I’ve Got a Rumbly in my Tumbly

Journal by Jeff Commings, Swimming World associate producer

PHOENIX, Arizona, September 2. 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: Thursday, September 1, 2011
Time: 5:50 a.m.
Short Course Meters
298 days to Trials

4×250 on 4:30 (200 swim choice/50 kick choice)

12×25 free (or fly) on :35, three breaths per 25

1500 for time
19:53 (see below for more information)

200 kick easy

10×50 on 1:00 from dive (just make the interval, and if you want, you can climb out and dive at the 25 as well … I didn't take that option)

200 warm down

Total: 3700 meters

What a way to start September! Thursdays are always the wild card days, where anything can show up on the workout board. I believe I mentioned that the morning workout group does not get to see the entire workout at t he beginning. Mark Rankin writes the next set on the board during the current set. He had teased about a long swim before the 25s, and just before the set of 25s, he said "Make sure you know how to ocunt to 60." Right away, I knew that meant a mile. I wasn't happy because I would only get less than 10 minutes to wrap my brain around a mile for time. Mark did give us the option of doing 15×100 on an interval of our choosing, but I figured that would take longer.

Remember in my blog from last Sunday when I said I get gas bubbles in my stomach when I do long distance freestyle? Naturally, the stomach troubles hit me around the 600-meter mark. I knew I was going to have to stop to relieve the discomfort, so I chose to take a 30-second break at 750 meters. It was a perfect time to see my halfway split (9:48), burp up the gas, and move on. I thought about just skipping a 50 and continuing on with the others in my group I was trying to keep pace with, but I knew I wouldn't like myself if I did that.

The time of 19:53 equated to 1:20 per 100 meters, approximately. That's a lot slower pace than the 2000 I swam on Sunday.I don't think I would have done better in the swim if I knew about it well ahead of time, but the distressing thing is that even though I am a sprinter, I should have been able to hold faster than a 1:20 average. I felt good for about 400 meters, then things started to fall apart, especially when the stomach troubles hit. And it was a little demoralizing to see Alan Carter lap me for the first time at 500 meters!

It doesn't bode well for my swimming plans for the weekend. More on that on Saturday or Sunday.

At the gym:

20 minutes on the elliptical trainer

Shoulder warm up exercises

Incline bench press: 15@85, 12@110, 10@125

Bicep curls: 15@15 (per arm), 12@20, 10@25

Sitting leg press: 15@150, 12@180, 10@210

Standing lat pull: 15@50, 12@60, 10@75

10 minutes abdominals and stretching

For te past two years I have been using a three-phase system at the gym that I knew wasn't invented by me, but on Tuesday, I found out that an Olympic champion is using it now to stay at the top of his game. Thanks to Leslie Livingston, I discovered that Jason Lezak also uses my weight training system –with some modifications of his own. In my system, I do weight maintenance at the start of the season until about nine weeks before the taper meet. (Obviously, this is the phase I am in now.) Then, it's three cycles of two weeks lifting heavy weights followed by a recovery week. Two weeks before the end of the season, I start to taper down my weight room work, to the point that I am doing no weights 10 days from the taper meet.

If you check out Jason Lezak's Strength Training Program, you'll see how closely his program matches what I do. It's totally awesome that I've been doing so well in my swimming partly from this change in my weight room work, and I think I'll try to fit the speed phase of his weight program into mine.

One thing I was doing off and on was a nice breaststroke weight set. You lie on a medicine ball , holding two dumbbells no more than six pounds. Then, you do three sets of 25 strokes, building the tempo with each set. By the third set, you should be "swimming" at the tempo you use in a race. I take 23 to 24 strokes in a 100 long course breast race on the last 50, so that's why I chose 25 strokes per set. I'll start doing this more regularly starting in early October.

I was going to try some new weight exercises today, and after reading Jason's program, I think I'll start doing the standing lat pull instead of the sitting lat pull. When you stand, you work the swimming muscles a little better, plus it's a great ab exercise!

This doesn't mean I'm having more fun in the pool, but I am definitely not dreading the 50 minutes there as much.

* The title of this blog refers to a saying by Winnie the Pooh when he gets hungry.

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

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