400s are lots of fun.....

We had a pretty tough swim practice last night. I think Coach Brad's goal was to get over 3000m and for many of us, we accomplished just that. The entire practice was as follows:

4x400 on 6:30
3x200 on 3:15
3x100 on 1:30
4x50 on 1:00 as fast as you can go.

I kind of went into the workout with the mindset that I was doing a 1500 swim and not 4x400 and so on. I figured that it would save me my energy and I'd be able to complete it somewhat decently. That's not to say it was all that fast but at least I finished without too much trouble. I pretty much kept the same pace the whole practice except for one of the 200s where I tried to speed it up a bit and managed to get a 2:49 which for me isn't bad. The 4x50 at the end I also tried to go somewhat hard as that was the intended purpose as laid out by Brad. I did the first one freestyle on 39 and then the other 3 backstroke averaging about 42 or 43. I was pretty tired so those times aren't that bad either. I guess the whole point of this exercise was to make up for all the thanksgiving turkey that most of us had. With a meet only about a month and a half away, I think most of us including me need to get into better shape...

Last night's swim practice

Well, we've been in training for a couple of weeks now since the beginning of the season. I seem to alternate feeling either really good at practice or really stiff. I guess it's just getting those cobwebs out of my system. Last night's practice was short but at some parts intensive as we had to do a 100m pull or swim for time from a push. At first I didn't really feel like going too hard as I knew it would hurt but I surprised myself with a 1:10.8 100m freestyle swim time from a push. My goal was only to go about a 1:15. So, definitely moving in the right direction at this point in the season. I hope that I am able to keep up such momentum over the months. As I mentioned in my previous post, I'm not sure how much extra training I'll be able to do for the next while due to work commitments but I'll try and get at least a couple of weight sessions in as well as mabye an extra swimming session every now and then.

On a side note, last Sunday I went over my teammate and friend's house Joe to work on some Halloween projects. We first started by putting primer on some sections of graveyard fence that he and his nephew had cut. It actually wasn't as tedious as I thought it would be and it was a nice break from what I normally do. I will also try to make it next weekend to help out either with finishing the painting on the fence or helping out with other related projects.

I guess I'll end for now. Until next time...

P.S. I will try and update my blog photo as soon as I can find a suitable picture as the one I have there is very out of date.

It's been a little too long since my last update

Well, I have to say that I've really let this blog go for far too long without updating it. In fact, I haven't updated it since last April after the masters short course provincials where I posted my results. A lot has happened since then. I got a new full-time job working at a new school as well as doing private lessons in the evening as well as continued to train throughout the summer to keep up my conditioning. I think it worked for the most part since now that the new fall season is upon us, I am feeling quite good in the water. This time around, there certainly seems way more people than last year. We had 6 in our lane at one point on Monday night. I think it was getting a little bit crazy. Hopefully some of the people will decide to stop swimming which will free a bit of extra space as even now, doing the workouts can a little bit crazy. I don't think I will be able to do much extra on top of the 3 times a week at this point as I have a lot of work commitments but I'm hoping by the end of October, things will slow down a bit and I'll be able to perhaps get in an extra practice at the pool or some extra weight sessions. I know this can only help me but as everyone knows, life gets in the way and certain things have to take priority.
Anyways, this post will be short as I have to run but I'll try to update more frequently now.
Until next time...

BC Provincials Day 2 Report

Well, today went quite well also. I got to warmup late again this morning by about 10 minutes due to not paying attention and making a wrong turn despite the fact that I had driven to the pool the day before. I guess I was just not awake yet...
Anyways, I went and jumped in for warmup and I started feeling light-headed and a bit dizzy while swimming. My muscles felt fine but I felt a bit tired.. probably due to lack of sleep. Anyways, I had a nice long warmup and then got out about 10 minutes before warm up was over. I felt quite sleepy and so I had a quick rest but I wasn't able to rest for long as I was up fairly quickly for my 200m freestyle which I had decided to swim as IM. Eventually my heat was up and the starter blew his whistle. He said take your marks and we were off. The butterfly portion felt strong and controlled which was surprising as I had felt badly all warmup. The first 25 metres of backstroke I mainly used as a bit of recovery from the fly but the second 25, I sped up a bit. I turned it on in the breaststroke and then in the freestyle I really nailed it. In fact, I found I had a lot more endurance than I thought. I only started tying up on the last 20 metres. So, it worked out perfectly.
My final time was 2:50.59 which was more than a 4 second improvement from my time at Nanaimo in December.
My splits were as follows:
37.12
1:21.25 (44.13)
2:11.84 (50.59)
2:50.59 (38.75)


I had a while to wait until my next race which was the 100m backstroke. I pretty much relaxed and took it easy waiting for my race. Based upon my 50m and 200m time yesterday, I was hoping for a 1:15 or 1:16 in the 100m backstroke. Eventually, I was up for the 100m backstroke. I was swimming in lane 1 and so I had an outside lane. The starter said take your marks and then we were off. My start wasn't as good as the 200m or 50m start yesterday but it was still fairly decent. The first 50 metres felt controlled and I poured it on the 2nd 50. I think my turns were fairly good as well. I didn't really screw any of them up majorly. I have to say though that I had an incredible finish. I basically timed the finish perfectly and lunged for the wall. I ended up just getting inside my target time and so I was happy. My final time was a 1:16.92 with a 37.43 split at the 50 metres.

The last race of the day I wasn't really looking forward to but I reluctantly decided to do it anyway. It was the 800m freestyle. I was racing in the same heat as my teammate Kyra. I figured that she would beat me by quite a bit as she was swimming really well this weekend. My strategy was basically just to go in and take it easy for about 600 metres and then see what I had left. Eventually it was time for us to get up on the blocks. The starter said take your marks and then we were off. After the first 100 metres, I could see Kyra 3 lanes over way out in front and at that point, I decided to not worry about sticking with her. I pretty much swam the whole race at my own pace and I didn't really push myself too much. In fact, I kind of lost count and then by the time I realized that I had only 50 metres to go, I didn't have enough time to turn on the jets. My final time was a 11:49.77 with a 5:56.59 split at the 400 metres which means I negative split it. The funny thing was that it didn't feel like a negative split at all. Kyra finished the race I think with a 11:25.70, so kudos to her for that good swim.
Again today, almost everyone on our team had great swims. Kyra swam a 2:28.54 for 200m freestyle, Carl swam a 28.69 for 50m freestyle and Mark swam a 29.96. I was pretty impressed with those. But the swims I was the most impressed with was Scott's swims in backstroke. Wow! That was beautiful swimming... He did a 32.27 for 50 metres and a 1:10.55 for 100 metres. Way to go Scott!

Well, I have to say that overall for me and for the rest of the team, that was one of the most successful meets in a long time for everyone. I was quite pleased with my own performances and I think most people were satisfied with theirs... This is the end of the season for me. I am contemplating swimming in the summer meets to get some extra times in but that has yet to be determined.. I'll have to see how things go.

BC Provincials Day 1 Report

Well, what can I say? I did really well today in all of my races. In fact, our whole team did well. I think virtually everybody who swam did a best time. Some other outstanding performances from the team include: Daryl 41.58 - 50m breaststroke, Kyra 1:06.77 - 100m freestyle and 1:16.67 for 100m butterfly, Carl 1:09.81 - 100m freestyle and 1:22.16 for 100m I.M., Charles 1:16.28 - 100m freestyle, Scott 1:18.77 - 100m butterfly and even Darren who has basically come to only 3 practices in the past month was able to pull off a 1:03.96 for 100m freestyle and a 30.35 for 50m butterfly. Unfortunately, Kim did not show up due to illness but apparently she is supposed to come tomorrow.. so we'll see how that goes.

In any case, I got to the pool about 5 minutes late for warmup but it was no big deal as most people ended up late. I don't know why on earth they made the warmup start at 7:00am. I still think personally that this is way too early but it didn't seem to affect me too much. Actually when I dove in and started my warmup, I felt really great. My muscles felt relaxed for the most part and I felt fast through the water. I don't know what it is but there is something about this pool that seems really fast... Anyways, after warmup was over, I went and relaxed a bit and was told by Suzanne (another Hyack coach) that they needed a backstroker for their 4x50 medley relay which was the 2nd event as the backstroker which they already had was unable to come due to work commitments that early in the morning...As a result, I swam the 50m backstroke on the medley relay. In hindsight, I'm kind of glad that I did it as it was a good warmup for my 200m backstroke later in the day.
The referee blew the whistle to get into the water to start the relay. I got ready on the blocks and focused on getting a quick and powerful start. When the beep sounded, I had a great reaction time and a fairly decent start. The first 25 metres felt very smooth and effortless and then my flipturn was pretty on as well. I did a couple of dolphin kicks and then poured it on the 2nd 25. I probably ended up even splitting the 50, at least that is how it felt. My final time when I touched the wall was a 35.66. I was pretty pleased with that as it was by far my best time in a race and even 3 tenths faster than what I did in practice that one time. The rest of the people swam the remaining legs of the relay and I think everyone else did pretty well too.

I had a long wait until my next race which was the 200 backstroke. After the relay, I did a quick warm down in the adjacent pool which was set aside for that purpose.. As the 200m backstroke race was approaching, I was feeling pretty nervous as I was hoping for a good time, although I didn't know if I would totally blow my time away or maybe just improve by a little bit. I was seeded fastest in my heat with an entry time of 2:50.00 and so I had a good shot at winning the heat. I talked to coach Brad in terms of my strategy to follow in the 200 and he really emphasized to me to work the 3rd 50 which I made a mental note of. Eventually, I was up for the 200m backstroke and the referee blew the whistle. I got into the water. The ref said take your marks and beep and I was off. My start was fairly decent as well. I don't think it was good as my 50m backstroke start but it was not that bad either. The first 100m felt strong and smooth and I didn't really get fatigued that much. When I flipped at the wall for the 100m, I could see that I was at least a body length or two ahead of everyone else. The 3rd 50, I really cranked it hard as I remembered what coach Brad said. I think I managed to extend my lead to another body length or so from what I could gather. The last 50 hurt a bit but I was still able to hang on and when I touched the wall, I didn't immediately look at the clock but then when I looked at it, I saw that I had won my heat by 4 seconds. My final time was 2:46.46 and here are my splits:
38.70
1:21.27
2:03.68
2:46.46

I think the pacing here was much better than English Bay as that 3rd 50 in English Bay was pretty brutal. I more than made up for that here which was good. On a side note, Scott did a fairly decent 200m backstroke time in the heat after mine with a 2:42.27. I think he might have been aiming for under 2:40 but overall from my vantage point, it looked pretty good.

My last race of the day was the 50m butterfly. This was my fun race of the day as I didn't really know what to expect. I didn't have long to wait between the 200m backstroke and the 50m butterfly with only the 100m I.M. in between. I got up on the blocks when the ref blew the whistle. The ref said take your marks and then held it for a while. I almost lost my balance and so I had to lean back up a bit and then by the time I did that, they said go and I got a really bad start off the blocks. The race itself was pretty good and my stroke and turn were not bad. I still managed with a 34.27 which is a half a second improvement from my time at English Bay. I think had I gotten a better start, I could have been under 34. Carl and Kyra nipped me at the end of the 50 with a 34.10 and a 33.87 respectively. I guess next time let's see if I can even up the score...

Overall, I am quite satisifed with my first day of racing at provincials. I can only hope that tomorrow will go better. I have the grueling 800m freestyle as the last race. I hope to be able to conserve all my energy for that as I think I'll need it...

Sick

These past few days I have been feeling like crap. It all started on Tuesday when I started getting this massive migraine that wouldn't go away. It kind of stayed with me for a while and was at its worst yesterday. I also had a bit of an upset stomach and fatigue as well. I decided to attempt to go to practice anyway because I thought that I only had a couple more practices to get in until provincials which are in less than 2 weeks. I made it through the warm up of 8x50 on 1:10 but by that time, my headache had gotten totally unbearable and I decided to leave practice only 15 minutes into it. I figure I should give myself E for effort but it was terrible. I basically spent the rest of the evening in bed and tried to fall asleep. Although, it took a long time since it seemed that the tylenol that I took to help took its sweet time helping the situation. I eventually did get to sleep though. This morning I woke up feeling a bit better although with still a slight headache. My energy level has been a bit low lately. I'm not sure what it is. Maybe I'm over exerting myself since I have been going to workout virtually every day for the past couple of months. I don't think I'm going to head to the gym tonight since I'm feeling so worn out... I should go again a few times before provincials. Although, I think I'm going to lay off the weights. I hope by Friday, I will feel better and well enough to go to practice....
I'll see how things go...

Busy Weekend

This past weekend has been pretty busy for me. It started on Saturday morning when when I went to a surprise swim practice that had been scheduled for us at the Canada Games Pool. Since Friday and Monday practice were cancelled, our coach Brad was successful in getting a few lanes of pool time during one of the other Hyack sessions on Saturday Morning. About 6 of us showed up and overall it was a pretty good workout. You can read about the full details of the workout on Scott's or Joe's blog. Overall, I felt pretty good during the whole workout which was kind of surprising for me since I had only gotten about 4 hours of sleep the night before because of staying up late finishing things. The main set was a choice of a middle distance or sprint set. I chose the middle distance and I did it backstroke. We did a series of timed 50s and then a couple of 100s even split. I took it pretty easy on the 100s and went hard on the 50s. The fastest I could muster on the 50s was a 38.9 which with so little sleep isnt too bad. Although, I have to say my backstroke is feeling a bit tighter lately. I'm not sure if it has to do with the weights I've been lifting at the gym lately or not. It doesn't seem to be affecting my other strokes as much. So, I'm not sure what it is.

After practice on Saturday, I went home and had a 2 hour power nap before I started doing some spring cleaning around the house. I packed up a couple of old boxes of things and tidied up here and there and spent the remainder of the day down at Barnett Park and had a picnic with my girlfriend. On Sunday, we drove to Abbotsford early in the morning to attend a church service at my Aunt and Uncle's church there. We spent the whole day there socializing and having a big Easter meal. I have to admit that this whole weekend I've stuffed myself silly with food. I probably have gained a couple of kilos just with that. I'll have to maybe spend a bit more time at the gym this week to burn off some of the excess calories.

Today, I don't have too much planned. I don't have to go into work today and I probably will just relax and go workout later at the gym and maybe also squeeze in another swim workout if I can.