Today, my coach gave my team this main set:
3 rounds of 4x125s IM then 4x75s. The IMs have a cycling 50, starting with the first stroke of the IM (fly) and moving to the last stroke (free). The 75s went from fly-free-fly by 25, to all back for the 75, then finally all *** by round. 2400y.
Right before that, we had a set of 8x100s flutter kick w/ board on 1:40.
I've been getting better and better at kicking. On most days with this interval and number of 100s, I usually go 1:30. On a really good day, I can go 1:25 for several consecutive 100s. Today, I sputtered out halfway through, and then basically missed the interval on the last three 100s. I didn't flame out on the first few or anything. I paced myself well.
I shrugged it off and got ready for the main set. From the very first 25 of the first round, I knew something was wrong. After the first four 125 IMs, I officially declared to myself I hadn't felt this way in the water for a pretty long time, since a Friday last July as a matter of fact. There are different ways to feel bad in the water. You can be sore and tired but still muscle through. You can have been out of the water for a few days and feel like your arms are slipping through the water when you come back. You can have been out of the water for multiple weeks and feel like you just started when you come back. Today, it was like my muscles evaporated. It was a very unique, specific feeling in the water that I haven't had once since that random practice last July. Until, that is, today.
As of today, I have been swimming more consistently than I have been in a year and a half. I did not feel sore or tired, even with the increase in yardage that started last Monday (6350, 6000, 6600, 5600, 7000, 8050, 6600, 6000- excluding Sunday which I took off).
But this happens. It's the second time it has happened and now I'm really peeved. As I usually do when I have a bad practice or a bad meet, I assign blame to some thing(s). "I did bad because I did or didn't do this..." Usually, I'm able to pretty quickly answer the question definitively, "What Went Wrong?"
But not today. Today, I have a number of possible reasons, but I haven't settled on any yet. Here's where you guys come in. I need your advice so I can avoid this happening again in the future. Feel free to ask me questions, too, to jog my memory.
Suspects:
1.) after practice, my coach said it could be because we haven't done very much fly lately and that affected the rest of the set. There are two problems with this: a.) we did fly in warm-up yesterday and that didn't knock me on my rear for most of practice, and b.) that doesn't explain the kicking set before the main set.
2.) after I was kind of expressing my skepticism about it being the butterfly, my coach also said sometimes there's no rhyme or reason, it just happens. Sometimes, for some mystical reason, practice and/or a meet goes bad. Obviously, I don't like this theory because it has an element of extreme uncontrollability about it.
3.) I have this leftover cake from the weekend in my fridge. I didn't eat a whole slice of it before practice or anything, but about an hour before practice started, I took my finger and filched the last of the frosting (which was enough to cover two digits of my index finger). I remember one of my former coaches telling me that simple sugar is the only food that has an immediate effect on your performance. On the other hand, was that little bit of icing really enough to do that to my practice?
4.) Somehow I might be tired and broken down despite not feeling tired and broken down. I had a great practice yesterday that I just absolutely killed. Not to mention, I had Sunday off. I am also a religious low-fat chocolate milk drinker and I have had a full night's sleep every night since before Saturday morning.
One last thing and then I'll be ready for your :2cents: Before practice when I was sitting on the deck thinking about what kind of practice I would have today, I actually remembered that practice last July that was really bad and inexplicable. I don't care to say that I jinxed myself by remembering that practice or that I somehow accidentally programmed today's practice by thinking of that ancient practice, but I do wonder if I somehow subconsciously knew that today's practice would feel like that one last July and thus it wondered across my mind.
Alright, what do you guys think? :)
Former Member
Maybe the practice you "killed" yesterday took more out of you than you realize? Particularly when combined with your recent ramp up of yardage. In other words, #4.
My 2 cents...
Well it's a strange old game - you learn it slow
One step forward and it's back to go
You're standing on the throttle
You're standing on the brakes
In the groove 'til you make a mistake
Sometimes you're the windshield
Sometimes you're the bug
Sometimes it all comes together baby
Sometimes you're a fool in love
Sometimes you're the Louisville slugger
Sometimes you're the ball
Sometimes it all comes together baby
Sometimes you're going lose it all
You gotta know happy - you gotta know glad
Because you're gonna know lonely
And you're gonna know bad
When you're rippin' and a ridin' and you're coming on strong
You start slippin' and a slidin' and it all goes wrong, because
Sometimes you're the windshield
Sometimes you're the bug
Sometimes it all comes together baby
Sometimes you're a fool in love
Sometimes you're the Louisville slugger baby
Sometimes you're the ball
Sometimes it all comes together baby
Sometimes you're going lose it all
One day you got the glory
One day you got none
One day you're a diamond
And then you're a stone
Everything can change
In the blink of an eye
So let the good times roll
Before we say goodbye
Ditto. This is a bizarre post. Most--if not all-of us are not going to relate to only having one bad practice per year. That's just insane. I usually have at least one practice like that per week. Get over it. You were tired. Your next practice will probably be good.
Okay, I am going to respond to some other posts next, but just off the bat, I wanted to clarify that I do have lots of other bad practices. It's just for all of those other bad ones I usually have a ready-made explanation. Then I shrug it off and say I'll do better next time. What gnaws me about yesterday's practice is that I can't explain it, until this morning after reading some of your replies, which I thank you all for.
As for the icing on the cake, well, when you have difficulty explaining something, doesn't your mind ever start reaching? I'm glad to find confirmation that the icing on the cake is a laughable suspect, something which I was skeptical of myself in the first place. ty!
I have no idea if this relates, but as a woman of the female persuasion who is getting older, I have found that suddenly I'll be so short of breath and muscles tired in practice that I'm wondering WTH?? Then the next day when nature takes it's peri-menopausal course, I realize I'm temporarily anemic. It doesn't happen all of the time, and when it does it's just for a day, but it's always unexpected and a shocker at first. Another fun thing about getting older. But, hey, that's why G-d invented snorkles and backstroke.
Thanks for the insights, everyone. It seems like the general consensus so far is a mixture of reasons #3 and 4. After sleeping on yesterday's practice and reading your responses, I have to agree, too.
A few additional comments:
Karl- I don't think I'm becoming ill. At least, I hope not! I also had a flu shot, so I should be okay in that area. On the other hand, that's a really good point about a bad practice possibly predicting falling ill. I remember one year ago I got the flu after a week of really good workouts, except for this one workout at the end of that week that took place two days before I got sick. Bam! Got the flu!
quicksilver- Definitely was a bug on the windshield kind of set. I mean, it was a total wipeout. I couldn't even make the intervals! Great song, by the way.
I don't like this theory because it has an element of extreme uncontrollability about it.
I think your answer is already in your post. From what I read perhaps more a mental issue then a physically one. Learn to accept that things not always go as you wish they would have gone, specially when you set your standards high. Interpret certain outcomes in another way so that these thoughts lead to a feeling of selfconfidence, optimism and mental strength.
So for instance if a training did not work out well you could think that you did previous trainings to hard or to much yardage. Look at things from a more positive side then negative. Positive thinking will give you energy, the other thinking cost energy. And accept that not everything is (and should be) controllable.
PS:advice is based on what you wrote, I don't know who you are, so don't blame me if these advices are not right for you.
I don't like this theory because it has an element of extreme uncontrollability about it.
I think your answer is already in your post. From what I read perhaps more a mental issue then a physically one. Learn to accept that things not always go as you wish they would have gone, specially when you set your standards high. Interpret certain outcomes in another way so that these thoughts lead to a feeling of selfconfidence, optimism and mental strength.
So for instance if a training did not work out well you could think that you did previous trainings to hard or to much yardage. Look at things from a more positive side then negative. Positive thinking will give you energy, the other thinking cost energy. And accept that not everything is (and should be) controllable.
PS:advice is based on what you wrote, I don't know who you are, so don't blame me if these advices are not right for you.
My :2cents:
Today, my coach gave my team this main set:
...Right before that, we had a set of 8x100s flutter kick w/ board on 1:40.
I've been getting better and better at kicking. On most days with this interval and number of 100s, I usually go 1:30. On a really good day, I can go 1:25 for several consecutive 100s.
Pretty impressive kicking!
"What Went Wrong?"
1.) ...we haven't done very much fly lately and that affected the rest of the set. There are two problems with this: a.) we did fly in warm-up yesterday and that didn't knock me on my rear for most of practice, and b.) that doesn't explain the kicking set before the main set.
'agree this in not the reason.
2.) ...sometimes there's no rhyme or reason, it just happens. Sometimes, for some mystical reason, practice and/or a meet goes bad. Obviously, I don't like this theory because it has an element of extreme uncontrollability about it.
Your coach is right in that sometimes these things have no apparent explanation, but I agree there ought to be one, even if it is difficult to identify.
3.) I have this leftover cake from the weekend in my fridge. I didn't eat a whole slice of it before practice or anything, but about an hour before practice started, I took my finger and filched the last of the frosting (which was enough to cover two digits of my index finger)....
Not.
4.) Somehow I might be tired and broken down despite not feeling tired and broken down. I had a great practice yesterday that I just absolutely killed. ...
Now that sounds very suspicious.
...but I do wonder if I somehow subconsciously knew that today's practice would feel like that one last July and thus it wondered across my mind.
Yea, because your body knew it was broken down from the killer workout the day before. Not to worry though, IMO it's good to really kill it in practice sometimes, even if you pay for it the next day or two.
Another possible explanation is that you are in the early stages of an illness. I can remember a few times when I had a really tough workout and thought, "why was that so hard?" ... only to find out the next day when I developed some nasty cold or flu. In fact, it is very common that when I become ill I can go back to my workout log and find evidence of it in decreased workout perfomance. This is not a useful way to tell if an illness is incipient, however, because a lot of things can cause a subtle decrease in workout performance. In any case, since the cold/flu season is largely over this seems unlikely, and if you are fine today, you can cross that one off the list.
You didn't eat a piece of cake before practice, did you? :)
Hope your back isn't still hurting. I know how much that can suck.
No cake...just a banana. That's probably the reason. :badday:
My back is doing better...it just needed a few hours to relax after that quick jerking action it took. I'll be good to go for the meet on Sunday no matter what. Pain, or no pain...they're racin' to be done! :banana:
Get some rest, eat some protein, maybe some cake... and you'll be the Louisville slugger again. :)
BTW that's some decent kicking you've got going on over there.
