Dream a Little Dream

Journal by Jeff Commings, Swimming World associate producer

PHOENIX, Arizona, September 15. SWIMMING World associate producer Jeff Commings, who will be the second oldest man to compete at the U.S. Olympic Trials next summer, is journaling his daily training regimen on his personal blog. We are reprinting those articles here:

Date: Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Time: 5:50 a.m.
Short Course Yards
285 days to Trials

4×150 choice on 2:30

4x(4×25 on :30)
#1 three stroke cycles fast
#2 build
#3 90 percent effort
#4 easy

6×50 on 1:00
descend 1-3 to 90 %
(free on 1-3 descended to :28, back/breast on 4-6 descended to :31)

6×25 easy :15 rest

6×50 on 1:00 best average
Breast: 30.6, 31.7, 31.8, 31.6, 31.5, 30.0 (#6 from a dive)

6×25 easy :15 rest

6x (50 fast, 50 easy) on 2:30
1-3 breast (27.8 (from dive), 29.5, 29.6)
4-6 free (23.4 (from dive), 24.5, 25.1)

6×25 easy :15 rest

8×25 kick fast on :40
(1-3 breast no board, 4-6 free no board)

150 easy

Total: 3,000 yards

Maybe I took too much ibuprofen last night. This morning, I couldn't feel my muscles at all! It always takes me a while to get ready to sprint (about 1500 yards/meters), but I felt like I was forcing my muscles into action for the entire workout!

My breaststroke didn't feel very good, but I was proud of myself for choosing to do it on the best average 50s. I was working on connecting my pull and kick, but it didn't feel smooth today. Everything felt choppy. Imagine my surprise when I went 29 on two of the fast 50s! That's my usual pace for an all-out 50 breast from a push, so to do that when my stroke felt horrible was a big confidence boost. I can't wait to see what I'll do on a day when the stroke feels better.

I have to tell you about a dream I had last night. It took place at next year's Olympic Trials in Omaha. I paraded out to my block (lane 1) for the 100 breast and did all my pre-race prep (rubbing block surface with palms, mini-jumps) while the newly-retired Scott Spann was finishing his swim in the heat before me. His time on the scoreboard read "1:15.99." I knew that was a horrible time, and I saw it on Scott's face. I tried to focus on my own race ahead. I dove in and swam to the turn end, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw the swimmer in the lane next to me far ahead. I began to freak out and sped up my tempo to try and catch him. I started to pay dearly for it at the 75-meter mark. The lactate hit so hard that I stopped moving forward. I was still doing the stroke (legally), but I was making no progress. The pain was so excruciating that I decided to stop swimming, sank down to the bottom of the pool and pushed off the bottom. Yes, that is illegal.

I got a little bit of a second wind and managed to finish the race. "7:18.99" on the scoreboard. Then I woke up.

Weird, huh?

One final note. My coach has asked me to not post full workouts on the blog every time. You will get to see full workouts most days, but some days you will only see main sets and the total distance swum. For the workouts I do alone (usually only on Sundays), you'll see the full workout, because those are created by me.

It's early afternoon now in Phoenix as I write this, and the urge to nap is strong. The long list of things to do at work is keeping me awake, as is the excitement of having dinner with a high school teammate tonight!

Reprinted from Jeff's personal blog at commings.blogspot.com

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