Double-down Monday

Having missed a swim late last week, I wanted to make sure I made up for it this week. I got in the pool nice and early and did a big ladder set.

Warm up
200 free
Core
250 free
500 free
1,000 free
2,000 free
Cool down
300 kick
200 breast

I felt great, and it seemed like the ladders -- which I doubled every new set -- got easier as the distances increased (as odd as that sounds). I was only resting for 30 seconds between sets, and by the end of my 2,000, I felt like my stroke was smoother than ever and I was moving faster than when I did the first 250. I have just under three weeks until the Salt Lake swim and I am confident if I push hard for the next two weeks, I'll be able to destroy last year's mark.

Very encouraging day...

Total distance: 4,450 yards (new 2012 high)

Experimenting with technique

Once again, I slept in this morning. Bad idea. When I do that, I usually end up feeling more tired than if I was going on little sleep. So when I got to the pool today, I wasn't feeling too hot. So I figured I'd work on my technique  instead of trying to plow through some serious distance.

The bicycle stroke, which I need to work on badly.

I normally do a 'grab-and-pull' stroke, which works fine for longer distances, but I wanted to try out the 'bicycle' stroke which is more of a continuous motion and improves times on sprints. I did a bunch of sets of those, although nothing too formal.

Then I went upstairs and did some more serious cardio, since I didn't do a ton in the pool. Finished with 5.6 miles on the bike and 1.8 miles on the treadmill. I did a dead sprint on the highest incline available for a little less than a quarter mile to finish and it destroyed me. I haven't felt my lungs burn that bad in a long time.

Total distance: 0.85 miles

My wandering mind

Sometimes, when I swim, I have a hard time focusing on my stroke when I'm thinking about other stuff. Today was one of those days.

When I got to the gym I pumped out a quick eight miles on the bike and did a few light abdomen workouts. Then, I jumped in the pool, warmed up and started my sets. About halfway through one of my 500s I lost count of my laps because I couldn't stop thinking about things. By things, I mean life in general, such as bills, work, Jen, football, the World Series, etc. Anyway, here's what I did today.

Warm up
200 free
Core
250 free
2 x 500 free
1,000 free
2 x 50 sprints
Cool down
200 breast

I didn't finally get focused until about half-way through my 1,000-yard set, so by the time I felt like I had a nice efficient stroke I was already running out of gas. It ended up being a productive day in terms of total yardage, but I don't think I really improved my conditioning or stroke all that much. I need to focus better.

Total distance: 1.56 miles