Commentary by Jeff Commings, SwimmingWorld.TV associate producer<\/i><\/p>\n
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. <\/p>\n
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).<\/p>\n
Here's a look at today's workout:<\/p>\n
10×50 on 1:00
\nodd: 25 kick\/25 swim
\neven: 25 drill\/25 kick<\/p>\n
300 breast kick no board on 7:00 (6:05)<\/p>\n
Seven rounds:
\n30 seconds breaststroke vertical kick with 11-pound weight
\n30 seconds rest<\/p>\n
4×100 on 1:45
\n50 free\/50 back easy<\/p>\n
Seven rounds vertical kicking as above<\/p>\n
2x(4×25 on :30)
\n1-3 fast
\n4 easy<\/p>\n
100 easy<\/p>\n
10 minutes:
\n25 dive with underwater swim or kick\/:10 vertical kick\/25 swim moderate\/five pushups on deck\/jog back to starting end (did six rounds)<\/p>\n
3×100 on 2:30
\n50 fast from dive\/50 easy
\n#1 free: 27.1
\n#2 back: 30.2
\n#3 breast: 32.1<\/p>\n
100 easy (with stretching)<\/p>\n
Total: 2,500 meters (not including vertical kicking and running)<\/b><\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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!<\/p>\n