BOSTON, Massachusetts, April 6. HEADING into her final entry in the "A Day in the Life" series on SwimmingWorldMagazine.com, Boston Masters swimmer Karen Atkinson writes about a night of coaching at her club.<\/p>\n
Thursday, April 5, 2007: Day 4<\/b>
\nAfter the first three days of the week, Thursdays are a breeze. I have only one class, and once a month I have a meeting with the Academic Affairs committee.
\nToday was even lighter than usual\u2014Academic Affairs met, but we didn't have a quorum and so we adjourned early. That turned into me getting to go home early, which was especially nice.<\/p>\n
I also got to swim on my own. Obviously, I love the chance to practice with my teammates\u2026but there's also much to be said for the workouts where I completely call the shots and have to push myself (or where I can work on technique and not worry about holding anyone up). Currently, my schedule includes two or three such workouts a week, plus the three that I attend at LANES. I'd been craving a day of fly drills and turn work, so that was my focus this time around. I worked out some of the kinks that lingered from last night's set, and popped off two rounds of one of my favorite turn sets:<\/p>\n
50 swim; submerge at flags and turn completely under water
\n25 build with foot touch
\n37.5 including midpool turn
\n12.5 work the finish<\/p>\n
My turns and breakouts seem to be improving, which makes me quite happy!<\/p>\n
Thursday is also my night to coach at LANES. Tonight I gave the team one of my favorite aerobic\/mid-distance pace sets:
\n3×100 descend, get times and heart rates
\n1×400 aerobic (aim for pace and HR from middle 100 of descends)
\n50 EZ (calculate average 100 split from 400)
\n4×100 holding 100 pace minus 5sec
\n2×200 holding 100 pace minus 5sec
\n50 EZ
\n1×100 fast (aim for 100 pace minus 10sec) <\/p>\n
I was a bit mean and didn't put the pace-5sec stuff up onto the board until after people had left for the 400. So a few people were caught off guard at what their target paces were! But I'm really proud of everyone\u2014almost everybody hit their target paces, even on the fast 100. And those who didn't hit them were still close. <\/p>\n
There's sort of a running joke on the team about me being a tough cookie; but the fact is that my teammates step up to the challenges that I throw at them. It's yet another source of inspiration, another source of fuel. It's quite a privilege to have the perspective of both a team member and a coach, and to see my teammates at every speed doing things they might not have thought they could do. <\/p>\n
Alright. I'm zonked, so I'll sign off for now. Until tomorrow!<\/p>\n
Fast wishes,
\n–K<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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