Journey to Olympic Trials: Run, Baby, Run

Commentary by Jeff Commings, SwimmingWorld.TV associate producer

PHOENIX, Arizona, April 27. NOT too long after I made my Olympic Trials qualifying time in the 100 breast last July, my coach, Mark Rankin, sat down with me to discuss some things he thought I should do differently training-wise in the months to come. One of those things was more vertical kicking.

I probably don't do as much as he would like, and sometimes I feel like I do more than I expected. Either way, I know my legs are stronger, especially because he always requires me to hold a weight during kicking. I'm often the only one on the Masters team doing vertical kicking with a heavy weight (others usually are holding on to five-pound weights).

Here's a look at today's workout:

10×50 on 1:00
odd: 25 kick/25 swim
even: 25 drill/25 kick

300 breast kick no board on 7:00 (6:05)

Seven rounds:
30 seconds breaststroke vertical kick with 11-pound weight
30 seconds rest

4×100 on 1:45
50 free/50 back easy

Seven rounds vertical kicking as above

2x(4×25 on :30)
1-3 fast
4 easy

100 easy

10 minutes:
25 dive with underwater swim or kick/:10 vertical kick/25 swim moderate/five pushups on deck/jog back to starting end (did six rounds)

3×100 on 2:30
50 fast from dive/50 easy
#1 free: 27.1
#2 back: 30.2
#3 breast: 32.1

100 easy (with stretching)

Total: 2,500 meters (not including vertical kicking and running)

Today, in the middle of the 300 breast kick, Mark suggested I do some vertical kicking. He had written on the board “4×400 kick on 7:00,” which is impossible for me to do — and quite boring, to boot. During the 300 breast kick, I was thinking of alternatives, and vertical kicking hadn't crossed my mind. My legs were still quite sore from JR Rosania's dryland workout on Wednesday, and I wasn't sure I could take some aggressive vertical kicking.

But I did it anyway, and it wasn't that bad. That's not to say I did it with a smile on my face, or had plenty of energy to do those fast 25s afterward, but it generally felt good to do them.

That 10-minute “exercise set” was a surprise. We do those things often, but always on Thursdays. With most of the Masters team made of triathletes, this was probably a fun set for them. For me, the jogging part was just a little faster than race walking. It's not a great idea to run in your bare feet, since there's nothing on your feet to absorb the shock from hitting the hard ground. Plus, as I mentioned earlier, my legs were quite sore.

I'm somewhat embarrassed by those 50s at the end, but at least they were consistently bad. All three of them were about two seconds slower than what I usually swim for the first 50 of my 100. I swam hard on all three, but got through them knowing the times wouldn't be fast. This came at the end of a very, very, very long week that consisted of a few work days that lasted more than 12 hours and a sleepless night on Tuesday. I was happy I could get out of the pool at the end of the workout today! I rewarded myself with a sugar cookie from Einstein Bagels at lunch!

This article was reprinted from Jeff Commings' blog at commings.blogspot.com.

Now that Steve West has qualified for the 100 breast at the U.S. Olympic Trials, Jeff Commings will now be the second-oldest competitor in the event in Omaha — but at least he is seeded faster than West.

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