My Training Blog

3 August 2008

Masters Swim 101 Class (second time)

Posted by Cheeseball under: Swim.

We had a different coach today, since the last coach that taught us didn’t show up to class. This was actually kinda good because the coach today gave us more details and tips even though it was a bit too easy for me and I didn’t get nearly as much mileage as the last time (actually half the distance). There were a lot more students this time, 9 of them, and they weren’t as fast as the last class. It was good though, because I was able to see how to improve by observing the coach’s directions to the other swimmers. She did tell me that I should be in the class that was next to the 101 class. That one kind of scares me because they swim a lot more vigorously… but I know that’s what I want in order to improve my endurance. I just have to step up a notch by paying the monthly membership fee and actually commit to it. (this 101 class was free)

OH! ALSO, I’d watched Total Immersion’s freestyle DVD a few days before. I tried to remember the instructions from it as I swam the intervals. I think it did make a difference, as I conciously rotated my body more and changing the hand and arm positions slightly. It felt easier and more effortless than before.
Anyway, this is the menu from today, as I remember:

1) Warm up: 6 laps
While waiting for the coach, I swam a little bit so I wouldn’t freeze in the water

2) Stroke examination: 25×2
Our coach wanted to check our strokes

3) Freestyle (at odd# sets) & Kickboard (at even# sets): 50×5 w/ 20 sec breaks
Easy swim and kick practice for warm up

4) Kickboard: 25×4 on 1:00, very easy at first, progressively faster
This showed us how NOT to kick so fast unless it’s a short distance sprint. The last 25 yards with the maximum speed left us breathless, which is what we don’t want in the long distance swims

5) Introduction to interval: 25×4 on 1:00
I was swimming at about 22~24 seconds on each link, which left me more than 30 seconds of rest before the next 25 yards. That’s a lot of rest. This is a slow and easy interval.

6) Counting your own strokes: 25×2
We were told to count how many stokes it took each of us to swim 25 yards. In the first 25 yards, I had 17 strokes, which was a good number. Other swimmers in the class had somewhere between 18 - 25 stokes. After that, the coach told us to use the underwater kicking force after pushing off the wall as much as we could, before coming out to the surface. She told us that would shave off another 2 stokes compared to the first link. I ended up with 14 strokes.

7) Interval: 25×4 on :45
Another interval with 15 seconds less resting time compared to the last one. My time was about 22-23 seconds on each set. That gave me another 22-3 seconds to rest before the next 25 yards. I tried to keep a consistent pace without pushing too hard. Still pretty easy.

8 ) Introduction to catch-up interval: 25×4 on 1:00
Have both arms out in the front for the duration of a few kicks, and then do one stroke (breathe), and back with the arms in front, and then another stroke on the other side (breathe), repeat. In the regular catch-up intervals, you don’t have the arms out in front as long - you just touch the other hand in front and then the next stroke begins. In this practice, the coach wanted us to check our hip rotation and head position, so we could swim with smaller resistance from the water, with good balance.

9) Interval: 50×3 on 1:30
This is an interval with twice the distance and time as the last one (#7). I consistently hit 43-44 seconds on each 50 yards, exactly double the time I was making with 25 yards, without pushing too hard to keep my energy.

Workout: