Paul's swimming blog

Are you going to swim the Tropical Splash? Can you go off the blocks and do effective flip turns with that heel? Yes, I plan on swimming that meet. As for starts, I have no idea but that will really be the kicker. Will definately work on starts during warmups. Turns shouldn't be a problem as long as I keep my right calf nice and loose. We'll see. Luckily one of my focus events is fairly early, 50 Fly but 100 Free is the first event I swim so that will probably set the tone and also determine if I swim all my events. I was hoping to break 54 in 100 Free and 27 in 50 Fly, I have a feeling that those might be a challenge. But never try, never know. Paul

24 Jan 2008 5am SCM with team Got a late start 400 swim, 200 kick, 150 pull w/u I just wasn't feeling very 'with-it', was very sluggish and my right calf was really tight (a result of the heel injury). Also the normal folks who swim in the 'fast' lane were missing today so the intervals were a little longer, I think that also gave me too much time to think. Usually 75's are on 1:15-1:20 and 50s are on :55. 8x75 on 1:30 1-4 Free, 5-8 IM 6x50 on 1:00 1-3 Free, Fly, Back, Br 4x25 Free 200 pull 1950m in about 45 minutes. I just got out at this point. Just didn't want to be there at all. Feeling down right now about things in general but tomorrow's a whole new day. Paul

Just didn't want to be there at all. Feeling down right now about things in general but tomorrow's a whole new day. :notworking: These kinds of days come and go. Sometimes you gotta swim through it; other times you just gotta get out. Its just one day. Ain't gonna kill you. Sometimes rest is good, especially when you're racing 100 frees soon. :mooning::mooning:

OK, so this morning I was || THIS close to no going to the swim meet after finally getting to sleep at about 3am. But I went any way. Warm up - 300 swim, 100 free fast, 100 free streched out 6x50 Back, *** alternated 12x25 Sprints IM order 100 Free EZ All my seed times are the fastest times I've swam so far. 1st Event - 100 IM seed time of 1:04.51 Next to Jay Kress who's slightly faster than me and in my AG. Take out the Fly pretty well but have GOT to swim in yard pools more often as I was a half stroke short so I double kicked in. :censor: Then I went waaaaaay too deep on my push off and had to SDK 7 times and still broke out too early (I try to hit 4 strong SDKs then break out), made a good turn to *** but went waaaay too shallow. Ugh. Heard about this from SwimmieAvsFan, Muppet, etc :doh:. Good turn to free and only took 2 breaths and hammered the finish. Came in at 1:02.66 which I was very pleased with as it's an almost 2 second drop and gives me my 2nd NQT for SCY Nats. 2nd Event - 50 Fly. Seed: 27.67. I was feeling really confident on this one and felt like breaking 27 was definately reachable. Good start, 4 strong SDKs but once again I ended up in no-mans land at the turn. GRRRRRRRR. And I pushed off friggin SIDEWAYS, so horrible streamline, no SDKs. I r a swimmur :shakeshead:. And then jammed my left hand against the rope on the 2nd to last stroke. Talk about a momentum killer. Came in at 27.12. A mere 6 HUNDRETHS short of NQT. :doh: GAAAAAAAAAAAH. 3rd Event - 50 Back, seed time 32.10 (converted from SCM). I have a history of very BAD starts. So I really considered scratching this as I was really arm tired from Fly but I decided against it. WOW, my feet don't slip and I have a great start, 5 SDKs and a perfect breakout, hammer the turn, streamline not so good only 3 SDKs (need to work on that), reach a bit at the finish. Came in at 30.28. Wow, had no idea. .5 off NQT and I wasn't even considering this one of them. Need to work on back a bit more I think. 2 Relays, swam 50 free and 50 Fly. 4th Event - 50 ***, seed 33.73. Thought I swam it well. I've been working on *** in the last 1.5 months. Came in at 33.98. Guess still more work to do. 5th and last event - 50 Free - seed 24.98. Goal was to break 24. Thought I had a good start but Swimmie and the crew were like 'Wow, you have the reaction time of a dead squirrel, you were dead last off the block', guess I need to reevaluate my technique. Took a breath at the flags that I really didn't need should have taken that out of the turn, hit a good turn but was REALLY arm weary for the last 12 yards or so. Came in at 24.35 so still a PB and an actualy NQT instead of a converted one but need to work on starts. All in all 4 best times and 2 NQTs. And 2 more events that I am very close to NQTs. Had fun, nice meet, nice people. Paul

Good job! I say do all the meets you can. It is good mental practice to improve composure and poise under pressure. What type of back to *** turn do you use?

Great job Paul. Awesome times. :applaud:

Double post. WTF?

Good times! :groovy:

OK, so I took a look at SCY Nats times from last year and I have come to realize that I'm still not fast enough. So I'm at a crossroads. I can continue doing that I have been doing and I might get a little faster or I can 'man-up' and really start to push myself and do the things that I know I need to do which are: 1) Lose some tonnage - currently 257 and that's just not gonna get it done. You can only go SO fast when you look like an NFL tight end. GOAL: 240 by Nats. Plan: really revamp the diet, ditch sodas and only drink water and milk on occasion. Bring my lunch to work EVERY day. Increase non-pool cardio. 2) Get in the pool more often. Currently averaging about 2.3 sessions per week and that's not enough. GOAL: Work on getting average up to 3 for Feb and up to 4 for March. 3) Get focused help with strokes - I need to improve the efficiency of my strokes instead of relying on brute force. Get help with stroke work and get taped to review faults and fixes. GOAL: Sign up for Clay Britt's power clinic in March 4) Build a better kick. This is going to be the hard one as our team practices have some kick work in them but not a lot. I need to throw a solo session in here and really build up my kicks. I know HOW, I just need to DO IT!!! 5) Any advice welcomed here. My goal times for Nats are below, these times _should_ enable me to finish in the top 10 with the exception of 50 *** and 100 Free and I think that these are realistic expectations based upon where I am now. 100 IM - 59.99, current 1:02.66 50 Fly - 26.00, current 27.12 50 Back - 29.00, current 30.28 50 *** - 32.00, current 33.98 50 Free - 23.00, current 24.35 100 Free - 53.00, current 55.29 So I welcome any and all comments. And now I need to find the inner strength and drive to implement these changes.

Step away from the cookies! Heheh Good luck Paul I seem to be going up in weight but not in size.. so it's all lean muscle addition..*ahem* Looks like you give me a second and we go head to head on 50 BR at zones... A second it is. So let it be written, so let it be done. Um, cookies aren't the problem. It's pasta and bread that are my huge weaknesses. Paul