Training and swimming update

As I promised to keep the pressure on myself, I'm writing now to report on how the training is going... in particular the swimming. In general, Coach has me on a "transition plan" the next four weeks. Lots of weights and cross training... before we start the true running focused 16 week plan leading up to the Boston Marathon.

From the swimming standpoint, I'm making progress toward the goal, but as I write this (and this is part of why I'm choosing to use this weekly update that few will ever read but me), I realize that I'm not quite to my weekly goals on swimming duration.

This past week was another week of 4 sessions (met my goal) but the total distance wasn't quite met. 6600yds vs 7500 goal. At this point, I'm not freaking out - because this is drill and kicking focused time. Slow and form focused drills, plus I'm not a strong "kicker" as I usually only have a one beat kick (if at all) when I'm racing. Since I'm focused on all short course elite next year, I need to get my kicking going strong, so I can kick most or all of the 1500m swim races next year.

The weekly Oberlin swim with Rob Reddy's group was a good one this past weekend. My body was quite tired going into it, though... but I stayed on top of things, and I'm starting to feel my kick better. The stroke underwater is difffernt than what I'm accustomed to, so it is taking time and drills to get the pull right. I can definitely feel different muscle groups working now, so I've changed the mechanics. Trick will be to have that translate into faster times!

For training metrics, my 100y times are pretty much at 1:20 now when I do 100y intervals. My 50y times are 37-38 seconds when I do them as reps. This compares favorably to the 1:25-1:30 100y times and 40-42sec 50y times this summer.

PROGRESS

We have this Sunday off from the swim group for the holidays, but still have swimming assingments to carry out. I need to stay on top of that.

The next phase we go into is more on the distance and endurance side, from what I understand. Less drill work, and more yardage and pushing the pace. I'm looking forward to that. I need to get my upper body "engine" tuned up like my lower body engine is already.

That's it for this week!

Have a safe and happy Thanksgiving with friends, family or volunteering!