A Day in the Life: Dennis Baker, Day 1

PORTLAND, Oregon, January 30. THIS week, we have a treat for our "A Day in the Life" connoisseurs. SwimmingWorldMagazine.com introduces its first Masters participant in the series with seven-time Masters world record holder Dennis Baker checking in from Portland, Ore.

The oldest USA Swimming National Championship qualifier at age 44 in the 200 fly, Baker recently won the 200 fly Northwest Senior Sectional title in 2003.

Early in his swimming career, Baker finaled in the 200 fly at both the 1980 and 1984 Olympic Trials and was a two-time Pacific 10 Champion in the event for the University of Arizona.

In Dennis' first entry, he introduces himself and the teams he coaches. He also goes in-depth into his teams' practices and what he does on a daily basis.

Monday, January 29, 2007, Day 1
First, I would like to thank Jason Marsteller and Swimming World Magazine for allowing me write these articles for everyone.

My life is busy around the pool. Two pools mostly. David Douglas Swimming pool and Multnomah Athletic Club pool in Portland, Ore. I swim for David Douglas Swim Club in USA Swimming meets. I also train with the Multnomah USA Swimming senior team. When I swim in Masters meets, it is for my own team that I coach, Oregon Wet Masters. I also coach the Multnomah Masters a few days a week at noon. Additionally, I coach the David Douglas High School team and David Douglas Swim Club, both as an assistant.

Today, Monday is one of my favorite "sleep-in days". I'm usually a little hurting from Saturday's practice, and Sunday I coach and teach private lessons all day. In Saturday's practice, my main set was 10×300's Butterfly on the 4:15, descend slightly all the way through and hold stroke and hold every other breathing pattern. I tried to stay steady on this and started at 3:45 and got down to 3:35. This is in a 25-meter pool. Now back to today. I did some accounting work for my Masters team and hit the water around 11 a.m. I swam by myself in the 25-meter pool at DD.

5×1000's :15 sec rest
(1-swim ez)
(1-pull ez)
(1-IM , working on turns)
(1-pull with paddles progressive by 200's 2:32, 2:26, 2:23, 2:20, 2:15.)
(1-kick progressive by 200's 3:07, 3:02, 2:55, 2:53, 2:50. ez 200)

This low-end aerobic practice really got the kinks out. I like kicking longer and progressive, I think it is making my legs a lot stronger.

I did a few more errands, ate and rested for an hour. 3 p.m. was time to coach the high school team. The kids are really looking good. They are swimming fast while tired and their attitudes are great! 4:15 p.m. is time to workout out with the DD club team. We have a lot of fast kids now so it is great!

In a 25-meter pool:
600 swim
3 rounds of:
(2×25's full catch up with a 12 beat kick :35)
(2×50's free weak side breathing 1:00)

3 rounds:
(3x 150's IM transition: 1st round (75 fly,75 back), 2nd round (75 back,
75 breast) etc. on the 2:20.)
(3×100 IM's reverse order and flip turns only 1:20)
(6×50's fly on 1:00 descend 1-3 #3 at 100 race pace, #6 at 200 race pace. Held 31.5 on #3's and 29.9 on #6's. Felt good and strong.)

Easy 100
15 minute kick with board, straight :30 sec easy, 1:00 fast. I got in 950 meters on this.
easy 100

24×25's fly up one lane and down another so we have clear water.
8 on the :30, 8 on the :25, 8 on the :20
I was hurting a little on this after the kicking set.
500 cool down with fins half way underwater all the way.
11,600 meters for the day.

6:30 p.m. – I grabbed a quick dinner and coached my second level younger kids at DD. They were a little distracted from the weekend as usual. They came around and ended up having a great practice.

7:30 p.m. – I coached my Masters group. They did some negative split swimming and some sprinting. It was a good workout and I am seeing some great improvement at all levels.

8:45 p.m. – Did my dryland training. 4 sets of 300 jump ropes. 4 sets of 150 bicycle sit ups, alternating sets. I like to do this at night. I am off the weights for now. Did them the last three months. Time to swim and get fast.

Until tomorrow, Dennis

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