kick because lately when I've been doing breast stroke kick drills I feel off kilter.  It's as if one foot comes up higher than the other.  She thought it looked like my hips weren't even which makes sense.  I've been feeling like my hips were a mess lately while I run too.  I'm probably overdue for a visit to the chiropractor.

Next up was our main workout set.  The workout Carie had picked for today called for 6-8 x 200 with the odds IM and the evens all free descending pace.  They selected a 4:00min interval which would give them plenty of time to recover for the descending pace challenge.  I decided to go with a shorter distance of 150 on a 3:00 min interval and increase the number of reps.  I managed to get in just shy of 11 reps while the others did the 200's.  For the first 8, I did a 25yd stretch of backstroke in the middle on the odds and 25yds of breaststroke on the evens.  For reps 9 & 10, I did pull and then for the 11th and final I only got in 100yd of straight free. 

We did an easy cooldown and then hit the hot tub.  The hot tub was super crowded tonight with some other people plus our group of 6.  We might have exceeded the occupancy limit but the lifeguard didn't say anything to us.