Paul's swimming blog

Thanks, Tom. I appreciate it. 1 Jan 08 4 months till SCY Nats 11am SCM with team 300 swim, 150 kick, 150 pull w/u 4x25 Fly on :35 R :30 4x50 Free descend on 1:00, 39,37,35,32 R :45 4x25 Bk on :35 - took it easy to recover R :30 4x75 IM on 1:20 R :45 4x25 Br on :40 4x100 Free descend on 1:50, 1:26,1:24,1:21 and barely finished, really had trouble catching my breath. 4x25 Free kick build on :40 4x150 on 2:15 1st Free, 2nd Kick, 3rd Free, 4th IM 100 w/d 2600m And then if that wasn't enough :drown: we then played 6 on 6 water polo in the well for 30 minutes and that just KILLED me. But it was fun as all heck. Paul

Actually I start back tomorrow am with a short 3 week acclimation program. It's listed on Page 3. Once that's over with I will move onto a balanced strength/mass building workout. Focus events are: Primary 50 and 100 Free and 50 Fly Secondary 100 IM and 50 Back Tertiary 100 Fly

Paul, What are your focus events at Nationals? Are you lifting weights now? If you are, I'd like to see those workouts in here as well. If you aren't... well, you know you should :)

2 Jan 08 6am gym workout 10min treadmill, .72 miles Barbell Squat - 45x10, 95x10 Leg Extension Machine - 35x10, 65x10 Leg Curl Machine - 35x10, 65x10 Front Lat Pull Down - 50x10, 90x10 Bent Over Barbell Rows - 45x10, 85x10 Rope Crunches - 90x20, 130x20 Leg Lifts - 20, 20 Push Ups - 15,15 Yes, it's pretty basic and yes, it's pretty light but it's been 4 years since I've done any weight work. Found myself ready to do a lot more weight and sets than just ease back into it but I squashed that feeling and stuck to the planned workout. The only exception was the push ups, I found that I banged out the 10 without much effort at all so decided to go 15 instead. Now I only have 2.67 more weeks of this 'crawl before I walk' routine. Paul

JH, not really. True that squats are a quad dominant exercise, but they work most of the major muscle groups to some extent. I have leg extensions included because they are an isolation movement that targets the quads. I included 2 quad dominant exercises at the start to energize the quads which are the largest muscle group in the body and in doing so to kick start the whole body's muscle development. Paul

I'm surprised you're doing leg extensions. That's pretty redundant with squats.

OK, I had forgotten how much the first couple of weeks back in the gym sucked. I was extremely sore this morning and slept in, promising myself that I would swim this evening. I left work late, got home at 7:30 and actually managed to get myself to the pool in time for 8pm practice. 3 Jan 08 8pm SCM with team 200 swim, 150 kick, 150 pull w/u 4x75 Free descend on 1:20, 1:05, 1:02, :57, :52 200 Pull 4x75 Back on 1:30 200 Kick 4x75 *** on 1:30, 50 pace, R :05, 25 Sprint - ok what sick SOB puts this RIGHT after 200 KICK??? My quads just gave up on me here. 200 Free for time. Thrashed my way to 2:42 50 EZ 3x100 IM on 1:45 - OMG I'm gonna DIE!!!!!!! 150 Free 2500m While I was suffering the whole time with being so sore and not being able to really extend my stroke, after it was over I was very glad that I did go as the soreness is probably much less than if I had skipped. Paul

OK, I had forgotten how much the first couple of weeks back in the gym sucked. I was extremely sore this morning and slept in, promising myself that I would swim this evening. I left work late, got home at 7:30 and actually managed to get myself to the pool in time for 8pm practice. I took most of Dec off from weights (and some swimming and running) due to some strange travel I did (I'll explain if anyone is interested). Anyway, I started back last week, and my team was using a different pool setup LCM, and for some reason I decided to do doubles on Thurs-Fri, "to catch up from missing on Mon-Tues," (Christmas Eve and Christmas). By last Sat, my body was trashed. But I kept up, and actually lifting more seemed to help, and I think (hope) I'm over the worst of it. Just keep plugging away, I think that's the best way over the soreness.

OK, being in gym starting over again is going to be even harder than starting over again in the pool. /whine I WANNA LIFT MORE!!!!! /whine Sorry, this whole crawl before you walk thing combined with being SOOOOOOO weak is driving me bug-nuts. 4 Jan 08 8pm gym session Treadmill, 10min .75miles (goal here is to work towards hitting 1 mile in 10min, then I up the length to 15min and build from 1mile to 1.5 miles, up it again to 20min/1.3 miles working to 2miles) Standing front military press 45x10, 75x10 - this was my favorite lift back in the day and at one time I could rep 225. Sad how long gone those days are. Incline BB Press - 45x10, 85x10 Standing Lateral DB Raise (arms bent) - 10x10, 15x10 Front Lat Pulldowns - 110x10, 130x10 Standing Alt DB Curl - 15x10, 15x10 Tricep Rope Pushdowns - 50x10, 70x10 Rope Crunches - 150x20, 170x20 Planks - 4x30 seconds w/30 sec rest between. Paul Weight: 258.5

... if we don't periodically stop to THINK about why we do something, then eventually it will just be a never ending series of mindlessly going thru the motion sessions. Paul - Very well said, Zen or not! This is especially important for swimmers who spend most of their time in solo practices (sans team environment). I find it is all too easy to become "rutted" if I do not stop and rethink why I am in the pool and what I want to do with it. Keep up the good work!