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? :)
That thing about the cake icing is just ridiculous. "I didn't eat a whole slice of it before practice or anything." Oh goodness me, I hope not!
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.
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.
Me too! I only managed a mere 1000 yards this morning before it was time to go warm up the showers! This morning just wasn't a good one. :badday:
Me too! I only managed a mere 1000 yards this morning before it was time to go warm up the showers!
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.
Oh, I noticed I made a typo earlier. I meant to say the general consensus seems to be a mix of reasons 2 and 4, not 3 and 4. The cake is not the culprit! I can still have my cake and eat it, too. :cake:
Thanks, quicksilver! It's nice to know my hard kicking-specific work over the past year has been paying off.
I can't believe you wrote all of that about a single practice. That thing about the cake icing is just ridiculous. "I didn't eat a whole slice of it before practice or anything." Oh goodness me, I hope not!
Yeah, definitely wasn't the cake thing. I've been known to eat whole cakes before practice and performance was uneffected :angel:
Don't worry so much about practice performance. Think about practice as a measure of how much effort you've put in day to day rather than comparing speeds from day to day. Put forth your total effort (mental and physical), conform to the description of the sets and workouts (do easy swims easy and hard swims hard), and your actual performance will come out at the end of the season.
You've got the makings of a good country western song there Ande.
Sometimes you're the windshield :banana: sometimes you're the bug.
:lmao: Yeah, Ande, I think 'Silver is right; you're on to somethin' here!
sometimes it's attitude, sometimes I just need a break, sometimes fatigue, sometimes not enough sleep,
what ever it is shake it off,
do what you need to do during that practice and after.
Just know that there are better days ahead.
You've got the makings of a good country western song there Ande.
Sometimes you're the windshield :banana: sometimes you're the bug.
Alright, what do you guys think? :)
You had trouble in a set, you couldn't do what you normally do.
You tried to shrug it off but felt something was wrong. & "felt this way in the water for a pretty long time"
There are different ways to feel bad in the water. You can:
+ be sore and tired but still muscle through.
+ have been out of the water for a few days and feel like your arms are slipping through the water when you come back.
+ have been out of the water for multiple weeks and feel like you just started when you come back.
you felt like your "muscles evaporated."
you've been increasing yardage. Sometimes it catches up with you.
"What Went Wrong?"
It could happen again & happens for all sorts of reasons.
"sometimes there's no rhyme or reason, it just happens."
I tend to swim better in the morning when I haven't eaten.
this morning we were doing 150 repeats on 1:45 and I felt light headed and weak.
What's weird is sometimes I've swum surprisingly fast when I was sick or on the verge of getting sick, & expected to have a crummy practice.
"might be tired and broken down"
sometimes the training you do finally catches up with you. especially when ramping up yardage or going from tapering back to training.
a "full night's sleep" is always helpful
sometimes it's attitude, sometimes I just need a break, sometimes fatigue, sometimes not enough sleep,
what ever it is shake it off,
do what you need to do during that practice and after.
Just know that there are better days ahead.
