Training for Cold Water Swims – 9 Tips You Need to Know | The FINIS Blog

Follow the link above to see the article on the FINIS Blog.

My friend posted one of his YouTube videos on Facebook. Looks like an excellent core exercise that I am going to have to try.

Your 12-Minute Cardio Workout Plan | Active.com

Anyhow, here’s a very nice warmup video from the StrengthRunning.com blog. You might want to view the whole blog post that goes with the video, as it has extra information and details.

The Standard Warm-Up: Video Demonstration

I got some ideas from the Fifty Pullups site and also from the article on Mistressing the Pullup. I couldn’t do even the Week 1 program on the Fifty Pullups site, but I decided to pick some exercises and just keep doing them and at least make some progress. And I picked a date. First day of spring 2011. March 20th 2011. By that day I wanted to be able to do at least 1 pullup unassisted.

So the exercises I picked to work on were: Assisted pullup machine. Pullup position max hang with slow negative pullup. Lat pull downs. Modified (Australian) pullups. Also I have the stretch resistance chords for practicing swim stroke, which uses lats (latissimus dorsi … the muscles used for good, hard swimming and in pullups), so I do that sometimes, too. When I’m at home I do dumbbell pullovers on my weight bench and dumbbell rows.

I have made progress. I can hold my pullup position hang longer now than I used to be able to, and do more reps. I can do more assisted pullups, more sets and more reps with lower weight, than before. More of the modified (Australian) pullups, too. It’s all progress. But, I still cannot do one unassisted pullup. Note that I’m also doing other strength training as well. I usually fit in one or two sessions per week for a total of something on the order of an hour and a half. This is in addition to all the triathlon training I’ve been doing for my half-ironman in 11 days.

About a week or two ago, I began to be pretty certain that I wasn’t going to be able to get my pullup goal. I tried doing one a couple weeks ago, and I just can’t get my arms more than about a 120 degree angle at the elbows. I pull myself up about that far and then…nada. Well, I guess if I really wanted to make it by March 20th I would have had to do the pullup preparation exercises more often (3 times per week?). I guess having it as a competing goal with my half-ironman training made it take a backseat in priority. The half-ironman is the real goal.

I did try on Saturday, March 19th, to do a pullup, and it just didn’t happen. Same results as described above. March 20th was L.A. Marathon day, and I was support for hubby who ran that race. There was no time to try that day, but I don’t think it would have been any different than the day before.

OK, I’m not giving up. I still want to do this. I will set June 1st as my new goal. And after my half-ironman in a couple weeks, I will start trying harder with the pullup training and see if I can get it. Dunno. Might be tight. We’ll see. Guess I have to decide how much I want it and how hard I’m willing to work for it. I guess the biggest issue is having to go to the gym to work on this. I don’t have a pullup bar at home and I don’t really want one. It would be convenient but I have no place I really want to put one, so…bleah. Guess I have to suck it up and go to the gym more often.

Endurance, strength, speed, taper, recovery.

The link below takes you to the full article:

The Five Phases Of Swim Training – Triathlete.com

They have example workouts and detailed descriptions.

Anyhow, this is a great video. Inspiring.

You can visit this young man’s blog at http://bendoeslife.tumblr.com/.

I started swimming at the Mt. SAC pool over a year ago, when I found out that they had open lap swimming. Now I’m doing the Masters Swim program and it costs no more to do that than to use the pool for open lap swimming. In fact, they offer all kinds of programs. These programs used to be free to the public, but due to state budget cuts there is currently a fee. The fee is reasonable and the facility is nice. I just really love swimming here so much more than at the gym, and now that I’m getting coaching as well, it’s a no-brainer for me.

In addition to the Masters Swim and open lap swimming, they also offer water aerobics, low impact training, triathlete training and cardio vascular training.

Signup Options

Fall session starts on August 23, 2010. They will be offering the following options.

Open Fitness Swim: Even though the title for this “class” says “Open Fitness Swim” on the website registration, it is actually good for all of the programs listed above. Masters swim, triathlete training, water aerobics, etc. and just plain open lap swim on your own.

Hours for this option: Mon-Thur 11am-1pm, 6pm-8pm and Sat/Sun 8am-10:30. The cost is $110 for 8 weeks (August 23rd-October 17th). You can register for this option by clicking here. To see the evening hours you need to click on the “More” link.

Masters Swim: The Masters Swim option is really more than that. It includes all of the hours and training options from the Open Fitness Swim above, plus there is also an early weekday morning time slot that offers open lap swimming, Masters Swim and triathlete training on Mon-Thu at 5:30am-7:30am. The cost is $120 for 8 weeks (August 23rd to October 17th). You can register for this option by clicking here. The description at this link does not show the weekday afternoon and evening hours unless you click the “More” link.

Session Swim Cards: What if you don’t want to sign up for the whole 8 week session but would like to go swim at the pool every once in a while? Well, then you can buy a swim card that gets you 5, 10 or 20 swim sessions, depending on your preference. The costs are $20, $35 or $60, respectively. The swim cards are described here (click). They are good for all of the hours…Mon-Thur 5:30am-7:30am, 11am-1pm, 6pm-8pm and Sat/Sun 8am-10:30.

Masters Swimming

I want to talk a bit about Masters Swimming. It sounds intimidating. But it does not imply that you are good at swimming or fast or anything like that. Masters Swimming simply means you are at least 18 years old. You can be a beginning swimmer, a former competitive swimmer, or anything in between.

If you think that your swimming could use some improvement, and that you would benefit from some coaching, then you should give Masters Swimming a try. Don’t wait to get better or faster until you consider participating in Masters Swimming. You might as well take advantage of this program and get help with your swimming now. Don’t put it off!

The coach at Mt. SAC is Louis Boehle. He swam for California Baptist University, has experience with adventure racing and was also a member of a relay team that swam a double crossing from Cabrillo Beach to Catalina.

When you first come to workout Louis will probably ask you what you have been doing for your recent workouts and about your goals so he can choose an appropriate workout for you. I’ve found that he gives a lot of individual attention and encouragement. If you want to contact Louis with any questions you can send him email at l.d.boehle@gmail.com.

My swimming workouts this summer have mostly been under Louis’ guidance. Since my goal is to train for triathlon and hopefully get faster, I’ve been working out pretty hard. I’m really enjoying it, though. That’s why I signed up for this program. I needed someone to kick my butt in the pool, because I just don’t do it myself. Maybe that’s not what you want, but whatever it is I’m sure he’ll work with you to pick drills and sets that are suited to you.

Parking

You can buy a parking permit in Building 40 for $40 for the semester. The coin parking meters charge 25 cents for 15 minutes, and the day permits are $2 per day.

And then I started my Masters Swim workouts. And the coach was having me do a fair amount of kicking. Although I thought I didn’t really need to be doing kicking drills, I tried to just suck it up and say nothing. After all, I was seeking the expertise of the coach. He knows more about this than I do, right? That’s why I was doing the Masters Swim. Eventually I did ask him about it and he said I needed to keep that end of my body up, or something like that. So…ok. Still doubtful but…just doing the drills like he said.

Well, about a week or two ago I saw this article on TriSwimCoach.com that discusses this very thing. His point is that in triathlon while we don’t need the kick for propulsion, we do need it for balance. It will help a lot with the swim with just some bit of kicking. Really good article: A Little Kick Goes a Loooong Way in Triathlon Swimming

Then today someone on Daily Mile shared a link to this YouTube video of Dave Scott giving tips on kicking drills. Dave Scott being, of course, one of triathlon’s all time greats and 6-time winner of the Ironman World Championships at Kona. These kicking drills look really good. I think I would enjoy trying these.

Well, the kicking drills from Masters Swim are seeming to finally pay off for me. I’ve actually been feeling more balanced in the pool, like my back end is floating up higher. And the coach even told me a few days back that my kicking was looking good. Or did he say “better”? Maybe it’s not good, yet, but just better. Hahah.

But nothing brought home to me how important it is to keep the back end up when swimming like a drill he had me do this past Tuesday. He had me do a “pull” drill, with the paddles. But I was not kicking or using a pull buoy. Instead I had to cross my legs at the ankles and just let them trail behind me. This was VERY tough. My legs just sank. I could not really swim. I was almost vertical in the water at some points. He told me I had to pick my tempo up and have a faster turnover (faster stroke). I tried and that did help some. But wow, how much harder it was to stroke and pull with all that dragging.

Now one thing I did notice was that a lot of the reading material encouraged drills. The TriSwimCoach specifically encouraged doing as much drills as you could stand. And other sites also recommended drills for improving stroke technique and efficiency. It makes sense. In running I do speedwork on the track and I would say that is analagous to drills in the pool. I know that speedwork really does help me. I have to assume with all these articles recommending swim drills that that would help me, too.

But I really hate drills. Or at least, when I was trying to figure out swimming on my own, I really, really disliked them and almost never did them. I would maybe do a few laps of drills. Less than 1/4 of my workout for sure. Maybe much less than that. And then freestyle all the way, baby, because that seems to be the most fun to me.

Well, the coach at Masters Swim has me doing lots of drills. And I chose Masters Swim to help me, so I’m going along with everything the coach recommends. He’s supposed to be the one who knows a lot more about swimming than I do. I also post my workouts on the DailyMile.com site, and try to list out all the drills, etc. on my workouts.

So today @bfrien asked me on Twitter:

@sheswimbikerun Do U find that the drills actually help? Fists, kicking, etc Would U rather just work on endurance? Im just not into drills

Well, Bob, I’m sure at least some of the drills are helping. I know that some of the drills have got me lifting my arms up higher out of the water and in the ocean swimming this is really helping so that I don’t drag my arm or hand through the water. And the angle that my hand enters the water has changed, to good effect I think. And I’m pulling better through my stroke. I can increase the turnover/tempo of my stroke when I really think about it (hoping this becomes more automatic, soon). I think I’m developing a better feel for the water, which definitely helps to work with the water and have less resistance.

I’m not sure about all the drills he tells me to do (they vary from day to day). He’s had me do some butterfly and breaststroke drills (if you ever want to see something funny come watch me try to do butterfly). I did ask him specifically about why he was having me do those for triathlon (he KNOWS I’m a triathlete and we focus on that a lot). He said for cross-training and building some of my other muscles. There are other drills I’ve asked about, too. Haven’t asked about the fist swimming, but I think the point of that is to develop a feel for the water on the underside of the forearm to improve the stroke.

Also, I had the opportunity a while back to do a swim workout with Coach Gareth at UCLA. He had us start with drills. First kicking only on the left side, a few laps. Then on the right side, a few laps. Then swimming with only one arm stroking. First left side for a few laps, then on the right. Then we did catch-up drills. Then we switched to doing “nearly” catchup, with focus on getting a rhythm going. This was kinda cool, and for a bit I had this really nice rhythm going and it felt fantastic. I think that getting a rhythm like that down would help a lot with cutting down resistance in the water and helping the speed be better. I want to try and repeat that swim session some time on my own. Haven’t felt that way since, but haven’t really tried to repeat it. But doing the drills…building up to the “nearly catchup” was the key. So the selected drills for that buildup workout really did help.

In summary, I know much of the drill stuff is helping and I’m just trying to put my trust and faith in the coach, which is why I signed up for Masters Swim in the first place. I know he has much more knowledge of swimming than I do.

I’m planning on re-upping at the end of this term. I think it is helping me lots more than when I was just trying to figure out swimming on my own.